Mortal (9 page)

"We’ll just have to see,
won’t we? But I believe that just the right amount of crystal
propulsion should do the trick. Just a little
zap
! But we must hurry."

Mr. Patterson measured Kara. "I can
hardly see the projection on her anymore. It’s fading. Quickly
now."

Kara frowned. "H—e—l—l—o—I’m right
here! And I don’t want anyone doing anything to my brain. Do you
hear me?"

Mr. Patterson ignored Kara and looked
over to Jenny. "Penny, can you bring your chair over here,
please."

Jenny shook her head and shrugged.
"Penny was our dog, Mr. P."

She jumped up and shoved her chair
over to Kara. "Sit," she ordered with a huge smile. "You be a good
girl now."

Kara stood her ground. "Just a second,
none of this is making any sense—"

The stranger David reached
out and held Kara’s hand. She cringed at the electric shock that
pulsed through her palm again. "Trust me, Kara. You
need
to do this. It’ll
all make sense soon, I promise. The Kara I know would want this.
She would want to remember—she would want to finish the
mission."

Kara pursed her lips. She was in a
room packed with angels and Dr. Frankenstein, who was about to fry
her brain. No big deal. To top it off, demons were trying to kill
her, and her mother lay dying from an incurable virus. What could
be worse? She couldn’t shake off the feeling that the stranger
David was telling the truth—somehow she trusted him.

Against her better judgment, she sank
into the chair and shrugged. "Now what?"

"Hold this in your hands." Mr.
Patterson handed the crystal ball to Kara.

"It might feel hot and you could get a
shock, but whatever happens...don’t drop it," he said. "It would be
very bad if you did. Stand back everyone!" He let go of the sphere,
lifted his arms dramatically, and jumped back.

Kara wanted to reply that
she wasn’t planning on dropping it, but as soon as her hands
touched the crystal, her body stiffened, and
a series of images flashed in
her mind’s eye. It was like a television had turned on inside her
head.

She saw herself fighting misshapen demons with glowing red
eyes.
Then
she jumped into a pool of salt water and watched as her body
sparkled and dissolved into tiny particles. Next she was tied to a
chair as a mechanical man drained her of her blood. The images
changed again, and she saw herself fighting against a group of
evil-looking bald men with eyes tattooed to the back of their
heads. She wanted to scream. The images shifted—golden electricity
danced along her body until she was ablaze in golden
fire.

She
clamped her hands tightly around the crystal as a wave of cool
energy washed through her. Her legs shook. The crystal suddenly
felt heavy in her hands. Her hands started to sweat, and she felt
her fingers slip. She strained to hang on. Faster and faster the
images flashed inside her mind, until she felt she might go
mad...

Silence.
The last images wavered and disappeared. Kara blinked. Sweat
dripped down her back, and her heart raced like she had run a
marathon. She rolled the crystal ball gently in her clammy
hands.

She remembered. She remembered it
all!

Kara looked up—she recognized his
face. He had been telling the truth all along.

"David, I’m so sorry."

David beamed. "Welcome
back."

K
ara hated airplanes.

It wasn’t so much the actual plane,
but rather the feeling of not being in control. What was worse was
the constant throbbing pain in her head that had begun at Mr.
Patterson’s shop. The jump-start on her brain had worked all right,
but she couldn’t stop feeling that something had gone terribly
wrong.

As the captain announced their
descent, she grabbed her chair’s armrests, her heart in her throat.
They would be landing shortly—the death-ride would soon be
over.

She could make out the outline of
Cornwall through the white puffy clouds. Villages glittered in the
sun along a long strip of land surrounded by a blue ocean. Boats
and cottages lined the shore. Vast fields and mountains spread out
into the distance, and tiny homes speckled the snow-covered
land.

Kara and her team had not been
separated for such a long period of time before. She had had to fly
alone—she couldn’t do any of the supernatural GA things to which
she had been accustomed. She felt more alienated from the legion
than ever.

She pulled at the leather bracelet
that David had given her. For something so small, it somehow made
her feel safe, and she took comfort from it.

Kara hadn’t slept. While rest of the
group would have used the pools to Vega themselves to Cornwall, she
had endured eight hours of moldy cheese, BO and the screaming of
children who kept kicking the back of her seat. The adrenaline from
being chased by demons and then getting her memory jump-started was
yet to subside. She couldn’t stop replaying the events from the day
before over and over in her head.

She thought of her mom, and her
insides twisted. The only chance her mother and the others had of
fighting the warlock’s virus was if Kara could kill him. And she
swore that she would—no matter what.

Kara wiped her sweaty palms on her
jeans and tried to breathe normally. She needed a dark witch, who
despised angels, to help her defeat a dark warlock—and she needed
to fight him as a mortal. The only thing going for her was that she
remembered how to use her blade.

The archangel Ariel had told her that
every minute the dark warlock killed another hundred souls. They
had about two and a half days before the winter solstice, so they
would need to find the dark witch quickly. No pressure.

Kara was thrown gently forward as the
airplane made contact with the runway. The seatbelt light went off
and with her backpack secured comfortably on her shoulders she
followed the horde out of the plane and made her way through the
airport.

"Kara! Over here!"

Kara spotted David, Peter, and Jenny
standing near the main exit. David looked hotter than ever. And to
top it off, he was freaking glowing. With his blond hair and
brilliant golden skin, he looked like a glowing god. It wasn’t
fair.

Jenny welcomed her with her usual bear
hug and Peter just smiled awkwardly, looking for something to do
with his hands. Much to Kara’s horror, Ashley and her team came
strolling towards them. She met Ashley’s glare and didn’t look
away.

"What are
you
doing here?" said
Kara, with a little more malice than she intended.

Ashley flipped her long blond braid
off her shoulder and smiled. Her sharp features twisted in mock
humor. "What? You’re not pleased to see me?" She laughed and turned
to her team who grunted in approval.

For the first time, Kara really looked
at Ashley’s team. They were all about the same age as her group,
between sixteen or seventeen years old. Sasha was a mousy girl. She
was short with shoulder length straw-like hair and blinked her eyes
like she was trying to focus. She fidgeted nervously behind Ashley.
Raymond was thick and tall, with red hair and a face like a
bloodsucker. Ling had a thin face and long fingers that looked like
they needed something to do. He had the long black greasy hair of
some grunge band member. His black eyes never left Ashley. Kara was
sure he sought her approval, like a good little puppy.

"We’re here in case you
fail,
freak
."
Ashley sneered, and her minions snorted.

Heat rose to Kara’s face.
"Who said anything about failing? I’ve
never
failed an assignment, and I’m
not about to start now."

But Kara didn’t feel so sure of
herself. The truth was she was utterly terrified going on this
mission as a mortal. She felt her eyes sting and struggled to keep
them dry. The last thing she wanted was to shed angry tears in
front of Ashley. It sucked to be mortal right now.

Ashley crossed her arms.
"We’ll see about that, won’t we? Ariel sent two teams on this
mission—and we’re going to complete the mission—not some half-baked
wannabe guardian. I don’t know what Ariel was thinking. The legion
always gave you far too much credit, if you ask me. The old witch
is going to kill you, you know.
I’m
going to get the old hag to help us."

Kara sneered and stepped forward.
"Sure you are. Go ahead. Let’s see you try—"

"Kara," interrupted David as he
pointed to his watch. "I hate to interrupt this lovely cat-fight,
but we should get going. It’s a twenty minute drive to Boscastle
from here, and it’s not like we have loads of time."

Kara turned away from Ashley even
though she wanted to slap that stuck-up smile off her face
permanently. "Yeah...let’s go—"

A sudden pain erupted in Kara’s head
like an explosion. White-hot fire burned her brain. The pain was so
intense she wished she could just pass out. A flash of white light
burst behind her eyes. She staggered and pressed her hands against
her head.

David rushed to her side. "Kara, what
is it? What’s wrong?" He searched her face.

Kara rubbed her temples.

"It’s nothing," she said, feeling the
sudden pain lessen and disappear. "Just a massive headache—it’s
gone now—probably something to do with the pressure from the plane
ride. I’m fine—really—don’t worry about it. "

The last thing she needed was for them
to call off the mission because they thought she might be too
fragile.

She felt sudden wetness drip from her
nose. And when she reached up and wiped it, red stained her
fingers. She frowned as she stared at the blood on her hand. She
had never had a nosebleed in her life. She knew David was watching
her. She dabbed the blood with a tissue from Mr. Patterson’s store.
After a moment the blood stopped.

"Kara, you’re
freaking
bleeding
."

David’s expression darkened. "Is that
normal for you? Did you used to get them before?"

Kara put the tissue back in her pocket
and did her best not to look panicked. "Not really—but it’s
nothing, look, it’s stopped now. It’s just a little
blood."

David narrowed his eyes. "I have a bad
feeling about this, something just doesn’t feel right."

Kara felt the strength return to her
legs. "David, stop looking at me like I’m about to faint. I’m
fine—"

"Didn’t look fine from where I am,"
said Ashley. "Sudden nose bleeds are a bad sign. It looked like you
were having a meltdown."

Kara glared at the girl with what she
hoped was her best mean face. "I’m not. I’m perfectly
fine."

"Oh, but you’re not—and
that
was
a
meltdown." Ashley matched Kara’s glare. "You’re obviously too weak
to finish the mission. It’s like I said...you’re as good as
dead."

David stepped up to Ashley. "Back off
air-head. Calling you an idiot would be an insult to all the stupid
people."

Ashley laughed softly. "I
feel sorry for you David. She’s a freak. I’m not alone when I say
that she should never have been allowed to join the legion in the
first place. You’d be surprised at how many
true
guardians want her gone. She’s
not truly one of us—and she’ll never be. She’s tainted. She’ll let
you down—and bring you all down with her. You’re going to fail.
Ariel can’t trust her. No one can. We’re your replacements. We’re
the backup team."

Jenny stood by Kara’s side. "Don’t
listen to her, Kara—she’s full of it. She’s just jealous because
you’re nice and pretty, and she looks like a Pug."

"She’s right," said Peter, "she
probably envies you, that’s why she’s being so nasty."

But it was too late. Ashley’s words
stung. Did Ariel not trust her? Were Ashley and her team here in
case she went schizo? Was she meant to fail?

"If you’re not back in three hours,
we’re instructed to go in," said Ashley.

She smiled at Kara. "Good luck,
freak." She snapped her fingers and walked away with her goons
trotting behind her looking very proud and important.

"That’s it," said Jenny.
"It’s official—I
hate
her." She stuck out her tongue and made a face.

Peter shook his head. "Let’s not give
her reason to gloat. We need to get a move on."

David eyed Kara carefully. "He’s
right, we’ve got to split. Peter, do you know how to get us to
Boscastle from here?"

Peter pulled a flat square device that
looked like a cell phone from his jacket pocket. He slid his finger
across the screen and a small holographic version of a map appeared
and hovered in front of him. He waved his hand, and the map
disappeared. "Yup. Let’s find a cab and get out of here." He
pocketed his contraption.

"Forget Ashley," said David, as he
watched Kara’s face. "It’s not true what she said, you know. She’s
just trying to break you. She wants you to fail. Don’t believe her
lies."