Veiled

by Silvina Niccum

  “You’ve been very quiet lately. What’s wrong?” Alex asked as our clan gathered at a good spot for viewing the creation.

  “Nothing,” I lied.

  “I know you, Tess, and you are upset,” he said softly. This should have made me feel better, but it didn’t. His sudden interest in me and my well-being made me angry and resentful for all the time he seemed to be spending with Katie.

  “What gave that away?” I responded sourly.

  He moved to my side and scooped up my hand. “Why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you?”

  I wanted to scream at him! Why was he being nice to me all of a sudden! “Go back to Katie!” I wanted to shout, but I didn’t. I just let my hand drop from his and looked straight ahead.

  He was hurt of course. I didn’t have to look at him to feel the disappointment that emanated from him. It was sad to admit it, but part of me liked the fact that he felt hurt by my rude display. Sadder still was the realization that I was turning into Agatha—cynical, unpleasant, and bitter.

  “What’s gotten into you, Tess?” he asked through gritted teeth, trying to restrain his hurt and anger toward me.

  I remained silent for a while, neither one of us was looking at each other.

  “Everything has changed. We are not even a clan anymore…not the clan we used to be anyway. There are new spirits…”

  “Would you have left Katie down there with Legion? Or would you perhaps ask Dorian to give up Luz or Celeste, Max? Things have to change, Tess, and if I remember correctly you were just as ready and willing for things to change as the rest of us. Well…here is change, and a small change at that, to ease us into the big changes that are about to come.”

  “I didn’t think that change would equal losing loved ones.”

  “You haven’t lost anyone yet.”

  I turned my head with a sudden jerk. “Yet?”

  “Yes yet. You may unwittingly cause your own worse fears to come true,” he said turning to look at me straight in the eyes.

  “Do I run the risk of losing you, Alex?” I asked, daring him to tell me the truth about his feelings.

  “I can’t be your best friend forever, Tess,” Alex said with a pained and frustrated look in his eyes. I looked back at him, horrified by what I was hearing. “I’m sorry…but I just can’t go on like this forever—it’s too hard. Our relationship has to change, too, or…”

  My jaw dropped and he didn’t finish his threat, but his meaning was quite clear—we were done.

  “Hi, guys!” Katie’s cheery voice sounded in my ear. “Isn’t this exiting? I was just talking to Paz and Amor. They are so cute. How do you tell them apart? I kept calling them the wrong names, it was so embarrassing, but I guess they are used to it. When do you think they will start? I think it will be the most amazing thing ever!”

  I turned and looked at her with sheer hate, a feeling I had never felt for anyone before…not even Agatha. I felt both ashamed and vindicated by my feelings and left her side before I said something I would regret.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 9

  I found a place to watch the creation far away from my clan, but where I could still see them. Katie leaned over and asked Alex something. No doubt she wondered why I had left so abruptly. He said something back to her and as he did so he let his eyes briefly stray to where I was standing. He held my gaze for a moment. His look was hard and accusatory, and then he looked away. I could swear that part of me died right then.

  In the distance I could hear the Cherubic choir singing. They sounded remote, as if their song was not meant for me, but for everyone else.

  I examined my hand for a moment, my aura had changed. It was dimmer and murkier. I realized that whatever Valerie had predicted was coming true, much sooner than I had expected.

  Suddenly, I was startled by an eruption of laughter all around me, I looked to the center where the Eternals were, and they too were laughing, but I couldn’t figure out why. My eyes strayed back to where Katie and Alex were standing. She was laughing heartily and he was smiling.

  I realized that I couldn’t be here anymore. I couldn’t stand to see them and I couldn’t stand to be surrounded by all these happy spirits. Before I turned to leave I saw one of the Eternals bend slightly and whisper something into the female Seraph’s ear. Her eyes darted to where I stood and her cat eyes fixed on mine for an instant as she nodded in reply. I decided that I was getting paranoid thinking that everyone was talking about me, so I turned and made my way through the thick crowd. I didn’t care if I missed the most important event in my world’s history, I needed to be alone.

  I had no idea what was going on in the center of the assembled crowd, and perhaps it was better that way. My heart was not in it anymore. I thought for sure that if I got away, I would be able to think things through, maybe get to the root of these miserable feelings…but I had no such luck. The Eternals established the link, so I got to hear everything.

  They began by explaining that following this First Day of creation, we would get to explore our brand new spirit world. They explained how much bigger it would be than the actual planet, and that each spirit should start their training right away. Then the creation started.

  I settled on Europa, Jupiter’s moon, and tried to clear my thoughts, but I kept getting interrupted by the occasional “ooh” and “wow” from the crowd. This made it difficult to focus on a particular train of thought long enough to reach any conclusions about my current situation. So I tried to lay flat on the surface of the moon and look up at space, and was just about to enjoy the quiet, when I heard a thunderous BANG! It was so loud that not only did I hear it in my head, but also with my own ears. I immediately stood up and flew back to the gathering, fearing that something had gone wrong. But then I heard some of the spectators start to clap and cheer and I realized that whatever that was, it was supposed to happen.

  Floating and spinning in the middle of space was a little fire ball—that I can only imagine was to be Earth. As it spun around it grew in mass, getting brighter and brighter. I could now see that the elements were churning and changing inside the ball. This went on for quite a while, the ball accruing in mass until it reached the size of a smaller planet.

  “It’s not solid,” someone said.

  “Not yet,” another responded.

  “When?” said the first.

  “Who knows…?”

  “Shh, can’t you two just enjoy this moment?” said a third.

  “Look! It’s cooling on the outside and forming a crust!”

  “Yeah, it is…”

  “Will you two be quiet?”

  A crust was indeed forming and it looked as if it got harder and harder. But there was a strange string of beads that moved with the force of the spinning mass.

  “What are those little things?” I asked quietly, unable to restrain my curiosity.

  “I don’t know…little rocks?” one of the spirits standing next to me answered.

  “No, they are shiny and clear,” another said.

  “Droplets of water,” someone in front of us suggested.

  None of this made sense to me, but I figured that there was a scientific explanation for this. We just didn’t know it.

  Meanwhile, the First One raised one hand and the mass, still spinning began to slowly move sideways. The First One glided backward with his hand extended and guided the mass as he went. We instinctively followed, not wanting to miss whatever happened next. He stopped and moved to one side, with his right hand still extended, guiding the mass toward its final resting place—third from the sun.

  “Let there be light,” the Eternals said and Earth began its first orbit around the sun. They exchanged pleased glances before looking back at us, and the crowd cheered.

  “Earthlings,” they called. “Your world is now formed. Tomorrow we will reconvene for the Second Day of creation. We hope all will attend.” They made a sweeping motion with their hands and from above our spirit world came into view. It
was many times the size of Earth, and it had a blue hue to it. From one side of the spirit world, several forms could be seen coming toward us. They were lined in a single file and slowly made their way down toward the center of our gathering, where the Eternals and their court were.

  “Earthlings, meet your tutors. These are the best of their worlds and they have been training spirits just like you for a long time. They have lived, died, and are now preparing to be re-embodied. They are wise, listen to them.” The tutors filed into the center and placed themselves at either side of the Eternals. I noticed that some of them still shuffled their feet as they moved. Apparently the habit of walking was too great to relinquish.

  A huge Cherub handed one of the Eternals an enormous volume. It was bound in white leather and as thick as a human was wide. From the other side another Cherub placed a stand right in front of the Eternals where the volume could sit.

  “This is your Book of Earth Life, the pages are empty now, but will soon be filled with a history of Earth and all that happens therein. From this book, your world will be judged.

  “As individuals, you will have a book as well. Scribes will make a record of each of your lives, and from those pages you will also be judged.

  “The purpose of the Book of Earth Life is to keep track of major events, both good and bad, and how you as citizens of Earth have dealt with them.” One of the Eternals turned the volume so that the edge of the pages of the book were facing us, but where pages should have been were seven locks, keeping the pages hidden beneath it.

  “As you can see this book is sealed.” The Eternal lifted one arm and displayed a giant golden key ring that held seven golden keys. “Each of these sections represents a Seal or a period of time. You will be assigned to live during one of these periods of time. The assignments have already been made. You will find out to which Seal you belong as you enter the spirit world. Sentinels have been posted above every continent. You will give your name to the sentinels and they will tell you to which continent you must report.

  “The continent known as Asia will hold all the spirits assigned to the First Seal, Africa the Second Seal, Europe the Third Seal, Australia the Fourth, South America the Fifth, North America the Sixth and Antarctica the Seventh Seal.” Don’t worry—signs have been posted at every continent.” Several spirits laughed, others looked dumbfounded, like they had just gotten too much information.

  “You are not constrained to remain in your own continent, but all your training courses will be held there, so as to keep the travel time between classes to a minimum. Also, each continent will reflect the peak of its own future development on Earth.” A murmur rose from the crowds. “Remember that, just like you, all things exist first spiritually, then physically. We know that you have many questions, and they will be answered during the course of your training. Now, the First One will open the First Seal and write the proceedings of this First Day.”

  The First One stepped forward, took the keys that he was handed, and opened the First Seal. Then with a long white quill that looked like it came right out of a Cherub’s wing, he wrote in the Book of Earth Life.

  To say that the spirit world was crowded would be a complete understatement. Clearly this was to be a temporary setback, only to last until Earth was finished and life began. But for now it was packed, not just with human forms, but with animal creatures that would one day inhabit Earth. Some of the creatures looked particularly menacing, towering over us and looking like they were already hungry.

  “Please don’t let me live with these creatures,” I said under my breath as I passed a particularly large group of them.

  “Oh, I don’t think they will inhabit Earth at the same time as humans.” I turned to find Katie’s smiling face looking back at me. “Did you get sent to this line?” she asked innocently.

  Behind her I could see my clan distractedly looking all around them, and pointing in all directions, trying to figure out which way to go.

  “No,” I said tartly.

  “Oh…well we didn’t either, we just…” She looked all around her. “…ended up here.”

  “That’s great,” I said without enthusiasm and tried to find a way out of her presence.

  Celeste spotted me and rushed to my side with outstretched arms and a big smile, her golden locks bouncing as she did.

  “Tess! Where have you been? I’ve been looking all over for you. You were there and next thing I know, you were gone. No one knew where you went or why.”

  “Oh, I…found a better spot,” I said while stealing a glance in Alex’s direction. He was once more talking to Katie, this time they looked serious. So, she can talk without giggling, I thought.

  Celeste was frowning at me, then slid her hand through my arm and moved me a ways away.

  “What’s gotten into you?” she scolded.

  I shrugged. What could I tell her? That my whole existence right now was a nightmare, and that I hated it and wished that I could go back to the good old boring days of hanging out with my clan?

  She shook her head in clear disapproval. “You are changing, Tess. I’m not sure why, but you are.” Her eyes looked condemningly into mine.

  I felt so numb and empty inside. For a moment, while the Eternals were talking, I could feel a little bit of hope creeping back into me. But now…nothing. At least nothing was better than the choking feeling, though.

  “OK, if you want to be this way, be this way,” Celeste said in a dismissive tone. “Let’s talk about something else. For example, what Seal do you think we’ll belong to?”

  “We may not belong to the same Seal at all.”

  “Oh, stop it will you? I’m trying to pretend like I’m talking to my best friend, Tess, not her evil twin.”

  I laughed in spite of myself. It hurt that she felt that way about me now, but I had to admit that her assessment was correct.

  “There, I knew she was in there somewhere. Now, answer me,” she demanded with her usual bossy attitude.

  We were now casually gliding over our new spirit world, and if you could get past the chaos of beasts and spirits that were roaming it, you could see a varied and pleasant world. I started to feel better little by little, and I knew that part of it was Celeste’s company. She had a way with spirits. Her serenity and confidence was contagious.

  All the lines to find out what seal of time we belonged to were extremely long, until we finally realized that the line in Antarctica was the shortest. Apparently the barren ice was not as enticing as the others, so very few ended up there and most of them had been sent there from other lines as their appointed place of training.

  Together with our clan, we flew straight to Antarctica and got in line. The whole time we were in line both Alex and I managed to avoid each other completely. It felt very awkward, but there was a rift between us now and I didn’t know how to fix it.

  “Sixth Seal, North America,” the Seraph Sentinel declared as each of us stood before him.

  Once we got to the northern continent, we checked in with the Sentinel there, and then we did what every other spirit was doing—explored the place. Little by little our group became separated, and I found myself wandering the streets of a city alone. I had no idea where I was or where I was going, and I didn’t care.

  This city was like no normal city that we would ever inhabit. This city was made for the purpose of housing lots of spirits with the sole purpose of training them. Beautifully landscaped mansions lined the streets, all of them huge and varied in architectural design. Every tree and bush was in full bloom, like they would be in spring time. There were benches and sitting areas scattered throughout, and the sidewalks were wide and divided the space between each mansion, so that the spirits could commute from one building to the next.

  Each mansion had a plaque at the entrance that described what sort of training would be going on inside, and I seemed to be gliding down the Gifts district. Gift of Tongues, Gift of Working Miracles, Gift of Knowledge. On the other side of the street was my o
wn gift’s building, Gift of Discernment. It wasn’t as grandiose as the others. It was a smaller cottage-like structure with two similar buildings behind it. It was thickly landscaped with an overgrown, less manicured garden, and a stream wove right between all three buildings.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Leo said from a little distance. Irene was not far behind him bending over some of the flowers.

  “Nope!” she yelled from her spot. “…not at all.” Irene turned and smiled when she saw me. “Tess, hi! I thought that maybe, just maybe, we might be able to smell the flowers, since they are spiritual flowers, but no luck. I guess we’ll just have to wait,” she said with disappointment.

  “Have you been inside yet?” Leo asked.

  “No, not yet.”

  “Good! Then let’s all go in together.”

  * * * * *

  Chapter 10

  We followed a line of spirits into the largest room in the mansion, and found three seats in the middle, toward the front. We descended on our seats so as to not disturb those who were already sitting down, and we waited for something to happen. This room had a grand view of the gardens outside. There were several little bridges that arched over the stream, and lots of sitting areas clustered by a grove of flowering fruit trees.

  I liked being with Leo and Irene, they were not chatty spirits by any stretch of word, but I never felt like I was encroaching on their privacy and they seemed genuinely happy to have me with them.

  All the seats were facing a small white desk. Several spirits entered and the tallest of them, a female, addressed us. Her hair was bluntly cut at her jaw line, making her look severe and angular.

  “Welcome to your Gifts training facility. My name is Milah. I am the director of this facility and the training that goes on in here,” she said with a deep sultry voice. “I will also be teaching some of the courses myself.” Then she pointed to the spirits behind her. “These are your other teachers and advisers. Their job is to take you from your current skill level to a much higher one. The more you grow your skills here the keener they will be in the next life.