Read Horizon, Soul Guardians Book 3 for Free Online Page B

could see that the cave
appeared to go for miles in each direction, with twists and turns
as other adjoining tunnels disappeared into shadow. And in the
distance, Kara could hear the faint sound of drips that she hoped
was water and not something else. The air was hot and heavy, and
Kara couldn’t wait to get out.
    A sucking sound reached her ears.
Suddenly, Kara was hit in the chest by a strong force, and she
crashed onto the ground. Weight pinned her down. She blinked and
looked up into David’s smiling face.
    “ Hey babe. This is a bit
fast for a first date—but I don’t mind.”
    “ Oh, please!” Kara rolled
her eyes, but she couldn’t help the smile that reached her lips.
David’s weight felt awfully good to her, and part of her didn’t
want him to move. But she didn’t want the others to see her in this
compromising position.
    “ Get off me!” She pushed
David off of her just in time to see Peter and Jenny crash land
beside them in a sticky mess.
    “ What took you guys so
long?” Kara fought with the gooey substance in her hair. She gave
up after a while, since the more she pulled, the worse it
got.
    “ This is disgusting!
What is this
place?” Jenny jumped to her feet and looked around. She made a
face. “It’s like a giant meat grinder. And it smells
disgusting.”
    David picked at the wall with his
blade and cut off a piece of decayed tissue. “Figures why Zadkiel
would pick this place of all places to hide. He always did smell
rotten. He probably feels right at home in this palace of flesh
jam.”
    Kara watched Peter adjusting his
glasses. He opened his palm to reveal a small floating red
orb.
    “ Can you read anything in
here, Peter?” asked Kara, and she waddled up to him. Her boots sank
further into the red mess.
    “ Can you tell where my
mother’s soul is? Can you pinpoint a location for it?” She felt her
nerves prickle inside of her body. There was no way of knowing if
her mother’s soul was still intact and unharmed. Zadkiel could have
destroyed it long ago, and it pained her to think about
it.
    Peter’s eyes were fixed on the orb for
a moment. He moved a trembling hand to face the orb towards the
south part of the tunnel. The light dimmed inside the orb, as
though controlled by a dimmer. He then brought the orb slowly
around in a circle until it shone a little brighter. He looked up.
“It’s that way. I’m sure of it. I’m picking up faint traces of your
mother’s soul energy. But I’m picking up something else too.
Something’s interfering with the readings. But I can’t make out
what it is. Could be demons—or new breeds.”
    Kara sighed in relief. Her mother’s
soul was here, in this horrible meat cave. But there was still the
matter of the archangel Zadkiel. She had witnessed his show of
power at the council earlier. He wouldn’t make it easy for her, she
knew, but she would find it nevertheless.
    “ How long do we have until
the Rift closes, Peter?” asked Kara, and she looked at a rippling
part of the flesh wall she guessed was the rift’s
source.
    Peter pursed his lips. “About … twenty
minutes … maybe more, maybe less.”
    “ Then we don’t have much
time.” David wiped his blade on his jeans and then pointed towards
the tunnel. “Just more walls of cooked ham. Nothing to it.” He
stalked along the walls, his boots making loud suction noises as he
pulled them out and pushed them in, again and again.
    Kara glanced down the eerie tunnel.
The cracks and pops of falling flesh were nauseating. Its sickly
red walls made the hairs on the back on her neck stand up. Evil
lurked here. She felt it in her being. Kara reached into her jacket
and drew out a soul blade. The silver dagger reflected the red from
the walls. It looked more like a blood dagger now than a soul one.
She brandished it before her.
    “ We can’t underestimate
Zadkiel. He was clever enough to fool the council all these years.
Who knows what he’s capable of? And what he’s already done.