Veiled

by Silvina Niccum

  Another window was suggesting that the latest string of missing spirits had all been trained Angels—Sentinels and Heralds among them.

  In every case there were no witnesses, and the most concerning thing was that Discerners had not been able to sense any of the missing spirits’ consciousnesses.

  One of the reporters finished her update, by mentioning that all missing Angels were listed as “unreachable”. I flew back to the billboard and stared at Robyn’s name—it was listed as “unreachable”. I was flooded with guilt. This was my fault, I left her all alone and now she had been taken. I had been sent to fix this problem and instead I gallivanted off to watch Valerie’s and Dane’s lives unfold, because it was pleasant. Now Robyn and many other spirits were paying the price for my escapade.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 37

  “Alex…” I ventured to connect, knowing full well I shouldn’t. But when he didn’t respond, I felt worse. Great! Another rule I’m breaking! I thought.

  “No need to dwell on that now,” Dayspring said from behind me. “The important thing is to find her and all the rest.”

  I turned to face her, feeling mortified. It wasn’t in Dayspring’s nature to coddle, but her smile was the closest thing to it.

  “What can I do now?”

  “When I was alive and faced with a problem, I dealt with it head on. During my time a lot of my comrades were taken prisoner, and it was up to me to get them out.” Dayspring’s tail twitched and swayed a little, her eyes were intent on mine. “Robyn was last seen at the Gift of Interpretations building. She was looking for Suy.”

  “Yes…we were there looking for him. He was the first Sentinel to disappear. Do you think there’s a connection between that building and who’s been taking them?”

  “I don’t know,” Dayspring said as she smoothed her dreads so they fell evenly on both sides of her face.

  “Will the missing spirits be harmed in any way because of this?”

  She took a moment before answering, and seemed more interested in her hair than my answer. “Yes and no. You’ve seen what it’s done to some spirits.” She glanced toward one of the windows.

  Some of those spirits, who were found in Australia, looked very angry and resentful toward the Eternals.

  “Like I said, Tess…adverse situations bring out the real person inside of us. That is when our alliances are truly tested. For some…it started before life even began!” she gave me a piercing look.

  I looked down again, ashamed of my own behavior. I may not have doubted the Eternals, but when push came to shove, I ditched my job and now others were paying the consequences.

  I flew out determined to find these missing spirits. Dayspring called after me, but I didn’t listen, I was going to fix this, one way or another.

  I paused outside the Gift of Interpreting Languages building and looked at it for a moment. The building was a pyramid with a large stone entrance at the bottom and no door. Outside the building stood several clusters of spirits who seemed to be engrossed in their own conversations. All their auras shone normal. Except one spirit was wearing a hood, and I couldn’t see their aura. I glided past this spirit to see if I could sense something. If the spirit had nothing to hide, I would be able to catch some stray thought or feeling form her, but she seemed to be engrossed in whatever she was reading.

  I tried to be cautious and aware of my surroundings as I came into the building. I looked at a chart and quickly found the name of the teacher who had taught the last class that Suy attended. As I made my way to the class room, I passed another hooded spirit and this time I did sense something. But before I could focus on what I was sensing, my vision blurred for a moment. When my vision cleared the hooded spirit was gone, nowhere to be seen or felt.

  I shook of a feeling of disorientation and found the classroom I was looking for. Fortunately there was no class in session and the teacher was seated behind his desk with several scattered books all over. He had some odd looking glasses attached to his face. When he heard me come in he looked up and the glasses, or whatever he was wearing, made his eyes look about five times bigger than their normal size. I could see now that the apparatus was more like a helmet with thick round spectacles coming off of it and gave him a bug like look.

  “May I help you?” the teacher asked, and I got the strangest feeling—like I had experienced this already.

  “Y-yes…I’m looking into the disappearance of a Sentinel named Suy. He was last seen in your class,” I said, trying to focus my senses on the strange feeling I was getting.

  “You are not an interpreter, are you?”

  “No, what gave it away?”

  He grunted something and looked back down at his work. “So you are looking for Suy as well? I must have talked with dozens of Sentinels already, but none so recent. Why are you looking for him now?”

  “Because, he is still missing and so is my partner, Robyn, who was last seen in this building searching for Suy.”

  “Robyn…yes…she came here just like you looking for him. She disappeared too?” He shook his head. “Something odd is happening here, something very odd…”

  “So you spoke with her?” I asked eagerly.

  “Yes just as sure as I’m speaking to you now,” he said, and that feeling of déjà vu, hit me once more.

  “Can you remember anything about your conversation with her?”

  “I told her the same thing I told all the others, no doubt you read my statement. Unfortunately I have nothing to add to it. Suy vanished before I could ask him what was wrong.”

  I tried to get him to give me more information, but he just kept repeating the same thing over and over again. “He just disappeared…he seemed distracted…next thing I know he was gone.” His lack of concern was eerie.

  “Listen,” he finally said, “I’m not a Discerner, I don’t know why he left my class, I just know what everybody is saying, in every language from every planet that I have visited.”

  “Impressive,” I said sarcastically. “Sorry I bothered you.”

  “I’m sorry I can’t shed more light on this, it is very disconcerting what is happening here, but I just don’t know much…no one does,” he said apologetically.

  “Yes…well, thanks for your time.” I turned to leave, but turned back. “May I ask you one more question about Robyn?”

  He looked at me with half veiled eyes, and then nodded.

  “When she was interviewing you, did she seem nervous in any way?”

  “No. Cool and collected like the rest of you. Now if you don’t mind…” he pointed to his desk, “I have a class that I have to get ready for.” The professor looked down at his desk and then looked back up. “Err…good luck.”

  I glided out of the building and stood by one of the thick columns at the entrance and marveled at the lack of clues I had to go on. How could so many spirits just vanish without a trace? No one sees anything, nothing seems to be out of the ordinary, yet they disappear!

  A large reptile with sharp teeth crossed my path, unconcerned by the many spirits that surrounded it. On Earth people would be scurrying out of its way, but here, no one cared. Then an idea occurred to me. “Katie!” Desperate times call for desperate measures, and I was now desperate enough to get Katie and her particular gift on the case. If spirits didn’t have any information, maybe the creatures might have some, and Katie was the only one who could find out.

  “No…I’m not in class,” Katie said brightly when I called her. “I’m back at the Eternals’ court!”

  “What are you doing there?”

  “Volunteering.”

  “Well…I need your help. We need to find the missing spirits and you need to interview some of the…locals,” I told her.

  “Come here first,” she insisted.

  I didn’t want to go, but the next thing I knew, I was gliding through a perfectly manicured orange colored garden. Luscious, juicy looking fruit and soft flower petals adorned every plant and tree. Children we
re running and laughing everywhere I looked. One of them looked at me and told me to follow him.

  “But…I’m looking for Katie!” I said to the boy, whose face was covered in freckles. He looked oddly familiar. I had seen him before, but not here.

  “She’s right here! I’ll take you to her,” he said, signaling for me to follow.

  He led me through different paths, each one a different hue. One was yellow, another one was red, and another bright pink. Finally we got to the entrance of the butterfly sanctuary.

  I entered much against my better judgment and I felt weird like I couldn’t quite control myself. There, on the mossy ground lay Katie and Robyn! They were both looking up at the butterflies that fluttered above them.

  “Robyn!” I called to her, and she simply turned her head with a pleasant smile on her face.

  “Hi, Tess!” she said, and then went back to looking at the insects.

  I raised my eyebrows, not believing what I was seeing. “Robyn, I’ve been looking for you! They have you listed as ‘unreachable’ that means…” I shook my head in frustration.

  “I know what it means, Tess. But as you can see, I’m perfectly fine!”

  “But…” I looked all around me, I felt so odd. There were lots of children around, playing and having fun, but I could sense none of them. Katie, who looked like she was having the time of her life, to me felt like…she wasn’t even there!

  I looked all around me, trying to focus on one thing or another, but all my senses seemed to be out of whack. Robyn I could sense, but every now and again, I felt the presence of others who were not there. I searched the sanctuary thoroughly, behind every bush and tree, bench or large flower, and found no one.

  “Katie…there’s something wrong,” I said, but Katie ignored me. “Robyn…can you hear me?”

  Robyn turned her head, and this time she wasn’t smiling at all. A single tear slid down her cheek. She was crying!

  “How—” I began but couldn’t finish. How could she be crying, she was a spirit!

  “Help me, Tess!” Robyn pleaded as another tear formed in the corner of her eye.

  *****

  “Listen, Alex, I tried to tell her but she was determined to leave,” Dayspring said, unconcerned.

  Alex’s face was hard and impassive.

  “We do this one by the book. That means we stay in pairs, no one gets separated, ever,” Kerubiel said to the small army of Sentinel and Herald spirits. “Alex, you go with Dorian. Katie you are with Jase and Wes, you are with Brandy. Any questions?”

  No one said anything, so they were all dismissed.

  “Wait!” Dayspring yelled. “Alex, you can usually find her. How do you do it?” Her large honey colored eyes looked expectantly at Alex.

  “I have tried that already. I can’t seem to get a lock on her.” He shook his head with dismay. “And I don’t know how it works, it usually just works! This has never happened before.”

  “Try to think, how does it work?” Dayspring insisted, betraying the first sign of worry. Kerubiel put a hand on her back and gently rubbed it. He seemed to suddenly realize what he was doing, and took his hand away, tucking it behind his back.

  “Usually it’s quite effortless, I think about her and…I just start moving toward her, wherever that might be. It also seems to be attached to strong feelings, so if she were in danger I would know…at least I have known… in the past. But now, there’s nothing.”

  “We’ll find her, Alex, don’t worry.” Katie squeezed his shoulder gently and looked at him with a pained look. Dorian put his hand on Alex’s shoulder as well, giving him a reassuring look.

  “Come on, we’ll start at the last place she was seen.” Dorian nudged Alex. “You can’t blame Dayspring. She had no way of knowing.”

  “I’m not so sure,” Alex said under his breath as they turned to leave.

  They flew in silence to the same Gifts building where Tess was last seen. The two stopped and asked all the same spirits Tess had asked not too long ago. The professor was sitting behind his desk with the translating stones attached to his head.

  “No…I’ve never seen anyone meeting that description,” he said. He looked strangely like an insect with those glasses attached to his head.

  “Wait a minute…maybe I have…but I never talked to her. She was standing by the door the whole time looking up and down the hallway. I spoke with the other spirit that she was with.”

  Alex and Dorian exchanged puzzled looks.

  “Other spirit?” they asked at the same time.

  “Yes…a very businesslike spirit, a female…I forget her name.”

  “Robyn?” Alex asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

  The professor pursed his lips up and thought about it, then shook his head. “Sorry, I just don’t remember her name.”

  “But you remember seeing Tess?”

  “Well…she matches the description you gave me of her. She had long black hair and striking gray-green eyes…I remember that because she looked right at me for a moment…she must be a Discerner, because she was scrutinizing me with those eyes of hers. It sort of unnerved me a little, but I tried not to let it bother me. I should actually be used to it by now. I have been invaded by Discerners who have been looking for Suy.”

  Alex and Dorian looked at each other, and then thanked the professor. They left his classroom, but stayed in that building, asking every spirit that went in and out of it if they had noticed anything, but no one had.

  They stood like the Sentinels they were by the entrance doors, looking at all the incoming and outgoing spirits, and if they noticed anyone new, they were stopped and interrogated.

  Alex was too discouraged to talk much, but after a while, he made his way across the great entrance toward Dorian’s side.

  “This is ridiculous. How long do we stand here, wasting time? Someone has to know something. How can a spirit disappear unnoticed by everyone?”

  Dorian shook his head. “It’s too weird.” Then his face went stone hard, his eyes seemed to glaze over and stare into something far away.

  Alex tried to look in that direction, but didn’t see whatever Dorian was looking at.

  “What is…” he was cut short by Dorian’s hand on his arm. Dorian continued to look at whatever he was looking at, but said nothing.

  After a long pause, Dorian shook his head as if he were waking up from a deep sleep.

  “I saw something.”

  “Tess?” Alex said in a desperate tone.

  “Maybe…I saw a place…the entrance is like the entrance to a cave, its dark inside; the only light is by lanterns and torches. Inside there are…alcoves? They are made out of the rock, there are spirits standing in them—not moving. There are other spirits there too. The ones that are not in the alcoves are hooded.”

  “Cast-outs?”

  “No, it’s here, in Heaven.”

  “What continent?”

  Dorian shook his head. “Don’t know, I just saw the cave.”

  “OK, this is better than nothing. Let’s call the others.”

  * * * * *

  Chapter 38

  Agatha leaned in close to Tess. “Well…well, isn’t it nice to have you here at last?” she whispered in Tess’s ear. “I’m not sure how much of this conversation you can hear, but some of it no doubt will reach you.” She smiled venomously and stroked Tess’s hair with mock sympathy. “I will give you the worst nightmares you can—no let me correct that—I can imagine,” she said, and then began a string of lies and deceptions.

  “I see you have seen my new recruit.” Amanda lumbered in the small corridor, surprised to see Agatha there already.

  Agatha was slightly irritated by the intrusion, but couldn’t afford to upset Amanda. She had been working out very well lately.

  “Well done Amanda, you got the best one yet!” Agatha praised Amanda with a winning smile. She had actually grown to like Amanda, she was rough, dumb, and obedient—all the things she liked in her subjects.


  “There’s a group of Sentinels looking for this cave,” Eugenia announced as she came in through the small opening.

  “They’ll never find this place,” Agatha said with certainty, and moved out of the corridor. She was starting to feel caged in, and she didn’t want be hooked up to one of those devices again. When she tried one of those things on, she didn’t like what she saw. She also knew very well that her current status could change at any time. Amanda might be persuaded to start taking orders from Eugenia again.

  “There are hundreds of other cave openings just like this one in this canyon alone, hundreds more in the nearby canyons. They will give up,” Agatha said haughtily as she hurried out of the corridors where the alcoves were. Once she was almost to the main chamber she felt better, but annoyed by the fact that she couldn’t continue with her torture.

  “I wouldn’t be so confident if I were you,” Eugenia said, through gritted teeth.

  “But you are not me!” Agatha snarled, and then smiled. “As much as you would like to be.”

  Eugenia narrowed her eyes and looked at Agatha through her snake-like slits. “Why would you endanger the whole operation just for her?” Eugenia said, pointing to the corridor, her voice filled with suspicion.

  “And how would having her endanger the whole operation?” Eros said, coming to Agatha’s rescue. He had been feeling particularly protective of Agatha lately, but wasn’t sure what it all meant.

  “I’ve been tagging these spirits. They didn’t start getting suspicious until she went missing.” Eugenia pointed to where Tess’s form was. “We agreed when we started doing this that we would keep a low profile, and that holding spirits like her would attract too much attention.”

  “You thought that, I didn’t,” Agatha said defiantly. Amanda moved to stand in front of Agatha, ready to shield her from Eugenia.

  Agatha moved her roughly out of the way, and added defiantly, “Bringing spirits like her down is exactly our plan. They pose the most threat to us in life, and so they need to stay inert here for as long as possible. We went over this already, why can’t you understand it?”