“STOP!” Korin’s voice rang out as Brendan drove the car out of the parking lot and into the midday traffic.
The sound of horns blaring and a collision nearby made Terra cringe.
“I think I’m getting the hang of this!” Brendan laughed. “It does go faster; I can see where this could be fun!”
“Stop at the red light!” Korin yelled.
Brendan stamped on the brake, causing Terra to jerk forward against her locked seatbelt.
“Maybe I would like to learn to drive after all.” Terra held her sore middle.
Chapter 33
Carol could feel the smooth texture of industrial tile where she lay crumpled in a corner. There had been a time, not long ago when Carol would have hated the silence and isolation that surrounded her. Now it was a blessing.
Carol could not feel physical pain, but she knew the pair of jailors had done things to her permanent form she had no idea how, or if she could ever repair. She could not assess the damage properly. Her hands were bound by a short lead to her feet, which were tied together. She could not raise her hands to remove the bag from her face.
The darkness of the bag was worse than the silence. The darkness enhanced the hopelessness that threatened to consume her.
I'll never be allowed to leave this place. They have me here and there is nowhere I can go to escape. I don’t even know where here is! I could be anywhere. It seems like Earth, but the henchmen acted like it wasn’t. The one who calls himself Master is here, and Terra thought he was causing the spread of the Scourge on Earth, but she never could find him, so who knows if he really was ever on Earth.
The memory of looking into the gray, moldering face of the Master caused Carol to shudder. She craved light. She longed for the ability to see anything again if just to get her bearings and figure out where she was. However, the tiny glimpse of her surroundings only brought the stuff of nightmares.
From the little I saw, the place looked kind of industrial, but not like a business that's still running. Maybe I am on Earth.
The realization was slightly comforting. Carol relaxed for a moment and allowed her thoughts to drift.
Memories of watching her son, Liam play when he was a small child made Carol smile. He was a handsome little boy with dark hair and sparkling eyes. He had a laugh that melted her heart. Even so, Liam did not have a reason to laugh often as a foster child, growing up as a ward of the state. Carol had only been able to be a part of his life because her body had been stolen. So much had been taken from her during her mortal life, Liam was the only accomplishment that made the experience worthwhile.
I lay in that hospital in a coma for so long. I would have never known I had a mortal child while I was trapped in my own body. When the Scourge creature took me from my body, I was frightened, but I was free. And I could be the person I was meant to be. I became a mother to Liam, even if I couldn’t be there for him as his flesh and blood parent; I could protect him and watch him grow. I even saw him fall in love, although that changed everything.
Carol remembered the times Terra had visited her living son while she was a bodiless guide. She thought about the battles she fought to save him from the Scourge, from the same threat that let her go free from her own body.
I was so grateful to Terra for saving Liam. She did what I couldn’t. She destroyed the things that came to attack my boy. I didn’t realize then, that they were attacking him because of her. If it wasn’t for Terra, they would never have bothered him.
A glimmer of anger surprised Carol. She had loved Terra and trusted her with her son. She died and returned to the Tweens to help her.
Nobody believed me in the Tweens. The guides are likely still waiting around while Earth is overrun. Liliana took away all my happy memories of Liam. The other two, Brendan and Elise put them back. They didn’t protect me. And now I’m here, alone. None of the guides are dealing with this problem, their problem.
Carol felt more hurt and anger. It everyone around her had failed her; everyone but Liam.
A new sound made Carol freeze in place. After several seconds, she could recognize the sound of footsteps. More than one somebody was approaching, and they were using a huge amount of energy to manifest. The steps were uneven and now were punctuated by a struggle.
Carol recognized the voices of her captors, but they were not alone. Another familiar voice called out: “You won’t get away with this. I’ll destroy you myself! You won’t need to wait for Terra. You should hope I destroy you before she gets here. I think you will find me more merciful than her!”
“Shut up, you're our prisoner now!” the larger henchman laughed his distinctive cackle.
“This one’s got an attitude. I bet we can fix that!”
“Liam!” Carol whispered.
“The sounds of manifested fist impacting the energy field around her son filled Carol’s ears.
“No!” she screamed. “Leave him alone, let him go! Take me instead. Please let him go!”
“Well, this is interesting!” the smaller henchman said.
“Mo… Umm Carol?” Liam asked.
“It’s me; I'm right here!” Carol tried to scoot toward the sound of Liam’s voice but only succeeded in writhing on the floor where she lay.
“How did you?” Liam started to ask.
“Enough of that,” the larger henchman bellowed. “We need to take this one directly to the Master. Leave her here; she’s not going anywhere!” The larger henchman said. He laughed baritone rumbles that sounded more ominous than humorous.
“I’ll be back, don’t worry. Terra will find us!” Liam said.
The sounds of him being dragged against his will down that same narrow hallway echoed in Carol’s mind.
They've taken my boy from his human life: the life I gave him. I stopped protecting him to help Terra. I gave up everything to help Terra. And where is she now? Where was she when they stole Liam? I trusted her, and she failed us both!
Carol let out a long, low scream that ended with a snarling sound as pure anger ripped through her. She struggled to free herself in the darkness of the hood. The darkness was her enemy, but it was not the only one.
Chapter 34
Terra steered the car into the parking lot of the prison. The car stopped with a jerk, causing her and Brendan to lurch forward. “We made it!” She smiled sweetly.
“I still think I could've driven. We would have made excellent time,” Brendan said. He looked mournfully at the worn steering wheel.
“If you and Terra survived the trip,” Korin added.
“I was quite comfortable,” Elise said. She sat crisscross on the back seat.
“Korin, are you ready for this?” I promised you I would bring you back to your body, but somehow it feels like I'm abandoning you, she added silently.
“Am I ready to get my life back? Yes!” Korin grinned, but her smile quickly faded. “Terra, what will keep the Scourge from taking my body back again?”
“I doubt they would look for you in your natural form. You've been separated for so long I doubt they would relate you to this body.” Let’s hope the collector isn't already searching.
The group entered the jail with a somber silence. They were going in as a team, but they knew they were leaving behind one of their own.
The clerk sat at an overgrown metal desk that seemed about to swallow her up. The petite woman was almost lost among the droves of files that were interspersed in piles like topographic layers. “Who did you say you were?” the clerk demanded.
“We're here to guide Korin Malm in her search for spiritual enlightenment,” Terra said.
“So church folks; you know some of these ladies don’t take kindly to that kind of visitor,” the clerk said with a cough. She fumbled through folders trying to locate Korin’s file.
“I’m sure she'll be a new woman as soon as we show her the way,” Brendan said. He smiled innocently. Korin silently smacked his shoulder.
“You’re going to give it away!” Kori
n grumbled.
“No, I doubt it,” Elise said. She strolled around the desk and touched the woman’s exposed hand. The clerk froze. “Nope, she is completely unaware that the Scourge exists. I think if you ask to be taken back now you'll have no trouble. She's more worried about where she lost the file.”
Korin put her hands on her hips. “Should you be doing that, just probing her thoughts?”
Elise shrugged. “I’m sure she won’t object.”
Terra smirked slightly at the very different perspectives. “We would like to go back now. We're on a tight schedule.”
“Alright,” the clerk’s tone was curt. She pressed a button on her desk phone. “Sal, I’ve got two visitors here for Korin Malm.” She paused. “Yeah, I know she doesn’t get visitors, but this is some churches’ youth group or something. They look like alright kids. I guess they have to mark it off their community service papers.”
Terra looked the older woman in the eye and smiled. The guard appeared a few moments later. She was a stout looking, middle-aged woman. Her dirty-blonde hair was pulled up into a tight bun. She glanced at the attractive young couple.
“You're here to save Korin's, soul huh?” Sal said.
“Yes ma’am,” Brendan said. “We take spiritual salvation very seriously. I’m sure we can put Korin on track to lead a whole new life.”
“We’ll see about that,” the guard stifled a laugh at the naïve teens.
~~~~~~~~
The prison cafeteria was cold and stark. A vague disinfectant smell contrasted with the perception of filth left over from countless meals. A few prisoners lingered, cleaning for the next meal. Sal led Terra and Brendan to a woman seated alone at a table. Korin and Elise circled behind the prisoner. Korin stiffened and took a step back as she realized the state of neglect her physical body had degraded to. The orange jumpsuit did nothing to hide the middle-aged weight gain. Her oily, thin hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail except for a rogue strand that was tucked behind her ear. A faded jailhouse tattoo left an unidentifiable smudge on her forearm. A pale scar snaked its way up one cheek. The woman looked up as the group approached.
“Here are your visitors, Korin. You have thirty minutes. Behave yourself. I won’t have these young people leaving with stories about you to tell.”
The imposter scowled at her visitors with contempt. “Who are you?”
“My name's Terra. This is my friend Bren...um, Liam. We came to talk to you about your future and your release.”
“My release? You don’t look like lawyers.”
“We came here because I think we can help you to leave this prison sooner,” Brendan said.
“I’d like to hear about that.” The imposter muttered. “I'm supposed to get out in a couple of days anyway.”
“Clearly, you're not going to get yourself out today,” Terra said.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I thought you were here to tell me about my salvation.”
“Right, I have to admit that you are spiritually out of luck. Redemption's not in your cards,” Terra said.
The woman's eyes widened. “What kind of religious freaks are you?”
“The kind that sees you for what you really are,” Brendan smirked at the prisoner.
The woman stood up in front of her seat and looked at the guard nervously, gauging her reaction to her sudden change in posture.
“I’m not sure this is right,” Korin circled around the woman, invisible to her shifting eyes. Her youthful vibrancy stood out in stark contrast to the physical body she had been forced from so long ago. “It doesn’t feel like me at all.”
“She isn’t you,” Elise said. “You can’t base who you are on this. You were sent to Earth for this mortal life. It's yours to take back.”
“But what kind of life can I have like this?” Korin pointed at the slovenly woman.
“Korin, we won’t judge you when you go back. You aren’t responsible for the decisions that brought this woman to the state she's in today,” Elise said.
“I appreciate that. The thing is that I’m not sure I want to live with the consequences of her decisions.” Korin said.
Elise reached out and touched the scar on the woman’s cheek. The woman shuddered and pulled away in response to the unseen touch. “It does look like she has had a rough life.”
“When will the actual term of your sentence be complete?” Terra asked.
The woman who claimed to be Korin scowled at her. “Who are you again? How's it your business? You said you came here to talk about my release, but you don’t even know about my case. You look awfully young to be in law.”
“We know you were convicted of bank robbery and have been here for most of your adult life,” said Brendan.
“I didn’t do it,” the prisoner lied with no hesitation.
“I do know a bit about your case. The fact of the matter is, you stole much more than money from the bank. You took Korin’s body. You took her human life. You took her chances to meet her purpose. You tried to take her place to return to the Tweens, but evidently, you failed at getting yourself killed in prison.”
“What the…” the woman sputtered. She looked at the guard once again. Sal looked over the teenagers carefully.
Brendan held out his hands, palm first in front of him, testing the spiritual energy of the thing wearing Korin's body. “Not to worry, we're here to clear up everything.”
“You stay away from me. I don’t know who you think you are…”
“Terra, watch the guard; you don’t want to alert her!” Korin said.
“Elise, so as not to cause any commotion, would you like to do the honors?” Terra asked.
“Of course!” Elise nodded as she silently approached the imposter.
“My name ain’t Elise. Who do you think you’re talking to?”
“Your name’s not Korin Malm either,” Terra said. “Remember how you took her body? You thought it was so clever how she never saw you coming. Except now you've forgotten that you are blind to the spiritual world with her human eyes, just like she was to you.”
The woman tried to respond, but Elise had already gained control over her. She held the mortal and spiritual energy tightly with both hands as she prepared to separate the two. The woman’s eyes darted back and forth in silent panic as she regarded the handsome young duo that somehow knew her deepest secrets.
Terra turned to Korin. The tears that would not stop haunting her welled up in her eyes. “Are you ready to take back your life?”
“I thought I was. All this time, all I wanted was to get my life back. I envied you, Terra.”
“And now?” Terra wanted to reach out to her friend but stayed seated.
“And now I'm looking at a body and a life that I can't relate to myself. I know that was once my body, but it's like loaning somebody a car for a decade; it wears to the driver, it tells the tales of journeys I have never had.”
“I understand that, but this body's your way back to the Tweens. It's your chance to stay there one day and to leave this war zone behind.”
“Would I be safe, Terra? You always want to keep me protected. We both know that this is bigger than that. I can’t dodge it any more than you can. It found me once, and it's too widespread for us to pretend that I can go on like nothing happened.”
Terra sighed. “I know. I wish it wasn’t that way. I'll try to put things back the way they should be.”
“And you will! I know it. It's what you were meant to do.” Korin said.
“You really believe that?” Terra asked. Her friend’s confidence in her abilities was greater than her own.
Korin laughed. “Terra, you've been my hope when there was none. Now you're putting me back in my body and giving me back my life. I know it will take a lot of work to redeem any of this, but it's a chance I wouldn't have otherwise. I don’t know how I can thank you for everything…:” Korin’s face scrunched with emotion.
Tears flowed from Terra’s eyes as Brendan quietl
y went to chat with the guard.
“I’m going to miss you,” Terra sobbed.
“I’ll miss you too. And Terra, I’ll never forget.”
“You might. I’d understand.”
“I won’t. You have to come to visit me when you find your Liam. Come back so I can finally meet him. Hopefully, I’ll see you soon!”
“I will; I promise!” Terra squeezed her friend’s hand; “It’s time.”
Korin nodded and managed a crooked smile. She squared her shoulders and joined Elise where she stood beside the body that had been created for her. "Terra, look in the front pocket of your backpack once you get settled. I left something for you."
"I will!" Terra said.
Within a moment, the young vibrant woman disappeared into the tired body. In her place, a Scourge wench stood exposed to the disembodied world for the first time in over a decade. It gasped as it realized the scope of the company it had not seen.
Terra waved at the thing in the brief moment before Elise dispatched it into the nothingness it deserved. She turned to Korin who was examining the sensation of being wholly herself. “It's gone; it won’t be bothering you ever again,” Terra said.
“I feel so heavy and slow,” Korin said stretching. “I guess this is me now. I’ll have to get used to it.”
“You will,” Terra said.
"I know," Korin said. "Hey, I can still see you!"
"That's good; you can see any dangers around you," Brendan said.
"In a few days, it will be time for your release," Terra said. "Then you can start your new life. Just keep a low profile. I don’t know what the Collector is, but I need you to stay safe!"
“You be careful too,” Korin sniffled back her tears.
“I’ll try,” Terra promised. Just as soon as I take down this threat once and for all.
Chapter 35
Terra's eyes filled with tears. She knew that sending Korin back to her mortal body was the right thing to do, but the sense of loss was overwhelming. Terra blinked hard and tried to force the tears to end, but a knot in her throat would not let her put aside the emotions that threatened to swallow her.
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