The Unseen (40 page)

“
It’s a—it’s hard to explain, let’s just keep going,” Cassidy said.

“
What are you looking at?” Tamila squinted. 

The bird-thing dove and slammed into Tamila’s chest, its serrated beak plunging straight through her to emerge on the other side, followed by the rest of its body.

Tamila gave a choking gasp and clutched at her heart with her free hand.  Her other hand tightened its grip on Cassidy’s, fingernails biting into Cassidy’s palm hard enough to draw blood.  Tamila sank to her knees, eyes wide, and slumped against the driver side of her car.

“
Tami!” Cassidy screamed.  She knelt in a puddle and held her friend. “Tamila, say something!”

Tamila’s eyes were wide open, but the girl didn’t respond no matter what Cassidy did.  Cassidy fumbled out her phone and dialed 911.

“Tamila, please...” Cassidy kept trying to wake her, but Tamila didn’t seem to have a pulse anymore.  Cassidy was horrified—she’d seen the thing coming, but she’d never seen one of the parasites do anything like this.  They usually just fed invisibly on people, unnoticed.

Cassidy realized this was her own fault—she hadn’t even tried to push Tamila out of the way.  She’d grown accustomed to seeing the transparent creatures as mostly harmless.

By the time the ambulance arrived, most of the restaurant staff was outside, trying uselessly to help in some way.  The medics tried to revive Tamila, but the girl was gone.

Cassidy slipped away, clutching the damp folder of information about the cult, and drove off into the storm, sobbing, horrified, and angry, but also scared.

Kieran could be next,
she thought, and she punched the accelerator.

Cassidy squinted as she drove down Cheshire Bridge, trying to read street numbers through the heavy rain.  She missed the address she wanted twice, each time turning around to look again.  She finally found the little spur road that led off the side of a strip mall with an adult novelty shop and a massage parlor.  The overgrown drive took her to a rundown, three-story office building.  The first story lay dark, but some of the windows on the second and third were lighted.

She parked on the cracked, weedy asphalt near the narrow, barred front entrance.  Cassidy took a breath.  Her entire body was shaking—she’d just seen her oldest friend die, but she had to act before something happened to her brother, too.

She had no doubt that the cult had killed Tamila for investigating them, as well as the girl Zoe who had helped Tamila.  Cassidy’s own determination to avoid dealing with anything supernatural had allowed the situation to develop into something dangerous to those closest to her.  She wanted to figure out who exactly had killed Tamila, but she had to start by rescuing Kieran.

Steeling herself as much as she could manage, Cassidy left the car and hurried through the rain.  The front door of the building was locked, so she pressed the button beside it.  A small security camera peered down at her from above.

“Hello?” a woman’s voice asked from the small speaker.

“Hi.” Cassidy held up one of the
Are
You
the Messiah?
pamphlets, which she’d taken from Tamila’s folder.  She’d left the rest of the folder back in the car. “Someone from here gave me this a few weeks ago.  I’ve read it and I answered the questions, and...I just need to talk to someone about it. I think maybe I could be the messiah.  Is that crazy?”

“
It may feel that way, but I promise you’re not crazy.” The woman’s voice seemed warmer and friendlier now. “Come on in.  We’ll talk.”

The door buzzed, and Cassidy pushed it open.

The lobby was empty and dark, and her footsteps echoed as she stepped inside, not sure where to go.  She found a cheap-looking building directory, a black board with movable white letters.  The only occupant of the building appeared to be
First Light Youth Mission, 201.

Cassidy pressed the elevator button and shivered while she waited.  She was soaking wet, but she was much colder on the inside.

What am I doing?
she asked herself. She felt she was losing her mind, or had already lost it.

The elevator pinged and the doors opened, flooding the dark lobby with light.

Cassidy rode up and entered the small lobby of what looked like a bland corporate suite.  A woman stood up behind the desk, smiling as Cassidy entered.  She was around Cassidy’s age, maybe a couple of years older, a little plump in a loose summer dress, cute in an approachable sort of way.

“
Hi!  You look drenched.  I should brew you up some hot chocolate,” she said.

“
No, thanks.” Cassidy smeared her hair back from her face and looked around the wood-paneled, gently lit room.  A plaque identified it as the place she was looking for.

“
So the questions spoke to you?” The lady stepped around the desk. “You’re definitely at the right place to talk about it.  I’m Deena—my husband Matt and I run this little mission.” She offered a hand, and Cassidy shook it. “You know, I already have a special feeling about you—”

“
I’m Cassidy.  I’m looking for my brother Kieran.”

Deena’s mouth hung open for a moment, clearly caught off-guard.

“Oh...I thought you said...” Deena fumbled.

“
Can I speak to him?”

“
Um...” Deena looked nervous. “Okay, I’ll page him.” She reached over the desk and pressed a button on the phone. “I need Kieran to come out for a sec.” Deena cast a suspicious look at Cassidy. “Did you even read our brochure?”

“
I’m not the messiah,” Cassidy said. “Neither are you, and neither is my brother or anybody else.”

“
Well, only the prophet can determine that...” Deena looked worried as Kieran emerged from the door behind her.

“
What’s up?” Kieran asked.  He was grinning, but his smile collapsed when he saw his sister. “Cassidy?”

“
We need to talk.”

“
Go ahead.  I’m in the middle of something,” Kieran said.

“
Privately, maybe?” Cassidy glanced at Deena.

“
I can step in back.  Sure you don’t want that hot chocolate?  Or a cola?”

“
No, thanks.” Cassidy waited for the woman to close the door. “You have to get out of here, Kieran.”

“
Why?”

“
These people are...I wish I could say they were crazy, but it’s worse than that.” Cassidy paused, trying to think of a reasonable way to explain things, but she couldn’t. “They worship demons.”

“
Oh, you don’t understand,” Kieran said. “Calling the Luciferian celestials ‘demons’ is just a deception from Uriel’s faction.  Both factions are the same kind of thing.”

“
What the fuck are you talking about?” Cassidy hadn’t expected him to come back with something even stranger than what she had to say.

“
The truth has been hidden from us,” he told her. “The reality is that one order of angels wants to help us and give us power, while the others just want to watch us suffer and struggle for their own amusement.”

“
Wait...so you
know
this is a group that worships Satan?”

“
That’s not a name we use when we speak of the Undying.  You’re clueless, Cassidy.  I’ll explain it to you sometime, if you can even understand it, but I have to get back to my friends now.” Kieran turned and walked toward the door.

“
Kieran!  You can’t go back in there.”

“
Why not?” Kieran scowled. “Just because you say?  Stop trying to control my life, Cassidy.  You’ve been gone for years.  You never wanted anything to do with me, and now you think you can order me around?”

“
This is important,” Cassidy said. “We can save the immature angsty whining for later.  Right now, we need to get out of here.”

“
No.” Kieran crossed his arms and backed away toward the door. “I’m staying.  You should go.”

“
I’m not leaving here without you.”

The door behind Kieran opened, and Deena emerged, followed by several smirking teenagers.

“If he wants you to leave, I’ll have to insist that you do,” Deena said.  She no longer looked cute and non-threatening.  She seemed taller, and her eyes had a strange yellow cast to them.  Her voice was cold and hard.

“
You can’t keep my brother here,” Cassidy said.  She balled her hands into fists, ready for a fight.

“
We’re not keeping him.  It’s his choice to stay.  Isn’t it, Kieran?”

“
Yeah, it is.” Kieran glared at Cassidy.

“
Come on!” Feeling desperate, Cassidy grabbed for Kieran’s arm.  Why wouldn’t the little prick cooperate?  She wondered whether he was already possessed.

“
Throw her out!” Deena snarled.  All the boys, including Kieran, seized Cassidy’s arms and legs and hoisted her up.  She struggled and kicked uselessly as they carried her to the elevator and down to the lobby.

“
Kieran, what are you doing?” Cassidy yelled at her brother, who clasped her left arm along with another boy.

“
I’m in charge of my own life now,” Kieran said. “The church is my family now.”

“
They are not your family!” Cassidy shouted while the teenagers carried her through the dark first-floor lobby.  One girl ran ahead to open the door for them. “You barely know them!”

“
They’re here for me, at least.  More than I can say for anybody else.” Kieran smirked as they heaved Cassidy out the door.  She slammed into the wet pavement and cried out in pain.  Kieran gave her a good-bye wave and a jaunty smile.

“
Ask them about your friend Zoe!” Cassidy screamed, desperate to get his attention somehow. “Ask what happened to her!”

Kieran’s smile faltered, but his friends pulled him back inside.  They closed the door as Cassidy ran toward it, and it locked automatically.  She shoved and pulled at the locked door, then slapped her hands on the thick glass, frustrated. “Kieran!” she shouted again.

The teenagers high-fived each other as they returned to the elevator.  Kieran cast a troubled glance back at her before they pulled him into the elevator car and the doors closed.

“
Fuck!” Cassidy kicked at the door.  Everything was turning horrible tonight.  She hadn’t expected her brother to react that way—in her desperation and fear after watching Tamila die, she had only thought of reaching Kieran, never imagining he would simply dismiss her.

Cassidy fumbled out her phone.  She called her mom first, but it went straight to voice mail.  She left a message saying there was an emergency with Kieran.  While she talked, she ran a circle around the building, looking for another way inside, but the back door and the loading dock door at the basement level were both sealed tight.

She called the next person who could help.

“
Hey, how’s it going?” Barb answered.  Loud voices filled the background, people drinking and having fun, people who had no idea what kind of evil was out there in the world. “How’s Tamila?”

“
She’s dead,” Cassidy said. “They killed her.”

“
Oh, my God!” Barb said. “Tamila’s dead?  Seriously?”

“
Yes, seriously.  The Church of First Light people used magic—they sent one of those monster creatures I’m always seeing, but this one could actually
kill
people.  I just tried to get my brother out of there, but he wouldn’t listen.  I might have put him in danger.” Cassidy realized this was true just as the words came out of her mouth. “Listen, can we do some kind of...spell to protect him?”

“
Sure, but I don’t get off until—”

“
Now
, Barb.  It’s an emergency.  He could be dead or possessed by a demon by the time you get off work.  That’s what these cult members do, Barb.  They allow demons to possess them.”

“
Holy shit.”

“
Yeah, it’s some unholy shit.  Can you help?”

“
Meet me back at the house,” Barb said. “All my stuff’s there.  We can figure out something to do for him.”

“
Thanks, Barb.” Cassidy took a last look up at the building, then got into the car and cranked it up. As she drove, she reluctantly decided to call the only other person who might be able to help her, but she got his voice mail, too.

“
Ibis, it’s Cassidy,” she said. “You were right.  I’m sorry I blew you off, but now I understand what you were trying to tell me....My brother’s in danger and I need your help right away.  Call me.  I’m on my way to my house if you can meet me there.  Please, it’s an emergency.”

Cassidy drove through slashing rain and flashes of lightning.  Traffic was slow, and she pounded her fist on the dashboard impatiently, wondering what would happen to her brother now.  The comment about Zoe had seemed to reach him, but it had been too late.  She hoped he didn’t ask too many questions and get himself in trouble with the cult leaders.

“Congratulations, Dan, you’ve just been promoted to bartender,” Barb told the young Appalachian barback, tossing him a bottle. “Good luck.”

“
Shoot, yeah!  ‘Bout time,” Dan said, as though he’d been working at the Five Fingers Tavern for years instead of weeks.

Barb rushed out into the heavy rain.  She glanced at the parking lot in back, cursed as she remembered Cassidy still had her car, and ducked her head low.  It was a half-mile run to their house on McLendon, and she wasn’t particularly fast, but Barb put on as much speed as she could summon.

Her thoughts whirled crazily.  Tamila—dead.  The Church of First Light—not just a stupid cult, but something truly evil and dangerous.  Cassidy’s brother—in serious danger.  She tried to imagine what kind of protection spell they might put together.

She gasped as she clomped up onto the yellow front porch, her lungs burning, reminding her she was a smoker.  Barb hacked and coughed, leaning against the front door while she tried to catch her breath.  Streams of water ran off her body.  The floorboard vibrated with the distortion and feedback of Stray’s band thundering away in the basement while actual thunder crashed in the night sky above.

Barb pushed open the door and stumbled inside.

“
...so the
real
power is available to all of us,” a voice said from the living room. “It’s being offered to us all the time.  We just have to accept it from the angels who offer it.”