Noah Read Free Page B

got up from her bedroll and lifted the tent flaps to peek outside. A band of Watchers stood there, arguing.
    Noah started yelling as some of them dragged Og away. “Stop!”
    The leader of the Watchers, Samyaza, spun around and glared at him.
    “There is work to do!” Noah added quickly. “Please help us.”
    In response, Samyaza stormed over to Noah. Ila felt the earth tremble under his feet. She stepped back a little.
    “Help you?” Samyaza repeated. “We tried to help your kind once. We lost
everything
because of you!”
    “Not everything,” Noah said. “And we can save what is still left. We can serve Him again.”
    “You treacherous snake!” Samyaza thundered. Ila jumped as he raised an arm to strike Noah.
    “No!” she cried, rushing out of the tent.
    Samyaza halted. But it wasn’t because of Ila, she quickly realized. Instead the Watcher was staring at something, stunned by something in front of her.
    By now everyone had awakened and stepped out of the tent.
    “How amazing…” Naameh murmured.
    Ila looked down. In the spot where Noah had planted Methuselah’s tiny seed, water was bursting out of the dry earth. Cracks spilled open at their feet, small rivers starting to push through the dry ground.
    Is this the great flood coming
? Ila wondered. But Noah had said there would be time to build an ark. It seemed too soon for the great flood to begin…
    Soon the earth began to rumble.
    Ila grabbed Shem’s arm. “What is that noise? Is it an earthquake?”
    He just shook his head, looking around. He didn’t know what was happening either.
    The sound grew louder and louder as the earth shook and boomed. And then suddenly Ila gasped. All around them, green shoots shot up from the earth! They were plants… trees… growing faster than anything she could imagine. By the time the sun rose, Ila could see that the empty, dark landscape was gone. Now a thick forest of tall trees surrounded them.
    Ham looked terrified. “What is this, Father?” he asked. “What’s going on?”
    “This…” Noah smiled broadly and gestured at the tree trunks, “is our Ark!”
    Most of the Watchers were gazing at Samyaza, waiting uncertainly to see what their leader would do. At last, the giant leader limped over to one of the tall trees. He touched the trunk, and then stared up at it as if he were in a trance.
    When Samyaza turned back to Og, Ila saw tears glistening in his eyes. “We will help this man,” he said.

3
TEN YEARS LATER
    LAUGHING, ILA RAN THROUGH THE FOREST. SHE RUSHED past the tall leafy trees, ducking under a few low branches.
    “No!” she shrieked playfully.
    Right behind her was Shem. He quickly caught up to her and grabbed her around the waist.
    “No!” she cried again. She giggled as he gently wrestled her to the forest floor.
    “No, please, no!”
    “Yes!” he said, biting her neck softly.
    “Yes…” Ila closed her eyes, inhaling his scent, which had become as familiar to her as the scent of the denseforest where they lived.
    The two of them had been friends first, of course, when they were young, but as they grew, it hadn’t taken long for their friendship to blossom into something different. Now Ila loved him with a fierceness she hadn’t known was in her.
    Shem kissed her lips. She put her arms around his neck and kissed him back. Then she stared into his eyes. They were so green, almost the color of the leaves on the trees around them. She thought he was strong and beautiful.
    They kissed for a long time. Slowly, his hands and lips glided lower. He lifted her shirt, his hands quickly finding their way inside.
    “Shem…” She tried to stop him, but his lips had already found their mark—the thick scar that traveled along her belly. She flushed as he kissed it tenderly.
    His hands went lower, as Ila knew they would. “Shem…” she said again, wincing this time. “Please…”
    Reluctantly, he lifted his head to look at her. “It still hurts?” he asked softly. “It still