Marked (7 page)

PLOP!

Kara stared wide-eyed at her file on the floor.
Oh, no!

The giant man lifted his perfect head and examined her. “Name, class order and rank,” demanded a booming voice.

Kara forced the words out of her mouth. “Uh…I—I’m, Ka—Kara…” she stammered as she bent over and picked up the file. Her fingers trembled. “Um, I don’t know my class order, but I know I’m a
rookie
?” She pushed herself up.

His flaring blue eyes searched her for a moment. He held out his hand in front of her. “Give me the file,” he commanded.

Kara obeyed and handed him the file. Her hands trembled.

He sat back and flipped through the file. His head snapped up. “You are the rookie, Kara Nightingale. Your class order is # 4321. You’re back from your first assignment—where is your petty officer?” He lifted his brows and looked behind her.

Oh, oh, here it comes
. “Um…I’m not sure. He was supposed to be right behind me—” she said nervously. She turned her head around, searching behind her. “He—he told me to come here to level four. That’s all I know.” She clasped her hands behind her back and fumbled with her fingers.

The man eyed her in silence for a moment. He looked back down at the file. “Tell me, what is the name of your petty officer?”

Kara blinked. “David McGowan.”

With eyebrows raised, the man pursed his lips and looked up at her. “I see,” he said flatly. “You’re with
David
.”

“Ah—do you know him? Are we in trouble or something?” She let her arms fall at her sides. “Do you know where he is?”

“I will have to report this.” At that moment his hands moved over a keyboard. His brows dropped slowly and flicked up every few seconds as he typed. After what seemed to Kara to be a very long five minutes of staring at someone’s fingers, there was a loud
tap, tap
and Kara turned to see David jogging up to her.

“Ah—there you are, Kara,” said David, smiling widely. His hair was a bit messy, Kara noticed. But other than that he appeared fine. He turned to the giant man, “Hello, Ramiel. You miss me? Oh, Mighty One?”

Kara glared at him. “What took you so long?” she whispered. “I’m dying here!”

David dropped his duffel bag on the ground. “I was delayed. You know—demons.”

Ramiel glared at David. His blue eyes blazed. “Well, David McGowan, I see you haven’t lost your sense of
humor
,” he said coldly. His face twisted in discontent. Kara stole a quick look at David, just long enough to catch him winking at her. She turned around.

“I see you have
abandoned
your rookie on her very first assignment? I’m sure Lieutenant archangel Gabriel would be interested in this information,” said Ramiel. “Never playing by the rules—are we, David? Believing you are
above
the rules? You’re not setting a very good example for your rookie. Putting her life in danger—this isn’t good for your record.” He waved a large finger annoyingly at Kara. Then his eyes flicked to David. He gave him a reproachful stare.

David smiled, studying Ramiel’s face. “You’re always so kind to me, your Lordship. But don’t worry, she was never in any danger—I took care of it.”

Ramiel cocked an eyebrow. “We hope you will guide Kara and help her embrace her duties as a guardian angel—without the loss of her soul or
rule
breaking.”

David flashed his perfect teeth and put on an innocent look. “Me?
Rule
breaking? Never, your blessedness! I am a true believer in playing by the rules—you just remember that,” he beamed.

Ramiel’s expression darkened. His beautiful face creased in contempt. With a loud
screech
he pushed back his chair and stood up. He towered over Kara and David easily. “As I understand it, you’re on very
thin
ice already as it is, David. Unfortunately for you, the Legion is tired of your mess. You lack discipline. I better not hear of any foolish business like jumping out of airplanes or going after seven higher demons by yourself! What kind of example are you setting for the rookies!” he roared.

Kara raised her eyebrows and watched David. He lifted his right hand, palm facing Ramiel. “Cross my heart and hope to do die—oh, wait a minute. I’m already dead!” he laughed.

Ramiel’s scowl was frightening. Kara had a feeling that, if he wanted too, he could probably squish her and David into jelly. Instead, he threw the file at David, who caught it easily. “There is a
soul
to be burned.” He sat back down and immediately returned his attention to his keyboard.

A soul to be burned
, Kara repeated in her head.
What does that mean?

David opened the file and scanned through it. He closed it and turned to face Kara. His beaming face transformed quickly to a gloomy one. “Um—this burning soul business, isn’t the most pleasant, you know. But, hey—better get it out of the way. Let’s go.” David turned around and grabbed Kara by the arm. He pulled her along with him.

“What?” Kara blurted out, as she wiggled out of his grip. “Wait, uh—David, can you tell me what’s going on? What am I supposed to do here? What did Ramiel mean by,
there’s a soul to be burned
?” Kara had a terrible feeling
her
soul was the one to be barbecued.

“Huh? Oh, right. Don’t worry about Ramiel.
Archangels
think they own the place, just because they report to the Chief in person. Think that makes them
special
. Just a bunch of swollen-headed morons, if you ask me,” he sneered and turned on his heel. He set off towards the fields of brilliant globes.

Kara chased after him. “So…soul burning—what’s that? The thought of burning anything makes me nervous.”

“You’ve lost Mrs. Wilkins’s soul…so we have to go burn it. We have to throw the dead souls into the white fires of Atma. They can never be reborn.”

“Souls can be
reborn
?” said Kara in awe. She couldn’t picture it.

“Of course, when a mortal body dies, the soul is reborn into another mortal body when a new child is born. And the process just keeps going, over and over again, unless the soul gets killed—like Mrs. Wilkins’s, then it’s finished—finito—they’re goners.”

Kara felt as though she had just been punched in the gut. Her legs stiffened. “I—I killed her. I killed her soul—this is all my fault.” She imagined Mrs. Wilkins reborn as a cute little baby. “She’ll never be reborn because of
me
. I—I killed her.”

“It’s not your fault. Don’t torture yourself. Listen—these things happen, it’s part of the job.”

Kara dropped her shoulders. “Well—this part
really
sucks.”

David shoved his fingers into his mouth and whistled loudly. A three-wheeled car jerked to a stop. Kara followed David to the waiting car and squeezed herself into the back seat after him. He opened the file and showed it to the driver, who nodded and then stepped on the accelerator. The engine roared loudly. Kara and David flew against the back seats. Their cramped bodies squished together in an extremely uncomfortable body tangle.

“AHHH!” wailed Kara, as the driver zigzagged his way around the great hall. She suddenly wished she had a stomach full of partially digested food, so that she could throw it up all over the driver.

Tall white flames flickered and danced up ahead, like a giant candle. The flames grew in size as they drove past them. The car raced on. It flew down invisible roads and paths in an endless blackness. Finally, it stopped. Thousands of globes sparkled all around them.

Kara looked around. “It’s like we never even moved! Everywhere looks the same?” A tall white fire burned in a majestic stone fireplace behind them. “Wow—now that’s a big fireplace.”

David yanked himself out of the vehicle and walked towards a wall of glowing spheres. He paid particular attention to a blackened globe which hung inches from the ground. Unlike the other sparkling spheres, no illumination came from it.

Kara pulled herself out of the car. The driver remained seated and stared in the opposite direction. A salty smell filled her nose, and her mind flashed with images of the ocean. She walked over and stood next to David. “What’s the matter with you? You look like someone just died?”

David leaned over the dark sphere. He sighed and was silent.

“What’s going on? Why is everyone so freaked out about this black ball?” She looked at it suspiciously. “What’s so special about it?”

Kara moved closer towards the dark globe. Immediately, she felt a wave of desolation pass through her, as though someone close to her had just died. She was overcome with sadness, which frightened her. She took a step back. “Oh my God. What
is
that?” She shook her head and tried to shake the feelings away. “David—what’s happening? Why do I feel like this?”

He knelt down and carefully grasped the sphere in his hands. “You’re feeling the loss of a life. This soul belonged to Mrs. Wilkins. When the soul is killed on Earth, it also dies in Horizon. The life lights have gone out. All that’s left is this blackened shell. Here—take it,” said David as he pushed himself up and stretched out his hands.

Astounded, Kara took another step back. “What? You want me to hold it? No way!”

“You have too. You were the guardian angel of that soul. You’re responsible for it.” David grabbed Kara’s right hand and pressed the globe into it.

As the cold sphere touched her skin, Kara was hit with an alarming number of different emotions; as though a collection of feelings from thousands of years had exploded into her all at once. She staggered and nearly dropped it—

“Careful now, don’t
drop
it,” said David, as he grabbed Kara by the arm and steadied her.

“This feels so weird. W—what am I supposed to do with it?” Kara trembled, as the emotions ran through her body.

“Throw it in the fire. Dead souls need to be burned in the white fires of Atma,” answered David and gestured behind them towards the huge stone fireplace. It towered fifteen feet above them. Tall white flames flicked hundreds of feet in the air.

“It’s better if you make it quick,
trust
me.” David walked towards the impressive fireplace. He dragged Kara by the elbow with him. “This part of the job
really
sucks. What you do is—you need to throw it in the fire.”

They reached the fire and stopped. Kara blinked several times. The brightness of the flames hurt her eyes, like when she used to stare at the sun without blinking.

David studied Kara’s face. “And better do it fast.”

Kara raised her eyebrows. “Wait! Why do you look so tense? What’s going to happen once I throw it in?”

“Um, I can’t really describe it—just do it, Kiddo,” said David as he sensed her reluctance and pushed her forward with his hands against her back.

Wide-eyed, Kara took a step forward. She grasped the dead soul in her shaking palms. “Please don’t hurt—please don’t hurt. I swear I’ll do better next time—I promise. Just don’t burn me!” Kara approached the white fire. She was surprised to feel no heat. It was white hot, but she felt nothing—no burning sensation against her skin. She lifted her hands before her and threw the dead soul into the white fires.

The ground shook.

Millions of screaming voices exploded inside her head, as though all the existing souls cried out in excruciating pain the moment she dropped the globe into the white flames. Kara’s body burned from the inside. The screams tormented her. They pulled at her soul. Images flashed before her eyes: a dark woman working in a field, a young blond girl riding her bike in a manicured suburb, an old woman bargaining for fish in a loud market. A sudden passion rose inside her as she saw images of a beautiful red headed woman kissing her lover. More images of different women flicked inside her brain. They screamed as their souls slowly pulled away from her, dying. She swayed on the spot, as the thunderous emotions ransacked her being. And then the feelings and images disappeared. She fell onto the hard floor.