Free Seals by Kim Richardson Page B

wasn’t mortal anymore. She
wasn’t even an angel. There was no point in crying. All she could
feel was anger.
    “Kara?” asked David softly. “What’s going
on? What are those markings?”
    She opened her mouth to answer him, but her
voice wouldn’t come, and she cursed herself silently.
    “Did you know this would happen? Please,
tell me what’s happening to you,” he pleaded.
    When he saw the terror in her eyes, he
continued with a touch of humor. “I promise I won’t laugh, even if
you do look like you belong at the circus.”
    God she loved him. She wanted to smack him
for the last comment, too, but she just loved how he always tried
to make her laugh in sensitive situations. She didn’t deserve such
a good friend. But all that would change when she’d turned into a
monster. Would she even remember his face?
    David moved around her, but she kept her
face hidden with her hands.
    “Is that why you’ve been wearing gloves?
Because of this? There are more of these veins, aren’t there? If
it’s on your face now, then it’s all over your body, too. Your
secret is out, Kara. You can’t hide anymore. Tell us. Tell us
what’s going on.”
    David wasn’t accusing her in any way. He was
surprisingly cool and comforting.
    Finally, Kara pulled her hands away from her
face. She longed for some tears, god how she longed for a really
good cry. She nodded slowly, still unable to speak. She pulled her
gloves off and felt the others watching her. She was inflicted with
an incurable disease. She was corrupted, and it would only get
worse.
    She tossed the gloves on the ground and
raised her hands for all to see, but she didn’t look at them. She
was afraid that they would be disgusted with her, and she was
ashamed.
    But what happened next, she didn’t
expect.
    Instead of looks of repulsion and fear, they
looked at each other and then tackled her into a group bear
hug.
    It was too much.
    Kara’s lips wavered. Her knees were weak,
and she was barely aware of the little cry that escaped her lips as
her friends hugged her tighter. She could feel their love and their
loyalty. It was if they knew exactly what she needed. She needed
them, and she hugged them back.
    Finally, as everyone drew back, she found it
hard to look at them. They had never really shared such intimacy
before, not like this. But now she felt empowered because she had
the support of her friends.
    David still had his arms around her waist.
She raised her eyes to his he said with an impish smile, “Your body
could be covered in green scales for all I care. It doesn’t matter.
It won’t change how I feel about you.”
    Kara bit down on her bottom lip. She had
never expected him to make such a strong declaration of his
feelings in front of everyone. She knew her friends had figured out
how she and David felt about one another, but it had always been an
unspoken understanding. He had just never announced it in such an
affirmative way before.
    “You’re still my Kara.”
    Kara shook her head, “You’re
impossible.”
    Kara couldn’t help herself. She burst out
laughing and pushed him away playfully. Her smile was as wide as
the fields. She couldn’t find the right words to thank them. Maybe
she didn’t need to.
    “Well, the knight is definitely gone,” said
David. “Our chances of finding him now don’t look so great. He’ll
know we’ll be looking for him, and he’ll make it harder for us to
find him, I guarantee it.”
    Kara’s smile faded. “Maybe, but we still
need to find him. We’ll just have to look harder because he’ll need
to destroy a lot more crops and animals to break the seal. We’ll
follow the trail of death that follows him, and we’ll find him, I’m
sure we will. It’s only a matter of time. He couldn’t have gotten
too far even if he is supernatural.”
    As Kara surveyed the hectares of dead and
diseased crops and animals, she wondered what she would do when she
faced the knight again. Could she kill him without