by D. N. Leo
Zach stared at Mya. She looked at him, and he knew she was wondering why Kirra didn’t remember her kill shot. Zach opened his mouth and was about to ask, but Mya cut in. “Kirra, it’s like a war zone here. You both must have put up a hell of a fight. And your shoulder is bleeding, Zach.” She looked at Zach as she spoke. At the same time, she switched on her deity mode in a flash to peek into Kirra’s mind. She knew Zach saw and understood what she was trying to do. He looked at her and said nothing.
In Kirra’s mind, Mya saw nothing else except what she had just verbalized.
“Oh yeah, the bleeding is quite bad,” Zach muttered and pressed the heel of his hand to the wound.
Kirra scowled. “Don’t do that. It’ll bleed more.”
Mya switched off her deity mode and looked at Zach. She shook her head slightly, signaling that she had found nothing unusual in Kirra’s mind.
“Let’s find a place for you two to rest, and we’ll plan the next step,” Mya said as she glanced around. They were in the middle of nowhere. Endless red dirt hills sprawled to the left of them, and a thick forest flanked the country road to the right. Mya didn’t think they had a chance of finding an inn nearby.
“There’s a small inn a couple miles west,” Kirra said.
Mya had totally forgotten Kirra worked as a tour guide. She smiled. “That’s headed back in the direction of Wagga Wagga. So we’re going backward. But let’s stay there for the night,” Mya said.
“And we’ll need another car. It’ll take a lifetime to walk to Sydney,” Zach said.
“What about teleporting?” Mya asked.
Zach glanced at Kirra then back at Mya. “Sure, but we’ll have to wait until nighttime. I still haven’t got a hundred percent hang of the landing end of it. We don’t want to suddenly appear in the middle of a shopping mall.”
“Or we can take a side trip. Head south a bit and get to the train station for the interstate train line. The express will take us to Sydney in a few hours. That way, we don’t need a car,” Kirra said.
“That’s brilliant.” Zach grinned.
Mya hesitated. “Taking the train?”
“What’s the problem, Mya?” Kirra asked.
She shook her head. “Nothing. Let’s go.” She had an odd feeling about this. Something was about to go wrong. But she didn’t know what it was.
“If you’re sensing something, we need to know now, Mya,” Zach said.
“The train is a confined moving box…”
Zach chuckled. “Yes, we all know that, Mya. It’s inflexible. We don’t have control over it. But if we want to get to Leon quickly—and get back so that we can get back to Eudaiz, get your jar of potion, and pay your debts to the Goddess—that would be the quickest way. We can go to the hotel, and I can teleport tonight, but I really can’t wait another nanosecond to get back to Eudaiz.”
Kirra frowned. “What’s your concern, Mya? What’s the problem?” she asked again.
Mya cleared her throat to buy some time, then she looked at Kirra. “All right, I’ll lay all the cards on the table. We don’t have time to play mind games and, like Zach, I want to get to Leon as soon as possible. He’s not equipped to be going around in this world by himself.”
Kirra smiled. “Bring it on.”
“Zach said you stabbed the lynx to death, and then you passed out. But you don’t remember the incident.”
Kirra shrugged. “Must be a post-traumatic reaction.”
“I wish it was that simple, Kirra. A lynx of Elanora’s caliber can’t be killed by a human. I don’t know exactly what her rank is, but she’s no ordinary lynx. I don’t even know how to kill her myself, but I do know this. A high-ranking lynx can choose to shift from one bodily host to another.”
Zach raised his hand. “Wait, you’re not saying Elanora possessed Kirra, are you?”
Kirra’s eyebrows raised. “For your information, I feel more like myself than ever before.”
Mya shook her head. “I’m not drawing any conclusions…yet.”
“All right, what do you need to know or do to be sure?” Kirra asked.
“I have to look into your soul.”
“What?” Kirra exclaimed.
Zach raked his hand through his hair. “I know you can switch on your deity mode and search people’s lives and even their destiny. But looking into someone’s soul is a serious violation of privacy, Mya.”
“I know. That’s why I rarely do it. And I can only do it with the person’s permission.”
“Like lie detection exercises in spy movies?” Kirra asked.
Zach laughed. “You have a way of making things light and easy, Kirra. You don’t have to agree to do this. But please understand there are a lot of things at stake—”
“I do,” Kirra cut in. “I understand. I don’t have important things to do in my life like you two do, but I understand that your decisions have an impact on other’s lives. So I don’t mind a little lie detection. I have nothing to hide.” She smiled and looked at Mya. “And if you see any girly secrets in my soul while you’re there, please don’t tell anyone else about them!”
Mya smiled. “I promise.”
“What do I have to do?”
“Nothing. Just close your eyes and relax.”
Kirra followed her instructions, and Mya approached. She raised her hands up, hovering them just above Kirra’s head but not touching it. Then she closed her eyes, switched on her deity mode, and floated into her subconscious deity division where she could look into people’s souls.
There, she saw Kirra’s.
Chapter 10
Richard left the office after the meeting with the board directors of the theatrical company. After Casey passed away, the estimated loss for the company had been so tremendous that they couldn’t continue the show right away. Casey had an understudy, but she was far from ready, so based on Richard’s recommendation, they tentatively rescheduled the next performance. He decided to stay with the company for a little longer to sort things out.
Richard had decided not to tell the directors that Casey hadn’t died but had vanished into thin air right in front of him. He was sure it was the right decision. He tried to blame what he thought he had seen on a hallucination. It seemed logical since he had blacked out immediately afterward. It surprised him that the doctor and nurse who had seen the incident as well had remained silent about it.
He needed time to mull things over and figure out what was actually going on. He was uncertain about so many things. But there was one thing he knew for sure—this theatrical company wasn’t what it appeared to be in the public eye.
He walked past Casey’s room on his way out and stopped at the door. It made no difference now whether she had died or just disappeared. The fact remained that she had vanished from his life. The pain hit him like a storm. He hadn’t thought about that since leaving the hospital. He’d deliberately avoided thinking about it. Now the feelings of loss were taking a toll on him. He pushed open the door to her room and stepped into the world of Casey Anderson.
The room was the same as he remembered it. It wasn’t like he’d had a chance to spend a lot of time here, but he absorbed as much information about her as possible whenever he came here. He could still smell the faint scent of her perfume. So feminine and earthy.
A luxurious bed rested in the middle of the room, grand and inviting. It was so Casey. She always talked about the freedom of the subconscious when the human mind was in a dream state. That was why the bed was central in her life. It wasn’t just about sleeping. It was about traveling to a world where her mind could be free of earthly worries.
For her, the velvet and silky linen were an integral part of the sleeping experience. Surprising for a performer, she didn’t have a large makeup desk or an endless wardrobe. She didn’t need accessories, Richard mused. Her beauty and talent had best represented her in this world. Or maybe in his mind. He traced his finger on the pillow, feeling the softness of the fabric of the pillowcase. He sat down on the
bed and picked it up. At the very back of the neat arrangement of pillows and cushions of all sizes on the bed, he saw the corner of a small wooden box.
He pulled the box out and examined it. It was an exquisite antique box, and he was sure whatever was inside must be precious to Casey. It was unlocked. He frowned. Maybe what was inside wasn’t as important as he thought. Maybe it was just some herbs and flowers she used to help induce sleep.
But he wasn’t going to open the box. That would invade her privacy. Regardless of whether she was dead or alive, he could at least respect her privacy. He stared at the box, and it stared back at him in challenge. Casey had disappeared right in front of him. A man had tried to take her out of the hospital. The man said she would trade a life for Richard. What did he mean by that?
What if he could find an answer in this box? What if it could help him find Casey?
He rubbed his thumb over the copper lock, then he flipped it over and opened the box.
Chapter 11
The interstate train pulled into a small station. Leon stood up and bolted toward the door. He had changed to another cabin, but he couldn’t get the image of the dead security man out of his mind. It was his first kill under his command on Earth, executed by an apprentice of Death—a soul trader.
He knew of the soul traders. He’d never met one, let alone had one under his command. And this one kept referring to him as God. Leon shook his head, trying to make sense of things.
An announcement was broadcast from a speaker—“Please note that this is an emergency stop because of an incident on board. This is not a station on our normal route. You may choose to depart the train here, but be aware it might cause a disruption in your planned journey. If you stay onboard, we will soon be back on the main route. The next station is Middle Land.”
“My God, you shouldn’t get off the train because the next train at this station won’t get you to where you want to be.”
“How do you know where I want to be? And I sent you away. I don’t want to hear your voice anymore. Go away.”
“As you wish, my God.”
“Wait…” Leon said after a moment of hesitation.
“Yes, my God. I am still here.”
“Why do you keep calling me God?”
“You have the light of God around you. The sort of light that only a soul trader like me can see. We were taught that your soul cannot be traded. You are one of the gods. What kind of god, I do not know.”
“Right. So am I immortal? I can’t be killed?”
“No, my God. Your soul might be immortal. But your body may not be. You might be able to travel from life to life through incarnation. That’s my speculation. All I know is that I cannot take your soul and trade it as I did with the human earlier.”
Leon nodded. “So who are you, and why did your son kidnap me?”
Silence.
Leo continued. “By taking that long to answer, I assume you’re coming up with some kind of lie. So don’t worry about it.”
“Please forgive me, my God.”
“There’s nothing for me to forgive. Tell your son to leave me alone.”
“Yes, my God.”
“What’s your name? That has to be something you don’t have to lie about.”
“Currently, I am called Casey Anderson.”
“Currently? So you change your name often? Are you a fugitive?”
“I have a situation that I don’t care to talk about. It has caused me to float around for more than a thousand years in different human forms. During each human life, I have a different identity. But in a sense, yes, I am a fugitive. My son believes there’s a way out of this…” She sobbed. “He believes he can save me… He’s a good boy… But I don’t know why he tried to capture you. I haven’t had a chance to talk to him yet.”
“What are you hiding or escaping from? Your son tried to save you and kidnapped me. So there must be a connection between the two. There must be something I can do to help your situation. Why did you have to float around for a thousand years?
“My God, do you really want to help me?”
“Only if it doesn’t involve anything morally wrong. What do you need?”
“I don’t know what’s right and wrong, my God. I was born and raised as a soul trader, and that is all I do. I receive orders, I take souls, and I trade them.”
“Who gives you the orders?”
“My God!”
“If you want my help, you have to tell me the truth.”
Silence.
“Casey!”
The only thing Leon could hear now was the murmuring the of passengers in the other cabin. He was the only one in his cabin, and it was dead quiet. Casey had gone. He felt a bit uneasy. At least the invisible soul trader spoke Babylonian and appeared to be on his side. But now he was back to being alone in this strange world.
The train started to move toward the next station. They’d announced the next destination, but he hadn’t paid attention. His mind had wandered back to the moment the black cat got him when he was in the basement, and then the encounter with Casey and the cat again in a man’s form.
As Leon went backward in his mind and traced every step to see if he could draw any conclusions, the train headed toward Middle Land.
Chapter 12
Mya opened her eyes. She could feel Zach’s breath right against her neck as he stood behind her. She turned around, and Zach’s face was so close he could almost kiss her. But there was no romance in his eyes. He was waiting for her response regarding Kirra. Mya knew that was one of Zach’s problems—he cared too much for those he considered his friends.
She smiled. Her smile seemed to lift the weight of worry from Zach’s shoulders. “So it’s all good?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Can you wake her now?” Zach asked.
Kirra was still standing, her eyes closed as if hypnotized. “Before I bring her back, I have to tell you this, Zach. Although I can’t see anything unusual about her soul right now, it doesn’t mean she won’t change. Magical lynxes cannot be killed by ordinary humans. That’s a fact. The way you described the incident, I think she looked into Elanora’s eyes before she killed her. That was the perfect chance for the lynx to jump into a new host body.”
Zach raked his hands through his hair. “So what are we supposed to do? How can we tell?”
“There’s not much we can do now. I just want you to be careful. Also, it’s the same deal you have with Leon. You told Leon he’s carrying the eudqi of Eudaiz, and if he’s captured by Eudaiz’s adversaries, you’ll have to kill him before the eudqi is taken. It’s the same with Kirra.”
“How so?”
“If Elanora did happen to take over Kirra’s soul, I will have to kill her. And trust me, Zach, I would be doing her a favor. There’s nothing worse than being possessed by a devil soul.”
“You said a lynx can’t be killed.”
“It can’t be killed by an ordinary human. Or even a minor god. I can’t kill it. But a soul is different. I can’t kill a soul, but I can destroy it by locking it in the underworld.”
“Like putting it in jail?” Zach raised an eyebrow.
Mya nodded. “Yes, like that. I have the authority to do that. But it requires the destruction of the physical body.”
Zach shook his head. “So it’s similar to a kill. But you said you can’t physically kill a lynx!”
Mya sighed. “It’s complicated, isn’t it? Not all lynx are bad. If they don’t do anything wrong, I can’t kill them. But possessing someone else’s soul is wrong, and on those grounds, my power can kill it.”
Zach scowled. “So if that’s the case, Kirra is a sacrificial lamb. She didn’t do anything wrong but will be killed because an evil lynx possessed her soul.”
Mya nodded. “Unfortunately, yes. I don’t want it to go down that way. Just like you don’t want to have to kill Leon. But as you can see, it’s a little complicated.”
Zach nodded. “All right. We’ll see how i
t goes.” He approached her. “I know what the whole eudqi ordeal costs me. But what will this cost you? If you send an evil soul to the underworld, it’s going to cost you something. It can’t be as easy as it sounds.”
“The only thing is that I am only a minor deity. I don’t have a lot of power. If I run into a strong magical creature, I’ll have to put up a fight. And I don’t always win those sorts of fights.”
Zach tilted her chin up. “Just like marrying a cop…”
“Is that a proposal?”
“I thought I already proposed, and you already said yes.”
“No, I didn’t—”
He cut off her speech with a bone-melting kiss. They held each other for a while before Mya turned to wake Kirra.
Kirra opened her eyes. “That seemed like a very long lie detection session. Did I pass?” she asked.
Zach grinned. “It seems you did. Shall we go to the train station, Ms. Tour Guide?”
Kirra shrugged. “See, I told you. As a part of my training, I’m very resilient. I almost joined the army.”
“Really? I didn’t know that.” Zach laughed and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He looked back and winked at Mya. Mya smiled and followed Zach and Kirra. She still felt uneasy, but she had no proof of her suspicion and no way to explain the butterflies she had in her stomach right now.
In no time, they were settled in their seats on a train to Sydney. An announcement let them know that the next station would be Middle Land.
Chapter 13
Richard startled so badly he dropped the wooden box. As soon as he’d opened the box he knew he shouldn’t, he’d heard Casey calling his name. He whirled around. A perfume bottle, a necklace charm, and a bracelet scattered on the carpeted floor, having spilled out of the opened box. He gathered them and put them back into the box. He must have imagined Casey’s voice.
“Richard,” she gently called again.
“Holy sweet Jesus Christ!” he exclaimed. He put the box on the dressing table and scanned the room. “I don’t expect to see you because you vanished right in front of me, Casey. But I can hear you now. Does that mean you aren’t dead?”
