Kara pushed her way through the enormous gathering of recently deceased who awaited their initial instructions upon their arrival in Horizon. David strolled by her side. The gigantic orientation hall looked exactly as she remembered. It was packed with persons from every ethnic heritage imaginable. The millions of dead chattered up a storm as they waited in lines that disappeared out of sight. Light spilled from an endless blackness above them, like twinkling stars from the midnight sky. It was hot and stuffy, and Kara couldn’t wait to get out.
Kara followed David through the maze of halls and cramped offices. She tried to process all that had happened. She had been summoned back to Horizon because they needed her, Gabriel had said so. Her special powers were supposed to help, but Kara wasn’t sure how they would. Deep down, she knew she had no clue how to call upon her powers. She still didn’t understand the great rush of energy that was wild and unpredictable, and had recently materialized only when she was on the verge of her own death. It wasn’t something she could access easily. She wasn’t sure she could summon it again. She should tell them they were mistaken—she wasn’t this powerful person they thought she was. But how could she tell them?
Kara focused on the task at hand. She shivered. Her nervousness increased. She crossed her arms in front of her chest.
“Um—David?”
David kept walking. “What’s up?”
Her lips were stuck together at first. She wasn’t sure how to word it properly.
“You—you think it’s a good idea to give me a rookie? I don’t have any experience training anyone. I couldn’t even teach my hamster to stop pooping in my hands. I’m a real disaster. I just don’t see myself being someone’s tutor. I’m a fast learner, but that doesn’t mean I’d be a good teacher.”
David laughed. “Don’t worry. You’ll do fine. The oracles always give the easiest jobs to the petty officer in training. It’s no big deal, I swear. I mean—you were trained by me, remember? You were lucky to have the best damn guardian as a tutor. And the best looking.”
Kara rolled her eyes. “Yeah well, I remember our first assignment—and it wasn’t easy. We nearly died!” Kara pressed her lips together. She hadn’t realized she was yelling.
David stopped in his tracks. The line in his jaw was set hard. A look of concern flashed across his face. “Look. That was different, you were marked. And it’s not the case anymore. The Legion wouldn’t have asked you to train rookies if they weren’t desperate for new guardians, trust me. Strange things are happening. Guardians are going off on assignments—never to come back—their angel souls gone. So … we really need new guardians—and we really need to figure what the hell is happening.”
“Are there no leads? Someone must have seen something?”
David’s eyes narrowed. “Nothing. It’s like they’ve all disappeared without leaving a trace. Thousands are gone.”
“Thousands! How’s that even possible?”
She stared at him in disbelief. She thought of all the lights of the millions of souls in the Hall of Souls going out at the same time, as if a giant power switch had extinguished an entire city, leaving it in horrible darkness.
David offered a faint smile. His gaze held hers. “We don’t know. Listen … don’t worry about that now. You need to concentrate on your rookie—stop looking at me like that, I’m telling you, it’s going to be a piece of cake.” David gave her his trademark wink.
But Kara didn’t feel any better. In fact, she felt worse.
They finally arrived before a great wooden door. A red and blue neon sign buzzed and flicked on and off. It read: Oracle Division # 998-4567, Orientation.
Before they could knock, the door swung open, and they stood among a clutter of papers and books scattered over the floor. Filing cabinets overpowered the tiny office and left little space for the giant crystal balls that sped across the room. Oracles balanced themselves above the great transparent spheres, their silver gowns rippling behind them as they went. They rolled from one filing cabinet to another in the blink of an eye.
Kara and David squeezed themselves into another cramped room littered with papers and filing cabinets. A smell of salt reached Kara, and she turned to see a round pool mounted in the far corner. An oracle drummed his fingers on a great semi-circular wooden desk.
A boy stood facing the oracle. He glanced at Kara and David as they approached. He was shorter than David, with dark brown tousled hair and brown eyes. Thick brows anchored his pointy face. He had on a pair of blue jeans and a green t-shirt. With his hands in his pockets, he appeared to Kara to be about the same age as her, about seventeen. A golden star was branded on his forehead.
David slipped past Kara and stood by the desk.
“Hey . . . what’s up Big O?” He lifted his right hand in the air and attempted to give a high-five to the oracle. The oracle just blinked in confusion, so David settled with giving the oracle a nudge on the shoulder instead.
“Petty Officer Kara Nightingale reporting for duty, sir. Yes, sir!” he gave the army salute and stomped his foot.
The oracle stared at David with a puzzled expression on his face. “You look very manly for a girl. And a very ugly one at that. Did you suffer some sort of operation?” He twirled his long white beard with his fingers and examined David more closely, as though he was some sort of insect.
Kara cleared her throat. “Ahem—I’m Kara Nightingale, oracle. David, here is just trying to be funny.” She gave David a slight shove. “Not that it’s working or anything.”
The oracle’s blue eyes sparkled and settled on Kara. His face lit up. “Ah, yes of course. Here you are!” He fumbled with some papers on his desk and grabbed a file. He glanced at it for a brief moment, and handed it to Kara. He then stretched out his arms towards the boy.
“Timmy—meet Kara Nightingale. Kara—meet Timmy Hicks. Timmy’s going to be your new rookie today.”
For a long moment, no one moved or said anything. Finally Kara made up her mind and stepped towards Timmy. But her legs seemed glued in place, and she nearly tripped. That seemed to break the ice. Timmy grinned. He shook her hand.
“Hi. I’m Tommy Hicks. Not Timmy. And everyone calls me Tom.”
Tiny pricks crawled around her face. Thankful that she couldn’t blush, Kara gladly shook his hand.
“Hi, Tom. It’s really nice to meet you.”
The oracle clapped his hands together. “Well, now that you are all acquainted it’s time to save lives! Hurry up! No time to waste! Make haste! Make haste—oh, that rhymes!” Pleased with himself, the oracle beckoned them with his hands. “Off you go! Off you go!”
Kara bit her lower lip and flipped open the file:
Guardian Angels: Kara Nightingale, Tommy Hicks
Class order # 4567
Rank: Petty Officer, W-2 Guard squad, Rookie 1st year, W-1 Guard squad
Assignment: Monica Smith. Corner of Monkland Avenue and Cavendish Boulevard.
10:13 am. Trampled to death by 30,000 cyclists during the Tour de L’ile.
Cavendish Boulevard was two blocks from her house … she knew the area well. Without another thought, she folded the file and stuffed it in her black backpack.
David pressed his hand on Kara’s shoulder. She turned around and faced him. His blue eyes glistened. His lips curled into a smile. She felt a sharp twinge in her chest.
“Okay, Kara?” David smiled mischievously. “I’m off. Good luck on your first day as a petty officer. And don’t think too much. And try not to get yourself into trouble.”
He turned to face Tom and flashed his teeth. “Hey, buddy, don’t believe anything she tells you.”
“Hey!” said Kara, outraged. “Don’t tell him that!” She looked into David’s smiling eyes. She knew if she looked any longer, she’d be in trouble. She averted her eyes.
“Tom, are you ready?”
Tom sighed. “As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.” He scratched his head nervously. “What do I do now?”
“Follow me.”
/> Kara steered Tom by the elbow towards the pool. She climbed up easily and reached down to help pull him up. She searched his face and wondered if he had that same horrified expression as in her first time with the pools.
“It’s going to be okay. I promise.” She gave him a warm smile. “Here—give me your hand. We’ll jump in together.”
With one last look at David, Kara clasped Tom’s hand and jumped into the water.
As they fell to the bottom, blinding white light exploded all around them. Kara felt a pulling sensation and watched as their bodies disintegrated into millions of brilliant particles. Everything around them disappeared.
Kara and Tom emerged from a stinky portable toilet at a construction zone in the streets of Montreal. She heard traffic and smelled hot asphalt. Glass and metal buildings loomed over them on either side of the street. People rushed down the sidewalks, lost in their own worlds. No one seemed to notice a young girl helping a boy try to walk for the first time in a new M suit.
The sun burned the top of Kara’s head. Tom couldn’t animate his legs to start with, but soon they walked together along Monkland Avenue. The street was alive with the smell of spices and exhaust fumes. Everywhere they looked, crowds of people strutted along engaged in happy conversations. Families carried folded chairs under their arms, and Kara wondered where they were going as they waddled down the sidewalk. She craned her neck and stared down the street. People were waiting for something. The rows of blue and red folding chairs occupied by middle aged men and women wearing sunglasses and hats and the number of young people who were wearing lycra cycling outfits made it clear that they were all milling about, waiting for the cycling race.
Kara glanced at her watch. Something nagged her in the back of her mind. She felt restless.
“Um—Tom? Listen. We still have half an hour before the accident begins, right? So … if you don’t mind, I need to go do something first. It’ll only take a few minutes.”
“Eh—what?” Tom was puzzled, and he looked unsure of himself. Kara felt immediately guilty, but she brushed it off.
“There’s something I need to do,” she said gently. “I need to go check on my mother. Don’t worry; it’s like two blocks away from here. We could go and be back in fifteen minutes.”
As soon as the words escaped her lips, she knew she was in trouble. But right now, her mother’s safety was her priority. She just couldn’t walk away.
Tom scratched his head with his right hand, and Kara noticed that his left hand, that hung loosely at his side, mimicked the movement.
“Uh, can we do that? Are we allowed to go somewhere else?”
“Yeah, of course. It’s no big deal. I do it all the time,” Kara lied. She forced her gaze away from Tom’s wide eyes, ashamed. She could see he was uneasy.
Kara pretended not to notice. “Okay, so we better go then. Right? Come on!”
Before Tom could protest, Kara grabbed his hand and pulled him with her. She tried to jog, but he kept tripping on his new legs. She felt even worse about forcing him to come along. But she had to. She had to make sure her mother was safe.
Kara had a nasty feeling that the higher demons probably wanted payback. Since they didn’t get her, she knew the next best thing would be her mother. Her mother’s safety was critical.
They passed Cavendish Boulevard and continued on Monkland for another two blocks, then turned south on Walkley Avenue. They arrived at a four storey red brick apartment building. The walkway to the entrance was littered with old newspapers and plastic bags that rolled in the wind. Tenants were crammed into the rusted metal balconies leaning over to watch the race. Kara didn’t think they were made to have twenty people at a time on them. She hurried Tom under them, towards her mom’s apartment on the alleyway. She made up her mind to go in.
“This is it,” said Kara and sighed. “This is where I live—used to live, with my mom. It’s not the Hilton, so don’t freak out when you see bugs. It’s enough for the two of us. Come on. Let me give you the grand tour. It’ll only take a minute.”
Kara tugged on Tom’s arm, but he wouldn’t move.
With one last ineffective pull, she let him go. She didn’t want to leave him out in the middle of the street. He kept twitching as if he had ants in his pants.
“Let’s go, Tom. I’m not leaving you here in the middle of the sidewalk.”
Tom wiggled on the spot. “I—I don’t know, Kara. I don’t feel good about this. Maybe we should go back.”
Kara sighed impatiently. “Listen. We’re going in to look for my mom. I’m not leaving before I know my mother’s safe!” She searched his face. So young. So frightened. “It’ll only take a minute. I promise. Nothing’s going to happen. We’ll be in and out before you know it.”
He stood there teetering like the tower of Pisa. And without waiting for an answer, Kara grabbed Tom by the hand and dragged him into the front entrance. Cigarette smell hits them as she pulled open the glass door. They passed rusted metal mailboxes with their doors hanging open on their hinges. Advertisement flyers littered the ground on a paper carpet. They climbed up three sets of stairs. A large stone fireplace, that Kara thought must have been magnificent once, stood forgotten at the far corner of the lobby. A stench of mildew rolled off the grey carpets. Kara grimaced and wondered if her new M suit was more sensitive to smells. Beige paint peeled off walls and added more texture to the graffiti.
“This way,” said Kara, as she pulled Tom towards the stairs. “We live on the fourth floor—apartment 4B.”
“You lived here? But it looks like a crack house or something.” Tom’s tone had a hint of arrogance, and Kara saw a flicker of conceit in his eyes. He almost certainly never went hungry, or ran out of milk for his cereal, like Kara often did.
With a groan, she ignored his comment.
“Come on!” Kara yanked Tom’s arm, and he followed her up the stairs, but she saw his eyes were glued to the graffiti in the foyer.
Kara began to feel anxious about her mother. She climbed up the stairs two at a time. What if the demons had gotten a hold of her? What if she was already dead? The hair on the back of her neck stood up. She remembered the crackling sound of Brooke’s dying spirit as her legs disappeared down the demons’ drooling gorge. She could still hear her screaming as the higher demons ripped her apart. Kara shivered and ran up the stairs.
She flew over the last step and turned right. Her footsteps reverberated in the dingy hall, and she rocketed towards her apartment door.
Kara stopped and stared at the door. Its white paint was cracked and pealing, just like she remembered. Dirty hand prints circled around the door handle. She blinked as Tom popped beside her.
“Is this it?” He glanced up and stared at the black metal numbers resting above the door frame. “Four B . . . this is it, right?”
“Welcome to the Hilton, my friend.”
She rolled over the doormat with her foot and grabbed a silver key. Clenching her teeth, she grabbed the cold metal knob, stuck in the key and turned. There was a click, and Kara pushed open the door. The skin on her mortal suit prickled. She crept past the foyer and disappeared behind a doorway towards the kitchen.
She looked around frantically. The place looked deserted, as though no one had lived there for days. A feeling of dread overwhelmed her.
“M—mom?” she croaked. “Mom! Are you here? MOM!”
Kara ran from the kitchen and stormed into the living room.
“Mom!”
It was empty. The cushions on the sofas lay unspoiled, perfectly placed. Soft light spilled from the large window behind the sky-blue loveseat, reflecting off the polished wooden surface of the coffee table. There wasn’t a speck of dirt in sight. Kara felt something was horribly wrong.
Frantic, Kara ran to her mother’s bedroom. She pushed her way in and stopped. A chill ran up her back. It was empty. The room seemed untouched. She ran to her mother’s bed and grabbed a pillow. Pushing it against her face, she tried to find h
er mother’s smell. Nothing. Just the general detergent smell. What had happened?
With her head swarming with questions, she walked out of the room and stopped. She leaned against the door frame. Her world was crumbling down.
“Maybe she’s working or buying groceries or something?” said Tom. He smiled and tried to do his best to comfort her. “I’m sure she’s okay—I mean, why shouldn’t she be—right?”
Kara realized that Tom had no idea who she was, and what had happened ten months ago. He didn’t know about Asmodeus or the higher demons. He was brand new, fresh out of the box.
She cringed. Her mother worked from home and only did groceries on Tuesdays and Fridays. Today was Wednesday.
“Yeah. I guess you’re right.”
Kara walked slowly towards the couch and let herself fall into it. She felt numb all over. Where is my mother?
She glanced at her watch. It was 10:05am. They had less than ten minutes to get back to Cavendish Boulevard and save Monica Smith.
“We should get going. Let’s finish our assignment, and I’ll come back later for my mom.” Kara pushed herself off the couch reluctantly. “And we better hurry. We have less than ten minutes to get there. You ready?”
“Okay.” Tom made his way towards the door. “I’m sure you’re overreacting. I’m sure she’s all right.”
Kara followed closely behind. She couldn’t shake off the awful feeling that something was wrong. Could her mother be out on an errand? She watched Tom reaching for the door knob—
Chapter 4
New Breed