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  Terra’s thoughts raced. Could it still be simple? The memory of the soothing voice that came to her as she had laid dying made her think it never was. If she was meant to be here on Earth, then she would be failing her purpose. The Originator had made the course appear simple but it never really was.

  “Terra, answer me!” Korin’s voice was shrill.

  “I was wrong.” The words were only a whisper. They did not match her thoughts, which were screaming with the realization.

  The creak of the door interrupted Terra’s words.

  “Don’t be so hard on yourself Terra, I know you made a mistake, but you're here to heal, not mope,” Portia said as she strode into the tiny hospital room. It was clear that she had heard the last part of Terra's whispered confession.

  “Oh, um you're right,” Terra said. She settled back onto her bed and pulled the covers over herself.

  “We will finish this conversation later,” Korin said. She stood up without disturbing the sheets and glided silently towards the door. “Portia's right, you need to rest and heal. I'm warning you, Terra, no more crazy thoughts. You won’t need to worry about the Scourge if you make it that easy for them.”

  Terra nodded slightly in acknowledgment. Portia did not notice the gesture.

  “I’ll be back later. Get some sleep. Mortal bodies are not meant to be used as crash dummies.” Korin gripped the mark on her arm as she disappeared down the hallway.

  Chapter 14

  Orthos scowled. His bulging eyes followed the shrunken underling as he attempted to scurry by the doorway without attracting his notice. He could see clearly in the dim light. The impish thing that the Originator now used to cater to his whim was not as well suited to his needs as his predecessor, Claw, but he was readily available.

  “Cower, get in here!” Orthos called.

  He stepped through the doorway with a slight limp. “Yes Master, but I'm not sure that was my name.” He licked his lips with his long gray tongue, his head tilted to the side.

  “Fool, I know that wasn’t your name while you were still human. I don’t care what it was. I’ll call you Cower because that’s what you do.”

  “Thank you, Master, for giving me a name,” Cower nodded his head with an exaggerated gesture.

  “Enough; just go. Tell the team to bring Carol to me; she's the one Bartus left here. I’m sure she should be more willing to tell me what I want to know by now.”

  Cower scurried out of the door to do his Master’s bidding.

  Presently, Orthos heard a strange sound that reverberated down the hallway. At first, he thought a dying animal had somehow found its way into the building, but after a moment, he realized the sound was that of a woman squealing in pain. He crossed the room and stood in the doorway, looking for the source of the sound.

  “Hey! What are you two doing? Get in here! When I order someone brought before me, it means I need to speak to them, not that you are to continue using them as your new toy.”

  The two henchmen grunted their understanding as they dragged Carol unwillingly across the threshold. The larger of the two creatures held Carol significantly higher from the ground on one side while the smaller creature let her other side drag. Her bound feet were useless to her as they hauled her forward.

  Carol felt a change in the energy of the space as they neared the Orthos. The climate of the room now became heavy and oppressive around her. She struggled uselessly as she was forced into a seat. The thugs that had delivered her remained at her side, tightly wrenching her arms away from her with vice-like grips. The strange hood kept her blind to her captors.

  Orthos leaned forward, carefully examining his prisoner. "I can't trust Bartus when he insists on hiding things."

  Without warning, the Originator yanked off the hood which had covered Carol's face. A surprised squeak passed through her teeth before she could stop it. Her chestnut brown hair fell over her eyes, covering the ugly marks the henchmen had left on her ageless face.

  Carol glanced up at her captors for the first time and immediately wished she hadn't. The things that now surrounded her made her shudder as she looked down again.

  Seeing Carol's response, Orthos closed his clawed fingers around her exposed neck as he pulled her towards his gray, featureless face.

  “How did the guides know to go to Earth? How did they come without human form?” Orthos glared at Carol, forcing her to look back into his black eyes.

  "I told you; I don't know." Carol twisted and pulled uselessly as the henchmen held her in place.

  "I think you do know. What did you tell them? It's no secret that you have been keeping company with that guide, Terra. You had no human body. Then suddenly you went back to the Tweens for the hereafter? How did you manage to do that without dying a mortal death?" The Master's voice ebbed and flowed with sickly wheezes. He released his grip on Carol's face with no warning, then staggered back a step revealing his deformed and twisted legs. Orthos followed Carol's gaze, as he adjusted his robes so his legs were fully covered. He began to levitate a few inches from the floor once more.

  "This is all a mistake. I do know Terra. She was in love with my human child, Liam. I would never have met her at all if not for a Scourge stealing my body." Carol's tone reflected a calm she didn't truly feel. Believe it, just let me go!

  "SILENCE!!" The Originator bellowed. The two thugs that stood on either side of Carol's chair tightened their grip on her arms cruelly twisting them behind her.

  Carol cringed at the outburst. She pushed herself as far back in her seat as she could.

  “Do you think you can hide things from me? I will be the ultimate power in your Tweens and the Earth! I know you went to the Tweens. I know you spoke with her allies. I will bring Terra and any who help her under my control!”

  “Why should I help you? If you are who you say you are, then you're responsible for my body being stolen!” As Carol peered up through her curtain of hair, her eyes flashed with renewed determination.

  “Stole your body?” Orthos laughed “Yes. My followers will take all of humanity. Don't blame me for all your troubles, it was Bartus who took you from the Tweens! Besides, if you did return to the Tweens, then somehow you were put back in the body you say was stolen from you. Unless you know another way to enter the Tweens?” Orthos paused expectantly, as he gauged her reaction.

  Carol froze. She bit her bottom lip and looked down at the floor in silence.

  Orthos shook his head. "You see, what you don't say tells the story. I don’t think you could have removed a Scourge from your body and retaken it for yourself. And then you would have me believe that you ended your own life, just to be sent to the Tweens! Oh how this just reeks of Terra. Honestly, it gives me hope. If Terra sent you to the Tweens for her own purpose, then her conscience is tarnished with your murder!” Orthos laughed a wheezy cackle that made the space instantly charged with a crackle of strange energy.

  Carol thrashed against the two henchmen that held her firmly in place, sinking their claws into her arms. “I won’t help you! You don't have the power to destroy me!”

  “How sweet; you're so confident. Terra's not here to protect you. She won't hear you scream. I would be willing to bet you aren’t even one of her charges. You're right about one thing though; only guides can destroy an entity, but I will make it my personal mission to extract every impression you have had of your beloved Terra if I have to rip you into a thousand pieces to find each memory!” He lunged at Carol, grabbing her by the hair. “Now let’s share!”

  "Share?" gasped Carol. She was suddenly reminded of the expression on Liliana's face when she had first witnessed her memories of Terra's struggles to protect Liam.

  "Yes, I will know about every second of every moment you spent with Terra," Orthos said.

  "Then you are brave or crazy," Carol muttered.

  "What was that?" Orthos asked.

  "My memories," Carol said, "if you really want to witness what I have, then you have to be brave or crazy."


  "You would threaten me?" Orthos was back at Carol’s throat in a single motion.

  "Threaten you, no," Carol spoke between her teeth as she craned away from the foul hands that held her on both sides. "I was warning you. The guides feared the power of my memories. They wanted to destroy them, yet you seem drawn to them."

  Believe it, Carol pleaded silently, please let me go!

  "They feared your memories?" Orthos asked. His hands released Carol’s neck.

  "They did; they even tried to erase them, but even the guides could not take them from me." The truth behind her words built Carol's confidence.

  Orthos glided away from Carol as he considered her claim. He shook his head. "Take this prisoner and continue to encourage her to embrace a new existence here among us. I will consider what she has said."

  "Yes Master," the two henchmen grunted as they dragged Carol from the room.

  Chapter 15

  Liliana glared at the picture of a beach vacation on the wall of Carol's cottage. She had searched the home from top to bottom, but she was no closer to understanding what happened to her charge. It made no sense.

  How could someone who had already passed over into the Tweens, suddenly disappear from contact with her guide?

  Liliana chewed her lip in frustration. The picture on the wall reminded her the only other dimension that could be reached from the Tweens was Earth. Even if Carol had somehow returned to the mortal world, thoughts should still connect.

  The sensation struck Liliana with no warning. The surrounding room darkened and disappeared from her sight. She sank to her knees with her hands at her own throat. A strangled cry escaped her lips as clawed hands tightened around her throat. She reached for her neck to protect herself but found there were no hands there. The sensation of being attacked was completely foreign. Violence was something that happened on Earth, but never among the immortal beings of the Tweens.

  A face appeared in Liliana’s thoughts. This individual was unlike any other she had seen. The grayish flesh covered the facial features of the thing in her vision. It stretched taunt where normal features should have been, leaving only a vague indentation. The eyes under the flesh in the enlarged sockets gleamed through the covering like the toxic sheen of black oil on still water. Liliana felt her arms pulled back. Invisible claws dug into her with no mercy.

  Liliana heard a voice. “You would threaten me?” the voice had the same tone as fingernails across a blackboard. The choking sensation intensified. Liliana struggled against the attack but found her attempt useless.

  As fear racked Liliana’s immortal form, a new voice spoke within her mind. This time the voice was familiar: Carol. "Threaten you, no. I was warning you. The guides feared the power of my memories. They wanted to destroy them, yet you seem drawn to them. “Believe it, Carol pleaded silently, please let me go!”

  Liliana called out: "Please, let her go; she did nothing to deserve any of this. I understand now that what she witnessed was the truth!" Her words only reached her own ears.

  "They feared your memories?" the gray entity asked Carol.

  "They did; they even tried to erase them, but even the guides could not take them from me," Carol said.

  The guilt that gripped Liliana tore at her with as much intensity as the shared attack. "I did that, I wanted to protect you. I was wrong. I only made things worse. Carol, I am so sorry, if I could just help you now!" Her voice was hoarse and strained.

  The grip on her charge’s neck and her own suddenly released. “Take this prisoner, and continue to encourage her to embrace a new existence here among us. I will consider what she has shared."

  Liliana heard the grumbled acknowledgment from whoever held Carol. They dragged her, helpless from the chamber. Liliana watched the dimly lit hallway as Carol was forced to move forward. She read each sign on each door. Machine Room 3, Boiler, Packaging, Shipping. Carol was dragged for several minutes. A sign over each door bore the acronym IPS.

  “We should put that bag back on her, if Bartus returns and sees that it was removed, he'll blame us.”

  “The Master took it off, let him deal with it,” the other voice grumbled.

  “I won’t be the one to set them against each other,” the first said.

  “Whatever, do what you want,” the second said.

  “I always do!” the first voice said. It laughed with a terrible sadistic chuckle that was abruptly cut short as blackness descended over Carol’s field of vision.

  The intense link that Liliana had with Carol’s consciousness was instantaneously severed. The room around Liliana came back into focus as Liliana sunk the rest of the way onto the ground and curled into a fetal position. The tears of guilt, grief, pain, and loss wracked her as she huddled on the floor. Time passed by in the eternity of the Tweens. When Liliana had cried herself out, she allowed the quiet tranquility of the empty home to drag her thoughts back to the reality of the moment.

  She had been searching for Carol nonstop since the guide had been sent to Earth. This lost charge that had been taken from her care had become a fixation. She had been staying in Carol's home but the place Carol had last been seen was not willing to give up the secrets of whatever it witnessed.

  But now things were different. Liliana had suspected something had happened to Carol, but she had no possible explanation or idea of what that event could have been.

  This intense reconnection could only mean Carol had been taken against her will by whatever strange creatures that now held her captive. Could the bag the creatures had put back on Carol’s head block her connection to her charge? And why was the connection so much more intense when it was suddenly restored?

  Liliana did not have any of the answers. The only option was to return to the Council of the One and tell them about what she witnessed. After her last meeting with the ancient ones, her status in the council was almost nonexistent. Liliana wondered if they would even be willing to allow her to speak to them. She would once again be asking the Council to understand why she had failed to bring Carol to them. Would they allow her to share the memories of what had just happened to her? Would they believe her memories could be valid?

  A lump grew in Liliana’s throat at the familiarity of the situation dawned on her. She put her own charge in this same state of uncertainty. She convinced the council to doubt Carol’s claims about the strange evil on Earth. Rather than being her advocate, she tried to persuade the council to reject Carol’s claims.

  Liliana reprimanded herself: Get up and go to the Council. You alone are responsible to repair the damage you caused. Staying here and hiding won’t make that happen. You can't set things right unless you get up and find a way to get to your charge before any permanent damage is done. It is time to face the Council and to ask them to show me the consideration that I could not show my own charge, in hopes that I can find a way to help her!

  Chapter 16

  The four guides moved cautiously through the matter of Earth. After battling the scourge for hours their new enemy had scattered into the unsuspecting city. The mid-morning sun now illuminated the way as they hunted for the scourge.

  Amity crouched as she looked out from behind a clump of bushes. “Over here! I found some creatures hiding!” Her sweet voice sounded out of place as it betrayed the hidden scourge.

  “Wait for me, you don’t want to let them rush you,” said George. The two guides darted forward after the scourge creatures.

  “You should have kept running," Amity said. She grasped an entity's shoulders with both hands as it writhed to free itself. Accessing the thing’s innermost thoughts and emotions was natural for her but the horrific images that were contained within the Scourge creature were unnerving. She ripped past the brackish swarm of corruption in her haste to find the innermost purpose of the being. Witnessing the last remnant of humanity was all that was needed to end the creature’s existence. The residual particles of energy fell around her feet as she reached for the next entity. Beside her, George and Con
stance made short work of the other two scourge entities.

  “It's so unnatural. They were created to fulfill their parts for the greater purpose,” Christopher said. He approached his fellow guides with a look of apprehension.

  “It's unnatural, but it's not any of our doing,” George said.

  “I can feel them here; my missing charges!” Amity said. She wrung her hands in frustration.

  “I can feel some of them,” Constance admitted. "I also feel something else; there's this cloying, sick feeling that echoes back to me when I reach out to some others.”

  “Do you think you're feeling those that have become corrupted?” George asked.

  “I'm not sure. I know that something feels very wrong with some of them,” Amity said. "Plus there are so many Scourge. We broke up that nasty gathering at the park, but everywhere I look, there are more of these creatures. It makes me wonder how this many corporeals are wandering around with no human body."

  "I don't like it," George said. "They all came here in human form. Either something else is taking over so many bodies or the bodies are dead."

  "If they're all dead, then what returned to the Tweens in their place?" Constance asked.

  "Let's hope that if the bodies are dead they were empty of any entity," Amity said. "Perhaps the corporeals are merely being displaced, and then the abandoned body dies." She wiped her hands on her clothing with disgust.

  Constance scowled. "It's hard to say; the memories left within the things we have encountered are just jumbled impressions of horrific things, but the memories of losing their bodies are confused because they couldn't see or hear what attacked them."

  A slight electric crackle was the only announcement that Brendan had returned to the group. He halted in midair a few inches from the ground. “I hunted that last group for miles. They spread out. Elise and I could track them, but we weren’t sure that was the best way to address this. It seems that the Scourge presence on Earth is much worse than Carol described.” He ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it away from his face.