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Kara opened her eyes a moment later, only to see David’s concerned face inches from her own. “It gets easier, I promise. I passed out, too, the first time. You don’t look as bad though. Okay, let’s get you up!” He yanked her back on her own two feet.

“That was—,” she said in a harsh voice as she tried to regain control, “—very interesting. When do I stop shaking?”

“It’ll pass in a few minutes. I know how painful it feels—” He reached out and pressed his hand against her back, rubbing gently in a circular motion. “It’s really the worse part of the job.”

She lifted up her head. Their eyes met and locked. Her skin prickled as she felt warmth spilling throughout her being. Tiny electric shocks zapped all the way from her head to the tip of her toes. She pulled her eyes away. There was a long and uncomfortable silence. She didn’t dare look into his eyes again. So instead, she spoke to his boots. “When do we leave? I don’t think I can stand another minute here.”

David removed his hand from her back and stepped away. He stretched. “Right now.”

“Good.” Kara felt sick, if that was even possible in her guardian angel body. “So—where are we going now?”

David clasped his hands together and rubbed them. He beamed. “Now comes the fun part!” He danced on the spot. “You and I are going to operations!”

Chapter 6. Operations

O
n the elevator ride to operations, Kara watched silently as two identical monkeys operated the control panel. The size of common house cats, they were completely covered in black fur except for two white streaks along the sides of their backs. More white covered the bottom half of their faces, like an old man’s beard. Long bushy tails wrapped around the chair’s back rest. In a flash, one of the monkeys leaped off the chair and dashed across and around the elevator walls. It brushed the top of David and Kara’s heads, before settling back beside its brother. It put something in its mouth and started chewing.

Kara rubbed the top of her scalp. “Oh, my God! That’s gross! You little
freaks!
”

“
Don’t worry about it, I got this
,” whispered David from the corner of his mouth.

Kara glared at the monkeys and put her hands on her head, protecting it from the furry cannibals. She blinked. A black shape rocketed across the walls—and then stopped. Its tiny feet dangled in the air as David grabbed a monkey by the throat.

He brought the monkey to his face. “I will pull off your tail and then your brother’s tail if you try that again—rat.
Believe
me.”

And when he let go of the monkey, it scurried away and climbed back onto the chair, facing the panel. It stood still for a moment, then turned its head and stuck out its brown tongue. Its twin gave them the finger, with its four hands.

“You’re making this too easy for me, you little rats.” David took a step forward.

“Okay, we’ll stop!” said the monkeys in unison. “We promise we’ll be good.” Both monkeys flashed a set of yellow teeth and wrapped their arms around each other. Somehow, Kara wasn’t convinced. She covered her head with her hands, just in case.

After a very long three minutes of obscene theatrics from Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, the elevator jerked to a stop. The doors swished open, and Kara stepped off the elevator. Her feet pressed into soft ground.

“Wow, red sand!” Kara lifted her head and looked around. “Oh, my God…this is amazing!” Operations was like the Sahara Desert. Rolling hills of ruby red sand stretched out for miles, rippling like giant Ruffles potato chips. A soft breeze tickled her forehead, and she wiped her bangs away from her eyes. A strong salty fragrance filled the air around them. It reminded her of the times when she was about ten years old, running across the beach at her grandparent’s cottage, chasing the waves. Kara smiled. It was her happy place. Fluffy white clouds raced each other across a baby-blue sky and out of sight.

Whloop.

Kara turned. The top of the elevator disappeared into the ground, as though a patch of quicksand had swallowed it up. She followed David down a slope leading into a populated area in the middle of the red desert. Her feet pressed deep into the sand with every step as they got closer. Soon she was walking through a maze of tall white pyramids. She squinted. “What are those?” Kara side-stepped closer to one of them and stretched out her hand. Her fingers pressed right through it. She frowned. “Is this some kind of white sand?”

“No. It’s salt,” answered David.

Kara took a handful, brought it up to her nose and stuck out her tongue. She tasted it. “What the—it
is
salt!” She opened her fingers and watched the tiny white crystals escape through the gaps. She wiped her hand on her jeans and ran to catch up to David.

“Why is all this salt here?”

“It’s for the pools.”

“Right. And…why is that again?” asked Kara.

David smiled. “It’s for protection.”

He stared into Kara’s eyes. “Salt is a weapon against demons. It acts as a repellent, sort of. It hurts them—and we can use it to kill them too.”

Kara nodded her head. “Good to know.”

Loud thumping and squeaking noises surrounded around them. Kara peeked around one of the pyramids. Hundreds of large construction-like trucks dumped huge quantities of salt onto the ground. The vehicles wheeled themselves right into the salt pyramids and sucked out the salt with long metal hoses, like giant vacuum cleaners. Massive round glass containers rested on their backs. They filled up with salt. Her eyes flicked to the drivers. “Hey! These are the same yellow haired kids from the Hall of Souls?”

David turned and glanced over to the drivers. “Yup—they’re cherubs.

“Cherubs?” repeated Kara. “Aren’t they supposed to have wings and fly around like cupid?”

“Don’t believe everything you read.”

Before she could open her mouth again and ask more questions, David grabbed Kara by the elbow and urged her forward. She followed him through the jungle of the salt pyramids. After a few minutes, they came to a clearing with thousands of open blue tents arranged in rows across a flatter part of the red desert. Long white drapes of cloth on poles rippled in the breeze atop each of the tents, like enormous flags. The tents were alive and loud with the clatter of steel on steel and the clamor of fighting. Hundreds of guardian angels fought each other in combat practice. They stabbed and sliced with shiny silver swords. The clanking of wood hitting wood grew louder as she spotted other angels hitting and blocking each other with wooden staffs. Puffs of red sand shot up in the air. The combatants kicked up their feet and ploughed them into their opponent’s chest.

“Ouch, that’s gotta hurt.” Kara studied David’s face. “Am I going to learn all that?” She pointed to the fighting.

David turned his head and looked at her. He smiled. “Yup. And—you’re gonna learn how to kick demon butt! Today’s your first day of combat training.”

Kara’s face twisted in a grin. She felt tiny sparks of excitement. “I always wanted to learn how to defend myself—like learning some martial arts or something. I think it’s cool.” She skipped alongside David and increased her speed.

Some tents sheltered desks, spread out in rows like in a classroom. Guardian angels sat behind them with open books. oracles stood on their crystal balls at the front of each of these classrooms and addressed the angels.

The salty ocean fragrance lingered in the air. Kara pressed her shoes into the red sand and followed David. She stretched her neck in every direction, not wanting to miss anything. Groups of oracles rolled passed them. They conversed amongst themselves, carrying large books that left long paper trails behind.

After a few minutes of walking, they reached a gully where hundreds of round pools spread out in rows and disappeared beyond the red dunes. Shining metal staircases leaned against them. Loads of guardian angels jumped into the pools at the same time, like an international diving competition. Flashes of white light hovered above the pools and then disappeared.

Kara and David walked through the crowds of angels and oracles to a tent filled with every kind of weapon imaginable: swords, bows, daggers, maces, axes and glowing white nets. They all dangled from hooks screwed into standing wooden panels, like large tool walls. Tables were covered in shiny blue arrows and white crystals orbs of every size. David unhooked two long daggers and hid them inside his jacket.

“What am I supposed to use?” Kara glanced at the hundreds of weapons hanging from the panels. “Hey—what do I use? Yes, very good, David.”

With a stupid smile plastered across his face and making sure he had Kara as an audience, David juggled three orbs. He threw them higher and higher into the air. “Pick a sword or a dagger—” He caught them one after another and bowed. “Whichever you want.”

Kara shook her head. She saw a small golden scabbard amongst the rows of larger swords. She walked over to the panel and lifted it from its hook. It had a gold handle with wing cross guards. She clasped her left hand around the scabbard, and pulled the blade out with her right hand. A flicker of light shone on a golden blade. She turned it in her hand. Stars appeared to be etched into it. The sword felt strangely familiar in her hand and very light.

“So, you’ve picked this one, eh?” said David, as he moved beside her.

Kara looked down at the shiny sword and grinned. “Yup. I like it. It
sparkles
”. She twirled it in her hand, like she would one of her paintbrushes. She sliced the air as she brought it down. “I’m ready to cut me up some demons!”

David pressed his right hand against his chest and screwed up his face. “I’m so proud of you, I could
cry
.”

“Please don’t. So—where to now?”

He jumped up in the air. “Now you’re talkin’ like a true GA! This way—”

David grabbed Kara by the arm and pulled her out of the tent. He dragged her with him until he found an empty tent. Then he balanced himself and pulled off his boots with his feet. “It’s better if you take your shoes off.”

Kara looked down at her black ballerina flats. “Right—these aren’t exactly combat material.” She pulled off her shoes and wiggled her toes in the red sand. “Hey—this actually feels pretty cool!”

“The Legion has a few basic maneuvers that all GAs have to learn—real easy stuff.” David pulled off his jacket and threw it on the wooden table near the end of the tent. “I’ll teach you how to attack, to parry and how to riposte.” He walked to the middle of the area beneath the tent, where the form of a circle was drawn with a white powder. He stood legs apart. “Above all, you need to learn how to protect yourself. Once you’ve mastered this, then I’ll teach you the fun stuff—how to
hit
and
vanquish
demons!” He stretched out his right arm and gestured with his hand for her to come where he stood. “You have to know where to
cut
them—where it hurts.”

“Oh, my God, I can’t believe I’m actually going to do this.” Kara stepped forward and stood in the circle facing David. “Um—this should be interesting.” She studied David’s grinning face. “I must warn you—I sucked in gym class.” She twisted her sword in her hand. “Never had good eye-hand coordination.”

“You’ll do fine.”

“You might lose an eye.”

“The ladies love an eye patch.”

“Okay then, I’m ready, Captain Hook.”

David flashed a smile. “First—always make sure to have sufficient distance between your feet—”

Kara mimicked David’s feet position and stood with her legs apart.

“Good. And keep track of all the moves your opponent makes. Now, I’m going to show you how to parry. When you parry, the blade should be closer to the body like this—”

David clasped the sword with both hands and pointed the blade down with his wrists pronated, “…for self defense. You should always be looking for an opening to counter the attack. You ready?”

“I think so.”

“Okay, I’m going to raise my sword and come in for an attack. Let the swords hit.”

David moved forward and with a
clang
he hit Kara’s sword with his own.

He stood facing her. “Now you want to side step and wrap your sword around so that you’re now holding it over your head—and ready to strike back. Like this—”

David rolled around, forcing Kara to follow his momentum. She came up around him and held her sword over her head, deflecting David’s strike.