The Purgatory Saga #1: People of the Fire

by Michelle Dalson

  Dewey peeked over a thicket bush and snorted. “Who the heck is she?”

  I looked down and gave him a sideways look. “She has a nice SoulBird for you. It was earth type, and it was a devil.”

  The girl heard my voice. She whipped her head around to face me with a look of fury. Her face was smeared with blood and eyeliner. Her long black hair was tangled with blood, and strands of her side bangs hung over her left eye.

  Yowling, the girl leapt at me and pinned me to the ground. She started tackling me like a wild animal.

  I had rarely gotten into fights with girls, but I was still experienced with the situation. I easily threw her off and she rolled into the tangled bush beside Dewey. He flinched and jumped to the side.

  The girl screamed shot up to stand on her feet.

  “Who are you to spy on me?!” The girl’s voice was hard-edged like Jenna’s. But there was a trace of sass in her voice as she spoke. “Oh! It’s you again,” her expression immediately calmed down and she started to chortle. “Zachariah Ezekreth, right?”

  I huffed and gave a sideways look. “So you’ve heard of me too.”

  “Hah! Of course I have. Everyone in Bhad has heard of you,” remarked the girl.

  Dewey gave her an eying look of disgust as she strutted up to me. She fixed me with a naughty smile.

  “Do you know who I am?” She raised her eyebrows.

  I looked into her eyes as she faced me with her body turned sideways. She was biting her nails, which were a patterned color of red and black.

  I spoke in a bland tone. “Nah, sorry.”

  The girl huffed and glared at me. “I’m Miranda Heron. But you can call me Mira.” She gave me a sassy smile and winked. “And I saw you escorting those prisoners from the palace. Sneaking them away, aren’t ya?”

  I blinked and Dewey narrowed his eyes at her. “So! You gonna rat us out now?” The SoulBird was glaring.

  Mira huffed and gave the Soul Bird a dirty look. “I’m not ratting on you.”

  I sighed. “Well, the Higher One’s going to kill me whether he finds out or not. Bet you know why, though.”

  Mira turned to me and gasped. “Oh! Yes! Of course—you were the one who destroyed the temple of Harg! I heard about that.” She started walking around me, smiling at me deviously. “Smexy,” she remarked under her breath.

  Dewey huffed impatiently. “Finished yet? We’re trying to do something that a jailbird like you would make no significance for.”

  “Dewey…” I tried to speak and warn the bird, but Mira was already blazing.

  Her grip on my shoulders hardened and her nails dug into me sharply as she glared at the bird with furious envy.

  “Ow…” I stiffened and tried to ignore the pain, since I was getting nervous around this girl.

  “Shiigo!” She yelled.

  A long-legged devil earth type SoulBird stepped out of a thicketed bush. Its long beak pointed toward Dewey and it lowered its head as if to creep up on the bird. The SoulBird was the same earth type that I had seen in Mira’s cell.

  Dewey flinched at backed away from the bird. “Whoa!” He cried. Even though he was already a full grown SoulBird by now, this female earth type was slightly taller than him. Its horns were glowing. “Hehe, you sure could make a good mate for Aracto,” he said to the SoulBird.

  “Why thank you!” Mira spoke sarcastically. “Shiigo loves the Higher One’s SoulBird.” Then her expression fell into a glare again and she turned to her SoulBird. “Shred him, Shiigo.”

  The devilish earth type SoulBird tweeted furiously and pecked its long beak toward Dewey, who jumped and instantly ran away as fast as his long legs could carry him. But Shiigo also had long legs and high speed. The devilish SoulBird chased Dewey in circles and tried to jab at him with her long beak.

  I would have done something about the SoulBirds, but with Mira gripping my back and watching her own pet, I could only watch with distress.

  Mira huffed and loosened her sinking grip. “I asked you a question?” She looked at me again.

  I pretended not to look scared. I kept my eyes narrowed and serious as I faced her. “Sure...”

  She immediately yanked me to the side and banged my back against at tree. I grunted with confusion as she faced me with a cold stare.

  “So your SoulBird says you’re off to do something important?” She hissed. “Is it so important that you can’t tell me?” She raised an eyebrow.

  I said nothing. I stared at her blankly, and then sighed. “We’re off to battle some Beast that Lucien’s gonna bring to Purgatory.”

  “Ah,” She gave a slow nod.

  “Zach!” Jenna’s sharp voice came out of nowhere and I saw her approaching us from the other side of the Gehenna River. Grace was walking beside her feet. “Zach, what are you—AHH!” She flinched as she noticed Mira.

  It felt awkward for her to barge in when a slutty girl like Mira had me pinned against a tree. Shiigo stopped pecking at Dewey and looked over at Jenna and Grace with a menacing glare.

  “Zach, what are you doing?! Who is she?” Jenna narrowed her eyes at Mira.

  Mira was looking at Jenna with disgust. She took her arms off the tree and stepped up to Jenna on the other side of the river.

  “Excuse me, but who are you to disturb our little talk?” Mira spoke with a rough tone.

  Jenna faced her without blinking. She spoke defiantly. “I was just here to make sure Zach and I safely return back to the city. Apparently he seems to have nearly been attacked by some jailbird!”

  I stiffened as I watched Mira smile devilishly.

  Before she could say anything, I stepped up to her side. “Mira? This is Jenna. Jenna, Mira. I’m sorry but….I gotta go right now,” I came up to Jenna and spoke in a quiet voice. “You dropped them off by the border already? That was fast.”

  “I didn’t take ’em there,” said Jenna sharply. “I left them to Hannah.”

  “Oh, must you go so soon?” Mira faced me with a longing look. She was biting her long nails again. She faced Jenna. “I was just thinking…I can help you spirits fight the dragon Beast if you let me. I don’t wanna see my Zachy getting hurt.” She flashed me a sassy smile.

  Jenna raised her eyebrows. “Thanks, that’s really kind of you.” She spoke politely, and then she straightened her glasses. “But we’ve got other things to worry about besides fighting the dragon, and I don’t think you’d be interested.” She stepped over the boiling river with her head held high. “Come on, Zach. Hannah told me to get back to the city as soon as possible.” She flashed me a look. “Lucien’s returned, she says.”

  “Lucien?!” I nearly jumped.

  Dewey gasped and got up. “You serious? He’s returned?!”

  “Ugh,” Mira gave a dirty look and grabbed my shoulder again. “You got him all scared now, redhead. Why don’t you stay with me, Zachy?” She gave me a grimacing smile. “I can keep you safe.”

  “Ugh….” I stared at the ground. This girl was too sexy, but at the same time, she was scaring me. I felt nauseous.

  Jenna was watching me, and I could see she was holding back a laugh. “Of course,” she said with a snicker. “She’s from the Punished House in Bhad, where they keep all the insane Mediums. I bet she’s spent her entire mortal life in prison.”

  “Actually since I was six,” Mira flashed a glare at Jenna.

  I touched Mira’s hands and turned to meet her gaze with a naughty smile. “You know, I’d love to have you join us. But you’d have to check with Hannah first. And I doubt she would agree to bring a spirit who’s been in jail like you.”

  Mira gave a low hiss. Her nails dug into my shoulders and she pushed me forward from her grasp.

  “Fine then!” She was screaming. “See if you can stand Lucien without me!”

  “Come on, Zach,” Jenna huffed, rolling her eyes and taking my arm. “We don’t need her.”

  We hurried away with Dewey running behind.

  I turned around to flash Mira a sideways smile
.

  She smiled back, but then her gaze immediately turned into a glare. She picked up a sharp rock and threw it at the back of my neck.

  “Ow!” I flinched and felt blood start to trickle down my back. When I turned to like behind me, Mira was gone.

  As we got to the city, I stopped in my tracks.

  Jenna turned to face me. “Zach!”

  “Hang on. You said that Lucien was back?”

  “Yeah, Hannah says we need to meet her at the back of the academy.”

  I smirked. “Well, maybe I ought to check on the Higher One just to see how angry he is.”

  Jenna huffed and gave me an indignant look. “Well, if you’re going to go back to that dreaded palace, I’m going with you.”

  “What? No! You don’t have to come, I was just—”

  “Listen, I really don’t want to stick around with you any more than I have to, but Hannah told me to make sure that you’re safe,” she was glaring at me angrily. “If you’re going to do something as stupid as you’re doing right now, then I’m just going to have to come with you.”

  I gave her a wince. “Hah! Then I should’ve taken Mira with me! She could’ve done that for you.”

  “Puh-lease!” Jenna rolled her eyes. “Do you really trust Mira? You’re so stupid! She’s a punished one, and all punished spirits are crazy! Spirits like her deserve to go to Hell, but she just escaped! And you’re the first person she meets. Now you’re just going to trust her like that?!”

  “I never said I trusted her,” I replied simply. “I’m just saying that, unlike you, she sure seemed to be positive about keeping me safe.” I gave Jenna a look.

  Jenna huffed and crossed her arms. Grace landed on her shoulder. “Zach, no one in Purgatory should be accompanying us, unless they are angels. Hannah specifically told Jenna and me not to spill our plans out to anyone, unless they are a spirit from Heaven.”

  “Yeah,” said Dewey. “Mira’s so not a spirit from Heaven. Just look at her SoulBird!”

  “Oh, Dewey!” Grace jumped down. “Are you okay?”

  “All the same,” said Jenna edgily, giving me a sharp look. “I have to make sure you come to Hannah safely at dawn. Here, please wipe the blood on the back of your neck. It’s rather disturbing.”

  She threw me a cloth and I winced as she turned to walk away.

  But Jenna still decided to follow me back to the palace. I crept around the corner to peer into the garden and found Lucien and Enoch standing at the corner, away from the fire pool. I listened closely behind the thin walls that surrounded the yard. There were ugly, monstrous warriors were with him as well.

  “So the boy’s destroyed the temple,” Lucien was speaking rather calmly, and he didn’t seem to be bothered at all.

  Enoch was keeping his calm as well. “Has he? The whole city’s speaking of it.”

  Lucien narrowed his red eyes. “Zach followed me into the temple. He summoned an angel. She prevented my Beast from escaping the abyss, and she destroyed the temple. But it was through Zach’s rosary that she came at the right moment. If that naughty spirit wasn’t in the building, the angel would have been too late.”

  I stiffened with fear as the warriors started to shout out terrible punishment suggestions.

  But Lucien already started to look furious. “I think the time’s right. We must find the boy. We’ll drag his spirit to Hell and let the worms of fire suck his blood.”

  Dewey and Grace shivered at sound of his words.

  “What about his SoulBird?” Spoke one of the warriors.

  Lucien let out a menacing hiss. “His SoulBird will rot in a hellhouse.”

  At this point, Jenna was already creeping away. Dewey and I immediately followed her and crept away from the palace.

  I caught up to her before she could get any further. “Jenna!”

  “You see how angry he is now?!” She hissed.

  I was just about to follow her, but then the gates crashed behind us and I turned to see that Lucien was standing outside his yard with Enoch at his right and his warriors at his left. Lucien was giving me a menacing half-smile and the warriors were all growling at me.

  “Hello, Zachariah,” Lucien chuckled slyly. “Jenna? It’s nice to finally see you.” He fixed his red eyes on the girl.

  Jenna stayed by my side and stared at the Higher One with widened eyes.

  Lucien’s eyes flashed. “Take them.”

  And the band of beastly warriors charged at us.

  Jenna and I ran through the city and headed toward the nearest gates. We jumped over and our SoulBirds took flight. No one looked back.

  We arrived at the Gehenna Volcano and zoomed through the smoky haze that surrounded the rim. We dived into the hole and didn’t open our eyes.

  Chapter Fifteen-

  I regained consciousness when I was halfway to Purgatory. At first, I was drifting down the volcano, and then I felt my body start to rise.

  Someone was carrying me.

  I looked to my left and stared into the blank, dark face of a shadow.

  I screamed and struggled in the shadow’s grip. This was the same Shadow Man I had encountered in the alley!

  “Let me go! Argh!” I closed my eyes and felt my spirit start to fade away as the smoke surrounded both of us.

  By the time I opened my eyes, I found myself at the edge of the Gehenna Volcano back in Bhad. Jenna was shaking me awake.

  “Come on! Hurry up, before Lucien arrives!” She hissed.

  Dewey and Grace nudged me gently and I slowly rose up to my feet. I hurried after Jenna without noticing where I was running. All I could hear were just the sound of rambunctious monsters and exploding bombs. Lucien’s armies must be all over the place, and nowhere in Bhad would we be safe.

  We headed into the woods, and finally the noise died down.

  Jenna and I slowed down as the woods started to darken. Gracinda and Dewey both glowed in the shadows as they paced on the ground at our sides.

  For the longest moment, Jenna and I said nothing to each other.

  At last, Jenna huffed. “Okay! Somebody tell me where in the afterlife are we! The only thing I can be sure of is that we are still in the land of Bhad. But how far are we? Zach! You come from this stage! Do you know where we could be?”

  I met her gaze with a stony look through the shadows, and replied in an unfriendly tone. “We’re probably somewhere in the east.”

  Jenna huffed. “Well, we don’t want to wander too far, especially with Lucien’s henchmen wandering around! They can be anywhere in these woods.”

  Jenna was pressing on. She kept her head facing forward and didn’t even turn to meet my gaze.

  I hurried up to her side. “Slow down, will you?” I mumbled. “I thought you didn’t want to go too far.”

  “Well, we have to get somewhere!” She snapped. “We need to meet Hannah and Enoch. They’re probably already waiting for us at the borders of the stage. We should find a good place to rest, so our SoulBirds can try to contact them and trace where they are.”

  Dewey hopped along a small brook and stuck his beak in the water. “This place seems pretty nice! We got water right here!”

  “Ah!” Jenna raised her expression and walked up to the little SoulBird. “So the land of Bhad does have some natural water.”

  I scoffed. “I bet it’s tainted by some hell creature already.”

  Jenna dipped her bare feet into the small brook. “Ugh, it’s as warm as a hot tub, but it’s better than boiling lava.”

  Jenna sat by the brook with her feet in the water. Grace and Dewey played around the riverbank while Jenna stared ahead, engaged deep in her thoughts.

  I hung behind and eyed them with scorn. I didn’t want to stick with Jenna any longer than I had to. I hoped that we would soon find Hannah or someone from Heaven that can help us unite with Michael’s angels. For once, I cared about my safety. I was scared of Lucien now. After witnessing what he had tried to do in Harg, I knew I could never have the same feelings for h
im again.

  Suddenly, I looked around, wondering if Lucien would appear out of nowhere. What if the hellhounds attacked us while we slept?

  I glanced at Jenna. “You should have Grace communicate with Hannah’s SoulBird as soon as possible,” I remarked. “We don’t want to hang around here longer than we should.”

  Jenna turned to fix me with a piercing gaze. “I know that! I will! If you’re in such a hurry, why don’t you use your own SoulBird?”

  I gave her a sideways look. “Dewey doesn’t like to obey me any more than I like to obey him.”

  Jenna rolled her eyes. “Well first, let me cool down a bit. The land has been so hot, and it’s driven me crazy! I don’t know how you spirits can stand it down here.”

  I didn’t feel like starting an argument right now. I turned to wander into the woods.

  “Where are you going?” She called.

  “No where you’d care about,” I replied quietly so that she probably didn’t even hear me.

  I stopped to gaze at a burnt tree. I peered closely at the trunk and realized it wasn’t burnt, but splattered with blood. I touched it with my finger and then winced. The blood was gooey and wet. I rubbed it on my shirt, but it was still stuck to my fingers.

  Rolling my eyes, I turned to head back to the brook and wash my hands. I looked down at the bright moon reflecting on the water, and then at my own reflection.

  Suddenly, my reflection dissolved. The face of Damien was staring up at me with an evil smirk across his face. I yelled with surprise and jumped back.

  Damien was chuckling evilly. His eyes were red and glinting. “You’ll never find all three SoulBirds, Zachariah,” his voice seemed to echo in my head. “They will be under my power, and under Satan’s power. They belong to us, Zach. You’ll never stop us.”

  His eyes started to swirl and bleed. I picked up a rock and threw it at the reflection. The rock splashed into the water, and his face immediately disappeared.

  I was panting, feeling my heart beat noisily. What just happened?

  “Hey!” Jenna’s loud, snappy voice made me flinch and whip around to face her. She raised her expression. “Whoa, what crawled up your soul?”

  “I-I saw Damien’s face in the pool. His reflection was right there!” I pointed to the brook behind me.