Katherine could feel herself becoming nauseous, and the room was spinning. She was positive that Sadie had said something, only her mouth had never opened to utter a word.
“Katherine… she must be having a panic attack?”
She looked over at Naomi, certain it was Naomi’s voice she’d heard.
“This is rich, serve’s the arrogant little princess right.”
This voice, she knew it all too well and she had grown to despise it. She glared at Blake, and he looked back at her through a puzzled expression.
“Can’t this day go any faster? I want to find out what speed my new ride will reach.”
Recognizing the voice yet again, she gawked back at Albert, before she darted for the door. At this stage, she found breathing even a struggle, and sweat was now streaming down her face. Then, and just when she’d thought the voices had ceased, one unknown to her called out from beyond the window.
“I have finally found you,” said the gryphon, appearing to cheer at her as if he’d achieved something spectacular.
“What do you want with me?” she cried aloud, only to watch as the gryphon disappeared before her eyes.
She wiped at the sweat about her brow. “Sir, I’m not feeling so well. May I be excused?”
Mr Dreyfuss merely sighed back at her and reached for the hall pass that sat on his desk. “Katherine, I hope you don’t think for a second that I’m letting you off the hook,” said Mr Dreyfuss, as he rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “On your return, I expect for you to be ready.”
She gulped back at him, dashed for the door, and rushed along the school corridor. This sense of dread, her mind and body fatigued to the point Katherine thought she’d collapse at any given second, was like nothing she’d ever experienced. Sure, she had some unusual experiences to reflect upon in her life, but nothing that led her to question in her own sanity. The hearing of voices, the sight of mythical creatures, and the ramifications which were bound to follow from her peers and teachers once she’d retained control; it all seemed such a bad dream.
She finally reached the front atrium, and she made her way round the building. She glanced upward at the open window from where she’d seen the gryphon. But the gryphon was nowhere to be found.
“Get a hold of yourself Kat, you’re just seeing and hearing things,” she muttered beneath her breath. “Perhaps it was something I ate, or…what, why am I trying to rationalise this…, and why am I talking to myself?”
Katherine trudged back toward the entranceway, feeling slightly calmer as she hadn’t heard a word, or seen anything out of the ordinary for a short while now. Having returned to the corridor, she decided to proceed to the library. She desired to read up about what she’d witnessed, to find if something of this nature had been experienced before, and if there was a possible cure. She also considered whether there was someone she could talk to, but she had immediately rejected of this idea.
They’d only tack a label of insanity on me, and wheel me off to some mental facility for testing, she had thought to herself.
But she also reasoned that perhaps such an outcome would be ideal; to be locked away from the world, alone with her own thoughts. At least this way the gryphon would stop following her. On the other hand, Katherine wasn’t entirely sure if this was what she even wanted. She couldn’t help but think about its prolific golden feathers, it’s graceful and fascinating physique, and of its voice she’d for the first time heard that had sounded so joyous.
As she drew nearer and could see the library sign hanging up above the door, she reminisced back to the last time she’d even ventured inside and searched for a book. It had been so long ago, and she figured it must have been in her earlier days of school. It’s not that she didn’t necessarily enjoy the prospect of reading, for she’d often enjoy losing herself within a work of fantasy, or learning about the great artists who’d graced the world with such vivid imagination.
But this library in particular had made Katherine feel quite uneasy. For in the past, she’d often sensed that there were many sets of eyes peering in upon her from each and every bookshelf. As time went on, and when Duncan would harass her about why she wasn’t studying at the library, she’d frequently respond to him with this explanation of not wanting to be the subject of its winding series of security lenses. For that’s what she’d rationalised these supposed eyes were; surveillance cameras, and devices, that the staff used to conduct an observational study, and she was their test subject.
Once she entered, she glanced up at the library’s reception desk, and at a librarian who looked back at her as if she was in some way diseased. She could feel a drop of sweat run along her nose, and a numbing pain from where she’d accidentally bitten deep into her lower lip. Trying to avoid the librarian’s hawk-like glare, she deviated away from the librarian’s line of sight toward the nearest stairwell. As she made her way up its wooden steps, she wondered if going to the library was strictly to satisfy a curiosity, or whether this had all become a full-blown obsession. Katherine had been quick to convince herself that it must have become an obsession, for there was no other reason why she found herself roaming a secluded and dimly lit aisle in search of knowledge pertaining to ancient history.
She thought that this creature must be in some way related to mythology, and Mesopotamia was her first guess. Having scoured up and across an old bookcase, she reached out and retrieved a thick, black, and dust covered tome. With the tome tucked tightly beneath her arm, she quietly crept over to the nearest table. And once she’d swiftly scanned about her immediate surroundings, checking to make sure she’d not been followed, nor caught any unwanted attention, she set the book down and sifted through its copious pages. Toward its middle she came to a halt; for there was a page with a proud gryphon standing at its centre, and beneath it the name ‘Anzu.’
“I have to admit, if someone had told me you’d buried your nose in a book at the library, I would have told them to kick rocks,” Blake whispered, lurching forward over her shoulder. “I just think that a library is an odd choice, especially after your more than desperate escape from English period.”
“What do you want,” she said with a snarl, attempting to shield the subject of the book beneath her forearm.
He glared down at her through a crooked smile. “Anzu… That is who you saw outside the window. I could sense that something wasn’t quite right.”
Despite her feeling perturbed that he could know of such things, Katherine couldn’t help but find a sense of relief in knowing she wasn’t the only one. Nevertheless, she wanted nothing more to do with Blake and decided to play it coy.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said. “Frankly Blake, I have always found you strange and uncomfortable to be around. And this time is no different. Could you please just leave me alone?”
Blake frowned at her. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. Nor do I really care much for what you think of me.”
As he stared down at his peculiar wristwatch, she felt a cool breeze brush against the skin of her face, and noticed there was a trickle of water flowing down from behind Blake, soaking the library’s red carpet. This water, which soon evolved into a stream, appeared to swiftly solidify and take the shape of a crystalline woman. Before her, this figure shed of her icy exterior to reveal a smooth and pristine blue complexion. Once she rubbed away at the excess ice with webbed hands, this womanly figure brushed back her fringe of long black hair and offered her a faint smile.
“Who is she? What is she?” Katherine spluttered, the hairs at the back of her neck standing on end.
“This is Kulullu,” said Blake, as the spirit reached out a webbed hand. “Together, we possess a celestial bond; one with which we can share in each other’s powers and dreams. Just as Anzu had recently done with you, she revealed herself to me, and from thereon she became my guardian.”
Katherine could feel that her arms and legs had grown numb. Barely able to move, she only sat there with both her eyes and mo
uth wide open.
“You know, young woman, it is rude to stare,” said the spirit through a wistful tone of voice.
“I’m sorry,” Katherine promptly replied, trying not to stare. “I’ve just never met anyone like you before.”
“I suppose this is to be expected,” the spirit replied.
“So you saw the gryphon too,” she asked, seeking to make sense of what she’d earlier experienced.
“Nope,” said Blake, as he pulled the old tome free from her loose grasp. “He has only revealed himself to you.”
She snatched the book back. “This doesn’t make any sense, it’s impossible.”
She glanced from the picture of the gryphon, to Blake, and finally to Kullulu. She still struggled to avert her gaze from the water spirit; from the faint flicker of damp scales that ran up and along her arms, to the slender and feminine shape of her body, and to the small gills that resided upon her neck and beneath a wave of long black hair.
Blake, having claimed a pencil from out of his pocket, and upon lazily crashing down in a seat adjacent to Katherine, flung the pencil about within his fingertips.
“I guess it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for one who has yet to properly ascend,” he said, his eyes fixed upon the pencil. “Now watch closely.”
Curious with how he might act, but also anxious of what this Kulullu could be thinking as she peered down at her, she sought to do as he had instructed. She stared at the pencil, watching as he made it levitate and rapidly spin about within the air as if it were the propeller of a helicopter. She soon noticed that the pencil had crystallized in the air; he released of it, letting it shatter against the hard wooden desk below.
Katherine gasped, poking at a fragment of pencil that lay before her on the table. “You were able to freeze it. Your celestial spirit…, you’ve the power of ice.”
“How have you come to know about elemental control,” Blake questioned, his eyebrows raised.
“I don’t really…” she lied. “Such a thing is impossible.”
Blake frowned at her. “So is hearing the thoughts of your classmates.”
“How did you know”-
-“It is often the first stage of ascension,” he said, quick to cut her off and glancing down at his wristwatch.
His wristwatch had an eerie glow about it, and there were no numbers or clock hands present for as far as Katherine could see. She observed as Blake briefly whispered into its small frame, and was able to make out one of the words he’d spoken.
“Who or what is an Indigo?” she asked.
“You may very well find out in due time.”
This was all rather frustrating, thought Katherine. Just when one of my questions has been answered, it’s not long before ten new questions pop up and take its place. How did he know about what I’d experienced? What is a guardian? And how could any of this be truly happening? Why me?
“Look, I just suffered from a little stage fright,” she mustered in explanation.
But Blake appeared not to fall for such a flimsy excuse.
She scanned the space, and came to realise there was no way past both he and the water spirit. “What do you want with me?”
Blake sighed, as he collected of the fragments. “I’ve been assigned to oversee, and ensure that you remain safe.”
“Safety from whom…?” She questioned. “Safety from what…?”
“Evil spirits…, outside agencies…, and probably your own stupidity.”
“Thanks, but no thanks,” she snapped. “I don’t need your help.”
With that, she abruptly rose from her seat, pushed her way past the pair, and made a desperate dash for the exit.
Well that was easy, she thought, but why did they just let me pass?
Once she had left through the library’s front doors, Katherine decided to linger a moment longer, trying to figure out what she should do next. She rationalized that it was best to simply try and forget about what she’d seen and heard. She figured that perhaps these apparitions of a lone gryphon would fade with time, and the hearing of student voices might leave her if she were to go home and get some rest. But what was she to think about this water spirit?
This creature must be some kind of trick, some sort of illusion, she believed.
At this stage, she saw two options before her; to dwell upon, and let herself be haunted by her recent supernatural encounter, or try to move forward and get on with her life.
Chapter 6
“I sense there’s something which has you agitated, but you’ve concealed it so that I’m unable to see,” said Kulullu, as both she and Blake were seated in the back compartment of a black utility vehicle.
“If you wish to read my mind, you need only to ask.”
She gazed intently through her cold blue eyes; she reached out with her webbed hands, and she cupped them about his cheeks.
“I see,” she responded, her head bowed. “But you mustn’t let it bother you.”
Blake wiped his face, he could still feel a clammy and tingling sensation left by her touch. “It’s just infuriating to hear them speak of her so highly, when she’s yet to have done anything.”
He could also sense himself growing more frustrated the further they travelled, tired of the vehicle constantly jolting as it rushed over many a crack and bump along the road.
“You best get ready,” spoke a voice from the vehicle’s front. “We will arrive at our destination shortly.”
Blake immediately withdrew a crinkled navy blue uniform from his school bag. He wriggled his way into a long sleeved shirt, and adjusted at the straps of a vest; the initials P.I. were embroidered in bold toward the right of its chest. He reached for a matching pair of leggings, a pair of combat boots, and retrieved a long dark cloak which he’d earlier draped over a nearby ammunition crate.
I’m not exactly looking forward to facing Walter either,” he said. “I mean we would have been on our way out here sooner, if we didn’t have to keep playing the role of a babysitter. But he’ll still hold me accountable no matter what we say.”
“We’ve arrived,” Kulullu whispered, springing to her feet and toward the vehicle’s back hatch.
Once the vehicle was finally stationary and the back latch of the vehicle had been opened, they both leapt out onto the coarse ground of a sand swept roadway. Blake surveyed his immediate surroundings. The surrounding land was in poor condition, the relentless earthquakes had taken their toll on this once vibrant little city. He looked to the remnants of buildings that had recently been reduced to rubble; to the bent lampposts, and the fissured footpaths which lined the sides of streets.
He looked to his water guardian. “Kul, you’ll need to conceal yourself. “See, they’ve yet to secure the entire area.”
Up ahead, many construction workers under the council’s employ were brushing scattered fragments of glass and rock curb side, and clearing away the debris from out of fallen structures. There appeared no end in sight to these continuous earthquakes, Blake had thought. What’s more, these tremors seem to be felt heaviest within the city’s centre than anywhere else about the Anabasis region. There were so few citizens these days that lived here, so many had moved out into the suburbs and outskirts.
“I wish we could help these people,” said Kulullu.
Blake agreed, but they’d so far been unable to identify the cause behind such activity. Most of the populace simply reasoned the earthquakes were the misfortune of nature, and that their frequency meant it was only a matter of time before the city itself was relocated. Bordering states, which initially supplied them with aid had also ceased, as it seemed these earthquakes were endless and they no longer had the capacity to sustain such efforts. But there were others, Blake included, who believed there was something else at work.
“Do you think they have any more leads into this winged Corrupted’s whereabouts?”
“I wouldn’t count on it,” Blake sighed, as they turned round the corner of a building, and found a collection
of their organisation’s black utility vehicles parked before an alleyway. “I fathom this’ll be more of the same.”
Once they had passed through the maze of vehicles, and having made his way along the alley, he spotted the limp figure of a young woman at its end; slouched up against a brick wall.
He watched as Walter steered his automated wheelchair toward him. “You’re late,” he said.
With his head bowed, Blake gazed back at the older gentleman, apprehensive about the likely scolding which would surely follow. Just by looking at him, he could tell Walter was far from pleased; he was glaring up at him through the small frames of his spectacles, a large vein throbbed on his brow which indicated his displeasure, and he was rubbing the grey hairs on his chin with quiet contemplation. This he’d often do before admonishing a subordinate.
“Sir, the perimeter is now secure,” a voice echoed from out of the communication device fastened about his wrist.
“Very well,” Walter responded, speaking directly into it. “Proceed with caution.”
Blake glanced down at his own wrist communicator. Why am I not party this communication channel, he wondered. I’ve not been alerted of any progress made.
“Mine must be on the fritz again,” Blake muttered, as he prodded about its screen.
It hadn’t been long ago since these wrist communicators were first issued to each individual operative, and he could already see that his own was beginning to fall apart. He now noticed there was also a fracture on top of its screen, and he’d already come to learn earlier that the internal speaker had become muffled with excess dust.
Walter peered down at Blake’s communication device. “It’s little wonder you are so often late when called upon. And the state of your uniform is far from acceptable.”
“Sir, how can the perimeter be fully secured when we’ve seen so many workers about?” Kulullu questioned, attempting to change the subject. “Moreover, has there been any sign of this winged Corrupted?”
Blake averted his eyes up toward the rooftop; a number of the organisation’s armed operatives roamed about with their rifles pointed, and were actively surveying the surrounding environment.
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