difference, no matter what happened.
Her plan forming in her mind, she got out her phone just as she felt the pull of a soul in the Veil. More powerful than usual, it was like a sharp tug from a rope wrapped around her spine. She dropped the phone and grasped the edge of her desk to steady herself. Then it happened again, harder this time.
Her phone began to ring. It was a general Psychopomps number. But just as she reached to answer, it stopped. And she felt another tug. Alarm growing, she pulled her Scope from her neck.
She paused. Was this it? Whatever was happening—was this the beginning of the end?
Stop it, she thought. That’s no excuse to stand still. Do your duty and stop thinking about yourself. She slipped a pair of flats on her feet, opened her Scope, and stepped into the Veil. Concentrating on the insistent tugs, she flipped the Scope and opened a portal to the soul calling to her.
What she saw on the other side was absolute mayhem. Here in the Veil, at least a dozen dead were rising from their fallen bodies, which were scattered in the real world outside the Psychopomps tower, some floating in the canal, some sprawled across the sidewalk. Stunned, Aislin stepped through the portal at the same time Declan came out of one nearby. Her brother cursed as he watched one of their human guards rise from his shadowy, headless body. “What the hell is going on?” he asked as Cacia stepped out of yet another portal several yards away.
Aislin squinted into the real world, because humans there appeared only as transparent apparitions to people in the Veil. Marked corpses lay everywhere, and fast-moving hunched shapes ran among them. As Aislin watched, one leaped toward a human getting out of an amphibious taxi and sank its teeth into her neck.
“Those are Shades,” Declan shouted. “They’ve escaped from the Veil!”
Galena stepped out of her Scope’s portal right next to him, and her green eyes went round as she took in the carnage. The Shades—and there were several of them—had already killed all the human Psychopomps guards and at least a dozen pedestrians. “How is this possible?” she asked as she opened a portal to Heaven for one of the dead guards. She pulled her Scope over his head even as she watched the Shades kill another shadowy man only steps away. “Don’t people have to be Marked to die?”
“They are Marked,” Cacia said in a high, uncertain voice, pointing to the Mark of death glowing orange on the man. “But where are the Kere?”
“Oh my God,” said Declan, grasping Aislin’s arm and pointing. “Look at that.”
Aislin obeyed, her eyes shifting to the Shade attacking a woman getting out of the taxi. With its arm wrapped around her neck, it slapped her chest, and when its skeletal hand fell away, there was a Mark, glowing stark and clear in the Veil. It examined its handiwork for a moment before wrenching the woman’s head from her body.
“The Shades,” Aislin said, disbelief making her numb, slowing everything down. “Someone’s turned them into Kere.”
“How is that possible?” Galena asked, moving aside so Declan could use his Scope to guide another guard to Heaven.
“Someone reached into their chests and took their souls,” Aislin explained. “That’s how a Ker is made.”
“We have to stop them,” said Declan.
Aislin looked over to see her brother open a portal to the real world. “Dec—”
“No, Aislin. I know someone might see us coming out of our Scopes, but—”
“Declan,” said Aislin. “I just wanted to say that I’m going with you.”
Declan shot her a look, and Aislin knew exactly what he was thinking. Her younger brother had always been a brawler, keenly physical in every way. Cacia was the same, never shying away from a fight. And Aislin was standing here in her cashmere sweater and tailored slacks, looking like she’d never gotten her hands dirty in her life.
“You don’t think I’ve ever chased a Shade through the Veil?”
Her plan forming in her mind, she got out her phone just as she felt the pull of a soul in the Veil. More powerful than usual, it was like a sharp tug from a rope wrapped around her spine. She dropped the phone and grasped the edge of her desk to steady herself. Then it happened again, harder this time.
Her phone began to ring. It was a general Psychopomps number. But just as she reached to answer, it stopped. And she felt another tug. Alarm growing, she pulled her Scope from her neck.
She paused. Was this it? Whatever was happening—was this the beginning of the end?
Stop it, she thought. That’s no excuse to stand still. Do your duty and stop thinking about yourself. She slipped a pair of flats on her feet, opened her Scope, and stepped into the Veil. Concentrating on the insistent tugs, she flipped the Scope and opened a portal to the soul calling to her.
What she saw on the other side was absolute mayhem. Here in the Veil, at least a dozen dead were rising from their fallen bodies, which were scattered in the real world outside the Psychopomps tower, some floating in the canal, some sprawled across the sidewalk. Stunned, Aislin stepped through the portal at the same time Declan came out of one nearby. Her brother cursed as he watched one of their human guards rise from his shadowy, headless body. “What the hell is going on?” he asked as Cacia stepped out of yet another portal several yards away.
Aislin squinted into the real world, because humans there appeared only as transparent apparitions to people in the Veil. Marked corpses lay everywhere, and fast-moving hunched shapes ran among them. As Aislin watched, one leaped toward a human getting out of an amphibious taxi and sank its teeth into her neck.
“Those are Shades,” Declan shouted. “They’ve escaped from the Veil!”
Galena stepped out of her Scope’s portal right next to him, and her green eyes went round as she took in the carnage. The Shades—and there were several of them—had already killed all the human Psychopomps guards and at least a dozen pedestrians. “How is this possible?” she asked as she opened a portal to Heaven for one of the dead guards. She pulled her Scope over his head even as she watched the Shades kill another shadowy man only steps away. “Don’t people have to be Marked to die?”
“They are Marked,” Cacia said in a high, uncertain voice, pointing to the Mark of death glowing orange on the man. “But where are the Kere?”
“Oh my God,” said Declan, grasping Aislin’s arm and pointing. “Look at that.”
Aislin obeyed, her eyes shifting to the Shade attacking a woman getting out of the taxi. With its arm wrapped around her neck, it slapped her chest, and when its skeletal hand fell away, there was a Mark, glowing stark and clear in the Veil. It examined its handiwork for a moment before wrenching the woman’s head from her body.
“The Shades,” Aislin said, disbelief making her numb, slowing everything down. “Someone’s turned them into Kere.”
“How is that possible?” Galena asked, moving aside so Declan could use his Scope to guide another guard to Heaven.
“Someone reached into their chests and took their souls,” Aislin explained. “That’s how a Ker is made.”
“We have to stop them,” said Declan.
Aislin looked over to see her brother open a portal to the real world. “Dec—”
“No, Aislin. I know someone might see us coming out of our Scopes, but—”
“Declan,” said Aislin. “I just wanted to say that I’m going with you.”
Declan shot her a look, and Aislin knew exactly what he was thinking. Her younger brother had always been a brawler, keenly physical in every way. Cacia was the same, never shying away from a fight. And Aislin was standing here in her cashmere sweater and tailored slacks, looking like she’d never gotten her hands dirty in her life.
“You don’t think I’ve ever chased a Shade through the Veil?”
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