Veiled Read Free

She turned and glided forward more
cautiously now. Her feet were hovering inches from the ground, and
as she moved, the folds of her robe passed through the solid mass
of the grotesque rocks that looked more like disfigured little
humans than mineral deposits. In front of us was a mesa that would
provide more cover than these rock goblins that surrounded
us.
    “ I’m not imagining this,
Celeste. I can tell when other spirits are near.” I warned her, but
she ignored me still.
    “ Shh, we are almost
there.” She hurried to the mesa, one of many on this planet’s soil,
and slowly hovered upward to peek over the top. Then she quickly
ducked down again, her face showed concern for the first time since
she dragged me along on this harebrained idea of hers.
    “ What! What did you see?”
I demanded.
    “ Boo!” the noise came from
the other side of the mesa, and it gave us both a start.
    “ You set us up!” Celeste
bellowed as she flew up, and in a flash was punching the airy
figures of Dorian and Russell. Alex was there too, but laughing his
head off as he floated on top of the mesa.
    “ Ouch! I almost felt that.
Do it again!” Russell laughed.
    “ Yeah… and she’s quick
too—look!” Dorian tried to get Celeste back, but she quickly
blocked all his attempts with her forearms.
    “ You think you are so
funny, don’t you? I can’t believe I fell for it; I should’ve known
that you guys wouldn’t leak information like this so casually,”
Celeste said good-humoredly.
    The three laughed again,
and Celeste began another round of punches.
    I shook my head. I should
have suspected this much; Alex and Russell were obsessed with
getting a look at an actual training session. They could scarcely
talk about anything else. And Dorian…well he was a prankster, so he
would be part of anything that involved a laugh.
    I looked over the mesa once
more; my initial feeling that we were not alone on that planet
hadn’t faded yet. If what I was sensing were not my clan members,
then who?
    I looked out and tried to
visually find the source of my unease, but saw none. One thing I
did know for sure: this planet was not being used by
Cherubs.
    “ What is it, Tess?” Alex
whispered, he had crouched right next to me and had positioned his
face so close to mine that if I had turned my face, we would have
touched noses.
    “ I’m not sure…” I told him
without turning my face. As of late Alex started doing these kind
of weird things, and I… let’s just say that something strange
happened to me every time I got near him. My thoughts got fuzzy and
I found it hard to remember what I was about to say. I could tell
that our relationship was changing and I wasn’t sure how to feel
about it.
    This time was no exception;
I was so caught up with trying to not turn my head that I forgot
was I was thinking. I tried to refocus my thoughts by shaking my
head, but this seemed humorous to Alex and he made that half smile
thing—when half his face smiles and the other half tries not to—but
fails. It was usually charming, or so I thought…but right now it
annoyed me, so I got mad.
    “ What’s so funny?” I said
without turning; because his face was still very close to
mine.
    “ You,” he said flatly
while moving away just a little bit. “Disarmingly so.”
    I wrinkled my nose with a
pretend sneer, but then that foreboding feeling came back even
stronger now. There were spirits out there and they emitted a weird
vibe—one that I didn’t like.
    “ You’re really seeing
something, aren’t you?” Alex looked back at the canyon, with a
serious look on his face.
    “ I can’t see them, it’s
more like sensing,” I explained.
    “ How does that work?” He
turned and leaned casually back, tucking his arms behind his head,
flashing another smile.
    “ What? Sensing?” I said,
finding it nearly impossible to focus.
    “ Yeah, it sounds…
interesting,” he said mockingly.
    I had no time for a
friendly banter with Alex because an