On the elevator ride to Operations, Kara watched silently as two identical monkeys operated the control panel. The size of common house cats, they were completely covered in black fur except for two white streaks along the sides of their backs. More white covered the bottom half of their faces, like an old man’s beard. Long bushy tails wrapped around the chair’s back rest. In a flash, one of the monkeys leaped off the chair and dashed across and around the elevator walls. It brushed the top of David’s and Kara’s heads before settling back beside its brother. It put something in its mouth and started chewing.
Kara rubbed the top of her scalp. She wanted to choke them. "You little creeps!”
“Don’t worry about it, I got this,” whispered David from the corner of his mouth.
Kara glared at the monkeys and put her hands on her head, protecting it from the furry cannibals. She blinked. A black shape rocketed across the walls—and then stopped. Its tiny feet dangled in the air as David grabbed a monkey by the throat.
He brought the monkey to his face. “I will pull off your tail and then your brother’s tail if you try that again…rat. Believe me.”
And when he let go of the monkey, it scurried away and climbed back onto the chair, facing the panel. It stood still for a moment, then turned its head and stuck out its brown tongue. Its twin gave them the finger with its four hands.
“You’re making this too easy for me, you little rats.” David took a step forward.
“Okay, we’ll stop,” said the monkeys in unison. “We promise we’ll be good.” Both monkeys flashed a set of yellow teeth and wrapped their arms around each other. Somehow, Kara wasn’t convinced. She covered her head with her hands, just in case.
After a very long three minutes of obscene theatrics from Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, the elevator jerked to a stop. The doors swished open, and Kara stepped off the elevator. Her feet pressed into soft ground.
Kara lifted her head and looked around. Operations was like the Sahara Desert. Rolling hills of ruby red sand stretched out for miles, rippling like giant Ruffles potato chips. A soft breeze tickled her forehead, and she wiped her bangs away from her eyes. A strong salty fragrance filled the air around them. It reminded her of the times when she was about ten years old, running across the beach at her grandparents’ cottage, chasing the waves. Kara smiled. It was her happy place. Fluffy white clouds raced each other across a baby blue sky and out of sight.
Kara turned at the sound of the elevator disappearing into the ground, as though a patch of quicksand had swallowed it up. She followed David down a slope leading into a populated area in the middle of the red desert. Her feet pressed deep into the sand with every step as they got closer. Soon she was walking through a maze of tall white pyramids. She squinted. “What are those?” Kara side-stepped closer to one of them and stretched out her hand. Her fingers pressed right through it. She frowned. “Is this some kind of white sand?”
“No. It’s salt,” answered David.
Kara took a handful. She opened her fingers and watched the tiny white crystals escape through the gaps. She wiped her hand on her jeans and ran to catch up with David.
“Why is all this salt here?”
“It’s for the pools.”
“Right. And …why is that again?” asked Kara.
David smiled. “It’s for protection.” He stared into Kara’s eyes. “Salt is a weapon against demons. It acts as a repellent, sort of. It hurts them, and we can use it to kill them, too.”
Kara nodded her head. “Good to know.”
Loud thumping and squeaking noises surrounded them. Kara peeked around one of the pyramids. Hundreds of large construction-like trucks dumped huge quantities of salt onto the ground. The vehicles wheeled themselves right into the salt pyramids and sucked out the salt with long metal hoses, like giant vacuum cleaners. Massive round glass containers rested on their backs. They filled up with salt. Her eyes darted to the drivers. They were the same yellow-haired kids from the Hall of Souls.
David noticed Kara staring at the drivers. “The little guys are cherubs.”
“Cherubs?” repeated Kara. “Aren’t they supposed to have wings and fly around like cupid?”
“Don’t believe everything you read.”
Before she could open her mouth again and ask more questions, David grabbed Kara by the elbow and urged her forward. She followed him through the jungle of the salt pyramids. After a few minutes, they came to a clearing with thousands of open blue tents arranged in rows across a flatter part of the red desert. Long white drapes of cloth on poles rippled in the breeze atop each of the tents, like enormous flags. The tents were alive and loud with the clatter of steel on steel and the clamor of fighting. Hundreds of guardian angels fought each other in combat practice. They stabbed and sliced with shiny silver swords. The clanking of wood hitting wood grew louder as she spotted other angels hitting and blocking each other with wooden staffs. Puffs of red sand shot up in the air. The combatants kicked up their feet and plowed them into their opponent’s chest.
Kara studied David’s face. “Am I going to learn all that?” She pointed to the fighting.
David turned his head and looked at her. He smiled. “All GAs are required to learn basic combat training. Today’s your first day. ”
Kara’s face twisted in a grin. She felt tiny sparks of excitement. “I always wanted to learn how to defend myself…like learning some martial arts or something. I think it’s cool.” She skipped alongside David and increased her speed.
Some tents sheltered desks, spread out in rows as in a classroom. Guardian angels sat behind them with open books. Oracles stood on their crystal balls at the front of each of these classrooms and addressed the angels.
The salty ocean fragrance lingered in the air. Kara pressed her shoes into the red sand and followed David. She stretched her neck in every direction, not wanting to miss anything. Groups of oracles rolled past them. They conversed amongst themselves, carrying large books that left long paper trails behind.
After a few minutes of walking, they reached a gully where hundreds of round pools spread out in rows and disappeared beyond the red dunes. Shining metal staircases leaned against them. Loads of guardian angels jumped into the pools at the same time, like an international diving competition. Flashes of white light hovered above the pools, and then disappeared.
Kara and David walked through the crowds of angels and oracles to a tent filled with every kind of weapon imaginable: swords, bows, daggers, maces, axes, and glowing white nets. They all dangled from hooks screwed into standing wooden panels, like large tool walls. Tables were covered with shiny blue arrows and white crystal orbs of every size. David unhooked two long daggers and hid them inside his jacket.
“What am I supposed to use?” Kara glanced at the hundreds of weapons hanging from the panels. “Hey…what do I use? Yes, very good, David.”
With a stupid smile plastered across his face and making sure he had Kara as an audience, David was juggling three orbs. He threw them higher and higher into the air. “Pick a sword or a dagger…” He caught the orbs one after another and bowed. “Whichever you want.”
Kara shook her head. He was beginning to grow on her. She saw a small golden scabbard amongst the rows of larger swords. She walked over to the panel and lifted it from its hook. It had a gold handle with wing cross guards. She clasped her left hand around the scabbard, and pulled the blade out with her right hand. A flicker of light shone on the golden blade. She turned it in her hand. Stars appeared to be etched into it. The sword felt strangely familiar in her hand, and very light.
“So, you’ve picked this one, eh?” said David, as he moved beside her.
Kara looked down at the shiny sword and grinned. “Yup. I like it. It sparkles.” She twirled it in her hand, as she would one of her paintbrushes. She sliced the air as she brought it down. “I’m ready to cut me up some demons.”
David pressed his right hand against his chest and screwed up his face. “I?
??m so proud of you, I could cry.”
“Please don’t. So…where to now?”
He jumped up in the air. “Now you’re talkin’ like a true GA. This way.”
David grabbed Kara by the arm and pulled her out of the tent. He dragged her with him until he found an empty tent. Then he balanced himself and pulled off his boots with his feet. “It’s better if you take your shoes off.”
Kara looked down at her black ballerina flats. “Right…these aren’t exactly combat material.” She pulled off her shoes and wiggled her toes in the red sand. The soft sand felt wonderful against her toes.
“The Legion has a few basic maneuvers that all GAs have to learn…real easy stuff.” David pulled off his jacket and threw it on the wooden table near the end of the tent. “I’ll teach you how to attack, to parry, and how to riposte.” He walked to the middle of the area beneath the tent, where the form of a circle was drawn with a white powder. He stood with legs apart. “Above all, you need to learn how to protect yourself. Once you’ve mastered this, then I’ll teach you the fun stuff…how to hit and vanquish demons.” He stretched out his right arm and gestured with his hand for her to come where he stood. “You have to know where to cut them…where it hurts.”
“I can’t believe I’m actually going to do this.” Kara stepped forward and stood in the circle facing David. “Um…this should be interesting.” She studied David’s grinning face. “I must warn you…I sucked in gym class.” She twisted her sword in her hand. “Never had good eye-hand coordination.”
“You’ll do fine.”
“You might lose an eye.”
“The ladies love an eye patch.”
“Okay then, I’m ready, Captain Hook.”
David flashed a smile. “First, always make sure to have sufficient distance between your feet…”
Kara mimicked David’s feet position and stood with her legs apart.
“Good. And keep track of all the moves your opponent makes. Now, I’m going to show you how to parry. When you parry, the blade should be closer to the body like this…”
David clasped the sword with both hands and pointed the blade down with his wrists pronated, “…for self defense. You should always be looking for an opening to counter the attack. You ready?”
“I think so.”
“Okay, I’m going to raise my sword and come in for an attack. Let the swords hit.”
David moved forward and with a clang he hit Kara’s sword with his own.
He stood facing her. “Now you want to sidestep and wrap your sword around so that you’re holding it over your head…and ready to strike back. Like this…”
David rolled around, forcing Kara to follow his momentum. She came up around him and held her sword over her head, deflecting David’s strike.
“I can do this.” said Kara. “I can really do this.”
David studied her face. “You see …you want to try it again?”
“Yeah. This is amazing. I can’t believe it …”
“If you don’t stop smiling soon, your face is gonna stay like that,” laughed David.
Kara flashed a frown at David. “What’s wrong with my smile?”
He raised his eyebrows, a huge smile of his own plastered across his face. “Nothing. Smiling is the second best thing you can do with your lips.”
“Hey!” Kara shoved David forward, grateful for the non-existent flush on her cheeks. “Let’s go.” She tightened her grip on her sword and tried hard not to look at his lips.
David showed Kara how to disarm her opponent by twisting his blade and leaving him no choice but to drop it. She tripped on her own feet a couple of times and fell flat on her face, which was totally normal. But what felt abnormal to Kara was the fact that she didn’t even break into a sweat and never got tired. She had no need for water, for food, or even for sleep. Like the energizer bunny, she kept on going and going and going. And for the following days—what Kara believed to be days—they spent every hour going over the hitting and blocking techniques.
“Keep your guard up,” yelled David. He slashed Kara across the arm with his blade. A deep wound.
Immediately, Kara dropped to her knees and covered the cut with her hand. She stared open-mouthed at her arm. “You-you cut me? You cut my arm?” She glared at David, who only stared back.
His face crinkled into a smile. “Relax, it’s nothing…”
“Nothing? You practically sliced my arm off!” Kara narrowed her eyes and looked back at her wound. She bit her lip, closed her right eye, and peeked with her left eye through her bangs. She prepared herself for the worst. But as Kara lifted her hand from her injury, she fell over backwards. A flash of brilliant light obscured her vision. She blinked. Rays of white light poured out from the gaping wound, as if a flashlight shone through the cut.
“What the…?” The wound started to heal itself. It pulled the edges of the cut together slowly, until not even a scar remained, as though her skin had stitched itself together. “I’m going mad.” She stared at her arm. “Holy shi...”
“Ah! None of that here,” laughed David, “you don’t want Gabriel to hear you, trust me.”
“But, my . . . my arm? My skin? It just…fixed itself.” Kara couldn’t believe her eyes; she felt as if she had just witnessed a really good visual effects stunt.
David pulled her up on her feet. “You’re an angel, what did you expect, blood? You have no blood. You’re not human anymore.”
“Right…I…I forgot. I’m not human anymore.” Kara stared at her arm where the cut had disappeared. She passed her hand along her skin. She smirked. “It's amazing. I can heal myself.”
Kara was surprised to find that she enjoyed the training sessions with David. Her many injuries healed themselves, and remarkably, she developed a knack for it. The moves suddenly made sense. Her reflexes were good, and she could keep up with David.
A crowd of GAs grew slowly and formed a circle around Kara and David. Her neurons acted up. She felt prickling all over her body. She hated having any kind of attention on her. A tall and powerful-looking older teen guardian angel stepped out from the crowd. He walked up to David and Kara with a grin on his face. His brown hair shimmered in the sun. Two golden stars flashed on his forehead.
“Wow, pretty good for a rookie. But then again, your teacher lacks discipline…any rookie could beat him,” he laughed as he turned and encouraged the crowd to laugh as well. He turned his handsome face and eyeballed Kara.
“Care to test your skills on me? Unless of course, your Petty Officer is afraid I’ll make him look bad in front of his peers?”
He flashed his gleaming white teeth at David. A few GAs snickered.
David pursed his lips. Kara saw hatred in his eyes as he stepped up to the angel. “Don’t you have a hair appointment or something, Benson? Stop wasting our time, douche bag,” he said, as he shifted his sword between his hands menacingly. He looked at Kara momentarily and gave her a wink.
A second later, Benson pulled out a gleaming silver sword. “Always a wise-ass.”
The crowd around him dispersed. His face twisted up in concentration. He bared his teeth in a snarl with his eyes glued on David.
“What is this, a testosterone fight in Horizon?” Kara took a step towards them, lifting her hands in the air with her palms facing outwards. “Okay, boys, let’s not do anything stupid. We’re in a happy place, right? There’s no need for this.”
Benson turned his attention to Kara. His tawny eyes glittered as he stared her down. He studied her with a strange look in his eyes. “I see why you’ve picked this one…she’s pretty. We all know what you do to the pretty ones.”
Kara frowned and watched David’s reaction. She couldn’t read his face under all the angry wrinkles.
“I’d mind my own business if I were you,” David growled.
“It is my business. She was my friend. I knew what you were doing to her!”
“What?” said Kara. “David…what is he talki
ng about?” A sudden feeling of jealously welled inside her. She tried to shake it off, but somehow it was getting worse.
And without warning, Benson charged forward and kicked David hard in the stomach. Kara watched in horror as David stumbled backwards. He regained his balance quickly and stepped back into the fighting circle, his blade grasped tightly in his hand.
Benson’s face cracked into a sly smile. “I’m surprised the Legion even gave you a rookie, after what happened to Sarah. I always said you were going to get one of us killed! What you did to her was unforgivable. You broke our most sacred law.”
He turned his head and read the puzzlement on Kara’s face.
“Oh? So she doesn’t know? You’re better off looking for another Petty Officer, Rookie. Love affairs are forbidden in Horizon.”
Kara looked at David and saw a flash of fury in his eyes as he threw himself at Benson.
“Angels!” an oracle bellowed, “What is going on here?” Kara watched the oracle roll over towards them. She had never seen an oracle look so outraged.
“Nothing, oracle,” answered Benson, with the face of an angel. “We’re practicing combat maneuvers…that’s all.”
The oracle’s blue eyes went from Benson to Kara to David, before going back to Benson. The oracle pursed his lips and cocked an eyebrow. “It didn’t look like practice from where I was…and I’ve seen it many times before! A bit harsh, don’t you think? You are not savages…you are angels. It’s time you behave like them.”
“We need to be able to defend ourselves…in extreme conditions…” said Benson. “Nothing we can’t handle.”
“You can’t handle anything.” David met Benson’s glare.
“Your methods are not safe. They’re insane. Your rookie will die because of you,” spat Benson as he clasped his sword. His knuckles turned white.
“That’s enough,” yelled the oracle.
The ground shook. The light from inside his crystal ball seemed to darken.
The oracle twirled his beard around his fingers. “Everyone out. You have jobs to do and souls to save. Let’s go!” Immediately, the crowd dispersed.
Benson threw a finger in David’s direction. “You’ll pay for her death! Filth like you doesn’t belong in the Legion.” Kara watched in silence as Benson marched out of the tent and out of sight. A few of his minion GAs tagged along behind him like sad little puppies.
“It really upsets me to see you angels not getting along,” said the oracle. “And as for the two of you,” he said as he pointed a skinny finger, “you have a bus to catch.” Then he steered his glass sphere around and rolled away.
David stared at his feet. His expression changed like clouds before a storm. Kara wanted to ask David who had died, but something told her now was not the time. Instead, she settled for the obvious. She bent her body sideways and searched David’s face. “Why does Benson hate you so much?”
“Because I’m better looking,” he answered, as he met her eyes and winked.
“You’re so full of crap. You know that?”
David’s face cracked into a smile. “And that’s why you love me.”
“Oh, please. Did he hit you on the head or something? I think you’re suffering from a bit of brain fart.”
“Maybe,” laughed David. “Okay, I think that’s enough training for a while. You’re more than ready for your next assignment.”
They walked in silence through the red desert. Kara’s mind filled with unanswered questions. But some in particular kept coming back. Who the heck is this Sarah? And what happened to her?
Chapter 7
Fish Nets and Salt Shakers