Soul(s) (13 page)

I know,
Keegan thought squeezing me tighter.
I just don’t want to lose you.

I think I can heal Bem and if I get too weak
you can kiss me back life.

Not funny.
Keegan thought.

I’m not trying to be funny. I want to
try.

Sariah, you don’t have to prove
anything.

“
It’s not about that,” I
said out loud irritated. Keegan was always trying to protect me but
it was making me feel like he didn’t believe in me. Here were the
facts: we were venku. We could heal with water, or with sex. What
was the point of having these abilities if we didn’t actually use
them?

Ajani was watching us awkwardly and I
realized I had started talking mid conversation a loud.

“
Ajani, do you think I can
bring Bem back?”

“
Bring her back?” he
echoed questioningly.

“
Like how I healed you. I
think I can heal her by giving her some of my own
energy.”

“
No one has done that
before,” Ajani said uneasily.

“
I want to try,” I said
moving away from them and towards where I remembered seeing Bem on
the ground.

“
It’s too late,” Ajani
said again calling after me.

“
Where is she?” I was at
the spot where I saw her but couldn’t find her body.

“
She’s ascended. There’s
nothing left of her.”

18: KEEGAN

I breathed a sigh of relief. I hadn’t want
Sariah to try and bring Bem back. It was too dangerous. We had no
idea if it was even possible or what might happen. I had flashes of
old movies from First-Plane. It was never a good thing when people
came back from the dead. Plus, exerting all that energy might draw
more Banguri to us and I wasn’t ready for a second battle yet.

Ajani recovered surprisingly fast as soon as
Sariah was hovering over him. Had he really been knocked
unconscious or was this just another one of his schemes to make a
pass at her. I’d saw the way his hand pulled down her back and onto
her thigh. My hands were the only ones that got to drag over her
body period. I was jealous—there was no denying that, but now
wasn’t the time for petty emotions. I exhaled, trying to pull
myself together and refocused. We had to contact Iris and see if
there were any closer portals for a speedy return.

I jogged back to where the black crumbled
dust lay on the grass. I saw my deku still in axe form and
retrieved it from the ground. A few feet further and I saw the bean
shape packed.. I’d never used the communicator and it until I saw a
thumb sized ridge I didn’t even know where to find it. I stuck my
thumb in and pulled back. A compartment opened up. Inside there
were three items. A flat canteen made out of some type of
expandable material, the communicator and my own octave. I took the
communicator out, sliding the drawer back shut before snapping the
pack on to the back of my suit. It dawned on me how all of our
training had been rushed and focused solely on fighting. Perhaps
they assumed everything else we’d learn out in the field or be dead
before we needed it.

I turned the communicator over in my hand.
It was a smooth matte black color and looked like just a flat apple
sized river stone. The back had an archaic symbol key engraved into
the device. The outline of a compass had the word “MAP” next to it;
a little disc with lines coming upwards from it: “PROJECTION”; two
arrows stacked on top of each other pointing in opposite directions
were labeled: “VOCAL MESSAGE”; and a capitalized-lowercase combo of
‘Aa’ marked with: “TEXT MESSAGE”. Then below it the words: HOLD TO
POWER. That was it.

I flipped it back over and held it. I felt a
little tingling sensation and realized it was using my own body
heat as its power source. The screen blinked on and the symbols
etched on the back appeared wordlessly on the screen. With my free
hand I reached over and hit stacked arrows icon. The screen
fluttered and then I heard a voice.

“
Keegan—this is Lanni—go
ahead with your report.”

“
We were attacked just
outside of the Tawas territory. Bem is dead. Ajani was unconscious,
but is alert now. Sariah and I are fine. Where is the closer
portal?”

“
I rely your message,
please standby for your direct orders from Elder.”

Sariah, who this whole time had been
crouched over the spot where Bem had ascended, finally came back to
my side. Ajani was standing off to the side watching us. Ajani
watched was watching us and I locked my eyes on his Sariah curled
into my arm. I locked an arm around her possessively as she buried
her head into my chest. Ajani’s energy flared jealously and he
turned away from us.

“
Are you able to track
them?” Lanni’s voice said through the communicator.

We didn’t cover tracking in our training,” I
snapped back.

“
I know we’re putting a
lot of pressure on you, but can you our Sariah sense any survivors
from the Banguri pack that attacked you?”

I looked at the ground around us and
suddenly I could see two different colors one was blood the other
might just be remnants of their energy.

“
Sariah, are they all
dead? Can you sense any of them near us?”

She paused before closing her eyes and
nodding, yes. “They didn’t all jump in. One watched, just like
before. When we started winning, it abandoned them.”

“
Which way did it
go?”

“
North,” she
whispered.

“
Yes,” I said addressing
Lanni through the communicator, “we can track them.”

“
Good, follow them. Don’t
engage, but if you can find their nest send that data back to
us.”

“
We’re not prepared to
fight them. They’ve evolved and
we’re
not ready.” Ajani interjected
coming to my side so he could be heard through the
communicator.

“
Please do this, we need
that data.”

I knew it was a stupid idea but if I didn’t
go, we’d just continue to get our asses handed to us every time
they attacked. Plus, Bem was dead; maybe carrying out this new side
mission would make her death not be in vain.

“
Fine—how do I get the
data back to Paramount?”

“
Just find their nest and
hit the compass button, it’ll generate a beacon for your location
and show you the map to the next nearest transporter. Watch them
for if you can, and see what they’re doing. How big are these rebel
nests? How many leaders? Any information that’ll help us understand
what we’re up against.”

“
Alright,” I
said.

“
I also, wouldn’t advise
splitting up.”

I disconnected the
communicator without a response. I was beyond irritated. The last
thing I wanted to do was to head
towards
a Banguri camp.

“
When we get back,” I said
to Sariah, “we’re leaving. They can’t just send us on suicide
missions. They don’t even know what we’re up against. All of their
knowledge is based on information prior to the treaty. They have no
idea what the Banguri could have evolved into.”

“
Alright,” Sariah
agreed.

“
You’d just leave the
protection of the city?” Ajani said to her.

“
Maybe there’s another
city out there that’s safer,” I shot back.

“
We don’t know what’s out
there,” Ajani pushed. “Even with the attacks, the city is still the
safest place.”

“
It’s not your fucking
concern,” I told him as I walked right up on him. I grabbed him by
the throat with my hand and shoved him back against the tree. He
didn’t look intimidated, and he didn’t look like he was going to
back down. I felt my energy flair and a rush of new strength swept
through my veins. I began to squeeze his neck.

“
KEEGAN!” I heard Sariah
yell.

I felt a heavy push against my
stomach—Ajani, I assumed using his powers—but I didn’t let go. I
wanted him to know right now which one of us was stronger and which
one of us was winning.

Keegan please, we don’t
have time for this. The trail is already fading,
Sariah thought to me. I felt her pull at my hand.
She was right.

I let him go.

“
Don’t be childish,”
Sariah scolded me a loud. She went over to Ajani helping him up off
the ground. He shot me a triumphant look as her hand went around
his waist to help him up.

I let it go. I’d made my point.

“
You said they went north,
let’s head that way,” I ordered.

We traveled fast and soon I could see
flashes of Banguri energy off in the distance.

“
We’re getting close. Stay
low,” I commanded.

How many can you
sense?
I asked Sariah.

Ten, fifthteen maybe more. They’re chis keep
blinking in and out. I can’t be sure.

What do you mean?
I thought to her puzzled.

I feel a soul and then
it’ll just fade away,
Sariah
answered.

“
Stay here—both of you.
I’m going to get a little closer. I just need to watch them for a
few minutes and I don’t have to get very close to do
that.”

“
We said we wouldn’t split
up,” Sariah insisted.

“
We’re not. I’m just going
a little bit ahead. We can’t leave Ajani alone with him not being
fully healed. He fronts around you, but I can see he is weak right
now. We can’t afford to lose another soul. Stay here and guard him.
We need to know what they’re up to and to send back their location
through the communicator. We have to do this.”

Sariah closed her eyes—clearly feeling this
was a bad idea.

I pulled her close and tried to reassure
her.

Once we do this, we can leave and we’ll owe
the Aura nothing.

She nodded, hugging me back tightly.

We can talk the whole
time,
I thought to her.

We have no idea what they’re capable of, be
careful.

I will,
I promised.

I moved low, sticking to the shadows. I was
reaching the edge of a clearing and I stopped. Crouching I peered
through the trees and the shrub. I could see them. There was a
vertical pool of silvery gel suspended in the air and human figures
were slowly walking into it one at a time.

Can you see
anything?
Sariah asked
urgently.

I heard a loud roar from behind me and
turned to see a gorilla-like monster rearing over me. I went to
reach for my deku but it snatched me around the torso with its
hand. I couldn’t remember seeing anything this large on
First-Plane. Its grip squeezed all the air out of me and I wheezed,
gasping loudly.

The monster took off with me in its grasp,
banging me across the around as he went. I heard Sariah scream my
name, but I didn’t know if it was in my head or out loud. I hoped
it hadn’t be aloud. That give up her position in the woods and I
didn’t want the Banguri attacking her while I was so helpless.

How did I miss its
presence?
I thought frantically.
Doesn’t matter,
I told
myself.
Do something!

I did the first thing that came to mind. I
bit down on whatever flesh was closest to my mouth—and ripped my
teeth back like a wild animal. The beast dropped me wailing in
pain. I rolled on the ground, and I was able to right myself. I
snatched the deku from my back. It gleamed into a solid chrome
hammer. Right as the beast was charging at me I flung it upward
into its jaw. Blood and teeth sprayed, showering on me. I dropped
back down to my knees trying to catch my breath.

Are you alright?
I thought to Sariah.

I’m coming to you, hold on!

No, don’t! I’ll make my way ba—

Again, before I could get my thought out,
another blow. There’d been more than one beast near. Its paw
smacked me in the gut and a I flew back as if I were nothing more
than a toy. I saw my surroundings fly by and realized that when I
landed I’d be surrounded by hostile Banguri.

I landed with such momentum that I kept
rolling. I tried to stop myself but I was like a people skipping
across the water. Every time I bounced or repelled off of something
I lost my breath again and couldn’t recover enough of my sense to
try to grab anything.

I’ve messed up haven’t I?
How could I have been so stupid? I can’t die like this,
I thought frantically.
Not like this.

I could feel myself plunging downward, my
body no longer scraping across the dirt. I couldn’t feel anything
at all and that was more terrifying than pain.

19: SARIAH

“I’m going after Keegan, end of discussion,”
I yelled at the Aura council. I was standing in the middle of the
room, in front of all of them. They were trying to talk me out of
going after Keegan, but nothing would keep me from finding him.
Iris was seated amongst them but she said nothing against or for my
request to go after him. Her mouth set in a neutral firm line.

I could make them do what
I want.
I thought vehemently to Ajani who
was standing silently at the edge of the room. I was angry. I was
scared. I was determined. I would not let the Banguri kill Keegan.
I knew he was still alive because I could feel his soul out
there—somewhere. I’d tried thinking to him but couldn’t reach him.
I had a horrifying fear that he might not be in Second-Plane
anymore.