Mortal (5 page)

Jenny pressed her ear against the door
and wrinkled her face. "I can hear voices and some sort of tapping.
Maybe they’re rehearsing some tap-dancing moves for the next big
Horizon dance-out challenge. I can totally picture the oracles line
dancing with those giant crystals."

Peter pulled Jenny gently from the
door. "Oracles don’t dance, purple-head. They see into the
future."

Jenny blew him a kiss and twirled away
laughing.

"Shall we?" said David. And before
anyone could answer, he kicked the door. It swung open easily.
David marched across the threshold, followed quickly by Kara, Jenny
and Peter. With a boom, the door shut behind them.

The gigantic circular room looked to
be the size of half a level in Horizon—a world in itself. A cluster
of sliding contraptions lined the perimeter of the room like a
moving train. Golden smoke puffed out of the chimneys of this
steam-powered assembly line. White fluff covered the floor like a
foot of snow. At first Kara thought it was snowing, but quickly
realized that the white flakes raining on them were from the
hundreds of oracles chiseling away at huge boulders of transparent
rock overhead. They stood on their crystal balls above a moving
platform and sculpted their masterpieces feverishly.

Kara watched in awe as an oracle
transformed one of the giant pieces of rock into a perfect crystal
ball in a matter of seconds. The crystal shimmered and a light
emanated from inside it. The oracle clapped excitedly and flung his
tiny arms around his newborn crystal, sobbing in
happiness.

She had never seen so many oracles in
one place at the same time. The tiny men were hard at work, and
Kara felt as if she had just stepped into Santa’s workshop. She
smiled. It was all strangely beautiful.

The sound of hammering and the
constant puttering of the machine engines thundered around them
like a great storm. Apart from the oracles working on the boulders,
other oracles swept up mountains of the white fluff onto a second
level where it was stored out of sight. Deep paths snaked around
the chamber floor in intricate designs where the oracles had
ploughed trails for the pedestrians. A few oracles stopped
hammering and waved happily at the group.

"Come on, let’s find who’s in charge
here." David lead the way on one of the trails, he was the only one
who didn’t seem impressed with their surroundings. Kara knew he was
worried and angry. He hadn’t said much since they left
CDD.

Kara rushed to catch up to David, and
Peter pulled Jenny along as she waved at the oracles. The sound of
their heavy boots was muffled by the soft white particles from the
crystals. After a few minutes of walking, they stood before a large
in-ground pool. Steam rose from the silver-colored water that
sparkled in the soft light. Twelve crystal spheres were half
submerged in the water like eggs in a pot. One single crystal
rested in the middle. Directly above it was an enormous spinning
model of the solar system, with planets orbiting around the
sun.

David whistled loudly. "Anyone care
for a skinny-dip?"

It was the first time he had smiled
since Ariel had told them all Kara would have to go on her next
mission as a mortal. Kara needed him to smile, to show his usual
confidence. His scowl hadn’t reassured her. She needed David’s
encouragement and strength—if he didn’t believe she could do it,
then how could she believe she could?

Kara forced a smile. "Not
sure the oracles would be happy to see your
uncovered
self."

"You never know, they might enjoy the
show." David’s expression darkened and hardened again.

Kara’s knees buckled, and she felt her
last thread of confidence drain away. She reached out and grabbed
David’s hand. "David, don’t be angry. I need you to believe in
me—"

"Uh...guys," said Peter, his eyes were
wide, and he cocked his head forward.

Instinctively, Kara let go of David’s
hand as an oracle sped towards them.

"Hello, hello! Welcome, welcome!" The
oracle’s silver robes billowed behind him like a large rippling
flag. He reminded Kara of a circus clown she had once seen
performing a balancing act on a great rubber ball. White fluff rose
and sprayed out on either side of his great crystal ball, like
giant waves from a soaring boat. He came to a stop in front of
them.

The oracle clapped his
hands excitedly. "Welcome guardians! This is a very exhilarating
occasion. We are going to perform the very
first
memory
projection." He jumped with his finger in the air, slipped and
steadied himself before he fell. "I do hope we get it right, it’ll
be our very first attempt with a non-oric."

"A what?" said Kara, smiling in spite
of herself.

The oracle gave her a
curious look. "A non-oric, of course—non-seers,
non-clairvoyants—those without the inner eye. We’ve never done it
before with a non-oric, so we’ll just have to
see
what happens, won’t
we."

"Great, that’s comforting," grumbled
David. He crossed his arms over his chest and if Kara didn’t know
any better, she’s have thought he was about to punch the
oracle.

The oracle’s piercing blue
eyes searched the group and settled on Kara. His eyes widened. "And
you must be the lucky winner! You are Kara, are you not?—the one
with the tainted essence—the guardian chosen for the very
special,
never-heard-of
assignment. A one-of-a-kind mission for a one-of-a-kind
guardian."

The oracle’s eyes shimmered, and Kara
felt he might have been searching her body for her tainted part.
She was being dissected like a lab rat, and she hated it. She
fidgeted on the spot uncomfortably.

"Yup, that’s me. I’m the lucky
one."

She didn’t feel lucky at all, in fact
she felt as though she had been cursed. She looked over to Jenny,
who gave her a worried smile. She felt the first stages of panic
rise in her chest. Straining to remain calm, she looked over to the
oracle.

"Oracle, so what’s this memory
projection? I don’t remember ever hearing about it before," she
said, glad her voice sounded even.

The oracle took a moment before
answering. "Memory projection is what we oracles use to see the
future, or the future of the world. It is a powerful tool, yet not
an exact science, mind you."

The oracle scratched his head, lost in
thought for a moment. Wisps of his long white hair wavered on the
top of his head like tall grasses. "It’s not always a hundred per
cent accurate, you see. Futures change. They evolve and disappear
only to be replaced by new ones. With every decision one makes, the
path of one’s future changes. Sometimes the future we see does not
come to pass. In certain cases we can also use memory projection to
change the course of the future, to alter one’s path. But meddling
with the future has its risks. Altering the future can be
devastating...but let’s not get into that right now."

The oracle tilted his head and lost
his smile.

Kara was even more confused. It was no
wonder the oracles were always a little bit off. She rubbed her
temples feeling a jumbo headache on its way. "So how is this
supposed to work on me? I’m not even sure why I’m here. How is this
memory-projecting thing supposed to help me on my new assignment?
Do I have to see into my future or something?"

The oracle stared into space. "Hmm?
I’m sorry dear, what were we talking about?"

Kara frowned. "The memory projection?
Remember?"

The oracle shook out of his
trance, his smile returned. "Well of course dear! This is so
exiting!" As he leaned forward slightly, his crystal ball squished
the top of Kara’s toes, and she just had enough time to pull them
out before they got stuck. "You have been chosen to perform your
next mission as a
mortal
."

"We already know that," interrupted
David, "why don’t you tell us something we don’t already
know."

The oracle’s eyes had a cheery glow in
them—the look of a mad scientist eager to demonstrate his latest
invention. "You see, once you return to your mortal body,"
continued the oracle, "all your memories and abilities as a
guardian will be lost to you. You will have no recollection of your
guardian angel days. You will not remember your friends here, or
me, for that matter. It will be just like before when you returned
to Earth after your previous assignments. Your memory will be
erased—"

The oracle snapped his
fingers.

"...which is why we have
decided to use the memory projection on you. It will help you
remember and see through the
veil
of the supernatural. You’ll be able to see your
friends as guardian angels, and your eyes will be open to your
enemies."

Kara could already see fragments of
the supernatural as a mortal, but she kept that to herself for now.
She didn’t want to confuse the oracle. "So...once I’m back in my
mortal body, I’m going to remember my mission as a guardian angel.
Okay, I get it. Will it be instantaneous?"

"We hope so," said the oracle, not
looking too convincing. His fingers twitched nervously at his
side.

"Is it dangerous?" demanded David.
"You said you’ve never done this before to a non-oric. So, you’re
not even sure it will work, am I right?"

The oracle folded his hands
together. "We are
fairly
certain it will work on Miss Clara—".

"Fairly certain is
not
certain." David’s
voice rose, and he stepped forward towards the oracle.

"So there’s a chance it won’t work.
What if something goes wrong, did you think of that? What if
something bad happens to her? What if this hurts her, or she loses
her mind? Have you thought of that?"

"It’s all right, David," said Kara.
"I’m sure it’ll be fine," she lied and clasped her trembling hands
behind her. "I’ve agreed to do this. It’s my job. I have to stop
the dark warlock from taking more souls. I need to save my mother.
If I have to be mortal to do it, then so be it. It’s a chance I
have to take." She realized she sounded braver than she felt. She
hoped that David was buying her performance.

"This is crazy!" David’s voice
trembled with rage. "She can’t do this as a mortal! She won’t be
strong enough. Mortals are just a bag of blood and bones. She’ll be
vulnerable to demons, to the Seirs. She won’t be able to defend
herself. She’ll be tortured and killed. I won’t let you do this to
her!"

"But you must," said the oracle in a
soothing voice.

"I won’t!"

"But you will." He fixed
his eyes on David. "Clara must complete her mission as a
mortal
guardian. It is
the only way to get close enough to the dark witch. As a guardian
angel, you know the importance of the mortals and their souls. It
will be your job to protect her once she joins her mortal body. She
will rely on you and this group to protect her. We do not know if
her elemental abilities will surface. But it is a chance we must
take—for the sake of all the mortal souls in the world."

Kara didn’t like the sound of that. As
a guardian angel, she could always rely on her special elemental
power, even though it was unpredictable. At least it was there as a
safety net. Now she was going back out there to fight a demon with
nothing. She felt naked, as defenseless as a mortal.

The ground shook suddenly, and Kara
turned to see eleven more oracles approaching on their crystal
balls. Their big smiles should have reassured her, but they didn’t.
She tried to smile back.

"Ah, here we are," the oracle smiled
brightly as he greeted his brethren. "Now we may begin." The eleven
oracles rolled their crystal balls around the pool in a straight
line. One by one the oracles settled themselves in front of the
pool and jumped off their crystal balls to land on the other
crystals that were submerged into the water.

"It is time, Tara." The oracle
stretched out his grubby little hand towards Kara. "Come now, we
shall begin the memory projection." He joined the other oracles in
the pool.

Kara’s skin tingled. It was too late
to back out now. She caught Jenny staring at her and offered her a
brave smile, even though the worry in her eyes gave her away.
David’s cold gaze was fixed on the pool, and Peter tried
unsuccessfully to blend into the background.

As she took a step forward, David
grabbed her arm and steered her towards him.

"Wait, I have something for you." He
pulled up the sleeve from his jacket and untied a thin brown
leather bracelet. "Give me your wrist."

Obediently, Kara held out her left arm
and watched David as he tied it securely around her wrist. Just by
the way he was handling it, she knew it was important to him. She
had seen the bracelet on David’s wrist many times, but had never
thought of asking where he’d gotten it or why he wore it. It had
never seemed important at the time. It looked like a regular
leather bracelet with strips of leather braided together with a few
multicolored beads. Was this David’s way of saying their
relationship was going to the next level?