Marked, Soul Guardians Book 1

by Kim Richardson

  This is it, Kara thought. I’m dead.

  Wind whistled in her ears as she fell. The side of her face scraped against the razor sharp rock. She knew she shouldn’t fear death like a normal person would, but she did—her instinct to survive was strong even though death seemed inevitable.

  She counted in her head.

  One...

  Kara crashed onto something pillow soft. She spat the dirt from her mouth and sat up.

  “I’m alive?”

  She looked at her bloodied hands. They stung like she had soaked them in acid, but blood meant life. She was alive. A little banged up, but alive. Apart from a small strain in her foot, she seemed fine. She was sitting in a bed of moss and stringy coastal vegetation. It had saved her. Sharp boulders lay to her left. If she had fallen another few feet to the left she would have been human—mush.

  Kara examined the cliff above her. It looked like a regular cliff, made mostly of jagged rock with a few spurts of vegetation in the crevices. The base of the cliff disappeared into the ocean. Great ocean waves smashed onto the rocks on the north side of the cliff. But she had landed near a small semicircle patch of golden sand sheltered under the cliff. And at the edge of the sand, was an opening—just as the Fay sisters had said—the entrance to Shadow Cave was a perfect triangle like an upside—down piece of pie. Was it a death wish that drew her towards the mouth of the cave? Only shadows lingered beyond the narrow opening. Something was watching her from inside the cave—she could feel it.

  David charged down the steps at a frightening speed. He jumped the last step and landed softly by Kara.

  “Kara! Are you all right? Are you hurt?”

  Kara took his hand, and he pulled her up. “Call it a miracle, but I’m fine.” Her ankle throbbed and she adjusted her weight on the other foot. “I think I sprained my ankle.”

  “You have cuts on your face.” David squeezed her arm and didn’t let her go. “They’re bleeding—”

  “Watch out! They’re coming!”

  Peter and Jenny came crashing down the last steps but managed to stay on their feet. Kara looked up. Seawater dripped on her face like an outdoor shower. The sea—fists hovered above the cliff for a moment and then plummeted towards them like giant water grenades.

  Kara pointed towards the cave. “RUN!”

  Jenny and Peter dashed towards the cave. David pulled Kara with him. The ground shook as the first fist hit the ground where Kara had stood seconds before. The impact of the blow sent them sprawling. The second fist came at them with a vengeance, as if it could see they were getting away.

  Just as it hit, David pulled Kara out of the way. The water—fist exploded in a great wave that pushed them like body—surfers all the way to the entrance of the cave. As the water receded, Kara was dragged back towards the deep water.

  With lightning speed David hauled Kara out of the water, and they tumbled through the entrance of the cave.

  Even in the darkness, Kara could see David’s smiling face. She pushed herself up and turned towards the opening. “They’re gone.”

  “For now,” said David. “I don’t want to be here when they decide to come back.”

  “You guys all right?” asked Kara, seeing the whites of Jenny and Peter’s eyes in the darkness.

  “As all right as we can be,” answered Peter with his back pressed against the wall of the cave.

  Jenny wiped herself down. “I’ve never seen anything like those giant hands before. You think they had something to do with the witch?”

  Kara nodded. “I’m sure of it. Olga doesn’t want us here.”

  “You mean us spirit walkers,” said Peter.

  Kara didn’t answer as she inspected the inside of the cave. It was shaped like a pear. The walls came together gradually and disappeared into the blackness above. Icicle—shaped formations drooped from the ceilings and stood up from the floor of the cave. Multicolored mushrooms spread on the ground like bumpy grass, and seeping water covered the walls like sheets of a waterfall. The only source of light came from the entrance.

  They stood in a small oval—shaped underground chamber the size of a large room. Thick roots covered the inside walls like cobwebs, and the cave walls shook under the relentless pounding of the waves outside.

  On the opposite side was a large crack. Kara stepped towards the fracture in the cave wall and peered through it. She could see a network of underground passages that disappeared into shadows. Somewhere down there was the witch, Olga. Kara couldn’t see the roof of the cave in the darkness above her. Humming that sounded like a cross between a motor running and a language came from the deep. Goosebumps rippled across Kara’s skin.

  “I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of what the witch can do. Must be loads of creatures deep in here,” said David as he peeled purple moss off the side of the cave wall.

  “Anyone up for a stroll in the cave,” he said and crossed the chamber. “Well, I am. Let’s show these Fay sisters that we angels aren’t afraid of the dark.”

  “Did you guys feel that?” Jenny looked over to Kara, her green eyes wide with fear.

  David shrugged. “I don’t feel anything?”

  Jenny edged back. “That humming—it’s like the cave’s telling us to get out.”

  “I’m feeling that, too.” Peter was glued to the side of the cave. “It doesn’t like us, it’s telling us to go back.”

  “I feel it, too,” said Kara.

  A shadow moved in the darkness beyond—a bat maybe?

  “But it’s not like I have a choice. If you guys want to go back, I’ll understand. I won’t force you to come with me. You heard what the witches said—”

  “No way, Kara,” said Jenny. “You heard what Ariel said too. We’re here to protect you. We go with you, those are our orders.”

  Peter nodded in agreement.

  David pulled a soul blade from his jacket pocket and handed it to Kara. “I know our weapons don’t work against warlocks and magic, but I’d feel better if you had one with you, just in case.”

  Kara wrapped her hand around the hilt of the small blade. It felt awkward and heavy in her hand, not at all like the lightness and balance of her blade when she was a guardian. Could she even use it properly?

  “Thanks,” she said. “I guess I can hack some stalactites if they try to attack me.”

  “Stay close to me.” David was serious. “You’re not in an M—suit like us—whatever’s in there is not friendly, and I don’t want you getting hurt.”

  Kara’s insides fluttered, and she stiffened with courage. “I’m not that useless, I still remember how to fight. Besides, I’m more worried about you guys than me. Remember what the witches said, spirit walkers are not welcome in this cave. Olga isn’t going to roll out the red carpet for you. I might have a better chance on my own—”

  “Forget it,” said David. “Besides, I think those two old bats smoke too much. It’s just a cave, what could happen?” he said with a coy smile.

  Kara glanced at her watch. It was twenty past noon. Time was running out. “Let’s go find this witch and hope she’s happy to see us.”

  But Kara very much doubted that. She had a feeling it was going to take a miracle to convince the old witch Olga. And Kara didn’t have a get—a—miracle—free card with her.

  David climbed through the crack first, followed closely by Kara with Jenny and Peter bringing up the rear. Immediately, Kara understood the meaning of the cave’s name. Twenty feet into the first passageway, and Shadow Cave was as dark as night. She waited for her eyes to get adjusted to the blackness, but it was useless. It was pitch black and as silent as a tomb. The world outside was shut out.

  Kara unzipped her jacket. The thick air was humid, and it was surprisingly warm. She smelled earth and limestone.

  “Uh...guys? Who turned off the lights,” Jenny’s voice called out in the darkness.

  David held a moonstone the size of a grapefruit in front of him with one hand and brandished his blade i
n the other. The glow of light illuminated the underground passageway and bathed David in a soft white light. Peter brandished another, and between their two moonstones there was enough light to see the network of passages more clearly.

  They stood in the largest of the underground passages that they could see. Smaller passages branched off in every direction. A thick mist coiled around Kara’s boots and covered the path in white.

  “Which way do we go?”

  David cast a long black shadow as he explored the path by the light of his moonstone.

  “Let’s keep on this one. I think it’s the path the clown sisters talked about. It’s the largest one—we should follow it.”

  “Okay.” Kara saw movement in the corner of her eye. She turned but could see nothing in the black passageway.

  Jenny slid her bow off her shoulders and nocked a silver arrow.

  “Something’s watching us,” she whispered and stared at the passages to her left. “I saw something moving in there.” Jenny eyed the cave walls suspiciously.

  Kara felt a shiver pass through her. She also felt watched. She strained through the thick darkness and tightened her grip on her blade, but it was impossible to see without night vision. She took a step forward and listened—

  Suddenly the ground shifted and trembled. The cave cracked like lightning.

  All around them, gigantic mushrooms the size of fridges sprouted from the ground and walls of the cave. They looked like a cross between a humanoid and a vegetable, with long gangly limbs and roots that looked like fingers and toes. They appeared to be eyeless. Their skin was rough like tree bark, and their colors ranged from bright red to forest green.

  They lowered their caps, as though they were going to curtsy, and revealed maws of razor sharp teeth on top of their heads. They slithered across the path and created an impenetrable wall of twisted roots and limbs.

  David whistled loudly. “Got to admit, the witch has a wicked sense of humor.”

  A thick mushroom thrashed forward and swung its limbs violently towards David’s head. He ducked out of the way—just as another one sprouted from the ground and launched another attack. He kicked out and thrashed at the mushroom with his blade. But the more he cut and slashed, the more mushrooms appeared from the darkness to replace the first attackers.

  They were outnumbered ten to one.

  Kara’s head started to throb again just as a massive killer—mushroom charged towards her with a mouth full of gnashing teeth. It was going to crush her like a tomato.

  Chapter 10

  Ambushed