Reapers (26 page)

“
Follow me.” Mr. Patterson
made his way across the rippling green grass.

They followed him down through the
meadow, onto a little dirt path that wound its way alongside a
rippling stream of silver water. They walked past great pine trees
the size of skyscrapers, and fruit trees with pink and red
blossoms.

And then through a break in the trees
at the end of the dirt road, Kara could see a giant crystal
ball.

It was the size of a mall. From where
she stood, it looked like the moon had decided to drop by. It had
the same gleaming polished surface and the same internal lights as
the crystals that the oracles drove, only this one was a thousand
times larger.

David whistled loudly.

“
Why do I get the
impression the female oracles are going to be big, real
big?”

Kara frowned. Maybe David was right.
Were the female oracles giants?

Mr. Patterson moved slowly, as if he
were reluctant to move forward but did so because of
Kara.

As they got closer to the colossal
globe Kara could make out circular shapes that wrapped around the
sphere in a geometric design, like windows. It looked like a giant
golf ball.

Below the giant globe was a courtyard
with brilliant white walls of shiny rock that stood out brightly
against the green grass. There were pink flowering trees, and gold
and orange trees that looked like they had been kissed by fire.
Vines crawled over great stone walls, and fountains decorated with
stags and horses sprayed rainbow-colored water from their
outstretched mouths. Statues of animals stood in the center of the
garden.

They moved together silently and
arrived at the base of the giant globe. The circular patterns Kara
had seen from a distance and had thought were just an elaborate
exterior design were in fact windows. Most of them were closed, but
a few facing the entryway stood ajar. She couldn’t see inside. They
arrived at a single round door made of glass, and Kara could see
gray shadows moving inside.

David glanced at her excitedly. She
knew he couldn’t wait to see how big the lady oracles were. Kara
found herself wondering the same thing. But mostly, she wanted to
know why Mr. Patterson was so uncomfortable.

Mr. Patterson made a fist and raised
it hesitantly, as if he wasn’t quite sure whether to be here or
not, and whether or not to knock. Finally he knocked three times.
He stepped back, flattened the hair on the top of his head and
straightened his jacket unsuccessfully, like a nervous teen on his
first date.

Kara felt sorry for him because no
matter what he did, he still looked a mess. It occurred to her then
that oracles must have had romantic liaisons. Why else would there
be females? There was no such thing as romance in Horizon, but
could it exist it Eden? And just when she wondered why he was
trying so hard to make himself presentable, the door swung
open.

David cursed.

Kara lost her voice.

An old woman stood in the doorway. She
looked like a forest gnome, only a little bigger. She was short and
pudgy, about four feet tall. Her hair, as milky-white as her skin,
was tucked away neatly inside a high, pointy green hat. She wore a
forest-green robe with golden and silver leaves stitched around the
collar and sleeves. Her rosy bare feet peeked from below her long
skirt. A heavy golden chain fell from her neck, and from it hung a
crystal ball the size of a grapefruit.

She raised her brows at the sight of
them, and when she saw Mr. Patterson her eyes narrowed.

“
Jim,” she said, her voice
strong and clear, “when the others
prophesied
your arrival, I thought
they’d been to the Crystal River and had one too many sips. But
here you are.”

Mr. Patterson lowered his head
politely. “Mistral, how nice to see you again. It’s been far too
long—”

“
Three thousand and
twenty-six years, eleven months and three days,” said the little
woman.

Her round, yellow eyes sparkled with
wisdom and intelligence. “That’s how long it’s been.”

“
You chose to leave,” said
Mr. Patterson, his voice low. “All of you.”

“
Yes, because we value the
souls of
all
creatures,” said Mistral. “Not just the humans. They are
just—if not
more
important. Every beast’s soul requires looking after. Yes, we
chose to leave, because we
had
to. We saw it. It was foretold in the crystals.
The crystals
never
lie.”

The little woman crossed her arms over
her round belly. “We haven’t had to deal with Horizon in all this
time. I’m surprised at you, Jim. What brings you here
now?”

Mr. Patterson’s head was still
lowered, and he averted his eyes.

“
I wouldn’t have come if
there had been any other way. I swear to you on the crystals and
the souls.”

Mistral pursed her lips.

“
I believe you,” she said
finally.

Kara saw a glimpse of a smile on the
woman’s lips, as though she was enjoying seeing Mr. Patterson
squirm like a teenage boy. Was she what he had feared?

“
And I see you’ve brought
company.”

The little woman leaned forward and
peered curiously at David and Kara. “Two of them.”

Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped
slightly open at the sight of Kara’s wings. “Oh dear.”

Kara tried unsuccessfully to hide
behind David, but her wings were so large that she couldn’t hide
them.

“
This is Kara and David,”
said Mr. Patterson. “Both outstanding guardians, the best we’ve
got.”

“
Well then,” said Mistral,
her face grave, “You’d better come inside. The other oracles will
want to see this for themselves. Follow me.”

The little woman turned and shuffled
into the globe-like building without another word. With Mr.
Patterson in the lead, Kara and David bent their heads and followed
him through the round doorway and stepped into the giant crystal
ball.

The building was just as large on the
inside. It was hollow, and their footsteps echoed along the curved
exterior walls. There were no staircases, no walls, no corridors
leading to other rooms—it was just a gigantic hollow ball
inside.

They walked along a yellow marked path
that curved upwards slightly. The path was one of two intersecting
paths that ringed the interior walls of the globe and provided
access to the desks stacked with books, chairs, bookcases, glass
cubicles, and lab areas with smoking vials and bubbling pots.
Tables and chairs were fixed on the ceiling and on all the sides of
the vast spherical structure. It was like walking in a funhouse,
but instead of mirrors on the ceilings and walls, it was furniture.
It was the most peculiar thing Kara had ever seen.

Why were they there? She wondered if
she’d have time to discover why the oracles in Eden had tables
fixed on their ceilings.

Kara pondered more deeply about these
new oracles. Apart from being female, they were very similar to the
oracles in Horizon. Her eyes went to the tiny lady’s
feet.

Kara leaned over and whispered to
David. “Where is her crystal?”

David only shrugged. He didn’t know
why the mysterious little woman oracle didn’t run above a crystal
ball, just like the oracles back in Horizon. Perhaps her crystal
was the one she wore around her neck? But then why was she
barefoot, if not for steering a great crystal ball?

Mistral caught Kara
staring at her feet.

“What? Did you expect to
see something there?”

Kara looked away
embarrassed. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude. It’s just…I was
looking for your crystal ball.”

“Oh, I
see,” said Mistral looking at Mr. Patterson. “Well, we
oracles
carry
our crystals around our necks with a chain.”

She picked up and cradled
her crystal with both hands, rubbing it gently with a proud smile
on her face, like a proud mother cuddling her child.

“It is
as it always was and should be, but I know what you’re
thinking.”

She let go of her crystal
and looked at Mr. Patterson disapprovingly.

“It was
the males that decided to
ride
them like bicycles. Such a
ridiculous notion! Our crystals are
precious
and were never meant to
be
harassed
in
such a fashion.”

“We’ve
always had a different connection with the crystals, Kara,” said
Mr. Patterson.

His voice was hushed when
he spoke. “We felt it correct to do as we have.”

“Crystals are not toys,
Jim,” Mistral scolded. “We never understood the males’ need to make
them into bicycles. Ridiculous.”

“We
could move faster that way, and we got much more done,” said Mr.
Patterson, and then he mumbled, “And it’s more fun.”

He raised his voice. “You
forget, Mistral, that Horizon is much bigger than Eden. We have
many more levels, and much more ground to cover. We couldn’t
possibly achieve what needed to be done with our
short
legs. We just made
a few
minor
adjustments to the crystals.”

Mistral raised her
brows.

“Minor,
my eye. Well, I think it is quite
scandalous
. And the rolling affects
your memories,” she added matter-of-factly.

Kara wondered if the fact
that the oracles in Horizon always got their names wrong was what
Mistral meant by
affecting their
memories
.

“…
That I
do remember,” continued the little woman, in a business-like voice.
“But again, it is not our business how you adapt your
crystals.”

She looked at Kara and
continued, “The males have always done things differently. We are
the same…but different.”

She stopped and faced Mr.
Patterson. “And
where
is your crystal?”

Mr. Patterson tapped his
front jacket pocket. “Never leave home without it.”

He smiled proudly at her.
His uneasiness seemed to have been replaced by a desire to please
her.

“
Hmmm,” said Mistral. She
turned around, and Kara could see a playful smile on her face as
she continued down the path.

Kara smiled. She liked this little
busybody woman. She reminded her of her own grandmother, stern, but
with a big heart. And she clearly liked to tease Mr. Patterson. It
was almost cute. It gave her the courage to ask her a
question.

“
Excuse me, oracle
Mistral?” said Kara, hoping she wasn’t being impertinent by
speaking out of turn.

“
You said that Eden was a
place for the souls of the beasts…for the souls of all the
creatures. Does that mean the animals we saw earlier
were—?”

“
Souls,” answered
Mistral.

She turned her head toward Kara as she
walked. “Yes, you’ll find every living creature’s soul here, from a
tiny little ant to an elephant, from butterflies to trees.
Everything has a soul. And here, in Eden, we look after them
all.”

“
That’s why they have a
light about them. It’s their soul,” said Kara.

“
Yes.”

“
So they just stay here?”
asked David. Kara could tell he was just as curious and in awe as
she about this place.

“
Aren’t they reincarnated
back to the mortal world, into baby animals and baby insects, just
like humans are?”

Mistral sighed heavily.

“
Well, some do, some
don’t. It depends. Some of the souls like it here and don’t want to
go back. And do you blame them? In the mortal world they are killed
for furs, burned, starved, hunted, abused, and eaten. Eventually
some do decide to go back, but it can take decades for them to make
up their minds.”

In the middle of the globe twenty
oracle women busied themselves in large ledgers along a great table
made of solid oak. They were dressed in the same type of robe and
tall pointy hat as Mistral, but in red, yellow, pink, blue, purple,
and bright orange. They were arguing loudly.

“
I’m telling you, gazelle
no. 1908 is ready to go back,” said an oracle woman in a purple
robe. “She told me herself.”

“
Can’t be,” said another
in a yellow robe.

She scratched the top of her head.
“According to the ledger no. 2014, she just got here five years
ago. It’s too soon. Send another one.”

“
No, it’s not!” said
another.

“
Yes it is.”

“
No—”

As Kara and the others
neared the table, the oracles fell silent. Their golden eyes moved
from Mr. Patterson to David, and finally they all rested on Kara –
more specifically, on what was
behind
her.