Emergence (The Infernal Guard Book 1)

by SGD Singh

  She hadn't seen Aquila since the morning they'd gone for ice cream, which didn't help her sickening dread at the thought of him injured… or worse.

  Asha tried to comfort herself with the memory of Aquila, solid and strong in front of her on his bike, her arms around him as they sped along narrow streets, his warm laughter vibrating through her chest as he swerved at alarming speeds, causing her to yelp, and hold him tighter. She thought about the clean, fresh smell of his silky hair as it tickled her face in the wind, leaving the others, even Nidhan, far behind, but her anxiety only truly disappeared when she saw who needed healing. Then relief was followed by guilt when it was only Garud or Chakori, Javin or Fanishwar, or even Uma who was horribly injured.

  Days turned into weeks, and the tension was high all over Headquarters. In order to intensify training, any Trainees whose Talent had begun to emerge had a revised schedule focused on their specific skills.

  Asha spent the first three hours of each training day with Janu and Kairav in the Zen garden, going through various mind exercises and meditations. She then had another three hours with Senya and Prabhnoor in the Healing classroom along with fellow healers Chucho and Jiao Wan, pushing the limits of her Talents. More and more often, older members of The Guard would stand along the walls and watch Asha go through her drills, whispering to each other and making her feel as if she were taking a test.

  Lexi developed a theory that if Asha could See what Ranya was doing, then she could See what anyone was doing. She called it “ghosting” and offered to be the first one Asha haunted. But after hours of trying over two weekends, Asha only succeeded in giving Lexi a creeped-out feeling, “like someone was watching me.”

  Janu and Kairav liked the idea, though, and they added trying to “ghost” Lexi during her free time at Headquarters to Asha's schedule.

  Since her first visit to the Zen garden, no one had asked Asha to take off her necklace, and she hadn't Seen Ranya again. The sound of the Witch's demented laughter still echoed through Asha's dreams, and she would wake with a start, bright sun streaming through the carved shutters of her room, her heart pounding painfully. But as the days turned to weeks, it happened less and less.

  They continued to have three hours of target practice drills with either Avinash or Dhevan after dinner. Her additional weapons had become comfortable companions by then.

  Then, Heroes and Villains with Tanvir until dawn.

  Aquila hadn't joined them since the game's inaugural night, and even though Asha wondered almost constantly where he was, part of her was also relieved. As much as she wanted to see him, to touch him, and as much as his absence felt like a part of her was missing, Asha didn't know how well her self-control would hold out if she found herself alone with Aquila again. Part of her worried she'd gone insane—or worse—had turned into one of those pathetic girls who will do anything for a boy they just met. What would BapuJi say? Probably something like, “True happiness springs from your own grace, Asha. Don't lose it chasing fantasies, no matter how sexy his muscles are.”

  After a steady and unanimous wave of constructive criticism, Tanvir finally admitted that Civilians are dangerous, unpredictable creatures, capable of doing much more than running and screaming, and sometimes are even armed. Taking the opportunity to train for Civilians in possession of firearms, Tanvir designed and ordered electronic “guns” that “injured” Villains and “killed” Heroes when shot at the heart or head.

  Everyone agreed the game improved enormously.

  † † †

  By the end of October, the weather was beautiful. Misty mornings gave way to hot, but not sweltering, sunny days—which, except for weekends, they slept through anyway—and clear, warm nights.

  Asha worked on healing from a distance for weeks, and by the middle of October she could heal an injured Guard from fifteen feet away, provided there were plants nearby. Senya and Prabhnoor were overjoyed by this, but Tanvir never missed an opportunity to eloquently grieve his plants whenever he saw Asha.

  Lexi made a point of visiting Asha in her room every afternoon just before breakfast. She always brought the conversation around to telling Asha to use her super powers in reverse, for self defense, and Asha had to point out that no one knew how to actually try that, since Asha refused to hurt anyone. Killing plants was bad enough.

  At the beginning of November, Lexi burst into Asha's room, flushed from sparring.

  “If only we had a serial killer to practice on,” Lexi said, throwing herself onto the bed and scowling at the ceiling. “Can't they capture an Underworlder for training purposes?”

  “That sounds less like self defense and more like torture,” said Asha, braiding her hair while slipping her shoes on.

  Lexi glanced at her in surprise, waving a hand. “Your compassion is a sickness. I'm sorry, Asha, but someone has to tell you. I'm talking about serial killers, for fuck's sake!”

  “Do you ever wonder,” Asha said, “if we would be hunted down and killed in one of the ‘upper realms’?”

  “If we started killing everyone, then yeah, we would,” said Lexi.

  “And if the only thing we needed for survival just happened to be the realm's dominant species?”

  “Then they'd be well within their rights to defend themselves.” Lexi sat up. “What exactly are you trying to say, Asha? We should just all willingly become food?”

  “Just a thought…” Asha shrugged.

  “Well, we're not going into any other realm, so it's irrelevant, anyway. The problem of how to practice sucking the life energy out of Underworlders in self-defense remains, unless…” Glancing at Asha, Lexi snapped, “Okay, I'll keep brainstorming. Save the trees, the rivers, and the poor unfortunate murderers.”

  Asha threw her comb at Lexi, who caught it, laughing.

  She pointed the comb at Asha. “Whatever I come up with by the weekend, we're trying,” she said.

  The nights had grown noticeably longer, moving breakfast later into the afternoon to allow for six hours of sleep after dawn. Asha, Lexi, and Nidhan went home on Saturday looking forward to two days of eating junk food and resting.

  Asha joined Lexi outside on their rooftop. Looking through the palm trees that lined the wall surrounding Nidhan's house, she stretched in the late afternoon sun. The rice crops had been replaced by fields of wheat as far as the eye could see, with narrow dirt roads and patches of eucalyptus trees weaving between the bare fields.

  She watched Lexi scrawl the new daily password on a stone and toss it into the water before she leaned back into the chair to resume throwing knives into the crevice between the bricks and the door of their bedroom with a lazy wave of her arm.

  Asha reached into the holy water, captured the stone, and read. Compay Segundo.

  She looked up at Lexi in surprise, who grinned, inclining her head.

  “Just a subtle hint of what you'll be playing later. But we're still gonna work on your self-defense life-sucking and ghosting abilities.” She glanced up at Nidhan as he lowered a tray of food onto the table. “Nidhan here has volunteered to be haunted. We thought maybe being a relative would make it easier.”

  Nidhan said, “We what?” He ignored the password bowl and began filling his plate with food. “Oh. Yeah. Whatever you need, Asha. Just know that I plan on spending the weekend with the guys.” He stuffed a paneer pakora into his mouth, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at them.

  “What's that supposed to mean?” demanded Lexi. “Not that I care…” She threw another knife.

  Nidhan grinned. “Sorry, Lexi. What happens with the guys, stays with the guys.”

  “Very mature. Well, while you guys are doing… whatever it is you do,” Lexi's knife hit the previous knife with a loud clang, “Tzirga, Ariella, and Mia have also volunteered to be your victims, Asha, and they should be here right about… now.”

  The sound of motorcycles filled the courtyard, and within minutes the three Trainees burst through the door, laughing. “Ursala wanted to come, bu
t he's too exhausted,” Tzirga said. “It's her fault.” She pointed a thumb at Ariella who grinned wickedly, shaking her head and pointing back at Tzirga.

  Lexi said, “I don't even wanna know.”

  Tzirga and Ariella filled plates and started eating as Nidhan got up and saluted at Lexi on his way out the door.

  She pretended not to notice.

  They ate and listened to Mia complain about the cold. After Sanjay had taken away the dishes, Asha turned to them. “Okay, I really don't think this is a good idea. Lexi, have you even figured out—”

  “I told you I would, right?” Lexi collected her knives and faced them. “Stevens had five crates of papayas sent over earlier.” She pointed at the wooden boxes stacked in the corner. “I told Sanjay it's a special American spa treatment.”

  She waved a hand. “So, here's what we do. Asha tries to kill us. When you feel like you're dying or whatever, you stand it as long as you can, right? Then push this button, turning on the flashlight, and immediately one of us places this bag over Asha's head and—What?”

  “That is the stupidest plan I've ever heard!” Even Asha was laughing.

  Mia said, “Yeah, it's pretty dumb, Lexi. Sorry.”

  Lexi crossed her arms. “Well? Does anyone have a better idea?”

  Everyone looked at each other. Finally, Tzirga said, “Let's try it. Hell, I'll go first. Give me that ridiculous flashlight, Lexi.” Taking the flashlight, she turned to face Asha. “Somebody get ready to cover Miss Multi-Talent's head.”

  Asha looked around at them. No one was smiling. Apparently, they really meant for her to try to kill them—meant to be used like expendable practice dummies. The four of them watched her, silently waiting.

  Then Lexi said in a low voice, “With great power comes great responsibility, Asha.”

  Asha glared.

  “C'mon, Asha,” said Ariella. “You can make her enchantingly gorgeous again afterward!”

  Asha inhaled deeply and focused on Tzirga. Okay. Here goes nothing…

  Tzirga immediately paled and turned on the flashlight. Asha felt a dark cloth fall over her head, breaking her concentration. Everyone was cheering, lifting her up, and twirling her around.

  Tearing the bag from her head, Asha confronted their grinning faces, Tzirga smiling most of all in spite of looking sick. Her black hair looked dull, and there were dark circles under her beautiful doe-like eyes.

  “Try me from farther away!” demanded Ariella, grabbing the flashlight and jogging backward.

  “At least let her heal Tzirga first, you feral beast!” said Mia, and Asha hurried to the nearest crate, picking up a papaya. Within seconds, the color returned to Tzirga's face, and by the time the life was sucked from the papaya, she looked radiant. They cheered again, Lexi and Ariella giving each other jumping high fives.

  “I realize this sounds terrible,” said Asha, “but it's much easier to… take life than it is to heal…”

  “It always is, Asha,” said Ariella. “It always is. Now, c'mon.” She clapped. “It's my turn. Let's see you do it even faster.”

  Three hours later, they had moved to the garden, backing farther and farther away from Asha. They determined she could make them feel “a little weird” from twenty feet away.

  Asha began feeling the energy surrounding each living “victim” before she started taking her life, and connecting to it began to feel natural, filling her with an exhilarating power, a revitalizing life.

  Finally everyone agreed that Asha's eyes were beginning to creep them out, and they stopped.

  “What can I say? Humans are more energizing than plants,” Asha said.

  “Okay, stop looking… aroused,” said Mia. “It's gross.”

  Bursting into laughter at the repulsion in their eyes, Asha stuck her tongue out and, after putting sunglasses on, went to help Chotu order food from Gopal's. They returned to the roof to eat.

  “¡Dios mío!” said Mia, taking a huge bite of her tikki-burger. “Being almost killed forty-eight times makes you starving!”

  Asha piled more wood onto the fire blazing in the metal fire pit and filled her plate with pizza and chow mein. “Hey, don't complain. You guys were willing volunteers. If you hemorrhage in the night, it's not my fault.”

  Lexi took a sip of a disgustingly-orange soda and said, “I wonder what Ranya's planning…”

  “Killing everyone and taking over the world,” said Asha, moving olives from her pizza onto Lexi's. “She admitted as much.”

  “Yeah, but how?”

  “Well, if I had to guess,” said Asha, chewing, “I would say she plans to unleash all manner of demonic monstrosities, and after the ensuing bloodbath, rule over our fair realm.”

  Everyone stopped eating and stared at her.

  “I'm just saying,” she shrugged, taking another bite. “If this were a movie or a book…”

  “So you're not, like, having a psychic vision?” said Ariella, wiggling her hands around her ears.

  Asha snorted, wiggling her hands back. “No.”

  They ate in silence for a few minutes. Asha looked around at them. “We could ask her. I think she likes to talk about herself, provided she isn't so furious she still wants to kill me, that is.”

  Lexi looked into the flames. “You could try bringing another person, like we talked about.”

  “Someone needs to put Asha's necklace back on her the second she seems…uh, agitated?” said Mia. “I don't think it's a good idea without Janu.”

  “Oh c'mon, Mia!” said Tzirga. “Where's your sense of adventure?”

  “It got its ass kicked by my sense of survival!” said Mia. “Do you want to be the one to tell Aquila that oh, sorry! Asha died, but it's okay because, hey, we had an adventure.”

  Asha felt herself blush. Throwing a napkin onto her plate, she stood up. “What the hell. Let's do it!” She patted Mia on the shoulder. “Don't worry, I don't think she really wants to kill me, at least not until she gets whatever it is she wants.”

  Mia started to protest, and Asha cut her off. “The Vampires would have killed me right away. Unless someone told them not to. So there! Proof she wants me alive.”

  Tzirga said, “If only Nidhan—”

  “Oh, forget Nidhan!” snapped Lexi, rolling her eyes. “He has his hands full, trust me.” She looked nauseated. Asha opened her mouth to defend Nidhan, but Lexi took a deep breath and changed the subject. “First, we need to clear away this mess and tell Chotu and Sanjay we're done for the night. We don't need civilians interrupting. Let me think… Mia, you're in charge of putting the necklace back on, and the three of us will all try to go with Asha.” She grinned, grabbing a bunch of dishes and disappearing down the stairway. Asha, Tzirga, and Ariella took the rest of the dishes, leaving Mia shaking her head as she stared after them in the firelight.

  By twelve-thirty everyone in the house was asleep.

  Nidhan still hadn't come home, which did nothing to improve Lexi's mood.

  “So we just hold hands, or what?” said Tzirga.

  “Well, I only have two hands, and there are three of you,” Asha pointed out.

  “I'll hold her hand, and then Tzirga can hold my other hand,” said Lexi. “It's like a chain.”

  “This is a very bad idea,” said Mia.

  Everyone ignored her.

  Fixing her mind on the memory of Ranya, Asha unclasped her necklace and handed it to Mia, grasping Lexi and Ariella's hands, and closed her eyes.

  The silhouette of Headquarters towered in the moonlight, majestic at the center of the sparkling lake, and Asha realized she'd never seen the fort from the outside at night. She was always busy inside with the other Trainees. It looked peaceful, a noble apparition beyond rustling leaves, as the wind pushed gentle waves against its impregnable walls.

  Asha glanced around, wiggling her fingers. She was alone.

  Looking through branches to a clearing on the hill, she saw Ranya sitting on her terrifying horse. A shiver crawled up Asha's spine as the Dänav
pawed the soft dirt beneath its cloven hooves, its scales shimmering like oil.

  Asha stepped silently from behind the tree.

  With an eerily reptilian motion, the Dänav turned its head to her, orange eyes beginning to glow.

  “There, there my darling…” Ranya made a stirring motion with her metal-covered fingertips. “It's only Asha, come to pay me a visit at last.” Ranya raised her spear in salute. “And to what do I owe this honor?” She made a hissing noise, and the Dänav began to walk forward.

  It took all of Asha's willpower not to back up as the creature yawned its horrific mouth. Row upon row of metal shards shone within its cavernous jaws.

  Ranya giggled. “What's the matter? Does my pony make you nervous?”

  “Actually, I'm impressed. No one believed me when I said they could be domesticated.” Asha tried to sound calm, bored even.

  Ranya smiled. “Hmm. Domesticated might be an exaggeration. But I've been playing around with names for him. Misty and Blaze don't suit him…”

  “Uh, Midnight? War Lord?”

  “What do you think of Slaughter?”

  “I'm pretty sure that's already a band,” said Asha, and Ranya looked confused. “Never mind. Slaughter is lovely. A little dark, maybe.”

  “He won't answer to it yet.” Ranya pouted, twirling her staff absently.

  Asha tried to keep her voice uninterested. “So, me and my friends were talking about you, and someone had a theory that your plan is to open a door to a lower dimension, kill everything and everyone and take over the world. Others thought that was too extreme. So I said, let me go ask.”

  Ranya frowned, cocking her head to the side. “And what was your theory?”

  “Me? I don't think you know where a portal is.” Asha crossed her arms. “And I don't think you can find one.”

  Ranya threw her head back and screeched with laughter, causing the Dänav to shake its giant ram horns in alarm, and Asha took a step back before she could stop herself.

  Ranya swung her spear suddenly at Asha's chest, and without thinking she caught it firmly in her right hand.

  “I hope you didn't put money on that,” the Witch said.