Veiled (5 page)

The female, however,
widened her eyes, and let out a snarl. Apparently she didn’t find
my tone of voice and my insinuations to her liking. The Second One
was unmoved by my outburst. He just held her arm back and kept
smiling his venomous smile. Then he released her and came to my
side.

He got really close to my
ear and whispered tersely. “Careful, Tess, you don’t want to make
me particularly mad. Nor do you want me to take too much notice of
you. It will be better for you that way. Your resolve might be
strong, but trust me—I’m stronger!” His last words sounded more
like a low growl.

This sent a wave of terror
through my frame and I was paralyzed, I could not make a single
part of my form move. I couldn’t even think straight, my mind
simply shut down.

“
I know you, Tess…I know
what you want, and I’m the only one who can make sure you get it. I
can make sure you have all your favorite friends around you in
mortality. I might even be able to manage to let you keep some of
your current memories.” His voice was soft, but now it felt warm
and inviting. Images of me and my clan—just as we are now—but alive
and together filled my mind.

“
Speaking of the devil!”
Alex appeared out of nowhere, unnoticed by either them or I. He
came to my side with a casual smile.

They were surprised, but
quickly recovered.

“
Alexander! My dear old
friend.” The Second One said as he moved away from me and back to
the female’s side.

“
When have we been
friends?”

“
It’s never too late to
make amends.”

“
In your case, I will make
an exception,” Alex said generously.

“
You need to keep a closer
eye on her Alex. She almost got herself into a heap of trouble,”
the Second One said with a casual smile.

“
I’m not into controlling
others they way you are.” Alex smirked and shot the female a
purposeful look. Then he interlaced his fingers with mine and
started moving away, but stopped suddenly and turned. “You are so
obtuse! The Eternals know everything about your little secret
meetings. You will lose this war,” he said with spite.

“
Alex…how little you know
of what is really at stake here. This is not the war, but a battle.
The real war, dear Alex, is far from over.” The Second One’s smile
was tight, not as flashy as before.

Alex regarded him for a
moment then he turned and we flew off. They made no attempts at
stopping us, so we just flew off undisturbed.

“
It was nice talking to
you, Tess. We hope to see you soon!” the Second One called in a
friendly sing-song tone as we glided away.

“
Yeah, come back and see
us soon!” the female said, and then they burst out
laughing.

Alex was mad, I could tell,
but he remained silent. This made it worse, so after a moment I
broke the silence.

“
I didn’t know they would
be there, I just wanted…I’m sorry.” I had no real excuse so I left
it at that.

“
I know.”

“
I overheard their
conversation,” I offered hoping to sound useful.

“
I heard.”

This was not going well,
but I insisted on conversation. “Who was that female?”

“
Her name is Agatha. She
is the Second One’s mate or something…”

“
Oh…they are sending spies
to our side,” I offered. “They know they will be cast-out, but are
making certain spirits go along with the First One, so they can
have allies among the mortals. Can they do that?”

“
Apparently…they’re going
to try anyway.”

“
They also have spies
among us, now. They knew about our rally on the moon. How could
they so quickly?”

“
There are many on that
moon that are undecided, some of them might even be spies, but we
are working on explaining things to them—that’s all we can
do.”

“
Well, what if one of
those who say they are on our side is really a spy?”

“
We have nothing to
hide.”

“
But they can tell the
Second One who is undecided and why. They can tell him what it
would take to turn them.”

“
Yes, those will be the
casualties of war,” Alex said with a faraway look.

“
There’s got to be a way
to protect them while they make their own choices, without being
manipulated. We can’t let them die, it’s horrible!” I protested. “I
should know…”

Alex stopped and looked at
me, his face pained and angry.

“
Yes, Tess! That is
exactly what we’ve been trying to do while you decided to go for a
tour of the canyon.”

We looked at each other for
a moment. He was right. I was selfish and immature.

“
I’m sorry Alex, I really
am. I have no idea what came over me. I…” I shook my head. I really
didn’t know why I had done that myself, so I couldn’t explain it.
He searched my face. He looked concerned and frustrated, but then
he put his arms around me and hugged me…tightly.

“
It’s a good thing Val saw
you leaving” His voice was soft, more forgiving. “She had overheard
from someone that the Second One himself was around here
somewhere.”

“
So you came
looking?”

“
No, I don’t have to look.
I can…” He let out a sigh. “I could feel your fear, Tess.” He
straightened his arms and looked into my eyes, trying to convey
something through them, something more than what his words were
saying.

“
You could? You can feel
what I feel?”

“
Yeah…sometimes, even when
I’m not looking for you, I can sense you,” he said, a little
embarrassed. “Especially if you are feeling something very powerful
like fear. I feel it too. It helps me find you.”

“
What if I’m not feeling
anything particularly…powerful?”

He shook his head. “I don’t
know, Tess. It always feels very natural, like…seeing or hearing. I
can’t describe it.”

“
So you can find me by
following your…instincts?” I asked, curious now about this ability
of his.

He shook his head in
frustration and kept gliding. “Yeah, something like
that.”

I smiled weakly, and I
started after him. “I will never let you down again…and…thank you
for coming,” I told him once I had caught up with him.

“
Yeah, no problem.” He put
one arm around my shoulders and pressed me gently toward his side
as we glided to the moon.

A strange wave of emotions
swept over me. The intensity of them scared me, so I did what I
always do when faced with overwhelming feelings—I buried
them.

* * * * *

Chapter 4

When we got back to the
moon, the last thing I wanted to do was explain myself to others. I
knew Alex would not let them pester me, so I stayed close to him
and followed him around as he made his inquiries, trying to find
out what he had missed.

Russell, Max, and Leo were
still talking. As we came near them Russ only gave me a sideways
glance. I knew what he was thinking—he was mad too—but Russ didn’t
worry me. Celeste and Valerie did. They would never let this one
go.

“
So, what did I miss?”
Alex asked them.

“
Not much. One of the High
Councilors spoke,” Russell said sarcastically.

Max gave me a compassionate
smile then added, “He said that we need to divide in pairs and go
find those who are undecided and more susceptible to the Second
One’s lies.”

“
We would have to make
sure the pairs are well made, at least one of the spirits should be
strong enough to protect the other in case of trouble. The rebels
would like nothing more than to gang up on a weak pair,” Russell
suggested.

“
And I suggested we mix
and match some of our clan members,” Leo said casually as he winked
at me with a friendly smile. “Not just for variety, but also
because some of us have uneven clans,” he added.

Russell, Max, and Alex
quickly agreed on the plan and got to the task of dividing the
three clans into pairs. I was sure I would be with Celeste, but she
was paired up with Richard.

“
You can’t put Celeste
with Richard!” I protested.

At this comment Max looked
up with a puzzled look on his face. I shot him an apologetic
look—naturally he would be protective of someone from his clan—so I
took Alex aside to explain myself more freely.

“
Tess,” Alex said a little
embarrassed, “what are you doing?”

“
There is something weird
about Richard. I don’t want Celeste alone with him. What if he is a
spy?”

“
What makes you think that
Richard, of all spirits, is a spy?”

“
He is hiding
something.”

“
How do you know
that?”

“
I…I just know. I have
always felt that he is hiding something, or that there is a side to
him that he doesn’t show. Besides, didn’t you want to put a really
strong spirit in charge?”

“
Celeste is strong, Tess.
She may kid around a lot, but she is unshakable…and stubborn,” he
added.

“
Fine, but not Richard!” I
said resolutely. “Don’t forget that I’m a Discerner. Maybe I feel
this way because of my gift,” I added, hoping that this claim would
win me some credit.

“
I know you are a
Discerner, Tess, but Max knows Richard much better than you do and
I can’t just tell Max that you have a bad feeling about Richard.
Not to mention that Celeste seems to be quite fond of Richard.” He
nudged his head toward the spot where Celeste and Richard were
laughing—together.

I felt defeated. I knew
that there would be no way of getting Celeste out of this
one.

“
OK!” I finally said, “But
I get to keep a close eye on them, whoever you put me with will
have to be okay with that.”

“
I’m OK with
that.”

I gazed at him
suspiciously. “What do you mean by that?”

“
I’m with you.”

Now I was offended.
Obviously I was not strong enough to be with a weaker spirit. I had
to be watched over, as if I were in danger of defecting.

“
Listen, I said I was
sorry about going off by myself like that. I told you I wouldn’t do
it again, but I assure you I am in no danger of joining up with
them.” I would have kept on going but Alex cut me off with a
chuckle.

“
You are strong, Tess, and
I have no fear of you defecting.”

“
Then why am I with
you?”

“
Have you forgotten the
warning that you got just now, from the Second One himself? He is
mad at you, Tess. He will find a way to hurt you and I can’t let
that happen. Besides, I want us to be together.” His gaze was sweet
and caring and I couldn’t argue with that, so defeated I once more
relented—but now I was nervous. For the first time in my existence
I felt anxious about being alone with Alex.

As he retreated back to the
planning, I looked after him. What was going on? Why did I feel so
confused about my friendship with Alex? He had always been one my
closest friends, aside from Celeste. And we had this strange bond
where he could find me every time I got lost…but…something inside
of me shut down and refused to consider the matter further. I
didn’t know what was going on, and I didn’t think I wanted to
know—something was bound to change between us—and I hate
change.

Just then one of the High
Councilors quieted the crowds and started speaking to us about the
latest tactics that the rebels were using to get spirits to join
them. Apparently the rebels were promising a position of power once
they got to Earth. They have some sort of list going, where if your
name goes there, the Second One will be sure to give you authority
and riches above the rest. And in case they fail, they are
promising that as cast-outs they would take possession of the
bodies of those who get to live.

After a lot of advice and
recommendations, the High Councilors bid us farewell, and spirits
started to depart. Before leaving, Celeste came to my side to say
good bye. She was giddy with excitement, and apparently was looking
forward to her time alone with Richard.

“
Save it, Tess!” she said.
“I know what you are going to say about Richard, and if there is
any truth to it I will know soon enough,” she said resolutely, then
she spun and glided happily away, turning only once to give me a
teasing smile and a wink.

Max had paired himself with
Eros, which I thought prudent; Russ, of course, was with Nancy.
Dane and Valerie were together. Dorian got paired with Luz and her
two other sisters were together. Henry got paired with a shy spirit
named Estelle from Leo’s clan.

Slowly, one by one, the
rally broke up as spirits flew off in different
directions.

“
All set?” Alex
asked.

“
I thought Shazer was this
way?” I asked, pointing to my right, and by his look I immediately
knew that I was turned around again. I am horrible with directions.
I honestly don’t know how others manage to find their way in the
universe.