She closed her eyes, and the shining blues and purples of that tiny painting still glowed in her mind. Kayla remembered the words she spoke last night to Asher. “So I’m The Star. Maybe I understand that now, but what about these Swords that are running me through? You knew my mother. Did she ever read cards for you?”
Asher had closed his hand over hers and pulled it back to rest against his leg, keeping her palm hidden within his own. She felt as if something about her fingers moving over the cards disturbed him. He was silent for a few moments, his jaw tightening as he struggled to swallow. “She did…many times. It could be maddening. If you didn’t hear what you wanted, you started to suspect her of just using the cards to promote her own agenda. But she was just honest, even in the worst times. I remember the placements, but not the meanings of the cards. There are some I can’t forget, though. The Star is known as ‘the Daughter of the Firmament and the Dweller Between the Waters’ — a perfect card for a Nephil, her card… It’s everything I’ve seen in you both: hope, inspiration, promise. It represents protection, healing old wounds…everything opening to a new horizon, a broader experience. Your star was darkened, but now the light is breaking through.”
She was staring at the Three of Swords that lay across that center card, each blade pictured piercing a heart. “What about this one?”
When she moved on to the next card he let go of her hand, shaking off the spell that had gripped him. His voice came louder, roughly clipping off the ends of his sentences. “The second card represents an obstacle. I can’t remember the full meaning of this one, but the symbols are quite clear.” He pointed to the tenth card in the formation — the Two of Wands, the image of Dominion. “I told you that this is a card of destiny, but only if you follow the advice of the spread. It’s not a future you’re sentenced to; you construct what happens next. This card above The Star is known as Judgment, and its placement represents an outcome as well, but perhaps the one you most expect, fear, or hope for. The Seven of Swords is in the spot of an immediate future, provided your actions continue on their current path.”
The door creaked open slowly, the sudden intrusion shattering Kayla’s reflective visions. Her memory of Asher’s features, skewed with emotion, was now replaced by the present sight of his impassive countenance, affected by only a momentary twinge of tightened muscles. He noticed her neatly arranged possessions, and his voice fell softly, unquestioningly. “You’re ready to go.”
She nodded, regaining her composure. “What happened to the truck?”
“The Core is shot. It’s unexpected, but we should have enough time to make it there on foot if we can’t find a new mode of transport.” His eyes were on her left hand as it squeezed the Bible, the beads and cross hanging from her wrist faintly trembling. “You can take a minute, if you need it.”
Kayla watched the angle of his shoulders slant, the only evidence of the painful shift of his weight from one wounded foot to another. “Asher, you shouldn’t—” she stopped herself, and then began again, driving the worry from her voice. “No, you’re right, but…please sit with me.”
He exhaled heavily into a defeated smile, sliding down into the seat beside her. “Do you see more than others, Kayla? Or are you the only one that responds to it?”
Her eyelids fluttered as she looked swiftly downward. “I don’t know what everyone else sees.” Kayla’s hands fumbled with the pages of the book as she took out the cards, arranging the first six into an equal-armed cross, beside a vertical arrangement of the last four. “I…I understand some more of the cards today, Asher.”
He bowed his head, moving in closer to inspect the little pictures. “Dreams?”
“I don’t know. Some things are like this Bible. Judgment. The last book here says there will be Angels blowing horns at the end of the world. And see the picture?” She stared at the naked bodies rising up from their coffins, their arms waving joyfully to the emotionless creature hovering above them. “I know there will be a change, a rebirth, but there are crucial decisions that will have to be made. Am I the Angel that heralds the end, or am I the human woman, embracing the new beginning? If there is a choice, is it mine to make?”
Before Asher could answer, Kayla was clutching the Seven of Swords. “And this one! I don’t know how I know — how these cards know — that I can’t trust myself. I’m going to do it again, Asher.”
He looked at her carefully, holding out his palm. When she handed over the card, he calmly regarded the image of a thief running off with a stash of swords, a few of the blades falling to the ground, as his burden was too heavy to carry. “Will I be able to stop you?” he asked quietly, placing the card back in the sixth position.
Kayla didn’t seem to hear him. “It’s all impulse, thoughtlessness, dishonor…it’s everything—” She turned her head towards his shoulder, her hair shielding her eyes from anything she would see on the other side of the driver’s window. “Why is he here?” she whispered.
The hissing intake of Asher’s breath remained still in his throat as he struggled for a reply.
Her face reddened, her voice rising only slightly in volume, but steeped in sudden bitterness. “Where is he in all of this? Doesn’t he deserve a card? If I’m The Star, who could he be? The upside-down card there? Or the shining Knight in ninth place? No, he must be my obstacle, my Three of Swords — Sorrow. Strife, conflict, upheaval…sound familiar? Is this what the cards are saying? Unless I remove my stumbling block, I’ll end up in the sixth position? Then why is he here, Asher?”
“He is not a danger to you!” he cried.
She choked on any other angry words she had prepared as they stared soundlessly at one another. Kayla was the first to drop her gaze. “You never trusted me with him before. You were right, you know.”
“If his presence here sends you running off into the night, then what hope do we have of stopping this Eclipse from forever darkening the world?”
“It’s not that! I…” She clenched her fists. “I won’t insult your integrity with my promises. But I want to choose you.”
“Without an alternative, there isn’t a choice.”
By the time she raised her wet eyes, the door was clicking shut and she could see the line of his shoulders as he walked out into the light, perfectly horizontal and without pain.
*
Kayla watched with perverse fascination as the pirates tore the truck apart. Without a Core, Kittie explained, the vehicle was useless.
“A lot of people don’t really know what it used to be like, so don’t feel bad,” the little girl went on. “They know what a Core is, but not what it’s made up of and how it works. Most of them just know that Za’in controls the only practical power source left. Some don’t even understand that! Well, the world wasn’t any great shakes before the Eclipse. Most of the Earth’s resources were squandered, and people were malnourished too, in spirit and mind. People were desperate. ‘Like so many maggots spilling out of a carcass they’ve already consumed…’ ”
Kayla wrenched her eyes from the truck’s dismantling and fixed her troubled stare on Kittie.
The girl gazed back, her brown eyes grim and her mouth small, the corners down-turned. “Those aren’t my words, but you’ve figured that out already. I hate to admit it, but he wasn’t all wrong. If he was, it would have been easy to rail against him, but so many of us were pulled in.”
“But you…you never bought into it, did you, Kittie?” The inexplicable anger that welled up in her gave sound to her fearful whisper.
“When he brought down that profound destruction on the day of the Eclipse, it was easy to seize control. And there were less rats in the cage—”
“You never believed in him. Then why were you in his Spheres? Don’t give me your old excuses of loneliness and loyalty; I’ve had enough of that. What…are you?”
A dark form blocked her sight, and when she backed away, she could see Jeremy pulling Kittie to the side by the back of her shirt.
He looked do
wn at Kayla coldly. “Still haven’t figured out the big, wide world yet? What do you want to know? Ask me. Leave her alone.”
“Jeremy, stop!” Kittie squealed, struggling against his grip. “She just wanted to know about Cores and power sources—”
“Shut up. I know what she asked you.” He regarded Kayla with disdain. “You want to know where we came from? The asshole of this world. We crawled out, and we finally got somewhere until you—”
“Saros!”
The wrathful flare of Jeremy’s eyes fixed at a point behind Kayla’s head, as Kittie was released from his grasp by a sudden twitch of his fingers. His former Ophan let out a tiny cry, then grasped him tightly below his waist, burying her face into an unfettered part of his back.
Asher met Jeremy’s glare with a stern countenance. “Kayla was spared the pain that all of us experienced in our own way after the Eclipse. Please be understanding if she accidentally opens any old wounds.”
There was a long stretch of silence before Jeremy bowed his head, gently tearing free from Kittie’s embrace, and strode out into the cluster of broken stones in the distance. Finally released from his violence, Kayla found she could move again and whirled around to face Asher, but he was walking away as well, preparing for the rest of their journey. Breathlessly, she turned back to Kittie who was trying to pull up the corners of her mouth.
“He wasn’t gonna harm anyone,” the little girl whispered.
Kayla experienced only a slight ache in her chest, free from the clutches of the expected sadness and terror. “You’re something special then?”
“That suspicion has caused some suffering. He doesn’t like reminders.”
“You’ll tell me some time…if it doesn’t hurt too much?”
Kittie’s forced smile was slowly becoming genuine, her nod almost imperceptible, as she pulled Kayla forward by the hand, following the steps of the pirates as they began walking through the stones and weeds. The boys’ pockets were stuffed with various pieces of junk, while sections of the truck were strapped to their backs. Bruno led the way, stumbling every time his eyes lingered too long on the maps that he continually shuffled through. Fec trailed behind him, snatching the curled scraps of paper that fluttered through the Captain’s fingers at every grip-loosening distraction. Vic helped support Asher’s steps as he plodded forward on wounded feet, and Kerif was saddled with the heaviest load from the remains of the truck. As they passed the rock formation that Jeremy was perched on, he jumped down to join their ranks, muttering something about a ‘slower road to their deaths.’
Kayla tried to catch all of Kittie’s words, but she was distracted by the sound of Jeremy’s heavy boots behind them and the sight of Asher’s painful steps leading her forward.
Kittie continued as if there was never a break in her explanation. “So every resource on Earth was slowly tapping out. Oil, coal, wood, water… There was still plenty of fear, though, and that’s what moved the world. But Za’in wasn’t a known force yet — just a quiet presence through the centuries, slowly growing in knowledge, bitterness, and delusions of grandeur. It didn’t interest him to stand above a world crawling with humans. So he waited in obscurity, gathering what was valuable, and honing his methods. Everything went as planned during the first Eclipse. Like I told you before, bringing down the void that was once Heaven worked exactly as he hoped — the ‘wrath of God,’ remember? Millions of filthy humans died in an instant. World geography shifted and skewed. And that’s when he rose up. He had real power, after all, since he was the only one that could provide a Core. That little dark lump is an energy source more efficient than any before it, even if it’s a bit unpredictable. Za’in was the only one that could light up the world again. But what is it? You’ve taken a peek. What does it look like?”
Kayla bit her lip, her features gathered together painfully.
Her moment of discomfort was underscored, but allayed, by Jeremy’s irritated groan erupting behind them. “Kit, we got the point! Get on with it.”
Kittie rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine, a Core looks a little like Jeremy’s Ruiners. That’s no coincidence. Cores are synthetic Angel bones. Like I said before, most people have no idea what’s going on. The words in that book you now carry used to build civilizations, but even in the years before the Eclipse, it was reduced to an esoteric mythology that few scholars studied and that attracted even fewer devotees. No one believed in Angels. But, with a Core in hand, everyone believed in Za’in. If your little tribe could curry favor, then maybe you’d get one. There were rebels, there were pirates, but Steelryn and Serafin — now that was the name for resistance! But that too fell into obscurity, and many doubt if two such men ever existed. Only the dark, looming idea of Lord Za’in remains, imprinted in everyone’s minds by that simple black mass. Most everyone is still now…it’s been eighteen years after all, and humans know how to get comfortable. But in five days everything will change again. In Genesis, Angels fell to Earth and the Nephilim were born. So God sent a Flood to kill us all. If, in five days, a new race constructed by a new God enters this Earth…”
Kayla waited for Kittie’s silence to dissolve into words again, but soon she realized this quiet was more than a momentary pause. “What will happen?” she whispered, cringing at the sound her own voice.
“Has that book anything to say about it?”
Her face hurt and her lips were numb, but they moved anyway. “ ‘Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind—’ ” Kayla clapped her hands over her mouth.
Kittie’s eyes were serene and her nose barely wrinkled. “That’s one way to look at it.”
Jeremy let out another grunt of disgust before he took longer, faster strides, as if he was determined to move quickly out of earshot of Kittie’s history lesson. As he passed them by he grumbled, his mouth forming a mangled grin. “This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.”
39
Kayla’s hands felt weightless as they moved over the cards, following the rhythm of a comforting and now-familiar feminine voice.
One, two, three…The Star, The Three of Swords, Judgment — you understand. The fourth card is to the right, and it represents your past. The Four of Swords, reversed. What do you see?
She lifted the card and studied it, as her mother requested. Kayla was surprised at how quickly these supernatural encounters had become ordinary and gave her the intimacy of the domestic life that she longed for. Dreams became visions and signs, and soon she found she could penetrate the barrier of past remembrances and communicate with her mother fully, through their Angelic bond.
The card she held depicted the image of a man, lying down, with a sword at his side. Three swords hung above him, and as she turned the card upside-down to view it as it should be arranged in this reading, she wondered if the man was dead or sleeping. The colors were neutral, their pastel tints cold. “This feels like the worst kind of isolation…”
It was all he could do, at the end, to see to it that you were safe. This is a card of seclusion, banishment… That’s not what we wanted, but it was better that you were out of Za’in’s sights, in a place where your Angelic powers would be stifled, where no one would be able to sense them — not even you.
“I don’t understand. How could the village hide what I was?”
That human settlement in the swamp was once a prison for the Fallen. Before they were judged and extinguished, this is where Azazel and his followers were imprisoned. Spiritual energy will forever be absorbed and neutralized in that place. I doubt you could return there if you tried, and if you did, you would no longer recognize yourself as you are now. Michael discovered the way in for you, but none could follow. I know you suffered much loneliness.
“It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t…anything. But before that, I was with you, and for a time, with Sebastian, right? I don’t remember it. I know he hurt you…”
He did nothing to you, Kayla, except use you as a
shield. He didn’t tamper with your blood or bones because he didn’t want to spoil the maturity of your gifts. He’s patient.
Her throat constricted painfully as she carefully replaced the card, picking up the next one, The Moon, from its place below the first three cards.
This one expresses all your recent circumstances. Can you tell what it means?
She held the card close to her face, examining the impassive gaze that stared out from the ivory circle. The moon hung above a mountain inhabited by animals, their contorted forms straining to the light. “The Moon, night, dreams and nightmares…they’re all visions. That makes sense. I’ve seen and heard things that have helped me understand, but some of what I’ve felt I wish I could ignore.”
Yes, that’s right. But there’s more to it. The Moon is also telling you that although the night may bring spiritual trials and the shadows may hide your enemies, this is a time of creative discovery and you should trust your new insights.
“Hidden enemies,” she sighed. “Every step forward brings Sebastian closer — I can feel that. Are there enemies near, staying unseen, or is there one right beside us, in plain sight…?”
You mean Jeremy.
Kayla dropped the card, clenching her fist. “I don’t understand why Asher trusts him now! So he saved him from Tregenne. But how do we know that wasn’t just a plan to infiltrate our group?”
In Azevin, he aided you as well.
“I didn’t ask for his help, Mother!”
Dominion of the Star (Descendants of the Fallen Book 1) Page 29