“You’ll know they’ve spotted us when they screech,” David told her.
The reapers screeched.
“Told you.”
Kara saw them, black against the white-colored hotel walls. The reapers raised their arms and turned into coils of black smoke and shadow. She could sense them leering under the shadow of their hoods.
Kara dragged Ashley to the edge of the pool. She readied herself and gripped Ashley’s hand hard. She bent her knees—
“Uh…Kara?”
Kara turned to David. “What? What is it?”
The reapers reached the doorway of the pool.
“Your…your M-suit…”
“What about it?”
“You’re not transparent anymore.”
Kara’s mouth fell open. “What?”
Before she had time to react, David grabbed Kara’s free hand and pulled her and Ashley into the pool with him.
Chapter 11
An Old Enemy
Kara sat in the archangel Raphael’s healing chamber and tugged at her skin. It had the same elasticity as before, the same smooth texture. The only difference now was that the skin wasn’t see-through. Her usual olive-colored skin color was back, just as it was when she was a mortal and a guardian.
She was back to normal.
While she should have been relieved, she wasn’t completely happy. There was still something that nagged her. When she’d realized that David was right and that her skin was back, she’d thought her memories would come flooding back, too. But they didn’t. That part hadn’t changed. She stared absently at the walls of Raphael’s chamber, trying to remember. It was like the memories of before she died had been locked away in some room, and she couldn’t find the key to unlock them.
Picking at her fingernails now, Kara had to admit to herself that she was also a little bummed out that she’d been dumped in the Miracles Division, and had not gone with the others to the Department of Defense to debrief. She didn’t feel any different, but she knew the legion was still nervous about what had happened to her and where her true loyalties lay.
Although she was back at her duties, and not in Tartarus, it was only because Metatron had believed she was loyal to the legion. She knew that she and David had been released only because she had made a deal.
And now, the archangel Ariel had ordered her to remain at level three indefinitely because they needed to know more about her sudden return to normal.
The only other guardian in the entire legion who felt worse than Kara was Ashley, and she sat on the opposite side of the room with her head in her hands.
Ashley hadn’t uttered a single word to anyone since she’d arrived back to Horizon. The scars of what had happened to her team were still clearly visible on her face. Ashley sat slumped and silent with a dazed expression, like she was in a dream and didn’t want to wake to face reality. Kara could see plainly that Ashley blamed herself for the loss of her friends.
Kara felt wrong to stare at Ashley’s personal torment, as though she was eavesdropping on a private conversation.
She heard the archangel in the medicine storeroom down the hall, rustling through the chests and drawers, unearthing the potions and creams that she would no doubt be smearing over Kara at any minute.
“Kara, how do you feel?” Raphael called out.
“Fine,” Kara called back.
There was some muttering in response, and then a moment later the archangel came into the chamber with containers, vials, tubes, three potted aloe plants, and a bag of what looked like salt.
Kara raised her brows. “Are you going to prep me up for surgery? You really shouldn’t be wasting your time on me. I said that I was fine. Truly, I feel great. Never better. I swear.” Her face broke into a smile.
“Sure you are,” said Raphael, unconvinced. She dumped the medicines on the table. “And you shouldn’t swear.”
Kara kicked her legs under her chair impatiently.
“What I should be doing is helping David and the others with this reaper business, not being a lab rat. No offense,” she added with an apologetic grin.
“Look at me…I’m fine. I’m better than fine. I look normal again. See?”
The archangel ignored her.
“David said that you were experiencing some discomfort around your back. Stand up and lift up your shirt please.”
Kara sighed loudly but did as she was told. She lifted her shirt and waited uncomfortably while Raphael inspected her closely.
“Hmm,” she heard the archangel say. “I don’t see anything.”
“That’s because there is nothing to see except a perfectly fine angel body.”
“Don’t be smart with me, young lady,” said the archangel shortly. “It doesn’t suit you. Now, stay put.”
Kara hung her head. She was tempted to run out the door to join the others, but decided against it. Raphael would be livid, and she knew that even though she was back to normal, most of the archangels and angels in the legion still weren’t too thrilled with her. They never were. She didn’t want to give them more reasons to hate her.
She flinched as Raphael rubbed a cool ointment on her back. She smelled raw onion and cabbage. It reminded her of her mother’s beef stew.
She wondered how her mother was. She missed her dearly. Had she said goodbye to her that morning before she went off to work in the bookstore, before she died? Yes, she had. That she remembered. But when she tried to recollect those precious moments before her death—nothing. Her mind was an empty box. The contents were missing.
“Are you almost finished?” asked Kara as patiently as she could. She was frustrated more with herself because she couldn’t remember how she died, than she was with the archangel’s overly conscientious concern for her.
“There. Now I’m finished,” said Raphael finally. She pulled Kara’s shirt back down and turned her around to face her.
Kara’s skin felt cool, as if the archangel had rubbed Vicks VapoRub on her. And then she felt nothing. “What did you put on me?”
“Ethereal E-3 non-stick, Healing balm,” said the archangel as she tightened the lid of a small container with green-colored cream inside. “Not sure it’ll work, but it’s supposed to minimize the effects of burns and cuts and help your angel body to heal faster. It protects it with an extra layer.”
“Like an M-Suit.”
Raphael smiled. “In a way…yes.” And then her face was serious again.
“Any other pains or bruises I should know about?”
“Nothing,” said Kara. “And that’s the truth. Honestly, I feel as right as rain.”
“If you say so,” said Raphael, smiling, but she still looked troubled.
Kara smiled. “Then I’m good to go, right? I have to get back to the others. I’ve been dying to know more about these reapers and how to stop them.”
The smile faded from the archangel’s face at the mention of the reapers. “You know something about them, don’t you? The reapers? What do you know, Raphael? Tell me.”
Raphael set down the healing cream and absentmindedly ran her fingers along the table’s smooth surface.
“I know what I saw. It was a very long time ago…over two millenniums ago…” She was silent for a moment “maybe even longer than that. Before the first age, before the creation of man, before things changed.”
“Which is?”
The archangel pressed her hands down on the table, almost as though she needed to steady herself. “Reapers have always been servants.”
“Servants? Like the hired help.” Kara’s eyes widened. “Okay, so they serve some demon overlord from the Netherworld. Is that what you’re trying to tell me?”
“Not entirely.”
Raphael looked down at the table. “Reapers don’t suddenly appear like most demons. They have a singular purpose. They follow rules—they are controlled—they obey orders. They are faithful servants to their creators.”
Kara watched Raphael’s face.
“Hig
her Demons control them, right? I knew it. They created the reapers to kill us, to kill angels.”
“No,” said Raphael, and she frowned. “No. Demons didn’t create the reapers, something far worse did. Something we archangels thought we had banished long ago. But now I know that we were not successful. If the reapers have reappeared, it means they’ll be joining them soon.”
Kara could hardly control her curiosity. Her voice rose. “What will? What’s controlling the reapers? I can’t think of anything worse than higher demons.”
“Archfiends.” Raphael closed her eyes. “Archfiends are the epitome of evil.”
“Archfiends?” repeated Kara stupidly. She’d never heard of an archfiend.
Raphael’s eyes looked dark.
“Reapers were created by the archfiends in a time when we were at war with them. Reapers collected the souls of angels with their Scythes of Death, and truly killed them in the process. Now these monstrosities have been unleashed onto the mortal world. It should never have been allowed to happen. We’ve been careless, and now we’re going to pay dearly for our folly.”
“Archfiend…archangel,” Kara began.
Raphael’s eyes flashed to hers.
“Is there a connection? The two sound oddly similar, like cousins. Is there a connection?” she repeated.
Raphael fell into a chair, her beautiful face tangled in a mixture of desperation and disbelief. She dragged her long black hair into her hands and began to braid it.
“Archfiends were a mighty race of ethereal creatures that originated long before the archangels, and long before the time of man. They were created with a strong, and reckless lust for power and loved only themselves. They were banished from Horizon soon after the archangels were created.
The Archfiends believed they were gods and wanted the creatures of the worlds to worship them. They were jealous of the archangels.”
“So what happened?” Kara bubbled with interest.
“There was a great war that lasted five hundred years, mortal years if you will. I lost many great friends in that war…”
Raphael’s gaze changed and her face fell, like she was remembering some awful trauma.
“We were losing. The archfiends were too powerful. We couldn’t match them in battle. We decided to concentrate our efforts on banishing them instead. After many, many years we contrived a way to keep the archfiends locked away for all eternity. We were able to trick them, so that they were transported to an exile beyond the planes of the Netherworld. Never to rise again—”
“Until now.” Kara could see that Ashley had been listening to the entire conversation.
“Until now,” echoed Raphael. She looked distant and was obviously still traumatized by an event that took place eons ago.
Now Kara understood that the reapers weren’t a new threat at all, but the return of a malignant old enemy. And from what she could gather from Raphael’s reaction, these archfiends might even be more powerful than the archangels themselves.
“What’s the legion’s plan?” Kara said.
She saw the look of defeat return to the archangel’s face, so she continued,
“If the legion beat them once, surely we can beat them again. And they haven’t broken out of their prison yet, right? We’ve only seen the reapers, not the archfiends, which means they’re still in there.”
The archangel held Kara’s eyes and didn’t answer.
“Right,” said Kara, puzzled. “Well, if they haven’t, then it means we still have the upper hand. We just have to stop them from breaking out. We need to figure out if they’ve got a get-out-of-jail-free-card, and destroy it before they have a chance to use it. Whatever it is. I know we can do this.”
Raphael forced a smile.
“I admire your courage, Kara. I always have. You are a remarkable guardian.”
But then she rose from her seat as though the conversation were over.
“I’ve been called to a meeting with the High Council,” she said rather coldly.
“In fact, I really must be going.”
Raphael came over and inspected Kara curiously.
“Well,” she said, and put her hands on her hips. “You truly are a mystery, but I just can’t see anything wrong with you.”
“Then, can I go? I’m dying to see the others.” Mostly, Kara wanted to see David, but she kept that to herself.
“You may go,” said Raphael with a smile.
With her angel body back to normal, Kara felt she was invincible. And when she came to think of it, since their arrival back, she had felt stronger. It was as though she’d been given a dose of angel-steroids. She couldn’t explain it, but she didn’t care. She was sure the archfiends’ situation would reveal itself in more detail to her later.
Kara waved goodbye to Raphael.
Ashley sat with her head down, looking morbid and gloomier than before. Kara couldn’t believe what she was about to say to the girl who hated her.
“Ashley,” said Kara, as she moved toward the other guardian. “I’m sorry about your team, your friends,” she began awkwardly. “I know you’re blaming yourself, but it’s not your fault. It’s nobody’s fault. There was nothing you could have done.”
Ashley gripped the sides of her chair but said nothing.
“I know you were listening before, you heard what Raphael said. We could really use someone like you on the team. Are you up for it? You could come with me right now.”
“Why don’t you just shut up and leave me alone?” spat Ashley.
Kara pressed her lips into a fine line. Just as she was about to tell Ashley off, to bellow out all the new curse words that she’d learnt this summer from David, she bit her tongue. The sadness that flashed on Ashley’s face caused Kara to see and feel her pain. She thought of Lilith then, and her own insides twisted with pain.
“I’ll leave you alone if that’s what you want,” said Kara gently.
“That’s what I want.”
Ashley turned away from Kara and stared at her boots. Even though she acted tough, Kara could see she was in torment.
The door swung open, and a giant crystal ball rolled into the chamber. The tiny man with curly white hair that looked like he was wearing a cloud maneuvered his crystal ball effortlessly with his bare feet and stopped inches from Kara’s face. A bright smile spread across his wrinkled face.
“Hello, hello! I’m oracle # 779-MIND, from the Mental Health Unit, but everyone calls me Doctor What, because what-ever it is, I’m going to find it!”
He jumped in the air. “How lucky you are! It’s not every day that a young guardian such as yourself gets a visit from Doctor What.”
He puffed out his chest proudly.
“I’m here for your psych evaluation, Stacey,” said the oracle cheerfully, like Kara had just won the lottery.
He pulled out a large magnifying glass from the folds of his silver robe and began to inspect her head.
“I see that you have a very large frontal lobe, which could very well be the source of the problem—”
Kara slapped the magnifying glass away and jumped back in alarm.
“I’m not Stacey, my name is Kara. And I think you mean Ashley.”
His eyes moved to Ashley, who stiffened in her chair and stared murderously at the oracle.
Kara bit her tongue to stop from laughing.
The oracle winced.
“Oh, goodness me. My apologies,” he said to Kara, “But are you really sure you don’t need one? I perform a whole battery of tests that measure an angel’s intelligence, academic achievement, weaknesses, and recent and old traumas. I have recommended specific strategies that have proven to be helpful with dealing with the loss of team members, and in evaluating angel disorders. My tests are especially beneficial for younger angels who are not used to such—”
“Uh—no thanks, Doctor What. I’ve already had my psych eval this month,” Kara lied and smiled kindly, hoping to run away before the oracle insisted she stay.
Th
e oracle scratched his head aggressively.
“Suit yourself, Clara. But remember, I am here to help!”
He rolled his crystal ball toward Ashley, and she looked up at him with daggers in her eyes. “Hello dear. I’m oracle # 779-MIND, from the Mental Health Unit, but everyone calls me Doctor What, because what-ever is it, I’m—”
Ashley kicked the crystal ball with her foot, and Doctor What went sprawling on the ground.
Raphael rushed over to the oracle and helped him up. And as she came thundering toward Ashley, who looked somewhat pleased with what she had done, Kara took that as her cue to leave.
She bolted for the door and didn’t look back. As she ran out of the chamber and down the corridor, she could hear Raphael’s voice booming like a murderous thunderstorm and reverberating off the stone walls. Ashley would be getting more than just a psych evaluation now. Although Kara felt sorry for Ashley, the girl was still a fool.
Kara reached the building’s front doors, burst them open, and rushed out into the street where she crashed into David.
She staggered and nearly fell, but David scooped her up in his arms.
“I knew you couldn’t resist me for very long,” said David with a sheepish smile on his face. He drew her close, so close that she could have leaned her head forward and kissed him if she wanted to.
Her body tingled at his nearness and his touch. To feel another angel’s skin and body in Horizon was electrifying. She felt it shooting down her arms and into her fingers, tingling in her toes. She couldn’t get enough of it.
But when she caught the many looks on the faces passing by, she wiggled out of David’s embrace, but very slowly.
“Stop. You’re embarrassing me,” said Kara, with a smile.
“You know we can’t show our…we can’t suggest that we feel…you know…what we feel for each other. No one’s supposed to know, or at least suspect.”
David watched her for a moment.
“You love me, admit it,” he said. “It’s okay. You don’t have to say it back, but you can’t fool me. I can see it in your face. You loooovvvve me.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets. His face was more beautiful every time she looked at it.
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