Into The Light (The Fallen Shadows)

by Rebecca R. Cohen

  The other battle depicted the angels engaging the same creatures that had attacked Katharine. The angels drew back their golden arrows on their gilded bows and shot rapidly at the creatures. Katharine had not been privy to the outcome of either battle as the flashes continued.

  Next Katharine witnessed a group of male angels clad in sheer white clothing accented with gold here and there. On their heads were golden crowns with gems of varying shapes, sizes and colors. They gathered in a room that was pure white and sat at an alabaster table. The chairs in which the angels were sitting were larger than even they were and had symbols of varying different religion carved into the headrest from what Katharine could make out.

  At the table a heated discussion was taking place about finding all the Descended and taking them back to Purgatory for good. Before the flashes ended Katharine heard one of the more attractive angels with golden blonde hair and piercing blue eyes say, “We need someone to guide them and take down the Descended once they’re found.”

  Ash touched the top of the sphere making it stop spinning and once more allowing the quarry to return to normal in a far less glamorous manner as it all faded. Everything came back into focus as if they were looking at the quarry through binoculars and had been playing around with the lenses until the images were clear again.

  “Okay what the hell was that?” Katharine was baffled and more confused that she had been before the sphere began to spin. She assumed that Ash had shown her those images to help explain things but all they did was confuse her more.

  “That is the history of how you came to be.” Ash turned to face Katharine, placing his hands on her shoulders. His face bent into the formation of someone who was about to spill earth-shattering information to her. “You, Katharine, are a Tracker,” he pronounced to her, “One who has the ability to find the Descended and lead those like me, the Guides, such as myself, to them, to be brought back to Purgatory.”

  Katharine stood silent for a moment then felt the edges of her mouth begin to widen. Trying to fight the urge to laugh, Katharine held her breath, but what Ash was saying was far too crazy and she couldn’t hold it in any more. The teenager erupted in hysterics of uncontrollable laughter. In an attempt to stop Katharine took a few deep breaths trying to calm down but the laughter kept coming.

  Ash shifted in place completely appalled by her behavior. He folded his arms across his chest and glared at Katharine waiting for her to realize that he was telling the truth. Katharine’s stomach hurt from the laughing and the look in Ash’s eyes told her that whether or not she believed it, he did.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to laugh but come on! Heaven? Angels? Holy Wars? That is just the stuff of myths, it doesn’t exist,” Katharine said, finally composing herself. “Even if it did, there is no way that I am some Tracker who is supposed to help you find a bunch of fallen angels. I don’t even believe in angels so how could I possibly be able to see them?”

  “After everything I have just shown you, after what you have been through tonight, how can you still not believe?” Ash waved his arms as if to show Katharine the quarry and what he had shown her through the sphere.

  She had no real explanation for what had attacked her or what she had just seen but she couldn’t believe that she was a part of some larger heavenly picture.

  “How is this possible?” Katharine sank to the ground. She searched her mind for some memories that might lead her to the knowledge that Heaven truly existed and, she supposed, Hell too. “I thought stories of Heaven were just the preaching’s of believers and the pastors so they could keep their jobs.” She was just a normal girl from a small town in the middle of America. She was getting ready to apply to Harvard Law School, her dream school, so she could work on her dream of become a world-class lawyer. “I’m not the one you want. I only know how to do one thing, be a teenager. I know nothing of Heaven or Purgatory. Until now I didn’t even think any of it existed.”

  Ash knelt in front of her. “You’re more valuable than you believe.”

  If Katharine was supposed to be able to find the Descended she couldn’t understand why she didn’t see the one that attacked her coming. Or why she had no idea they existed.

  “So if Angels exist does that mean – demons exist as well?” Katharine regretted the question as soon as it left her mouth and hoped he wouldn’t answer.

  Ash smiled politely and lifted Katharine to her feet. “Demons exist but not in the way that you think they do.” His tone was firm like those of her teachers.

  She waited for him to tell her the story of demons but he stood silent. “Well? Tell me how they exist then.”

  He placed his hand up to his mouth, wiping it as if he’d been drinking milk and wanted to rid his face of its remnants. “Trust me you’re better off not knowing,” Ash replied. “Nor would you want to know.”

  “You couldn’t possibly know what I want, you don’t even know me!” Katharine demanded folding her arms across her chest. The rebellious and attractive boy sighed and copied Katharine’s stance.

  “Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He began to circle Katharine like a shark circling a fish in the water. His eyes fixed on her as he began to speak. “Demons weren’t always the vile creatures you heard about in your books or in your atrocious films. They were once humans, but tainted humans, ones who had committed heinous crimes against humanity, crimes that could never be forgiven. When these humans died they would descend directly into Hell and there they would be tortured, burned, skinned and sliced until they were a black charred figure pooling with blood. Their pain would be so great as they served their time in Hell that they would release their souls into Purgatory so they no longer felt pain. Once they did this they would become demons designed for one thing, causing death and misery wherever they went. To come across one would be the end of your world, as you know it. In all my centuries not once has a mortal come across a demon and lived to tell the tale. ”

  Katharine shuttered at the thought. As grotesque and horrifying as the Descended that attacked her was she couldn’t imagine anything as terrifying as what Ash had just described.

  She thought of the lessons she’d learned in Sunday school when she was a child.

  Her teachers spoke of angels and demons but described demons as creatures born of Hell, servants of Lucifer. They claimed that demons were creatures that never once knew the pleasure of the human world. She was taught that sinning, even in the slightest, bought you a one-way ticket into Hell. It was amazing how little her teachers really knew.

  “What about those who commit sins, ones that can be forgiven?” Katharine inquired.

  Ash chuckled and tousled her hair with his finger playfully. “You mean like premarital sex?”

  Katharine shoved him and forced a look of disgust. “Of course you would think that.”

  “The sins must be extreme, mass-murders, killing an infant that sort of thing,” Ash shrugged and kept the smile he’d worn at the sound of her question.

  She felt sick. How could anyone even think about killing an innocent child?” She welcomed the foul breath of the Descended over the traumatizing images running through her mind.

  “I told you, you wouldn’t want to know” Ash said, taking note of the horrified look upon her face.

  “Yes, yes you did. Would you like a medal or something?” Katharine said, with obvious sarcasm.

  Unimpressed, Ash raised his hands and shrugged. “Anything else you’d like to know? More nightmares I can provide you with?”

  Katharine fought the tears forming in her eyes; she wanted to show her strength not anymore weakness. He spoke to her without care, without respect for the burden he had placed on her. She was angry with him and with those who taught her growing up. How could they not tell me about this? How did I not know this was real?

  “Why was I chosen? I’m just a normal teenager from a small town. I am nothing special, there isn’t an angelic bone in my body,” Katharine insisted.

  Ash smile
d and let out a vibrant laugh. “True but having angelic blood isn’t what makes one a Tracker, their birthright does, you were born of this, it is your destiny.” Katharine’s face contorted in such a way that Ash knew his explanation was not sufficient enough. She had expected a miraculous story of being born with angelic ancestors or bearing the mark of the angels. “I am sorry but do not expect a magical story about your destiny, it does not work that way.”

  “Okay then, how does this work? Why didn’t I see that thing coming before it attacked me?” She summoned her strength when she realized that this boy who stood before her was not going anyway.

  “You wouldn’t see it, not yet. Your abilities have not come to fruition yet. Once they do you will be able to see the Descended no matter where they are. Once you pinpoint their location we will hunt them down and myself and the other Guides will bring them back to Purgatory.”

  It seemed far too simple; find fallen angels and let the Guides do the rest. There had to be a catch. She had seen many movies where something seemed to be too simple and there was always a catch.

  “So basically I just wait for my abilities to surface, then what? Call you?”

  “Not exactly. Now that I’ve found you I am required to keep an eye on you, make sure you are safe and ready for your ascension.”

  “So you’re what, going to follow me around like a lost puppy? Join me in class and live with me and my parents?” Katharine couldn’t imagine having a lap dog following her every move, especially not one as impossible as Ash.

  Ash chuckled at the thought of trying to blend in with the mortals. Guides were of heavenly descent and therefore they could never integrate with the human world, not really.

  “Goodness no. There is absolutely no way you can remain here in this place. It is far too dangerous. I will bring you to The Anchorage for the rest of your training and once you are ready we will put an end to this war and the Descended will return to Purgatory where they belong.”

  Katharine was livid. “So you expect me to leave my family and friends and go with you, a complete stranger, to a place I’ve never heard of before?”

  Ash didn’t quite get the sarcasm in Katharine’s tone this time. To him she was simply just reiterating what it was that Ash had said. “Precisely.”

  Katharine lunged backward and stepped as far away from Ash as she could without attempting to run away, an act she figured she wouldn’t get very far in doing. “No! There is no way I am just up and leaving my entire life and going anywhere with you. I don’t care what your plan is for me, I’m not doing it.” She figured she was pushing the boundaries of his patience and didn’t want to risk being attacked by another unknown entity.

  She calmed herself down; he was similar to a worker bee. He did his job no questions asked because he was loyal and believed it to be the right thing. She couldn’t blame him anymore than she could a yellow jacket so instead she did what she knew best, she became a lawyer bargaining for her freedom.

  “How about this…we stay here and I continue to go to school and act like a normal human being and when the time comes for my ascension or whatever it is, I’ll go with you. You need me fresh and strong right? Well, ripping me away from my home is doing the exact opposite of that.”

  Katharine sounded so sure of herself, so sure that she could make it work. It almost pained him to tell her the sad truth.

  “I know you think this is what would be best for you but there is just no way this could work. A being of heavenly descent, and especially a Tracker, cannot remain in their human lives. It puts both them and those they love in grave danger. I am sorry but no deal.”

  Katharine didn’t accept that. Ash didn’t know her from a hole in the wall and therefore didn’t know just how strong she truly was. She was not going to go with him that was for sure.

  “Give me a chance. You don’t know me I am not like anyone you’ve ever met. I can make this work, I know I can.” Ever the lawyer, Katharine would fight her case until the bitter end. “Besides, one thing you should know about me,” Katharine began to circle Ash the way a bear would circle its prey before pouncing, “I don’t give up easily and I always work hard to get what I want.”

  Ash smirked, the fire inside her was strong and he appreciated that. Katharine was not afraid of him nor was she afraid to stand up for what she believed in; a trait that many of his comrades also had. It was admirable albeit annoying, but admirable. The Tracker had an intensity he’d not seen in a Tracker before.

  Most Trackers did as they were told as if they had been preparing for their ascension their whole lives, but not Katharine. This was a girl who was not willing to just lie down and take orders from him without a fight. The Tracker was witty and smart and Ash believed she truly had it in her to rid the world of all the Descended.

  Katharine wouldn’t be ascending for a few weeks and he wasn’t in the mood to have another lecture from Davon or the Elders about his past slights and therefore was in no rush to return home. Besides if he allowed her to stay for the time being, it wasn’t going to be the first time he’d broken the rules.

  2

  THREE WEEKS

  Ash had reluctantly agreed to allow Katharine to remain with her family and her normal life for the time being. However, he knew that it would soon come crumbling down on her. He was determined to keep a watchful eye on her and remained always one step behind her.

  He became her shadow but he always found a way to disappear so his presence was not obvious when Katharine was around others.

  Even a descendent of Heaven knew when to make himself scarce around mortals. Katharine began to find his constant presence suffocating. She couldn’t do anything without him standing a few feet away from her, watching her with his eyes full of judgment.

  At night when he knew she would be alone, Ash would sneak into Katharine’s bedroom through the vines that began to grow under her window the day Ash saved her in the quarry. She couldn’t prove it and he’d always denied it but she knew that he had something to do with them growing there.

  Katharine had begun to grow weary of watching Ash rummaging through her belongings, especially when he dug his hands into the books that sat atop the wooden bookshelf that her father had made for her a few years earlier. For the last few days he would find a way to search through more of her private things, including her underwear drawer. What he expected to find in there, Katharine would never understand.

  “You know, it’s rude to go through someone else’s stuff,” Katharine snapped one evening as Ash buried his head inside her closet.

  “You wanted to stay here and pretend that you’re still just a normal teenager, so now I am forced to constantly make sure you are not being watched or hunted by the Descended. They could be anywhere. We would have been a lot safer if you hadn’t been so stubborn.” Ash shoved a section of jackets hanging in the closet aside creating a gap wide enough for him to fit his upper body through.

  Among the jackets Ash had disturbed in his search for Descended in the closet was a denim jacket with silver rhinestones lining the arms and a few flower patches that Marion had sewn on after Katharine got caught on a nail and ripped pieces of the jacket off.

  When the jacket ripped Katharine was devastated; she wore that thing everyday during the 5th grade. It was her favorite. She thought it made her look like 80s Barbie, her favorite of the Barbie doll collection she had.

  “I highly doubt that any of the Descended are hiding out behind my jacket collection,” Katharine chuckled throwing herself down on the bed face first. “But you might want to check the shoe rack, I hear they have a real soft spot for Jimmy Choos.”

  She was exhausted and had just returned from an unproductive day at school. She had spent the last few days doing as Ash said, coming home he when requested her to be there and lying to her family and friends. All she wanted to do was close her eyes and go to sleep it was the only time since Ash arrived that she could truly be alone.

  “What is a Jimmy Choo?” Ash asked
inquisitively. “Is it some type of food product?” He was still rummaging through her closet looking for things that weren’t there.

  Katharine, who had draped her arm over her eyes, sat up and looked at him as though he had sprouted an extra pair of arms.

  “You mean Heaven’s warriors don’t know about Jimmy Choos?” she said, chuckling. He didn’t respond to her jab at his lack of shoe knowledge but continued to browse through her closet flinging her shoes aside as he needed.

  She shook her head and lay back down, placing her arm back over her eyes and did her best to relax while Ash ransacked her room for the Descended. As he always did, after about an hour of thorough searching Ash deemed the room safe and finally let Katharine have some peace and quiet before doing it all over again the next day.

  There were days he would show up outside her classroom with some heavy suspicion that a Descended was on her tail. He would force her to leave, even in the middle of class. Not once did his suspicions ever prove to be valid. He was changing her, pushing her to step outside of herself and become someone she didn’t recognize. It frightened her and left her with a pit in her stomach, but if it meant she could stay in Meadowbrook she would handle it the way she always did, with grace.

  He’d disrupted her life more than she could have ever anticipated and there were times she truly believed that Ash was forcing her to skip classes and interrupt her entire life on purpose as some kind of irrational punishment for changing the plan and refusing to go with him. Still…she was determined to make it work.

  “Ah, Ms. Macklemore how kind of you to join us,” Mr. Denoza said as Katharine Macklemore took her seat in first period English, nearly fifteen minutes late. “This is the third time you’ve been late this week. Once more and you will be spending your afternoons with me in detention.”