Molli looked over to Katherine afraid that her already overwhelmed friend would figure out that a doorway into Heaven and being the last Tracker wasn’t all Ash hadn’t told her. Katharine was too focused on figuring out a new way to get out of the hospital and that she hadn’t been paying much attention to what was being said between Ash and Davon. To further prevent Katharine from finding out the rest of what Ash had been hiding from her, Molli did her best to distract her friend.
“Any idea how you’re going to get out of here now that the whole healing you thing didn’t work?” Molli asked standing in front of Ash and Davon who were still standing in a pre-fight position.
“Honestly…not a clue,” Katharine replied honestly. She was tapping her index finger on the edge of the bed. The heart monitor on the tip of her finger clanged against the metal bars that kept her from rolling off the bed when she was unconscious. The sound echoed in the small hospital room. “Why are they fighting now?”
Katharine motioned her head in Davon and Ash’s direction. Molli looked over her right shoulder to see that the two testosterone filled guys behind her were still entangled in their competition of who had the bigger…ego.
“Probably who gets to sleep with you first,” Molli replied turning back toward Katharine smiling.
There it was again that obnoxious grin that Molli seemed to get a lot since she was first introduced to Ash. The constant arguing going on between Ash and Davon was getting under Katharine’s skin. They seemed to constantly lose sight of what they needed to focus on and that was how to get her out of the hospital and help her better understand what it was that she was expected to become and do.
“How many times are you going to let this Tracker run the show?” Davon asked pushing harder against Ash. “Are you that determined to recreate the outcome of your last Tracker watch?”
Davon was speaking loudly on purpose; he wanted to make sure Katharine heard every word he spoke. He was fed up with Ash’s lack of control over his duties as a Guide, a special kind of warrior for Heaven who would protect, train and work with the Trackers to find and kill the Descended.
Both Ash and Davon had been fighting the Descended side-by-side for many centuries and were both given the Guide job at the same time because they showed the most promise and ability to do what needed to be done. For the most part they had done their jobs quite well. They were responsible for taking out a large majority of the Descended population with their Tracker’s in toe that is before the Descended killed off almost all of the Trackers. Then came Angelina, a Tracker put under Ash’s service a year before Katharine was activated.
Despite warnings and trainings to fight against it, Ash fell in love with Angelina and it was a deep love but it clouded his judgment when it came to her. He made many rash decisions, some which got his comrades killed in order to protect Angelina. This was a sin that would have sent him straight to Purgatory with the rest of Heaven’s worst sinners if it weren’t for Davon.
Warriors who had been cast into Purgatory suffered a worse fate than any of those facing the Descended, as they would face the creatures that were cast there by the Warriors. Davon feared for his friend’s life and pleaded to the elders that this was Ash’s first mistake and that rather than casting him out they should punish him by taking away the one thing he loved the most, Angelina.
Chance and the elders discussed their options and decided to send Angelina back to the mortal world from where she came but before they did they would erase her memory. She would not remember the Descended or being a Tracker; most of all she would not remember Ash, a fate that Ash believed was far worse than any time spent in Purgatory. It took him nearly a year to get past the pain of losing Angelina and Katharine was his first Tracker since.
“When you boys are done comparing penis sizes can we please get back to figuring out how to get me out of this damn hospital bed?” Katharine shouted and threw herself back on the bed huffing with frustration.
Davon remained on Ash for a few seconds before releasing his grasp. He pointed his index finger in front of Ash’s face and allowed his eyelids to slide open widely. His face reminded Katharine of the time she and Molli stayed up to watch Nightmare on Elm Street on Halloween when they were only nine-years-old.
Her father found them hiding underneath the wool blanket that Molli’s mom had knitted Katharine for her birthday. Katharine remembered her father was so angry because he knew that now the girls, who were having their weekly sleepover, would be bunking out in his bedroom that night.
Of course, the girls tried to face the darkness alone but all they could picture was Freddy’s metal claws climbing up the side of their beds until they made their way across their arms and up into their faces. Screaming, they ran into Katharine’s parents’ room, to an exceptionally unhappy night of sleep.
“So what’s the plan boys?” Katharine asked Ash and Davon folding her arms across her chest.
Ash brushed his shirt off once Davon let go and walked over to Katharine’s bedside. “Well we had a plan but your boyfriend decided to relive his past and let you run the show,” Davon said walking slowly behind Ash while glaring at him. Had he glared any longer he would have glared a hole in the back of Ash’s head.
“First of all…not my boyfriend, secondly I was brought into your world not the other way around,” Katharine’s voice began to crack and she could feel her tear ducts opening. She tried her best to fight the water from seeping down her face, “I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t seek you out and beg to be brought into a battle that up until a few weeks ago, I didn’t even know existed. I didn’t ask to be in this war and I sure as hell didn’t ask to have my entire life turned upside down to help two disrespectful and increasingly rude warriors of Heaven fight a bunch of psychotic fallen angels! So next time you try to blame any of this on me you might want to remember how I got involved in all of this.”
Davon was completely shocked by Katharine’s outburst. He had worked with the Trackers for many years and not once did any of them fight or talk back to him. All the other Trackers, even some of the best they’ve had, followed their Guide’s orders and never second guessed what was being asked of them. Katharine was a rare breed of Tracker, a true one-of-a-kind. Davon saw potential.
“Well since we can’t very well just waltz out of here like I wanted to, we are left with only one option,” Davon said looking knowingly at Ash.
“Davon…no,” Ash said defiantly.
“You didn’t want to go along with my plan so now this is all we have left,” Davon replied removing a large clear cylinder object from his jacket pocket.
He placed the cylinder to his lips and blew on it gently. As the air moved from his mouth onto the cylinder it began to light up in a yellowish hue. Molli stepped backwards as if she were afraid the cylinder would burst. Ash stood motionless beside Davon, wearing an incredibly vivid frown upon his face.
“If you do this I cannot keep my promise,” Ash said making one final attempt to request that they find another way out of the hospital.
“You already broke your promise to me when you fell for Angelina,” Davon replied pushing on the top of the cylinder, which made it vibrate and spin on the palm of his hand.
“No,” Ash said, “my promise to her.”
The Guides looked at Katharine who returned their gaze. The glowing spinning cylinder in Davon’s hand overwhelmed her. Had she not known what they were she would have believed they had come from another planet, probably Mars considering that is where the book, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, said men were from. She heard Ash’s words but could not remove her focus from the cylinder; it hypnotized her, a feat she used to swear could not be accomplished.
“Katharine I am sorry I will not be able to keep my promise,” Ash said placing his arm on her hand gently. His touch knocked her out of the trance and she came back to reality.
“What?” Katharine asked, feeling the same grogginess she had felt when she woke up a few minutes earlier in t
he hospital. “What promise?”
“Your parents…,” Ash said before Davon intervened.
“Where do you think we’re going?” Davon asked Ash.
“But the Transporter?” Ash replied looking just as confused as Katharine was.
“He’ll take us to Katharine’s parents’ home so she can gather some of her things,” Davon said. Ash looked at Davon with that Christmas morning look. Davon saw the look in Ash’s eyes, the look of gratitude and surprise. Ash believed that his partner was allowing him to keep his promise to Katharine out of the goodness of his heart, but Davon had other things in mind.
“Before you start thinking that I am on your side you should know, the only reason I’m allowing the Transporter to take us to Katharine’s home is because when we meet with Chance you are going to explain to him why this Tracker isn’t trained properly and ready for what’s to come when she turns eighteen,”
Ash and Davon always had a close bond, a brotherly connection, however ever since Angelina their relationship was never the same. Davon never fully trusted his comrade again and believed that he chose a woman over his duties and his Heavenly family. This made him disloyal and the most important thing to a Guide, a warrior of Heaven, was loyalty.
Davon swore by it and believed he would die by the loyalty he had for Heaven and their mission. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for Chance and the rest of the elders. He had long been described as their best warrior for his ruthlessness against the Descended and his pure dedication to the cause.
Ash however had always seemed to have a soft spot for the Trackers and while Angelina was the first time he truly crossed a line, Davon always saw that potential in Ash. Despite his constant concerns, before Angelina, Davon never came forward to his elders about Ash’s questionable favoring of the Trackers.
“Excuse me, what exactly is a Transporter?” Katharine asked shyly.
“It’s a new born angel who is trying to earn their place in the Garrison by transporting warriors when they are in need,” Molli explained. Katharine was even more confused. How does Molli know about this and I don’t? Molli looked at Katharine who was staring at her with sheer confusion and surprise. She didn’t want to answer any of Katharine’s questions as it might reveal the secret she was hiding. “As I said, Ash explained everything while you were unconscious,” Molli said, before Katharine could open her mouth to allow words to fly out.
Katharine, still confused, nodded her head. She was so tired from the information that had been smashed into her brain over the last few weeks though, she believed she was handing the whole situation exceptionally well. “Anyone else in my shoes would be locked in a padded room right about now,” Katharine had said to Ash a few days earlier. She was proud of herself but credited her parents to her calm demeanor and ability to handle the impossible, in her case, in the most literal sense of the word.
“So how long till this Transporter gets here?” Katharine asked anxiously.
As her lips closed upon the completion of her question the entire room began to shake. The bed rocked back and forth rapidly. Katharine had the sensation of being on a sailboat in the middle of the ocean being hit with a major windstorm. She grabbed the sidebars of the bed and held on tightly.
Her fingers became white as she tightened her grip to the point of cutting the blood supply to her fingers. The side table by the bed began to roll towards the window and slammed into the wall before coming to a stop. The lights were flickering the way they would in a horror film right before the evil entity would make its first appearance.
Katharine was terrified but she was the only one. Not even Molli, who had only become privy to the world above and below hers a day ago, seemed afraid. The emotion Molli was feeling was concern, not fear. She kept glancing at Ash who raised his hand and showed her his palm as if to say, “I’ll handle it.”
Katharine would have questioned their behavior had she not been so terrified by the flickering lights and shaking room that was accompanied by an incredibly loud whooshing sound of a small aircraft coming from outside. The sound grew louder as if it were right on top of the room itself but Katharine could see nothing.
“He’s here,” Davon said. “Let’s move.”
Ash walked over to Katharine and gently pulled the IVs out of her arm. He held Katharine’s arm a few inches below where the IV was inserted to put pressure to enable the needles to slide out gently. He was cautious not to pull too quickly causing her to bleed and be in pain. She watched each needle as they were removed from inside her body.
She felt relieved to have them out and be able to have full use of her arms again. She stretched them long and straight until they cracked; before then she always hated the sound. Ash placed his arm underneath Katharine’s left arm and helped her to a standing position.
Davon healed her wounds but she had been laid up in bed for 24-hours and her legs were weak and buckled the moment she stood. Ash’s strength helped prevent her from falling. It was the first time since they’d met that Katharine welcomed Ash’s help.
“You okay?” Molli said as Ash guided her toward the window where the whooshing sound continued. Katharine smiled in acknowledgement.
As they approached the window, which Davon had just broken to provide an opening for escape, Katharine realized just how high up they were. Ash was leading her straight out a four-story window with nothing beneath them but fresh air.
“Are you crazy? We’ll fall,” Katharine said beginning to fight off Ash’s assistance. She loosened his grip and fell to the floor as her knees gave way under her frail body.
“Relax, it’s going to be fine, trust me,” Ash said, picking Katharine back up.
“There’s nothing there, how is it going to be fine?” Katharine asked, demanding an answer before she allowed him to move her any further.
“The Transporter is outside the window right now waiting to take us to your parents house. I promise he has a transportation craft that is safe and absolutely solid,” Ash explained. “You’re unable to see it because your abilities have not kicked in yet.”
An invisible ship, what am I an X-Man now? Katharine thought to herself.
Katharine allowed Ash to guide her toward the window, peeking her head around his shoulder to make sure Molli was close behind. Once sure that her best friend was coming with them Katharine moved her right leg toward the open window.
At first she felt nothing but air rushing through the room but as she lowered her leg on what she was sure would be nothingness, she felt something solid. She tapped it a few times with her foot to make sure it was real and she wasn’t hallucinating from any of the hospital meds.
Once everyone was on board something magical happened; the aircraft began to reveal itself. Katharine couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
“I told you,” Ash chuckled stepping around from behind Katharine with a self-satisfied grin. “Seems to me you’re just going to have to learn to trust me.”
4
SECRETS
The aircraft appeared, much to Katharine’s amazement, but upon further inspection it wasn’t entirely what she would have expected. When one hears that an aircraft of heavenly nature is picking them up they would picture something shiny and full of magical equipment, including a rainbow tube that would act as the engine. However, the aircraft Katharine and the rest of her crew were traveling in was made entirely of grey steel.
She began to think that Heaven had some kind of deal with a steel manufacturer. Since she could not see the outside, Katharine was only able to guess as to what it looked like. She imagined it was just as dull and dreary as it was where she stood. The grey walls received their only color from the black seatbelts that hung from them. The seat belts connected to a steel stool strategically placed in front of them.
The stool was thin at the bottom and increasingly thick as it found its way to the circular seat where many warriors had once sat. Surrounding the entire interior of the aircraft were large black nets that were keeping
steel boxes in place under the rocky and jerking motions of the aircraft as it made its way through the clouds. She could not see the Transporter as there was a steel door blocking the front portion of the plane. She noticed a sign on the door “Atah beChartanu.”
As Katharine got herself into a stool and began to attempt to buckle the seatbelt she saw that both Molli and Davon were already tightly in place. Ash however, was standing a few feet in front of her watching as she struggled to place the steel clamp into its steel counterpart. As she struggled a few more times she noticed that Ash was wearing a wide grin. He was entertaining himself at her expense.
“You going to stand there and laugh at me all day or are you going to help me?” Katharine asked raising the buckle straps in front of her and outward towards where Ash was standing. He approached her and began working the seat belt until it locked in place.
“What does that mean?” Katharine asked, nodding to the sign on the door, as Ash checked to make sure the seat belt was secure.
Ash looked at the sign and his face changed. He gazed at the sign but Katharine knew he wasn’t looking at it anymore. His mind was elsewhere, someplace deep within his memory bank that pained him to think about.
“Ash?” Katharine asked moving her face in front of his to knock him out of his trance.
For a few moments more Ash remained in his memory before he shook his head as if he had just been hit with a splash of cold water.
“It means, you have chosen us,” Ash replied.
He gave the seatbelt another look before he was confident that it was secure. He took the stool next to Katharine and strapped himself in, his gaze returning to the sign on the door.
“You have chosen us,” Katharine said still inquiring at the sign, “does that pertain to all the Guides of Heaven?”
“Yes. It is our motto and a reminder that no Guide is born into their role; they must earn it. Being a Guide is one of the highest honors a warrior of Heaven can get. We are the ones who are meant to keep the Trackers safe and make sure their abilities are developed properly. It’s the first step to becoming one of his warriors,” Ash explained. “Once all of the Descended are put back into Purgatory, the Guides will become his. Of course, I’m not really sure how it will all work now since you’re the last of the Trackers.” Ash winked.
Into The Light (The Fallen Shadows) Page 7
