Netherworld, Soul Guardians Book 4 (5 page)

His mother grabbed him firmly by the
hand. “That’s enough, James. Say thank you and goodbye to the nice
girl.”

“
But mommy she’s glowing!”
yelled James stubbornly, and Kara thought his lungs might explode.
What was wrong with this kid?

With a frown, his mother gave him a
tug. “That’s it! I’ve heard enough— Nanny’s waiting—let’s go,
James.”

Kara watched in silence as the woman
ignored her son’s tantrum and pulled him along forcefully. All the
way down the street, James turned and pointed towards Kara, still
complaining loudly that she was glowing. He clearly saw something
in her that his mother didn’t. Could the little boy see through her
mortal shell?

“
He’s a Sensitive,” said
David, as though reading her thoughts. He settled beside her and
watched the little boy with great interest. “That’s how it usually
starts.”

Kara studied his face. “What usually
starts?”

“
Seeing the supernatural.
First they see us—GAs, out on missions as our true selves. Glowing,
in our entire
splendor
.” David straightened himself and lifted his chin in the air
dramatically. “But soon he’ll see the others. And then it’ll get
ugly for him.”

“
The others?” Kara didn’t
like how he had said that. But she already knew the
answer.

“
Demons. Sensitives have
the gift of sight. They see us, which means they see demons as
well. It’ll scare the crap out of him. Poor little bugger—I hope
the group finds him quickly. If not, I’ve heard some of the young
ones go insane. Or worse, their parents lock them up thinking they
are mad. Sensitives are special—and extremely rare.”

Kara shook her head slowly. “That’s
horrible. I can’t imagine what it must be like to see those things
when one is so young.”

“
Well, pray that the group
finds him soon. His mother looks like the type to lock him up in a
loony bin. She’s not going to believe him when he tells her he sees
monsters. Did you see her face when he was telling her you were
glowing? Yup. She’s going to lock him up.”

Kara watched James and his mother
disappear around the corner. “How soon till he starts seeing
demons?” She was afraid for the little boy. Demons materialized in
all forms of ugliness. If Kara was afraid of them, then James would
be terrified.

“
Soon—tomorrow, probably.
He’s going to be a total mess.”

Something nagged her in the back of
her mind. “Wait a second? Where was his guardian? He would have
been killed if I hadn’t pulled him out of the way in time. This was
an easy assignment, his GA should have been here.”

“
I heard Ariel talking
earlier.” David looked over his shoulder and lowered his voice.
“Apparently, there’s a shortage of GAs right now. I guess we lost
more angels than the legion anticipated in the war against
Asmodeus. There aren’t enough angels to protect all the mortal
souls. Until we train enough rookies—thousands will be vulnerable.
We can’t save them all.”

“
That’s awful. I had no
idea.” Kara watched the mortals shuffling up the street, going
about their business, and oblivious to the dangers around them. But
now the odds were slim that guardians would be able to prevent
mortal tragedies. Kara lowered her head and stared at the
ground.

David took Kara’s hand and squeezed it
gently. “Kara, we should get going. We don’t have much
time—”

Kara, help me…I’m
scared…

Kara jumped back in surprise. The
voice was louder this time. She distinctly heard the panic in the
voice. She whirled around on the spot, searching
frantically.

“
Kara, what is it?” David
watched her anxiously. “What’s wrong? You’re freaking me
out.”

“
I…I heard
something…someone…calling out to me just now. But I heard it
before, calling my name, just before the incident with the
boy.”

David knitted his brows. “I didn’t
hear anything? Where did it come from?”

“
From inside my
head—”

Kara halted. A young girl in a white
dress and with a large red bow stood a few yards away. Her black
hair gleamed in the sunlight. Her white skin was almost translucent
and blended strangely with her dress. Kara recognized her at
once.

It was exactly the same girl she had
spotted across the street from the bookstore.

Chapter 4

An Afternoon Chase

K
ara approached the little girl carefully and lifted her hands
in surrender. “Hey, it’s me…Kara. The girl you’ve been talking to
inside her head.”

The girl’s pallid face bore no
expression. It was as though it were frozen stiff, like a doll’s.
Her white porcelain skin stood out against her raven hair. Her
white dress swayed in the light breeze. Recognition passed through
her dark eyes momentarily. Her lips twitched. Suddenly, she turned
and bolted in the opposite direction.

“
No! Wait! Come back!” Kara
took off after the girl in hot pursuit.

“
Kara stop! Think of what
Ariel said! Kara!”

Kara ignored David and hurtled down
the street. She ran in a mad panic. Her insides screamed that the
girl needed protection. Never blinking, her eyes were glued on the
white dress. She couldn’t let it out of her sight.

“
Excuse me! Coming through!
Out of my way! Sorry! Watch out!” Kara ploughed through a group of
irritated mortals who swore at her and raised their
fists.

“
I said I was sorry!” she
yelled back and suppressed a laugh.

The white dress came into view a few
yards ahead. The girl raced past shoppers and jumped easily over
metal garbage bins at incredible speed. A mortal girl couldn’t run
that fast. It was obvious there was something supernatural about
her. No wonder the demons hadn’t caught up to her yet—she was
blessed with super speed. Kara was glad. She pushed her M-5 suit’s
strength to catch up. The rush of energy flowed through her like a
hot bath. With renewed vigor, she catapulted down the
block.

Shops blurred past her in hues of
browns and reds. The smells of exhaust fumes shot up her nose as
she ran. Mortals did their best to jump out of the way as Kara tore
down the street. But some weren’t so lucky and were tossed aside
like pins from a bowling alley. She shouted out apologies as she
rammed into people and kept going. The white dress fluttered ahead
of her. Kara heard the swish of the material with the girl’s every
move. She almost had her within reach. The elemental was only fifty
feet away.

But why was she running away from her
in the first place? It was as though Kara frightened her. By how
could that be? The girl had reached out to Kara for help. It didn’t
make any sense. She remembered the familiar connection she had felt
the first time she had seen the girl from the bookstore’s window.
It had to be the elemental part. That’s what they had in common, a
shared supernatural energy. She knew the girl could feel it, too.
Maybe that’s what frightened her?

The elemental whipped around abruptly
to the left, and disappeared around the corner at the end of the
block. Kara was right behind her. She swiveled around a metal post
and tore around the corner—

Crowds of mortals passed her by. Kara
blinked several times. The girl had vanished.

She searched above the mass of bobbing
heads. Nothing. Kara pushed her way through a wall of mortals who
shouted at her angrily. She disregarded them and slowed to a jog
along the street to be less conspicuous.

She whipped her head around and
searched for the elemental. Where had she gone? She couldn’t have
just vanished. Kara peered through windows for a glimpse of a white
dress. Nothing. The elemental could be anywhere, and it would take
a whole day to search the entire block. She groaned in frustration.
She searched up and down the block frenetically for spaces between
buildings where the girl could have found a secret hiding place.
Nothing. She had lost the elemental.

“
Where’d she go?” David
jogged into view, followed by Jenny and Peter. “You had her? I
mean…she was right there in front of you? Did she just pull a
vanishing act on us?”

Kara scratched her head and paced on
the spot. “I know. I know. I don’t get it. It’s like—she
disappeared into thin air. But I don’t get it? Why was she running?
It’s as if she thought I wanted to hurt her—but why? I don’t
understand why she would be so afraid of me. It doesn’t make any
sense.”

“
You can’t blame her for
running though,” said Jenny as she rearranged her silver quiver
across her shoulders. “She’s been on her own for a long time. She’s
confused and terrified. Who knows what’s been chasing her all this
time? Maybe she thought you were a demon in disguise.”

“
I hope not.” Kara sighed
loudly. “I just wanted her to see that I meant no harm, that I was
her friend. But she just kept running without stopping—like a
freakin’ machine. But, my God, she was fast. I had to push my suit
to its limit just to keep up with her, I was so close!” Kara yelled
out in frustration. “I have to find her before anyone else does. We
need to protect her.”

“
Well, she can’t be that
far.” Peter opened his palm. A small red orb the size of a marble
hovered above his hand. He waved his hand towards the nearest stone
building. Light flared suddenly from inside the orb. It grew
brighter and illuminated his palm in shades of red. “We should
search the entire block. She’s gotta be in one of the
buildings.”

“
I agree with Peter,” said
Jenny. She cast her gaze over the buildings that loomed over them.
“I’m sure she’s here somewhere. She has to be hiding. The poor
thing’s probably scared out of her wits.”

Kara let her arms fall to her sides.
She saw no evidence of a white dress through the building’s
windows. “I hope you’re right. But she can’t keep running like that
for long. That speed has to be draining her. Hopefully she’s going
to get tired soon, and then she’ll be an easy target for the
demons. The more she runs away from us, the more energy she wastes.
We have to find her…and soon.”

“
Don’t worry about it,
we’ll find her before they do,” said David confidently. “If not
today, then tomorrow, I promise.”

“
No.” Kara shook her head.
“Tomorrow will be too late. If we can’t find her today, then she’s
lost to us. Whatever it takes, we can’t leave until we find her.
And it
has
to be
today.” Kara forced the panic from her mind. She needed to stay
focused. The safety of the elemental depended on it.

A group of teen boys approached. They
passed by, interrupting their conversion for a moment. They
strutted like proud peacocks, and Kara was reminded of one of the
pop boy bands she used to listen to—dashing good looks—always
dressed with the finest clothes. A handsome teen with black hair
and grey eyes smiled at her as he walked by. Embarrassed, she
looked away hoping David didn’t see. She pressed her lips together
to keep from smiling back. She refused to look at David, just in
case.

Kara waited until the boys were out of
earshot. “Guys. I don’t think there’s anything dark about this
elemental.”

David turned and stepped towards Kara.
“What do you mean?” He cocked his head to the side.

“
Well, I think the Scouts
were wrong about her. I think the entire legion is wrong about
her—just as they were about me. That darkness Ariel was talking
about—it’s not around the elemental.”

“
But how can you know?”
Jenny leaned in closer. “You never got close enough. How can you
tell she’s not
surrounded
by evil like they said?”

“
Because I felt her…sort
of. It’s hard to explain. I felt her
presence
, and there was nothing evil
about it. Whatever darkness the Scouts felt, I think it’s because
she was encircled by demons. I think that’s what they felt. The
demons’ evil aura…but it wasn’t hers. She’s not evil. She’s just an
innocent mortal girl who’s probably scared to death.”

“
Elementals aren’t my
specialty,” said David. “But I don’t see how the Scouts could be
wrong about something like that. Besides, in my experience with the
legion, Scouts are
never
wrong. Ariel did say this was a special case. I
know you feel you have to protect her—I can see it in your eyes—and
I’m sure I know why you feel this way. But we have to be careful,
Kara. There’s something evil lurking around her. We have to trust
the legion with what they’ve told us—”

“
They’re wrong! I know it.”
Kara was irritated at David’s reluctance to believe her. She knew
he couldn’t possibly understand, he wasn’t an elemental, but she
had hoped her friends would’ve believed her, as farfetched as it
all was. But she was wrong. She sighed in frustration.

David shifted his weight
uncomfortably. “Listen, Kara. Don’t get angry with me. I’m just
trying to make you understand that there’s a chance the elemental
has something dangerous about her. I’m just not sure you understand
the dangers—”

“
I do understand.” Kara’s
voice rose with her temper. “I understand everything. And I’m
telling you there’s nothing
evil
about her. I know—I felt it. If you don’t believe
me, that’s fine. But I’m still going after her. And I’ll prove it
to you.”