Into The Light (The Fallen Shadows) Read online

  There was a calming feeling in the air, she saw no rushing cars or loud sounds of public transportation. It was as if the world had stopped running out of time if only in California. She had only ever felt that stillness in Meadowbrook. It was a calmness that she wanted to hold onto. Grab it and tie it around her waist in the hopes that somehow the chaos that would befall her would somehow be ousted.

  As with most calms before a major storm the stillness surrounding her was disrupted and met with an intense buzzing in her ear. She ducked the way one would when a bee flew by their ear. As the buzzing grew more intense she realized it was no bee at all but a group of Descended speaking. Rosehill. The cold voices of the Descended said, whisperings in Katharine’s ear. Over and over the words flowed like molten lava down the side of a mountain creeping further until the words reached her lips and exited with conviction.

  “Ash!” Katharine shouted with enough force that she could hear herself over the whispers of the Descended.

  Ash and Davon were standing a few steps ahead of Katharine so they could survey the area before they began their journey to find the Descended. Davon, wearing a weapons belt complete with three small silver knives, the large sword with the beautiful carvings Katharine had seen him pull out of the box from the aircraft and a small brown velvet bag whose contents Katharine could not see, was atop a small hill kneeling and picking up sections of sand.

  He allowed the sand to sneak through his fingers and fall back to the earth. Ash stood just below him with a similar belt full of varying weapons including a bright golden bow and bag full of golden arrows strapped upon his chest Ash, hearing Katharine’s voice, spun around to see her waving her arms wildly in the air.

  “Davon!” Ash rushed to Katharine who was holding her palm against her forehead. “Katharine what’s happened?”

  Davon descended upon them pulling the sword out of its holster. “What did you see?”

  “I didn’t see anything but I heard them.” Katharine replied speaking only to Ash.

  “What did you hear?” Ash asked placing his hands firmly on her shoulders and slumping down so his face was in line with hers.

  “They only said one word, Rosehill,” Katharine’s inflections were filled with confusion and frustration. With everything she had been told about how important the Trackers were her abilities had not lived up to what she expected. They gave her clues but no clear-cut answers.

  “Rosehill?” Davon said inquisitively.

  “Does that mean anything to you?” Katharine asked hoping that he could make heads or tails of what she had heard. Davon scratched his chin using his thumb and index finger before surveying the surrounding areas. Then, as if a light bulb had gone off in his mind he ran inside the aircraft, an action that made Ash shrug when Katharine looked to him for an answer. Davon returned a few seconds later holding a large poster that, upon closer inspection, turned out to be a map of San Francisco. “Do you just have maps randomly lying around the aircraft?”

  Ash chuckled. “Actually, we do.” Somehow this didn’t surprise Katharine. In fact, not much about the things Ash and Davon did surprised her anymore.

  Davon placed the map spread out on the graveled pavement and began making circles around three different locations within the map, Rosehill Avenue, Rosehill Church, and Rosehill Cemetery. “I think the Descended are at one of these locations. Rosehill could be the name of a street, a church or the cemetery. We are going to have to do a sweep of each location but we have to be quick. If they found the doorway there is no telling how long it will take for them to gather thirteen of them together and walk through it.”

  “How are we supposed to check three different locations on separate ends of the city?” Katharine asked pointing to the locations, which were at least 30 miles apart from one another.

  Davon removed the map from the ground and shook off the residual dirt left behind from the gravel. He placed it in one of the pockets on his pants and pulled out a square object. The object was golden and looked like a very large beeper. Katharine giggled thinking about the days when she too had a beeper. She always thought she was so cool with the black square electronic device attached to her hip. Of course, times had changed and no one, except Davon apparently, owned a beeper anymore.

  “Its not a beeper you know,” Ash said leaning over to whisper to Katharine. He could tell by the way she looked at the beeper where her thoughts had taken her. “It is kind of like an angelic calling card.”

  “A calling card for what?” Katharine inquired finding it far stranger that Davon would call for backup than the golden square object he was using to do it,

  “He won’t admit it but you were right. There is no way we can search all three locations quickly. By the time we finished searching it might be too late. We need help.” Ash explained.

  Davon placed the device on the ground and Katharine watched in awe as a yellow beam of light poured out and shot straight up past the clouds. The earth around them began to shake. Pebbles of gravel kicked up bouncing like jumping beans along the cold graveled roadway.

  Katharine pressed her hands out as if she were holding onto an invisible banister. Everything around her froze as though she had pushed “pause” on a film she was watching. She looked around and saw the cars that had been driving through the residential areas were frozen; the trees were leaning to the left having been blown by the wind that ceased to blow. The only things capable of movement were the two heavenly guides Katharine was with and Katharine herself.

  The beam of light disappeared back within the object just as quickly as it appeared. The ground became calm and desolate. The world began to spin again forcing Katharine’s stomach to fall to her feet. She felt the same urge to throw all the food she’d eaten that day right back up through her throat.

  “What the heck was that?” Katharine brushed the hair that had been blown in her face out of her eyes.

  Ash smiled and pointed toward the sky. Coming down out of the clouds were what, at first, looked like swans flying in a small flock toward them. When the flock drew closer Katharine realized it was three angels with their spectacular white wings spread out behind them.

  The Angels were glowing as they mapped their way through the clouds and descended toward the earth. Graceful angels flying with their wings flapping gracefully behind them in swift fluid swoops. They flew through the palm trees, occasionally brushing them with their bare toes. The Angels’ wings turned the gravel into small tornadoes of rock, dust and scraps of paper as the angels came in for their landing.

  The newcomers wore sheer white suits with golden sashes and gold dust sprinkled on their skin. The Angels reminded Katharine of the warriors from Greece in Clash of the Titans. Both males had perfectly sculpted bodies, like avid gym goers and each had one blue and one hazel eye, something Katharine had not seen on the angels she’d met at The Anchorage. They were beautiful and majestic and Katharine felt the magic in their presence.

  “Ezekiel, Cassiel,” Davon said greeting them with a bow of his head. “Thank you for coming so quickly. This is an urgent matter.”

  The taller of the two angels began to speak his voice bellowing throughout abandoned lots. “Where is the doorway?” The angel paid no attention to Ash or the Tracker standing a few feet from him and only spoke to Davon. His hands clasped behind his back in a military stance, the same one his fellow angel was standing in.

  “That is why we called you and Cassiel here, Ezekiel. We believe it is here. The Tracker,” Davon said pointing his finger at Katharine who was growing tired of him constantly referring to her as The Tracker. (She had a name and she expected him to use it). “heard the Descended mention a place called, Rosehill and we believe that is where the Doorway is.”

  “Then why are we standing here? Let’s move out,” Cassiel said, pulling a bow from the weapons bag strapped to his chest.

  “That’s not the only reason we were called here Cassiel.” Ezekiel looked suspiciously at Davon as if he knew there were stipulatio
ns to their arrival.

  Davon lowered his head in shame; Ezekiel and Cassiel were two very powerful, very busy warriors of Heaven and were only meant to be summoned in extreme situations. While they had a hunch that the doorway was somewhere in San Francisco, they didn’t know where nor could they be sure that it was truly there. While this kind of a bold move was nothing new to Ash, it was a first for Davon.

  He prided himself on being able to take care of a situation on his own without ever needing someone else for guidance or help and it was his intention to never summon a higher being. For lack of options and time Davon had no choice but to go against his own wishes and summoned Cassiel and Ezekiel.

  “Go on then,” Cassiel said impatiently.

  “The Tracker said the Descended mentioned Rosehill. There are three different possible Rosehills that they could have been talking about,” Davon pointed to the circled locations on the map and motioned in Katharine’s direction as if to say she were not strong enough for such a task, “and we simply don’t have the appropriate group to separate and investigate all three places at once. We are pressed for time as we cannot guarantee that they have not already found the doorway and are gathering their numbers as we speak.”

  Ezekiel put his hand up signaling for Davon to stop speaking.

  “Which one of you is charged with the Tracker?” Ezekiel asked. Ash stepped forward without saying a word. “You and the Tracker go to Rosehill Church, Davon will take the cemetery and Cassiel and I will sweep the remaining location. Keep your communicators with you at all times and if you find the doorway let us know immediately.”

  Without waiting for acknowledgement from Ash or Davon that they understood what they were to do, Cassiel and Ezekiel spread their massive wings, flapping them wildly creating a wind so strong Katharine lost her footing and fall toward the ground. Just before she hit the hard floor below, Ash reached his arm out to catch her. Her head landed gently in the palm of his hand.

  As her head hit his hand she closed her eyes expecting the hard impact of ground and was relieved that she felt the soft skin of Ash’s hand instead.

  “Thanks!” She said sighing, “Is it always like that when you guys land?”

  “What can I say? We just know how to sweep a woman off her feet,” Ash smiled.

  Katharine rolled her eyes but couldn’t help but crack a brief smile at his little quip as he lifted her back into the vertical world. His hand remained cradling the back of her head even after she had been placed upright. Their eyes met in an unrelenting gaze and she felt a familiar urge. It was the same urge she’d felt when he jumped to her side after her ascension.

  She thought seriously for a moment about leaning in and pressing her lips on his. She wondered what it would feel like to sink into a passionate kiss. Would he take her in his arms and caress her hair? Would he run his hand across her face and move it slowly toward her neck? Would it be the kind of romantic embrace she’d seen in movies so many times? He looked back at her leaving her to wonder if he too was feeling the same urge.

  The moment was surreal but fleeting as Davon once again knocked them back to reality.

  “When you two have finished making googly eyes at one another, we should go try to find the doorway. You know the one the Descended have found? The one that could literally unleash Hell on earth.” The sound of his voice was startling even though they knew he was there.

  Davon was standing atop the hill just beyond the graveled pavement where the aircraft had landed. His hands were folded firmly across his chest. One hand gripped the handle of his engraved sword. He wore impatience all over his face.

  Ash removed his hand from behind Katharine’s head and straightened up the way a child would after being caught by their parents while doing something they knew they weren’t supposed too. Katharine’s eyes remained locked on Ash as if some magnetic force was keeping them there. “We should be going,” he smiled gently at her and nodded in Davon’s direction.

  “We’ll go by foot, the Church is only a few miles from here.”

  “Remember, keep in contact with me,” Davon said swinging the sword around in a circular motion, “and watch your back.”

  He took off down the roadway-leading east and headed toward the residential communities. They watched him turn into a small blurry figure before they took off to the west heading toward the city.

  The city was everything Katharine imagined it would be. Buildings of glass and steel towered over the streets below. Car filled roadways were strung together like a Picasso painting of vibrant colors. The city met Katharine with the scent of gasoline, wet paint and the fresh smell from the ocean waters. It was an odd mixture that brought a tickle to her nose. Car horns bellowed their triumphant sounds as they sped by sending a gust as powerful as the angel’s wings.

  Nestled among the towering giants of steel were the small shops that gave San Francisco its wholesome charm. Shops that one would never know were tucked away unless they were looking for them. The hills were as intimidating as Katharine imagined them to be. They slumped over the streets like humps atop a camel’s back.

  Katharine struggled to keep up the pace Ash was taking over the hills. He walked them as if they were flat plains with no obstacles among them. They marched on in complete silence since the moment they left the Silicon Valley. In the silence Katharine allowed her mind to wander.

  Royal and Marion’s faces pierced through the veil and into her thoughts. She hadn’t thought about them in days, not since she arrived at the Anchorage. She had been so focused on her ascension and the grief she was feeling not having Ash at her side that her parents hadn’t even been able to slip through. A shroud of guilt coursed through her as the last conversation she had with her father played on repeat in her head. She walked out on him without so much as a goodbye hug or kiss.

  She remembered the look in Royal’s eyes as she shared more lies with him. He was so hurt and confused by her betrayal. It was a look that Katharine would not soon forget. She knew that her parents wouldn’t think of her until the war was over but she still wondered if they felt that ache in their chests, like something was missing. That longing that one feels when they had something that has been taken away from them. That same longing she had when Ash was gone. If she couldn’t rid herself of that longing she couldn’t imagine that no matter how magical and powerful the angels were they could make a parent forget their child.

  Her thoughts were deep and tumultuous enough that she hadn’t realized just how far behind Ash she had fallen, and now he was a full block ahead of her. I wonder what people think when they see him. He didn’t exactly look like a typical human; he was carrying a belt full of weapons.

  In an effort to catch up with Ash before he turned a corner and disappeared, Katharine took off running, as fast as her weakened legs could carry her.

  “Ash! Wait up!” She called waving her arms in the air in an attempt to grab his attention.

  He spun around to see how far behind Katharine had fallen. “Geez what were you doing, taking the scenic route?”

  Katharine provided him with a humorous laugh and a roll of the eyes as she grabbed his hand for leverage up the steep hill in which they were venturing. “I thought you said this was a short walk.”

  Ash chuckled. “Well I am sorry I can’t help it if you’re all too human to keep up.”

  Katharine shoved him playfully. “Oh nice come back, using my humanity as the butt of a joke.”

  He took her hand and assisted her up the hill. It was steep and long, one she couldn’t believe she was able to achieve. Her legs began to shake as if she’d done an entire day’s workout. She nearly fell under the weight of them had it not been for Ash who braced her with his arm and helped her complete the impossible hill. His touch was soft but strong.

  “What am I going to do with you?” He smiled when they reached the top of the hill and made their way over to Long Avenue, where the Church was located. She said nothing and clung to his arm the way a drowning man woul
d cling to a lifesaver floatation device.

  “Ash,” Katharine said timidly. “I never asked, once we catch the Descended how are you going to get them back to Purgatory? I highly doubt they are going to return willingly.”

  Ash smiled and swung his body around so the bag full of arrows was in direct line with Katharine’s eyes. “With these bad boys. These are blessed by God himself and the moment they pierce the flesh of the Descended they are taken directly back to Purgatory.”

  Katharine smiled, “Magical arrows. How very Legolas of you.”

  “What’s a Legolas?” Ash wore the puzzled look well as his eyebrows raised swift upward motions.

  “For someone who knows a lot, you sure know very little.” Katharine was glad to know at least one thing the great Ash didn’t know.

  As they reached the top of Long Avenue her thoughts began to wander again and found their way back to her 8th birthday party. Her parents threw her a party at Chuck-E-Cheese and invited all of her classmates, even the ones she would have preferred they didn’t invite. She spent the entire party playing in the ball pit with Aaron Majors, her childhood crush. Aaron was a beautiful blonde boy with glowing brown eyes and dimples that made Katharine’s mother refer to him as a “future lady killer.”

  Aaron did what every 12-year-old boy would do when he had a crush on a girl, he teased her relentlessly and acted as if she were the most disgusting thing he’d ever seen. Katharine could see right through his games, her father always told her the ways of a teenage boy with a crush on a girl. She remembered feeling so happy and good being around Aaron, no matter how much he teased her. It was the same way she felt being near Ash, only with him she felt safe.

  “There’s the Church,” Ash said pointing toward the dark building on the corner.