Seals (5 page)

He paused and watched the confused
expressions on the guardians’ faces and decided to elaborate.
“Theoretically, their cage is still there. It still exists. It was
never destroyed but merely
opened
.”

Kara shifted excitedly in her chair, her
pain forgotten. “So we can lock them back in. This is good, right?
But can we actually
do
it?”

Her enthusiasm died as she looked at
Peter.

“But how? The key was lost…they took it and
have probably destroyed it by now.”

Peter looked as if he were reliving the
savage imp attack that had nearly cost him his angel life.

Mr. Patterson nodded and held up a finger.
“Yes, the key to their cage was destroyed, but there
is
another way.”

Glad to have their fullest attention now, he
continued excitedly. “The archfiends’ enclosure was originally
secured by five different seals or five different locks if you
will. The first seal was broken with the Keeper’s key which
unlocked the prison.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to Peter.

“But, as I said before, for the archfiends
to regain their strength in our worlds, the other four seals
must
be broken. And since the four knights have the ability
to break the remaining four seals, we believe if we can stop the
knights, then the archfiends will be
forced
back
into
their abysmal prison.”

Silence fell, and then Kara asked, “And
why’s that exactly?”

“The life-force that protects us is bound to
the seals. If a knight fails to break his seal, part of the prison
wall will rebuild itself. If all four of the knights fail, the
archfiends will be forced back into their cage, and the seals
will
lock the cage forever.”

Kara gripped the sides of her chair and
straightened herself. “So we need to keep the knights from breaking
the seals. We can win the war if we can actually
do
this.”

“That is correct.”

And then it hit her. If somehow she could
get the archfiends back into their cage, then maybe the
infection
they had injected in her with would die, too. It
made sense. If the archfiends’ power was linked to the seals, then
they needed to break the seals to complete her transformation. At
last, Kara felt hopeful. She had found the way to reverse the
curse. She felt like she’d been given a giant dose of antibiotics.
She felt great. No, she felt amazing.

“Don’t get too excited,” said David.

He began to pace the room but then stopped
and turned around to face the old man. “You said you
believe
. And you said it a few times. Why do I get the
feeling that part of you isn’t sure that your master plan is going
to work?”

“Nothing in this life or the next is sure,”
said Mr. Patterson.

David raised his brows at Mr. Patterson, and
then the little man said, “It’s a working theory—”

“What?” Jenny let out an exasperated sigh.
“We’re supposed to risk our angel souls on a theory?”

Mr. Patterson’s smile faded away completely.
He looked put out. He had just given them their best chance, and
they had spit it back in his face. Jenny’s expression softened when
she realized she’d upset him.

“Sorry Mr. P, but it’s not good enough. I
don’t know if I’m willing to risk my angel life on a theory.”

“It’s the best thing we’ve got.” Kara stood
up.

Her pain was barely noticeable, if she
didn’t think about it too much. She fluttered her wings and
stretched the stiffness out of them. She yanked up her gloves and
made fists with her hands.

“We don’t really have a choice. Just think
about it for a minute. We already know that these creatures are
even more powerful than the archangels. We know the legion had
already tried and failed to destroy them. And I have a strong
feeling that the archfiends are just as strong as they ever were,
maybe more now that they have these knights. The legion won’t be
able to stop them, so our best chance is to follow Mr. Patterson’s
plan. We have to try.”

She wasn’t about to tell everyone that this
plan might save her, too. She was determined to proceed, with or
without them.

“So, how do we stop these knights? Where do
we start?”

Mr. Patterson looked grim. “That, I do not
know—”

“Fantastic,” grumbled David. He kicked a
chunk of drywall on the floor. “A great start to the master
plan.”

“All I know,” said Mr. Patterson after he
had glared at David and had gripped his crystal in one hand like a
baseball, “is that these creatures will be more powerful than
anything you’ve ever faced. We don’t know even what they look
like—”

“More good news,” said David.

“They’re probably riders of some sort, maybe
riding on a beast.”

The old man lowered his voice and turned to
Kara. “This is where your wings will be most useful. Maybe they are
a blessing in disguise.”

“I seriously doubt that,” said Kara, hiding
her frustration. She knew Mr. Patterson was only trying to make her
feel a little better. He cared about her, and that always brought
her great comfort. But she also had the feeling that he knew more
about her wings and her transformation than he was letting on.

“The best advice I can give you is to follow
the trail of carnage, and you will find them.”

Mr. Patterson paused and tapped his crystal
ball thoughtfully. “How to defeat them is another great mystery,
but take comfort in knowing that everything has a weakness. It’s
only a matter of finding what
that
is.”

He gave Kara an encouraging smile. “Starting
now, we have
four
days to stop the knights from completing
their mission.”

He turned and looked at David. “We
know
it will take seven days for the knights to break the
seals. Unfortunately they have a three day start on us.”

David growled. “So we’ve already lost three
days. Super.”

Kara’s wings quivered with anticipation. She
was restless to get started and did her best to hide her smile. The
sooner they got rid of the knights, the sooner she’d be back to
normal. At that moment she didn’t care how all-powerful these
supreme beings probably were, she only cared about ridding herself
of her mutation.

Though she’d never admit it, Kara didn’t
really know what to expect when they faced the first knight. Her
weapons training and fighting skills had made her an exceptional
guardian. She knew this. But her body ached and hiding the
throbbing pain in her wings was nearly impossible. They all thought
her wings would be advantageous, but they didn’t know how much she
suffered. She had to keep up with the charade for everyone’s sake.
Whatever dangers lay ahead would decide the fate of them all, the
fate of the worlds.

Their plan
was
going to work, because
it
had
to.

“Four days left. One day for each knight.
Sounds reasonable enough, and the day is just beginning,” she said
almost to herself, nodding. “Piece of cake, right?”

“If you say so.” Ashley’s expression was
dark.

“Look,” said Kara. “Just think of them as
demons—only bigger and more powerful—but they’re still malevolent
creatures that have infected this world. And it’s still our job,
our mandate, to protect the mortal world with whatever it takes.
And we’re going to do what we do best. Hunt them down and destroy
them. All of them.”

She felt David’s eyes on her but she ignored
him.

“It’s already been three days since their
escape. How do we know if they haven’t broken one of the seals
already? And how will we know when they do?”

“Of course, we thought of that.” Mr.
Patterson held his crystal with one hand and rummaged inside his
jacket pocket with the other. He pulled out four gold rings.

“The oracle mothers were able to forge these
four rings from the same material that was used to create the
Keeper’s key. The materials are connected with the seals. They’re
bonded. If a seal is broken, one of the rings will disappear. And
as you can see, no seal has been broken, not yet.”

He held out his hand. “Come on, take
one.”

To Kara’s surprise, David was the first to
grab a ring and slip it on his finger. Then Jenny and Peter each
grabbed a ring.

One ring left. But Kara couldn’t move.

She suspected that she shouldn’t take the
last ring. What if it didn’t work because of her transformation?
The ring should go to an angel who wasn’t tainted, an angel of pure
essence. She pressed her hands into fists. Besides, she was wearing
gloves. The ring wouldn’t fit over them, and everyone would see the
marks on her hands if she took them off. She couldn’t risk it. Not
yet.

She turned away from the ring momentarily
and looked at Ashley.

“Take it,” said Kara. She was surprised that
the words had come out so easily, even though she felt a pang in
her chest. “Take the ring.”

Ashley shook her head. “No way. We all know
it should be you, Kara. Besides, I’m new to your club, so I’m
practically a rookie. But if you want the truth, I’d really rather
not have that responsibility. Just being here with all of you is
enough for me.”

Kara knew Ashley still mourned the loss of
her friends to the Reapers. Some part of her still blamed herself
for their deaths, even though there was nothing she could have done
to save them. Joining with Kara’s team had helped Ashley in her
recovery, but she’d never truly recover. Not really.

“I wouldn’t want to step on anyone’s toes,
especially yours.” Ashley grinned with a sincere friendship that
was loyal and would never break.

Kara wanted to smile, too, but she feared
the repercussions of revealing too much too soon. Should she take
the gloves off? No. It was too soon. She wasn’t ready. They weren’t
ready. She wasn’t ready to see the fear and disgust in David’s eyes
when he discovered the black veins on her hands and body.

“Go on, Kara.” Mr. Patterson moved forward
and offered her the last ring, like he had already decided it was
going to be her.

“Ashley is right, it should be you.
You
should be the bearer of the last ring.”

She
couldn’t
take her gloves off, so
she grabbed the last ring and examined it for a moment. It was
heavier than any gold ring she’d ever handled, more like two rings
in one. Then she put it in her pocket.

“So you really think the archfiends will get
locked up again if we can stop the knights?”

Kara tried to put the ring out of everyone’s
minds, so no one would ask to see her to put it on her finger.

“I do.” Mr. Patterson gave her a bitter
smile.

“And we
must
. Because if we don’t
succeed, then all living things in this world and Horizon will
cease to exist.”

Chapter
4

A
fter a quick stop
back to level three so that they could replenish their M-5 suits,
Kara took the time to check with other Counter Demon Division
guardians and monitors to look for signs of anything abnormal.

Now, back on Earth and while it was covered
in darkness, Kara had discovered in their short stay at CDD that
the most obvious anomaly had been with the farmlands. The livestock
and the crops were failing and one of the biggest agricultural
producers in the world was beginning to have difficulties. And even
though it was a largely due to the lack of sunshine, Kara couldn’t
overlook the darkness there. She had to check it out.

So she and her company returned to the
mortal world to search for signs of the four knights of the
apocalypse. And the best place to start was with the darkness in
the farmlands.

Time was running out.

The guardians stood in a deep valley of
rotten fields and barren meadows. The rolling hills and black
mountains stretched into the darkened sky. Kara tried to picture
what the scenery might have looked like in the morning sun, when
the vegetation thrived in hues of gold and green, kissed by the
rays of the sun. As it was, she stood on gray, withered plant life.
Millions of acres of vegetation had burned and withered away. The
rice crop looked like a giant ashtray.

She felt sick. It reminded her of the
Netherworld, a barren, sick world of darkness and shadow. It was
wrong. All of it.

“So this is China?” Kara’s anger rose as she
moved her boot over a black liquid that looked like ink. Most of
the plants looked as if they had been doused in it.

“Actually, we’re in the province of Hubei,”
said Peter as he bent down and examined the black liquid on a
wasted plant. He rubbed it between his fingers.

"The land of fish and rice… I read that
somewhere. It must have been quite beautiful before…”

“Before the archfiends did this,” answered
Kara angrily.

“Or should I say their little pet dogs. I
bet
they
did this. It’s part of their mission, right? To
destroy life on earth. Well, they’ve already started with a bang
that’s for sure.”

She felt David watching her. He kept
glancing at her gloves, but he never asked about them, and she was
thankful for it.

“It’s really sad to see all this land gone
to waste.” Jenny knelt beside Peter and made a face.

“What is that black stuff?”

“I’m not sure.” Peter brought his fingers to
his nose and winced. “Smells like bile. I think it’s some sort of
secreted acid, maybe some sort of regurgitated substance.”

“But how did it get there?” said David. “Who
or
what
secreted it?”

Peter wiped his fingers on his pants. He
stood up but didn’t answer. They all knew the answer to that
question.

As an uneasy silence passed between the
guardians, Kara felt a chill crawl up her wings.

Was just one of these knights capable of
such devastation
?
Did they wield such power
?