Veiled by Silvina Niccum Page A

auras. It was hard to have confidence and hope
in anything down here. I was in the lead, groping in the dark
toward the spot where I saw the auras from above.
    “ Are you sure we are going
in the right direction?” whispered Nancy cynically, from somewhere
behind me.
    “ We should have landed
right in between all three of them. We’ll see at least one of them
soon,” I said, ignoring her rudeness. I knew I wasn’t the best with
directions, but I saw the glowing auras from above, and I knew that
we landed near them. “Wait! I think I see something! This way, stay
close we don’t want to separate,” I ordered.
    “ Oh, it’s you,” I couldn’t
hide my disappointment, and Richard couldn’t hide his
relief.
    “ Hey! What are you guys
doing here?” Richard said in a stupidly nervous manner.
    “ We are looking for Max
and Celeste,” Russell said, as he moved in front of me, not to
shield me from Richard so much as to shield Richard from me. “Do
you know where they are being held?”
    “ I don’t know…I was
talking to someone…then they left,” Richard said without concern.
“But I’m sure glad to see you guys here. I tried to look for those
spirits who brought us here; they wanted me to speak to some of
their friends…but I can’t seem to find them now.” He swished his
arm in front of him in a fruitless attempt at clearing the fog in
front of him. “But since you guys are here now…can I just come with
you?” he asked.
    It was easier to get mad
down here and he infuriated me so much at the moment that I was
ready to jump on him, but Russell instinctively stuck out his arm
to keep me back.
    “ Richard, you will have to
think a little harder about where Celeste or Max is, or you can’t
come with us,” Russell said in an unprecedented effort at keeping
his cool.
    Now Richard’s goofy look
disappeared and he looked truly nervous. “I…I told you, they left.
One minute we were all talking to those lovely spirits, and the
next thing I knew Max was gone and Celeste said something to me
about…well, never mind about that. But she left too. She just
turned and left, and you know how hard it is to see in this fog.
Please take me with you, don’t leave me here.”
    “ Can you at least tell us
in which direction she went?” I couldn’t see Russell’s face, but I
was sure that it took great strength to control his volatile temper
as he said those words.
    Richard looked alarmed for
a moment and with a shaky hand, promptly pointed to his
right.
    “ Are you sure?” Russell
said through gritted teeth.
    “ Ah…yes,” Richard said
trying to sound sure. I figured that there was a fifty-fifty chance
that he was right, but we didn’t have a lot of options at the
moment. Alex wrapped one arm around my shoulder as we moved in the
direction that Richard had pointed; it was his way of
congratulating me on holding my tongue.
    “ So can I come?” Richard
asked, but no one answered him. He must have taken our silence to
mean yes, because he not only followed us, but also talked the
entire time. He went on and on about his adventures with Celeste
and how much success they were having until he was invited here,
and was promised a large gathering for him to lecture to on the
advantages of mortal life under the First One’s rule, until two
different voices told him to “shut up” and then Valerie added, “or
you’ll be left behind again!”.
    I couldn’t see anything,
but I knew we were close, I could feel a familiar presence. I
raised my hand and the procession of spirits who followed me halted
behind me. All was silent for a moment, and then I slowly began to
hear them.
    They were nothing but mere
whispers, yet they carried the most vicious messages with the
vilest of feelings and thoughts with them. I couldn’t hear the full
message, just isolated words—nothing…worthless…forgotten…useless—I
gathered in my strength and plunged myself forward and through the
spirits I knew were in front of