Veiled

by Silvina Niccum

  Alex stopped and looked at me, his face pained and angry.

  “Yes, Tess! That is exactly what we’ve been trying to do while you decided to go for a tour of the canyon.”

  We looked at each other for a moment. He was right. I was selfish and immature.

  “I’m sorry Alex, I really am. I have no idea what came over me. I…” I shook my head. I really didn’t know why I had done that myself, so I couldn’t explain it. He searched my face. He looked concerned and frustrated, but then he put his arms around me and hugged me…tightly.

  “It’s a good thing Val saw you leaving” His voice was soft, more forgiving. “She had overheard from someone that the Second One himself was around here somewhere.”

  “So you came looking?”

  “No, I don’t have to look. I can…” He let out a sigh. “I could feel your fear, Tess.” He straightened his arms and looked into my eyes, trying to convey something through them, something more than what his words were saying.

  “You could? You can feel what I feel?”

  “Yeah…sometimes, even when I’m not looking for you, I can sense you,” he said, a little embarrassed. “Especially if you are feeling something very powerful like fear. I feel it too. It helps me find you.”

  “What if I’m not feeling anything particularly…powerful?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know, Tess. It always feels very natural, like…seeing or hearing. I can’t describe it.”

  “So you can find me by following your…instincts?” I asked, curious now about this ability of his.

  He shook his head in frustration and kept gliding. “Yeah, something like that.”

  I smiled weakly, and I started after him. “I will never let you down again…and…thank you for coming,” I told him once I had caught up with him.

  “Yeah, no problem.” He put one arm around my shoulders and pressed me gently toward his side as we glided to the moon.

  A strange wave of emotions swept over me. The intensity of them scared me, so I did what I always do when faced with overwhelming feelings—I buried them.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 4

  When we got back to the moon, the last thing I wanted to do was explain myself to others. I knew Alex would not let them pester me, so I stayed close to him and followed him around as he made his inquiries, trying to find out what he had missed.

  Russell, Max, and Leo were still talking. As we came near them Russ only gave me a sideways glance. I knew what he was thinking—he was mad too—but Russ didn’t worry me. Celeste and Valerie did. They would never let this one go.

  “So, what did I miss?” Alex asked them.

  “Not much. One of the High Councilors spoke,” Russell said sarcastically.

  Max gave me a compassionate smile then added, “He said that we need to divide in pairs and go find those who are undecided and more susceptible to the Second One’s lies.”

  “We would have to make sure the pairs are well made, at least one of the spirits should be strong enough to protect the other in case of trouble. The rebels would like nothing more than to gang up on a weak pair,” Russell suggested.

  “And I suggested we mix and match some of our clan members,” Leo said casually as he winked at me with a friendly smile. “Not just for variety, but also because some of us have uneven clans,” he added.

  Russell, Max, and Alex quickly agreed on the plan and got to the task of dividing the three clans into pairs. I was sure I would be with Celeste, but she was paired up with Richard.

  “You can’t put Celeste with Richard!” I protested.

  At this comment Max looked up with a puzzled look on his face. I shot him an apologetic look—naturally he would be protective of someone from his clan—so I took Alex aside to explain myself more freely.

  “Tess,” Alex said a little embarrassed, “what are you doing?”

  “There is something weird about Richard. I don’t want Celeste alone with him. What if he is a spy?”

  “What makes you think that Richard, of all spirits, is a spy?”

  “He is hiding something.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I…I just know. I have always felt that he is hiding something, or that there is a side to him that he doesn’t show. Besides, didn’t you want to put a really strong spirit in charge?”

  “Celeste is strong, Tess. She may kid around a lot, but she is unshakable…and stubborn,” he added.

  “Fine, but not Richard!” I said resolutely. “Don’t forget that I’m a Discerner. Maybe I feel this way because of my gift,” I added, hoping that this claim would win me some credit.

  “I know you are a Discerner, Tess, but Max knows Richard much better than you do and I can’t just tell Max that you have a bad feeling about Richard. Not to mention that Celeste seems to be quite fond of Richard.” He nudged his head toward the spot where Celeste and Richard were laughing—together.

  I felt defeated. I knew that there would be no way of getting Celeste out of this one.

  “OK!” I finally said, “But I get to keep a close eye on them, whoever you put me with will have to be okay with that.”

  “I’m OK with that.”

  I gazed at him suspiciously. “What do you mean by that?”

  “I’m with you.”

  Now I was offended. Obviously I was not strong enough to be with a weaker spirit. I had to be watched over, as if I were in danger of defecting.

  “Listen, I said I was sorry about going off by myself like that. I told you I wouldn’t do it again, but I assure you I am in no danger of joining up with them.” I would have kept on going but Alex cut me off with a chuckle.

  “You are strong, Tess, and I have no fear of you defecting.”

  “Then why am I with you?”

  “Have you forgotten the warning that you got just now, from the Second One himself? He is mad at you, Tess. He will find a way to hurt you and I can’t let that happen. Besides, I want us to be together.” His gaze was sweet and caring and I couldn’t argue with that, so defeated I once more relented—but now I was nervous. For the first time in my existence I felt anxious about being alone with Alex.

  As he retreated back to the planning, I looked after him. What was going on? Why did I feel so confused about my friendship with Alex? He had always been one my closest friends, aside from Celeste. And we had this strange bond where he could find me every time I got lost…but…something inside of me shut down and refused to consider the matter further. I didn’t know what was going on, and I didn’t think I wanted to know—something was bound to change between us—and I hate change.

  Just then one of the High Councilors quieted the crowds and started speaking to us about the latest tactics that the rebels were using to get spirits to join them. Apparently the rebels were promising a position of power once they got to Earth. They have some sort of list going, where if your name goes there, the Second One will be sure to give you authority and riches above the rest. And in case they fail, they are promising that as cast-outs they would take possession of the bodies of those who get to live.

  After a lot of advice and recommendations, the High Councilors bid us farewell, and spirits started to depart. Before leaving, Celeste came to my side to say good bye. She was giddy with excitement, and apparently was looking forward to her time alone with Richard.

  “Save it, Tess!” she said. “I know what you are going to say about Richard, and if there is any truth to it I will know soon enough,” she said resolutely, then she spun and glided happily away, turning only once to give me a teasing smile and a wink.

  Max had paired himself with Eros, which I thought prudent; Russ, of course, was with Nancy. Dane and Valerie were together. Dorian got paired with Luz and her two other sisters were together. Henry got paired with a shy spirit named Estelle from Leo’s clan.

  Slowly, one by one, the rally broke up as spirits flew off in different directions.

  “All set?” Alex asked.

  “
I thought Shazer was this way?” I asked, pointing to my right, and by his look I immediately knew that I was turned around again. I am horrible with directions. I honestly don’t know how others manage to find their way in the universe.

  Alex chuckled. “Don’t leave my side,” he warned teasingly, and extended his hand.

  I nodded and obediently took his hand, ignoring once more the jolt of emotions that these simple exchanges gave me lately.

  Our assignment was to go to the Shazer galaxy that had several inhabited planets, most of them newly created. The spirits assigned to live on those planets currently inhabited a spirit world, where they trained and waited for their turn to live. Those spirits no longer roamed the universe like we did, but remained in their respective spirit worlds learning and preparing for their mortality.

  Their spirit world resembled their physical world, but was ten times the size of its physical replica. The reason for that was space—every creature that would ever inhabit that world needed adequate room, even if that creature was currently a spirit. A spirit world could only be inhabited by those who were assigned there, so Earthlings could not visit those other spirit worlds…not without getting in trouble if they got caught. However, we could observe the mortals from any planet, as long as we did it from a distance and did not interfere.

  Inhabited worlds were a great attraction to us spirits who had no spirit world of our own, because we liked to learn by watching. So we would be sure to find some Earth bound spirits there.

  As we traveled, Alex seemed to be deep in thought; I could sense that he was nervous about something.

  “What are you thinking about?” My question seemed to rouse him.

  “Oh, nothing.”

  “It looks as if you were worried about something.”

  “No, not worried.”

  “Then…what?” I tried to sound casual.

  He turned his gaze on mine, and he had a pained look. For a moment it seemed as if he were about to say something, then changed his mind. I could tell that he was troubled, but why wouldn’t he confide in me?

  “Don’t worry about it, Tess, it’s nothing,” he said dismissively.

  I didn’t know what else to say, so I settled for our uncomfortable silence.

  After a while, he seemed to not be able to contain his simmering thoughts and just burst out. “You know…it’s funny how much of a Discerner you are when it comes down to other spirits—yet you don’t seem to be able to discern me at all!”

  I thought about that for a moment, then I looked away embarrassed. I could discern him if I wanted to. Truth is, I am scared to discern him. I feel that there is something there, something that will change our relationship for ever, and change scares me. What if what I found caused me to lose him?

  “I just look at Russell and Nancy and I wish we could be like them too, that’s all,” he continued when I didn’t respond.

  “But we are like them,” I insisted.

  “No, we are not,” he said with an acid tone and a faltering laugh.

  “I thought we were…” I frowned. Russell and Nancy were always together. They fought sometimes, but always made up and fixed things between them. They were usually laughing about something and teased each other all the time. Sure…we weren’t exactly like that, but we were us.

  “Then you don’t know what Russell and Nancy have,” he declared, and resumed his march toward the planet.

  He was probably right. I didn’t know much about the nature of Russell’s and Nancy’s relationship, they never talked about it. But I loved Alex, more so than pretty much the rest of the spirits in my clan, and I would rather be with him than any other spirit—with the exception of Celeste of course.

  “I may not know what Russell and Nancy have, but I do know that I love you.”

  He looked into my eyes, with intensity, as if looking for something he had lost in them. Then his lips formed a tight line and looked away pained, obviously by what he saw in them—or didn’t see.

  “I know you love me, just like you love Celeste, and Dorian, and Valerie, and Dane…” His voice trailed off.

  “No, I love you and Celeste the most.”

  He seemed irritated now, but didn’t lose his composure.

  “I’m not talking about whom you love the most, but how you love them. There are different kinds of love you know.”

  “There are?” I asked incredulously.

  Now Alex started laughing, and wrapped his arm around my neck.

  “Come on, Tess, I think I see some spirits hovering over the southern continent there.”

  His mind seemed more at ease now, as we flew to meet those spirits, but now my mind was not. Part of me wanted to examine these feelings further, but when we got to Shazer I decided that I should focus on the task at hand and leave the soul searching for another time.

  We did our best for what seemed like an eternity. This job was not as easy as we first anticipated. It was dull and repetitious. So I was glad, for once, to interrupt a conversation to answer a call from Valerie.

  “Something is wrong, Tess,” Valerie said in her usual doom and gloom way. “Celeste is in trouble! We need to get to her now!”

  I glared at Alex, wholly blaming him for this. I told him not to put her with Richard. Alex looked back at me with a helpless and sorry look on his face.

  “Let’s go then,” Alex said, hoping that speed would make up for it somehow, and turned toward the planet that Celeste and Richard had been assigned.

  “They are not at the place where they were sent. We looked,” Dane said as if he could see what Alex was about to do. Then we realized that he could. They were approaching us at full speed while they talked to us through the calling stones.

  “We heard from some spirits in that area, that two females showed up and they all left together,” Dane continued.

  “Where?” I asked once they were next to us.

  “That was all they knew…and she won’t answer our calls either,” Valerie added.

  “That’s strange,” Alex said more to himself than us. “I wonder who they were?”

  Just then, Dorian halted to a stop just a little ways away. He must have been flying fast; all I saw was a flash and then, he was there. Luz had been holding his hand, and looked temporarily unstable as they halted. Dorian looked all around him, and when he spotted us he came over.

  “Celeste needs us!” Dorian alerted, wasting no time on greetings. “I saw her, she…she’s being tortured!”

  “Agatha…” I whispered. I don’t know how but I was sure that she was behind this somehow. She might be trying to get back at me for whatever I said back in that canyon. Maybe I offended her by not bowing down to her and the Second One like the others did. Or perhaps she thinks she can turn me by torturing my friends.

  Whatever her plan is, she will fail. Celeste will not crack. I won’t let her. Agatha has just met her match, I thought with a new determination.

  “Where is she?” I asked Dorian.

  “In my vision she was surrounded by a bunch of spirits. The place is hard to describe…but she wasn’t alone. I saw Max too. He was also being tortured by other spirits.”

  “Where, Dorian, where?” Alex insisted. He was feeling guilty for all this. I took his hand to let him know that I was not blaming him for it after all. He understood and responded with a grateful smile.

  “It looks like…” Dorian concentrated for a moment. “A dead planet, highly developed…covered with fog.”

  “Ishtar!” Alex said.

  “Yeah!” Dorian agreed. “That’s the one…at least I’m pretty sure it is.”

  Ishtar had only recently died. The death of a planet was inevitable, like the death of all things mortal.

  Planets, like all things living, evolve. It takes thousands of mortal years for the natural evolution of a planet to take place. Fires, followed by thick black fog that smolders the embers, are but the beginnings of the evolutionary process a planet must go through.

  No mortal li
fe could be sustained while the planet is going through that process, so it would make a great hiding place for spirits. The fog like substance, being a perfect cloak for our forms, makes Ishtar a grand setting for the rebellion and their “recruitment” of spirits.

  We headed there at once, agreeing to stop just outside the atmosphere, to be safe. Then we would make sure that Ishtar was indeed the planet where they held Max and Celeste, and we would figure out an actual rescue plan then.

  Once there, all we could see of Ishtar were the ruins of its many cities, sky scrapers, bridges, and towers. These broken down structures were covered by that impossible murky fog that settles after the burning stops. The fog made the scene look menacing.

  “They are there,” I said solemnly. “I can feel them.”

  All eyes looked questioningly on me.

  “Not Celeste and Max,” I corrected. “I can feel the rebels.”

  This must have seemed impressive, because from where we hovered, nothing but ruins and fog could be seen. Here and there I could see faint glowing dots. I wondered if those were small fires that had not yet been extinguished by the fog.

  Valerie made a sudden jerk and put her hands to her head. Dane reacted instantly in the same nurturing way that he had reacted with me.

  “She’s not doing so well, she is…considering joining them,” Valerie predicted.

  NO! I thought to myself. Hang in there, Cel! Don’t give in, I told her subliminally with the vain hope that she would hear me.

  Dane, Alex, and Dorian exchanged glances then nodded, but right as they were about to plunge into the planet’s surface, Russell’s voice reverberated all around Alex’s form.

  “Alex, where are you?”

  “Right over Ishtar,” Alex said, a little annoyed.

  “What? Never mind, we’ll be right there. Don’t move!” Russell ordered.

  Moments later, Russell and Nancy appeared just above the planet. They looked in all directions and once they saw us they came to our side.