David led Kara down a little slope into the heart of the desert. They made their way towards a large white tent resting in the midst of a sandy red ocean. A large powerful man with short black hair sat in a chair.
“Is that another Archangel?” asked Kara.
“Yup.”
“Thought so. They’re all, like, really…big.”
“Big men with bigger egos.”
The Archangel’s dark brown skin contrasted against his white linen top and trousers. Her eyes moved to his face. It was beautiful, as if some higher power had sculpted it to perfection. She forced herself to look away.
In the light wind, sheets of paper fluttered across the top of a great wooden table that ran the length of the tent. Kara counted ten oracles rolling on their glass globes, rummaging through files along the table. A line of about fifty guardian angels waited patiently on the other side. Some angels stood at the front of the table. They each conversed with an oracle. After a moment one of the oracles gave an angel a file, then the angel nodded and marched out of the tent. He walked down a gully and headed towards the pool area. A few minutes later, the guardian angel climbed up a metal staircase and jumped in without hesitating.
A loud tick tock sound found its way to Kara’s ears. A large brass grandfather clock stood in the background…it read two o’clock.
She followed David to the end of the line and looked up at him. His face cracked into a grin. She rolled her eyes and turned her head towards the pools. Silhouettes of GAs jumped into the waters of their next assignments. Kara and David stood in silence for a while. The waiting was driving her mad.
“So…what’s the next assignment?” Kara asked.
“Don’t know yet. We’ll know what it is once the oracle gives us the job file.”
Kara sighed. “Right …do you think it’ll be easier or harder this time?”
David shook his head slowly. “I’m not sure.”
“Hmm.”
Kara’s mind flashed to the mysterious Sarah. She couldn’t get her out of her head. Who was she? Did David break the sacred Horizon laws and had an affair with her? Could angels fall in love? She fought the strange jealous feelings creeping inside her. When Kara looked towards the grand table, they were finally at the head of the line and David addressed the Archangel.
“Hey…what’s up, Gabe?” David bared his teeth.
There was a long pause before the Archangel lifted his eyes from his paper and gazed upon David. Kara saw him fully. Tall and powerful, with fierce black eyes that seemed to pierce through you. His face was dark and commanding; a magnificent beast of a man and as dangerous as a grizzly bear. His face was twisted in a scowl. “It’s Gabriel,” growled the Archangel as his mood darkened. “Ah, and here is our famous delinquent.” The Archangel Gabriel towered over them, narrowing his eyes.
Kara bit the inside of her cheek. Does anybody like David in Horizon?
“Ha, ha, ha…very funny, Gabe,” David said and turned to give Kara his trademark wink. He rolled his head back to Gabriel. “So …got anything good for us?”
Gabriel’s dark brown eyes flashed with resentment. “That depends on what you mean by good. But something has come up which might suit you, and your particular way of doing your job.”
Kara felt a poke at her side. David raised his eyebrows. With a goofy smile painted across his face, he gave her two thumbs up. She smiled back and nodded. While David shifted with excitement, Kara studied Gabriel. He got up from his chair and walked over to an oracle to his right. They exchanged words, and after a moment Gabriel came back with a file clutched in his hand. He glanced at Kara for the first time, for about two seconds, and then he glared back at David.
“This assignment should agree with your rookie,” boomed the Archangel, “as it is simple and should not have any complications.” Kara noticed the emphasis on the word complication. Gabriel stepped forward and thrust the file at David.
“Seems simple enough,” said David after a moment, a slight lifting at the corners of his mouth. “And right up our alley.” He closed the file.
Gabriel’s hands turned into fists. “Remember our last conversation, David.”
Kara realized that wasn’t a question.
“No fooling around, you understand? I’m tired of covering up your messes. If you don’t smarten up and take your job seriously, you’ll be stricken from your GA post.” He pointed a large finger at David. “This is your last warning!”
David kept smiling. “It’s all good, Gabe.”
“I’m dead serious, David!”
David rolled his eyes. “Ha, you’re already dead!” He placed his right hand on his chest. “Don’t worry, Gabe. I’ll be a good little soldier—I promise.”
“David, stop it! You’re going to get us in trouble,” whispered Kara.
“Don’t worry…Gabe loves me,” whispered David through his teeth.
“You’re so full of crap! Oh no…”
The Archangel turned his attention to Kara. His dark eyes focused on her unnaturally, as though trying to break into her mind. He blinked and looked back to David. “After this simple assignment, I want you and your rookie to report back to me. Understand? She still needs more combat training.”
Kara followed Gabriel’s gaze over to the closest blue tent, where two guardian angels fought one another with swords. Their feet moved quickly in the sand, kicking up little clouds of red dust. Their weapons collided with loud clatters.
The oracle’s voice woke her from her trance. “What are you waiting for? Get to it!” he yelled and clapped his grubby little hands together. “No time to waste! There are lives to be saved!” He turned around and looked at the clock. “Quickly now, you have less than an hour!” He waved his short arms in the air as he urged them on.
David turned and faced Kara. “Let’s go.” He walked out of the tent with Kara at his heels.
“DAVID!” bellowed Gabriel. “Remember what we discussed!”
“Sure thing, Gabe,” answered David as he turned back around. He grabbed Kara by the elbow and steered her out from the tent.
Kara glanced back and met Gabriel’s eyes, and saw a flash of suspicion in them. She quickly looked away.
After they replenished themselves with weapons in the weapons tent, Kara followed David down a slight slope to one of the many pools. Loud plops could be heard in every direction as hundreds of guardian angels plunged into them. Kara grimaced. A splash of salt water hit her face. She heard a motor running and turned to see a contraption that looked like giant vacuum cleaner. It rolled up to a neighboring pool and spit out the salt from its belly into the water.
“This place just gets on weirder by the minute,” Kara said.
David placed himself behind a short line of guardian angels and waited to climb up to the pool’s deck. “You ready?”
An old man five pools down pressed his hands together in front of himself, squatted, and with great effort he leaped into the air and belly-flopped into the water with a huge smile on his face.
“I’m not sure,” said Kara. Water spilled out and around the edges of the pool. “What happens if I fail again?” Now Kara watched an Asian couple holding hands as they jumped into the pool together yelling, “Woo hee!”
“You won’t. Trust me.” David nudged Kara on the arm with his fist.
But somehow she wasn’t convinced. She had a premonition that this new job wasn’t as easy as she first imagined it to be, and a lot more dangerous.
David searched Kara’s face for a moment, and then pulled himself up the metal staircase attached to the pool. “You’ll see, it’s going to get better, I promise. Stick with me and I’ll show you a great time.” He knelt down and passed his hand in the water. “Come on in, the water’s great!” He beamed.
Kara sighed and climbed the staircase. She stepped onto the ledge and settled herself beside David. She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it as soon as her lips parted.
Benson stood on the edge of the neig
hboring pool. He stared at David with an expression of disgust, as though he had just bitten into a sour fruit. He stood there, his body hard and motionless, like a statue. Only his eyes moved as they looked David up and down. And then David noticed Benson. To Kara’s surprise, he regarded him with disgust as well. Both men stared at each other down from a distance, as in a western pistol duel. But Kara saw pure hatred in David’s eyes as he glared at Benson. He turned his head away and looked at Kara. “Okay, you ready?”
“Uh—what was that about?” Kara said, still staring at Benson. “You guys look as if you want to rip out each other’s throats.” She turned and looked at David.
He met her eyes. “Nothing worth mentioning. Benson’s a douche bag.”
Within seconds, Benson pinched his nose, bent his knees, and jumped into the water. His body lingered for a moment through the moving waters, and then he started to spin horizontally. Seconds later, his entire body sparkled in brilliant white light. And then Benson vanished. No sooner had he performed his disappearing act than another guardian angel stepped up to the ledge and took the plunge. It was like watching a line of falling dominoes—angels kept jumping into the pools one after the other.
“We really should go,” said David. He edged forward, ready to dive in. “We have to jump in at the same time. We can hold hands if you want…?”
“No thanks. I’m good. Can you stop smiling please?” Kara stuck her hands at her sides and bit her bottom lip. “We’ll jump in at the same time.”
“Okay then. On the count of three.”
Kara nodded. She stared at the reflections on the water’s surface. The water was a sheet of diamonds, sparkling in the sun light.
“One …” said David.
One, echoed Kara in her head as she tried to suppress her nerves.
“Two …”
Kara felt tiny electric shocks move around in her body—her nonexistent nervous system acting up.
“Three!”
David and Kara leaped into the air and plunged into the pool at the same time. Water splashed all around as they sank to the bottom. Kara opened her eyes and turned her head to the right. David was covered in light. A muffled sound escaped his mouth as his lips flapped together. He lifted his left hand and flipped his thumb up. Then Kara’s vision blurred as she felt her body starting to spin. She kept her eyes open. Whitish bubbles floated in front of her and white light illuminated her body. Brilliant particles detached themselves one by one from her body—and then everything around her vanished.
Kara opened her eyes moments later. She sat in the back seat of a parked car. Cracked brown leather covered the seats. The only light came from the windows, which were nearly completely covered with gray grime. She crinkled her nose. It smelled like dirty old shoes and cigarettes. She blinked. Her vision adjusted itself to her new surroundings. David sat comfortably in the front seat. The leather seat screeched as he turned around to face her.
“How you feeling?” he asked, his face worried. “You okay?” He was almost angelic in that soft light, not at all the cocky soldier she was getting to know, but a beautiful creature from the heavens. She wished he’d stop being so concerned.
Kara pursed her lips and nodded. “I will be after the spinning stops.”
She took a moment to get used to the dizziness. “That’s weird.” She said after a moment. “The dizziness is gone…I’m not spinning anymore. What the…?” She moved her hands. “I feel in more control of this body than I did the first time. It’s still weird—super weird—but much better this time. A lot better.” Her lips curled into a smile.
“That’s great. The dizziness goes away after you’ve done about five Vega—after that, piece of cake. You won’t feel a thing.” David smiled at her, teeth bared.
Kara rubbed her forearm and pressed her hand against her mortal flesh. “Wow, this is still so weird!” She passed her hand gently on her skin. “It feels synthetic. Like there’s a layer of saran wrap on top. Creepy,” she laughed. She let go of her arm and looked around the car. “So … where are we?” She strained her eyes to see outside the car windows.
“Let’s find out.” David grabbed the file from inside his leather jacket. He flipped it open on his knees. “Okay,” he said after a moment, and looked outside his passenger window. “I think we’re on Saint Hubert Street…yeah, I see it! We need to be on the corner of Notre Dame and Gosford Street in…” David glanced at his watch, “…in about forty minutes.”
Kara looked out the window. “I know where we are. We’re in Old Montreal! Most of my art classes were in this area. All the best art galleries in the city are here.” She pressed her nose against the dirty glass.
“You were an artist? Before the…”
“Yup. Well … more like a wannabe artist.” Kara turned and met David’s eyes. “I was on my way to a really important competition…when I got squished by the bus.”
“Ouch…that’s pretty nasty.” David looked away. “Was your boyfriend waiting for you…at that competition?”
Kara’s mouth opened but nothing came out. She composed herself. “Uh…no, I didn’t have a boyfriend. My best friend Mat was waiting for me, actually.” She noticed David had a strange expression on his face.
“Were you guys close?”
“Close? Well, yeah. He was practically the only real friend I had. Whenever I brought new friends to my house they usually ran away screaming.”
“Because of your mom and her demons?”
“Yeah, but that wasn’t the only reason. I don’t know how to explain it—and you’ll probably think I’m crazy—but sometimes my mother would disappear before my eyes and reappear seconds later…somewhere else. Like one minute she’s in the kitchen, and then the next, she’s in the bathroom. And I can see by the look in your eye that you think I’m nuts.”
David shook his head. “No. I’m trying to understand what you’re saying. Your mother would just … disappear?”
“Yup. The only explanation that makes sense was that I probably suffered from recurring blackouts. You know, like loss of time? I’m pretty sure my brain was protecting itself from my mother’s insane behavior. At the time I didn’t know anything about Sensitives. This whole demon thing was probably too much for me.”
David flicked the file with his thumb. “I don’t think they were blackouts.”
“What?” Kara leaned forward. “What do you mean?”
“In fact, I don’t think you had anything to do with your mother’s disappearances.” David rubbed his chin. “I’ll have to check with Gabe…but if what you’re telling me is true…your mother is a guardian angel.”
Kara’s head spun. David’s words hit her hard. She struggled with her thoughts. “W...what? But…no…that’s impossible. My mother never died. She can’t be an angel.”
“Yes she can.” David gave her a warm smile. “You just didn’t know.”
It took a moment for Kara to speak again. “I…I don’t under…what are you saying?”
“I think your mom’s a guardian angel. Like you and me. You wouldn’t have noticed when she died. Her soul went straight to Horizon. And they probably sent her right back at that same point in time…before she died, and made it look like she didn’t die.”
“Okay, I’m confused.”
“Try not to think about this now; we’ll figure it out later. Let’s concentrate on our mission.” He glanced at his watch again. “We have less than thirty-five minutes.”
“How am I supposed to concentrate when you tell me my mom might be a guardian angel?!” Kara held her face in her hands. “All those years I thought she was nuts. I even wished I could run away…away from the madness. And . . . all along . . . all this time . . . she was helping people and fighting demons. I feel like such a jerk.”
“Don’t. You didn’t know. And I might be wrong. Kara, listen to me. We’ll look into it when we get back to Horizon…I promise. But now we really have to go.”
“Okay.” said Kara. She’d have lots of ti
me to feel sorry for herself later. She brushed her bangs out of her eyes. “Um, what’s the mission—the job thing?”
David passed her the file. She read:
Petty Officer: David McGowan
Guardian Angel: Kara Nightingale
Class order # 4321
Rank: Rookie 1st year, W-1 Guard squad, (lowest rank)
Assignment: Mr. Jean Tremblay, on the corner of Notre Dame and Gosford Street, sidewalk. 15:07 pm.
Crushed by a two ton concrete block when a cable from a giant crane snaps.
David pushed open the passenger door with a pop. “Let’s go.” He whirled his legs out of the car and pulled himself up and out.
Kara struggled out of the car and gave David back the file. “Uh, you know… if we can’t stop the crane from collapsing it’s going to get a little messy.”
“The messier the better!” David beamed. He pushed Kara’s door closed. “We’re only a few minutes away by foot. Follow me.” And with that, he turned on his heels and walked southwards on Saint Hubert Street. Kara followed closely behind, her mind filled with thoughts of her mother.
They arrived on the corner of Notre Dame and turned right, heading west. The street was packed with the usual business types: women and men in expensive suits, carrying café lattes in one hand while chatting on their cell phones with the other. Taxis honked loudly as Kara and David zigzagged through moving cars in the crowded street. The taxi drivers were making obscene gestures through their windows at the jay-walking pedestrians.
Kara smelled the exhausts fumes. “Mmm…it’s good to be back.”
David laughed. “Nothing like a good whiff of city streets to make ya home sick.”
They arrived at Gosford Street about ten minutes later. A giant crane towered over the city’s buildings. Its long metal neck reached for the sky. It rotated slowly, carrying a large load hooked on its metal cable. Men in dark blue uniforms and bright orange construction hard hats shouted over the loud thumping noises and roaring engines. The construction site spilled over an entire block.
Kara watched as a single man with an orange hat waved the pedestrians along with a striped white and black flag. His face was sunburned, and it cracked into a million wrinkles when he took a drag from his cigarette. A huge round belly sprouted out of him, hanging low above crooked legs. To Kara, he looked like a very ugly pregnant woman.
“Well, we have about twenty minutes to kill,” said David, as he glanced at his watch. “Enough time to get ready.” He looked up and down the giant crane, studying it for a moment. “The crane will probably rotate this way … and then the cable will snap at around there.” He pointed north. “That concrete block is big enough to splatter someone all right. Wow, that’s gotta hurt.”
Kara stood and watched the passersby, waiting for the event du jour. She tapped her foot on the ground. “David—you really think, with my new training, I’ll be able to handle the demons? I mean—I feel stronger, and I have these new skills … but will it be enough? David…?”
David waved at two voluptuous mortal women, who happened to be waving and smiling back.
“You’ve got to be kidding me! David!” Kara punched him.
“OUCH!” cried David, as he rubbed his arm.
“That didn’t hurt, you liar.” She couldn’t help smiling.
David continued to rub his arm as he grinned widely. “Yeah, well, you have man hands!”
The two women watched David with suspicion in their eyes. Then they stared at Kara and whispered to each other, wide-eyed. After a moment they walked away, but not before giving David the evil eye.
Secretly, Kara hated those women—the voluptuous kind, sculpted by the hands of a higher power, perfect in every aspect, impossibly beautiful: long silky hair and healthy-looking curves in the right spots, the exact opposite of the straight lines from her tomboyish body. The boob-fairy had never visited Kara, even with all the money she had collected and hidden under her pillow. Nope. The boob-fairy skipped her house and magicked all the other girls from her high school with great-looking chests. No wonder David had eyes for the other girls…there was nothing to look at over here.
What happened next was purely incidental. She didn’t know what possessed her; the words just busted out of her mouth, and before she realized what was happening it was already too late. “Who’s Sarah?” Oops.
David winced, clearly not expecting it. “Huh?” He turned around to face her, his face twisted in distress.
Kara wished she hadn’t asked, and stared at a spot on his shoulder. “Me and my big mouth. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”
“No, it’s all right.” David sighed and was silent for a moment. “Sarah was a rookie, like you…and my friend. We worked on missions together. And we were really close.”
“I see.”
“No, not like that. We were just friends. But then rumors started spreading about our alleged affair—which wasn’t true. Romance is forbidden in Horizon. We’re told to be soldiers, not lovers. If you’re caught, you’re banned from the Legion forever—I’ve heard stories that they even take your soul away. So, anyway…the Legion got involved. They tried to separate us, but we always managed to hang out anyway and go on jobs together.”
“So, what happened to her?” Kara asked softly. “Did she…die?”
David stared at the ground. “After we’d completed one of our missions, we decided to hang out longer on Earth. It was Friday night, so we went to a few clubs. You have to understand something…we were all mortals once, and sometimes we still long some of those mortal feelings: the naivety and carefree attitudes. We wanted a break from our responsibilities. Anyway, we had far too many drinks, we both made some new mortal friends of the opposite sex, and we forgot who we were and how long we’d been out.” He was silent for a long moment before speaking again. “And then when they came, we were weak and unprepared.”
“Who came, David?”
“Demons. I fought them off me, but when I reached Sarah…it was too late.”
The images of shadow demons devouring Sarah rose up behind Kara’s eyes. She took a moment to process it. “I’m sorry, David. You must have been in a lot of pain.”
He stared out into the crowds of people wandering the streets. “It was a long time ago. But I live with it every day.”
Kara couldn’t think of anything to say. She watched his pain in the creases of his forehead and remained silent.
Sometime later, David spotted the crane’s cable starting to give way. Smaller wires snapped and curled away, leaving the cable thinner and weaker. “Okay, get ready Kiddo. Here it comes.” He pointed north on Gosford. “I’ll try to stop the crane from moving this way—you look for Mr. Tremblay; he should be walking on Notre Dame Street, coming towards us.”
“Right.” Kara glanced westwards on Notre Dame Street. “It would help if I knew what Mr. Tremblay looked like!” She stared at the tiny crowds of people wandering the street.
“Look for the one with the name tag…Mr. Tremblay.”
Kara sighed. “Very funny, smart ass.”
“I know.”
“David, w…what about the shadow demons?” croaked Kara. She remembered her last encounter with them. “What am I supposed to do if I see one?”
David plopped his backpack on the ground and zipped it open. He rummaged through it and handed Kara a small fish net and a salt shaker.
“What the…?” said Kara, bewildered. She took them. “Is this a joke?”
“Nope.”
“You can’t be serious? Have you seen what shadow demons look like? How am I supposed to protect myself with this?” she cried, as she waved the fish net in the air. “I’m going to get killed!”
“No, you won’t; you’re with me. Stop freaking out.”
“I am freaking out! I’m not out here to catch butterflies!”
“Just relax…”
Kara couldn’t believe how cool David was. This had to be some sort of mistake. “Why can’t I ge
t a proper sword like you? Didn’t you pack the golden one I used for training?”
David zipped up his backpack and threw it over his shoulder. “Nope. You don’t have the proper training yet. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”
“Hurt myself! Are you serious! I’m going to get killed!”
“You’re over-reacting. Stop screaming…you’re making a scene. Look…the mortals are looking.” David curled the corners of his lips. “Ah…women.”
“You saw what I can do…you know I can use a blade! Come on!”
“This discussion is over. Nothing’s going to happen, just keep Mr. Tremblay out of harm’s way. See, we have plenty of time to stop the crane and…”
David’s jaw dropped. His eyes were focused on something.
“David? What’s the matter?” Kara followed his gaze. He was staring at a mortal man across Gosford Street. The man was in his mid-thirties, tall with powerful shoulders. He wore an expensive-looking gray suit, tailored perfectly to his muscular body. His white hair was cut short and styled neatly. His skin had a grayish-blue tint to it, like a few-hours-old corpse. To Kara, he looked like a regular business man, except…
He has black eyes.
Like endless black pits, it was like staring into two black holes. And the man stared back at them. In the pit of her non-existent stomach, Kara felt something was wrong. He stood there without moving, watching them.
“David. The man with the black eyes…he’s a demon, right? Like the ones my mother…David?”
David’s terrified expression sent panic waves through Kara’s body.
“David!” shrieked Kara, “Say something!” She frowned. Another man wearing the same gray suit with the same short white hair emerged slowly from the crowd and stood a few feet away from the other man. His eyes were as black as midnight, and he was identical in every way to the other black-eyed man.
“I don’t understand?” David said. “How did they find us so fast…?” he whipped his head towards Kara. “How is that possible?”
“Why are you looking at me like that? I didn’t do anything!”
“It doesn’t make sense …”
“What doesn’t make sense, David? You’re scaring me!”
He pressed his hands on Kara’s shoulders. “Listen. I don’t have time to explain. We won’t have time to save Mr. Tremblay anymore…but we have to save the soul, you hear me?”
Kara turned her head. She could see that the crane’s jib was pointed in their direction now, the cable holding on barely by a thread. “But how?” She looked down and waved her sad fish net. “With this?”
“Do exactly what I say and you will. Do you understand?”
She nodded. She glanced back at the black-eyed men. A third one emerged. He crossed Gosford Street, coming towards them. Kara looked around at the faces in the crowds. “The mortals can’t see them. David, what are they?”
“They’re called higher demons,” said David, “and I can’t fight them alone with you here. Okay, here we go…”
SNAP!
The cable broke. A large concrete boulder fell from the sky. It reached the man called Jean Tremblay and crushed his entire body in half a second. It was like dropping a heavy book on top of an egg. People screamed and ran for cover, away from the rubble of concrete and body parts, for all of Mr. Tremblay’s limbs lay severed from the rest of his body, which was flattened under the concrete block like a juicy raspberry pancake. Mortals threw up their lunches. They stared at four perfectly cut limbs resting by the block of concrete, as though they had been cut with giant scissors. Within seconds, light covered the skin from Mr. Tremblay’s arms and legs. A shower of little glowing particles flowed from his dead body and hovered a few feet in the air above the concrete boulder. They came together slowly and formed a ball.
Kara studied the mortals gathered around the body. The soul was invisible to them, she realized.
David twisted through the crowd and ran towards the boulder.
A higher demon walked away from the soul. “David!” Kara yelled. “It’s coming after you!”
The higher demon made its way towards David, who had jumped over the dead body and ran in the middle of the street to meet it head on.
“Open the shaker!” cried David. He lunged at the higher demon, a long sword in his right hand. A small group of mortals jumped out of David’s way, their eyes glued to his sword.
Across the street from them, the other two higher demons approached, their black eyes fixed upon Kara.
“Okay…here goes nothing!” She twisted the metal shaker top and looked up for a second. David fought off the demon. He pushed him away from the body and from Kara as she walked forward towards the soul.
“Great…I’m going to die—again.” She held the fish net in her left hand, and the salt shaker in the other.
One of the two remaining higher demons stood but a few feet away from her. An evil grin flashed across its face. It only had to leap, and it would be on top of her. Its hard body was posed in anticipation.
“THROW THE SALT AT IT!” She heard David yell over the panicked crowd.
Without thinking, Kara dropped the fish net, fumbled with the salt shaker, and threw the metal cap—right in the middle of the higher demon’s forehead.
SMACK!
The demon froze, as though expecting something to happen. After a moment, it glanced down at the tiny metal cap between its shiny black shoes and kicked it. Its thick shoulders moved up and down as it laughed. Then the demon looked up at Kara, its ebony eyes glittering. It cracked its face, bared its teeth in an evil grin and took a step forward.
“Oops. That can’t be good.”
“THE SALT! THROW THE SALT!” she heard David howl.
Kara threw the shaker at its face. The salt exploded all over it. The demon screamed as it covered its face with its hands. Black smoke emitted through its fingers; its skin melted away, exposing rotten flesh beneath. The horrid smell of burnt flesh surrounded her.
“The soul! …Use the net!” David gasped. She saw him lash out at the demon and cut it, right across its chest. The creature screamed in pain and anger as it backed away, shaken for a moment.
Kara bent down and grabbed the fish net. She pushed her way through the crowd that was growing by the minute. She kept her eyes on the hovering soul. From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the other higher demon running towards her. She waved the fish net before her with her right hand.
“Do it now!” cried David.
Kara leaped into the air, unaware of the strange looks the mortal crowd gave her seeing a strange girl with a fish net jump into the air as she tried to catch invisible butterflies. Like an overhand softball throw, she swung her arm and caught the brilliant ball of light in her net. She landed with a hard thump on top of the concrete block. The soul bounced lightly in her net. The size of a large grapefruit, it weighed less than a roll of toilet paper.
She sat on the boulder and brought the net closer to her face for inspection. Like a miniature sun, the soul’s light warmed her face. “Hey, I caught it! I really caught it!” She looked up as mortals appeared. They screamed and yelled at her, their faces screwed up in scowls of horror as they pointed to the pancake man below. “Oh no.”
David appeared to her side. “Run!” He dashed off.
“Huh?” She stared at David running away.
Kara swung her legs over the boulder, jumped down, and sprinted after him. They ran all the way down Gosford Street to the Old Port. They turned right onto De La Commune Street. Her mortal legs didn’t tire. She ran fast, leaping over benches and dumpsters along the way like a gazelle running away from a predator and clutching the fish net against her chest.
“What just happened?” yelled Kara as she galloped behind David. “Why didn’t they try to get the soul?”
“They’re not after the soul.” David yelled back. “They’re after us!” He stared up ahead as he ran.
Kara looked back. She wondered why these d
emons were chasing them. Two higher demons ran after them at an incredible speed. She turned her head and ran close to David, a bit awkwardly as her right arm held the soul protectively against her chest.
“David…we’re not fast enough. They’re going to catch up!”
“Keep running!”
“We’re dead in about fifteen seconds! I don’t even want to think about what they’re going to do to us!”
“Keep running…and stop talking!”
Thirteen . . . twelve . . . Kara counted backwards in her head as she ran behind David. He ran in a straight line onto the Promenade Du Vieux-Port. They zigzagged through the roller blading kids and tourists. Kara followed David as he pushed his way through the crowds and headed straight for the…
Water, said Kara to herself.
“DAVID!” cried Kara, as she realized what he was about to do.
But he wasn’t stopping. Soon they’d reach the end of the Old Port, where the concrete ended, and where the Saint-Laurence River began. A thick metal railing ran the length of the port along the walkway, protecting the people from accidentally falling to their deaths into the chilly gray waters. They were running right for it.
Three . . . two . . .
And just when they were about to hit the metal railing, Kara felt David’s hand wrap around hers. He squeezed hard and jumped, pulling her along with him…and flew over the edge.
One . . .
Kara heard screams from above as she hit the water and plummeted twenty feet into the deep dark Saint-Laurence River. Instinctively she looked up, half expecting to see the higher demons cascading above them. But all she saw was the sun’s beams reflecting on the water’s surface above her. Then everything around her went dark.
Chapter 8
David, the celebrity
Marked, Soul Guardians Book 1 Page 7
