Veiled (2 page)

“
The Second One’s plan has
indeed been tried and it was a tremendous failure.” He continued
while still pointing an accusatory finger at Beelzebub. Loud
murmurs rose from the crowds at this last revelation, but Michael
continued and the crowds’ comments died down.

“
So either he who is so
well prepared and qualified to lead our world is ill informed, or
he knowingly deceives us. If he deceives us, we should ask
ourselves—why? What purpose does he have in doing so?

“
If he does not deceive
us, and is ignorant on this very crucial point, then we should be
asking ourselves—how prepared is the Second One to lead our
world?”

The throngs could no longer
be contained and almost at once a loud mass of voices burst out,
some angry, others happy and cheering. The whole gathering of
Earthlings was in an uproar—I could see groups of spirits from the
rebellion shouting at the ones who were cheering. Some even started
pushing and shoving others, as if that would do any
good!

Celeste came to my side,
grabbed my arm, and pulled me away, without anyone from our clan
noticing. Once we were out of the council area she looked
suspiciously around.

“
Tess, guess what I just
found out!” she whispered.

“
What?”

“
The location of a secret
Cherub training ground,” she said with awe.

I rolled my eyes. Was she
really thinking about playing around at such a time? I looked at
her and her eyes looked expectantly back at me…so I guess she
was.

“
Celeste…” I shook my
head, not sure which of the many reason to give her, as to why this
was not a good time.

“
Come on, Tess! We know
where we stand. What’s the purpose in staying here? Let them fight
it out if they want to…we are going to find ourselves some
Cherubs!” she insisted.

How did she do this? How
could she always find a way to sound remotely logical when there
was no room for logic? She could see that I was considering it, so
she just grabbed my arm again and pulled me out toward
space.

I reluctantly followed her,
but felt way too anxious about our escapade to enjoy it. Last time
we got caught doing something forbidden, the High Council seemed
annoyed—more so than usual. I couldn’t tell for sure, but some of
them looked at us with distrust. It made no sense to me at the
time, but now in light of the latest developments, their reaction
seemed warranted.

She literally pulled me all
the way to a still developing planet that had several deserted
canyons. They were narrow orange-red labyrinths that would—in
theory—be a great place to hold Sentinel and Herald
training.

Cherubs train humans to be
Sentinels and Heralds and only the most gifted and devoted spirits
are chosen. Looking for these Cherub training grounds was an
ongoing quest for us human spirits. We are completely mystified by
the humanoid creatures that the Eternals created soon after they
formed the First One and the Second One. Seraphs are really
fascinating too, but they keep more to themselves and are extremely
hard to follow.

Cherubs are double the size
of a large human, completely white—skin, hair, feathered wings—even
their fur raiment is white. Seraphs, on the other hand, are golden
a little bit smaller than Cherubs, but still bigger than any human.
They are half human from the waist up, and half lion from the waist
down, and their wings are leathery like a bat’s. They dress in much
the same way as Cherubs do, but the fur raiment is golden like
their skin. Both species serve as the Eternals’ personal guards and
help keep the Eternals’ creations and Universal Law in
check.

“
Come on...we are so
close, I can feel it!” Celeste said as she zigzagged her way
through this planet’s orange-red desert landscape.

“
This is a bad idea. What
if we get caught again? The High Council will banish us!” I said
cowardly.

“
Oh, come on. You worry
too much, and exaggerate too. If, and I stress—if—we get caught
they’ll be mad, but they’ll get over it.”

I nodded and we moved
cautiously forward, seeking temporary shelter behind the little
rock formations.

“
Will you relax; you look
like you just saw a ghost!” Celeste teased.

“
I am a ghost. Besides, I
feel like we are being followed.” I insisted.

“
Technically, you are not
a ghost—you haven’t lived yet—and ghosts are dead
mortals.

“
Besides…who would be
interested in following us?” She turned and glided forward more
cautiously now. Her feet were hovering inches from the ground, and
as she moved, the folds of her robe passed through the solid mass
of the grotesque rocks that looked more like disfigured little
humans than mineral deposits. In front of us was a mesa that would
provide more cover than these rock goblins that surrounded
us.

“
I’m not imagining this,
Celeste. I can tell when other spirits are near.” I warned her, but
she ignored me still.

“
Shh, we are almost
there.” She hurried to the mesa, one of many on this planet’s soil,
and slowly hovered upward to peek over the top. Then she quickly
ducked down again, her face showed concern for the first time since
she dragged me along on this harebrained idea of hers.

“
What! What did you see?”
I demanded.

“
Boo!” the noise came from
the other side of the mesa, and it gave us both a start.

“
You set us up!” Celeste
bellowed as she flew up, and in a flash was punching the airy
figures of Dorian and Russell. Alex was there too, but laughing his
head off as he floated on top of the mesa.

“
Ouch! I almost felt that.
Do it again!” Russell laughed.

“
Yeah… and she’s quick
too—look!” Dorian tried to get Celeste back, but she quickly
blocked all his attempts with her forearms.

“
You think you are so
funny, don’t you? I can’t believe I fell for it; I should’ve known
that you guys wouldn’t leak information like this so casually,”
Celeste said good-humoredly.

The three laughed again,
and Celeste began another round of punches.

I shook my head. I should
have suspected this much; Alex and Russell were obsessed with
getting a look at an actual training session. They could scarcely
talk about anything else. And Dorian…well he was a prankster, so he
would be part of anything that involved a laugh.

I looked over the mesa once
more; my initial feeling that we were not alone on that planet
hadn’t faded yet. If what I was sensing were not my clan members,
then who?

I looked out and tried to
visually find the source of my unease, but saw none. One thing I
did know for sure: this planet was not being used by
Cherubs.

“
What is it, Tess?” Alex
whispered, he had crouched right next to me and had positioned his
face so close to mine that if I had turned my face, we would have
touched noses.

“
I’m not sure…” I told him
without turning my face. As of late Alex started doing these kind
of weird things, and I… let’s just say that something strange
happened to me every time I got near him. My thoughts got fuzzy and
I found it hard to remember what I was about to say. I could tell
that our relationship was changing and I wasn’t sure how to feel
about it.

This time was no exception;
I was so caught up with trying to not turn my head that I forgot
was I was thinking. I tried to refocus my thoughts by shaking my
head, but this seemed humorous to Alex and he made that half smile
thing—when half his face smiles and the other half tries not to—but
fails. It was usually charming, or so I thought…but right now it
annoyed me, so I got mad.

“
What’s so funny?” I said
without turning; because his face was still very close to
mine.

“
You,” he said flatly
while moving away just a little bit. “Disarmingly so.”

I wrinkled my nose with a
pretend sneer, but then that foreboding feeling came back even
stronger now. There were spirits out there and they emitted a weird
vibe—one that I didn’t like.

“
You’re really seeing
something, aren’t you?” Alex looked back at the canyon, with a
serious look on his face.

“
I can’t see them, it’s
more like sensing,” I explained.

“
How does that work?” He
turned and leaned casually back, tucking his arms behind his head,
flashing another smile.

“
What? Sensing?” I said,
finding it nearly impossible to focus.

“
Yeah, it sounds…
interesting,” he said mockingly.

I had no time for a
friendly banter with Alex because an oppressive feeling of doom hit
me in an almost physical way, one that I had never experienced
before.

It was strange I felt both
lured and disgusted by it. The part of me that had common sense was
screaming “Leave, Tess! Leave!” But I am curious by nature so that
other part of me, the one that loved to explore and take off
without warning, was eager to know who and what was emitting that
vibe.

Just then another wave of
that same feeling hit me again, and this time I listened to common
sense.

“
We need to get out!” I
said while grabbing Alex by his robe and pulling him up.

He looked puzzled, but
didn’t question me. “Come on, she is sensing something. Let’s go!”
Alex started pushing Dorian and Russell who were still laughing, or
laughing about something else now. Celeste had a pouty look on her
face, but quickly dropped it when she saw that we weren’t
kidding.

We flew away together as
fast as our thoughts allowed us to fly, and even as we did so I was
more certain than ever that someone was watching us go—and that
someone was very displeased about it.

* * * * *

Chapter 2

Russell skidded to a stop
right outside the planet’s atmosphere and started laughing so loud
that it sounded like thunder. Dorian and Alex stopped too, and
Celeste and I could not help but join him. But the celebration of
our near escape from who knows what was suddenly interrupted by the
sound of several of our clan members. They were no doubt wondering
where we were.

The calling stones are
handy, I have to admit to that, but they really annoy me too. They
are crystals fastened to our clothing right at the chest, and one
simply has to touch them and say the name of whomever you want to
get in contact with, and they respond by doing the same thing on
their end. To disconnect, you touch it one more time and the link
is severed. What annoys me is the fact that you have no control
over who calls you or when, and some spirits are very persistent.
But I guess there is no other way to communicate long distance—not
until we can all learn to communicate through the link like the
Eternals do.

Valerie was calling me. She
was wondering where we were, and why we left so quickly. She
sounded annoyed—not unusual for her—when I told her where we were.
Then I heard Dane in the background telling us to stay put, and
that they were on their way.

Our clan was one of the
smaller ones; we were only eight spirits, and we have been together
since we were given form. The first things I remember seeing with
my spiritual eyes were my clan members; and they are all I have in
this existence.

This is why I am so worried
about the veiling. I want to live, I really do…but giving up my
memories of them would be like giving up who I am. I guess that is
at the root of the problem, I am lost without them—literally. The
Veil that separates this existence from the next will erase all the
knowledge I have accumulated for the past few millennia. Who would
I be without it?

In the distance we could
see Henry approaching. He was holding some object that we had never
seen before. He was messing with it and was distracted, then…he
must have touched something because he disappeared and reappeared
inches away from Alex.

“
What the…” Alex
complained.

Henry was beaming. “Aha! I
knew it!” he said, holding the object up and waving it around.
“It’s a transporter of sorts,” he added and started touching some
more buttons.

“
Where did you get it
from?” Celeste asked with wonder, and instinctively the rest of us
got closer to get a better look.

Henry shook his head
solemnly. “No, no…I’ve been sworn to secrecy. But I will tell you
this much, the spirit world that has these devices is on the other
side of the universe!” Alex, Russell, and Dorian looked impressed,
but I was a little annoyed.

Henry was always
disregarding the rules about spirit worlds. We weren’t supposed to
go to other spirit worlds and interrupt their training for
frivolous things like these. But Henry simply didn’t care; he loved
every gadget in the universe and wanted to know how it
worked.

“
This bad habit of
stealing technology from other worlds will catch up to you some
time,” I said sagely, but no one listened to me. They were all too
excited about the device to pay me any attention.

I could see Dane, Valerie,
and Nancy flying toward us in the distance. They looked serious,
like something bad had happened, so I flew ahead to catch up to
them.