The Purgatory Saga #1: People of the Fire Read online

  “Well, pay attention to this,” Ebenezer bent over and leaned closer to me. His nose was pointier than mine. I frowned and rudely backed away.

  “You smell like smoke and garbage,” I muttered impolitely.

  Ebenezer scoffed. “Well then!” He shook his head and spoke quietly. “That egg is one of three special eggs. Such eggs were laid by no SoulBird, yet they will hatch into SoulBirds. They were sent by the Most High in Heaven, withholding the powers of the Godhead—the Father the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are destined to have powers over this world, and all the worlds in existence.”

  “Really?” I gave a jaded expression. “You’re saying these eggs will hatch into SoulBirds that can control this world?”

  “Perhaps….we dunno yet. Lucien, the Higher One, has received this dream, just like the Higher Ones of the other stages. Three SoulBirds are to come into this world, sent from the Most High. They will be referred to as the special Three. They are of no specific type—not air, not fire, not earth, not water. They will be their own species. The egg Gretchen has isn’t the egg of an earth, air, water, or fire type, so it’s possibly part of the Three.”

  I didn’t bother asking anymore questions. I was anxious to check on my egg right now.

  “You still have the one you stole, don’t you?” Said Ebenezer. “Tell me the truth, boy.”

  I frowned. “I don’t have no egg.” I lied. “I told you! Gretchen took it back.”

  Ebenezer narrowed his eyes and let out a disappointed growl. He rose up. “Fine then. I tell you—if bad things happen to this world because of that egg, it would be your own foolish fault.”

  He eyed me and I narrowed my eyes back. My headband steamed.

  He gave an awkward smirk. “You better make sure you know what you’re doing, boy. Don’t let the Higher One catch you.” His face twisted with disgust. “Trust me…you do not want to have anything to do with that spirit.” And with that, he picked up his pail and disappeared down the shadowy hallway.

  Ebenezer had left his broken sponge and his torn gloves on the floor. I chuckled and spit at them, and then turned around to head back to my dorm where I had hidden that egg.

  It felt so much lighter without that stupid ball! My ankles were so numb and my feet were ready to fall off, but I still ran, thinking about how powerful I could be with that egg. That egg could even help me recover my memory!

  Unfortunately, the dorm rooms were locked until sundown. So I spent the rest of the day waiting by the side of the building, leaning against the wall with my sullen expression hidden behind my dark shades. We had no breaks or lunchtimes. We were spirits, and we didn’t eat, drink, or poop, so I had nothing else to do when my punishment trials were over.

  I was too anxious to spray-paint anything, so I watched the rambunctious Mediums socializing around campus when classes had ended. I felt so distant from them. I had no friends, but I didn’t need any. I was already widely popular and respected by the Mediums. But even though I received lots of attention, I never found interest in hanging out with a group of people I’d like to call “friends.” Everyone was so obstinate. The High Ones were impetuous and disorganized, and didn’t seem to care about purifying our souls. So neither did we.

  The worst Medium of the academy was the jock named Damien Black, who had been a notorious felon when he was alive. He was another well-respected student like me, though he had his own group of horny, obnoxious friends who followed him like he was their king. He was tall, with slick, spiky dark hair. Even the women followed him. I’ll even admit that he was better looking than I was. He wasn’t buff, but he was lean with nice muscle. I was skin and bones.

  But like most of the spirits around this stage, Damien was coldhearted and a bully. He had a nasty devilish fire type SoulBird. Though he never bothered me, I could tell that he hated me with a passion. He was glaring at me with lust in his dark eyes. He never said anything to me, but it was only because I always stayed out of his way.

  I eyed him over the lens of my sunglasses. He and his friends used the foulest, dirtiest curse words in their conversation. I was used to hearing such language. I let it all sink into my burning, flaming head.

  Chapter Three-

  That night, I returned to my dorm. I stood at the left side of my bed and held the egg in my hands. It was comfortably warm. My eyes were glued to the glowing shells, and I was thinking about everything Ebenezer had told me. Was this egg as powerful as he said it was?

  “Puh,” I muttered. “If this piece of crap was sent from Heaven, it should help me regain my memory back.” God knew everything, right? Well, if this egg contained powers of the Godhead, it should somehow help me understand why I was here.

  But after staring at the egg for ten minutes, I placed it on the floor and fell back on my bed. “Stupid egg,” I mumbled. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

  Images flashed through my head. Familiar voices were ringing in my ears until I found myself sitting at a table in a beautiful golden room. My vision was rather blurry, but I was able to depict that there were people sitting across from me. There was a man, a woman, and a little girl, each of them appearing as a blur to my eyes. Though I could not see or hear them clearly, the sounds of their voices broke down the wall that had been blocking a portion of my memory. This was my family. I was with my mother, my father, and my little sister.

  “Mom! Dad!” I cried out to the blurry figures of the man and the woman, but they did not turn to face me. I waved my arms, but then I looked to my left and right and stopped waving. I couldn’t even see myself. I was completely invisible.

  And then my entire vision washed away.

  I woke up, panting, and felt my heart beating rapidly. The egg was glowing intensely next to me. “God…” I whispered. “What happened?”

  My window started to rattle. I looked up and saw that a flock of earth-type SoulBirds was standing at the sill, pecking at my window with their long, sharp beaks. Their tiny button eyes were wide and fixed upon the egg.

  I jumped out of my bed and held the egg tightly in my hands. I stared at the birds with a fierce scowl. What shocked me was that they were all angel SoulBirds. There was barely any sign of angelic SoulBirds around here, ever since the Higher Lucien had supposedly banished all the angelic High Ones and angelic SoulBirds. Almost everyone in the academy owned a devilish SoulBird for their soul-mate, which also accounted for the obstinacy of the spirits here. But these were all angelic. They had halos hovering above their heads, and their bodies were dimly glowing. They were all hopping at the same time, chanting a strange musical tone that seemed to be making the egg glow brighter.

  I felt the fire rise on my headband. I snatched a crowbar I had stolen from Ebenezer’s shack. I unlocked my window and swung the crowbar at all the birds. “Shoo! Go find something else to worship! This is my egg!” The startled birds screeched and flapped their tiny wings in the air.

  I swatted at the birds and hit a few with the heavy crowbar. The birds cried with pain and I hissed savagely as droplets of blood splashed into my eyes. They flew away and landed on the ground. I watched them dash away on their long, rapidly moving legs. I stared after them, panting angrily. Then I gazed at the golden egg in my hands. It was glowing brightly, and the yellow shining spot had swollen to cover almost half the egg now.

  Suddenly, I heard a meek squawk. I gazed down and then dropped the crowbar and the egg. Down below, one of the angelic SoulBirds was lying motionless with the back half of its body smashed flat as a pancake. Blood surrounded the little bird. As I looked down at the SoulBird, I noticed that its angelic glow had faded around its body. The light of its halo had gone out. I widened my eyes with shock, and dropped my crowbar with disbelief. I just killed a SoulBird—an angel SoulBird. I looked around with horror to make sure no one was watching. The SoulBird can’t be dead. Spirits don’t die! It must be unconscious.

  “Oh, hellfire,” I gasped. My heart was racing.

  “Ahem!” I looked up to face a glowing spirit
of a woman who was hovering in the air. She was staring at me with a cold stern face. “You…..idiot!” Her voice was sharp and edgy, a lot like St. Gretchen’s. Her thin face was blazing red. She had silver shining hair that was wrapped up in a tight bun, and she was dressed in a dark gown. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. She had a halo and a pair of silver wings. She must be an angel.

  “You’ve abused an angelic SoulBird! You just disgraced a spirit from Heaven,” she spoke tartly. She lifted her hand and pointed at me with long, skinny, wrinkled fingers. “Zachariah Ezekreth,” addressed the lady with spite, “what do you have to say for yourself?”

  I blinked and said nothing for a moment, and then frowned. “What? Why should I give a crap about some stupid bird? It wasn’t my soul-mate.”

  “Gah!” The lady raised her head to the sky and angrily shut her eyes. She started muttering to herself. Then she looked into my eyes. “I didn’t introduce myself, didn’t I? Ahem! You may call me Saint Grenada.”

  “Are you the spirit that was inside the SoulBird down there?”

  “No, idiot!” She leaned closer to me and narrowed her eyes. “Zachariah Ezekreth,” a chill ran down my spine. She knew my name. “I’ve been watching you struggle. Apparently, you don’t like it down here don’t you? Well, you’ve been very naughty, Zachariah. But now you have gone too far. The Lord has finally allowed me reveal myself to warn you of the trouble that lies ahead of you, for I am your guardian.”

  I raised my eyebrows and then laughed. “Oh, please. I have a guardian?”

  “I’ve been your guardian since the moment you were born on Earth,” she was scowling with rage. “And as a matter of fact, you were so troublesome that I needed four other guardian angels to assist me.” She crossed her arms and raised her chin. “It’s too bad the Higher One has desecrated this land now. Or else the other guardians and I could have stopped you from behaving like the horrendous spirit that you’ve become.”

  “Well, I’m sorry I’m so useless in the afterlife,” I said with a frown. “I’m probably just as useless as I was when I was alive. God should have never let me exist.”

  “What?! Oh, you foolish spirits of Purgatory! I wonder what the Hell creatures are like!”

  I rolled my eyes and looked down with shame. “Why don’t you go see for yourself? It probably won’t be hard for you to find your way in.”

  “Bah! How ‘bout I send you there right now so you can do it for me?!”

  Beside me, the egg shone brightly and reflected in her face. Saint Grenada winced and snorted. “Hmph! Fine then! As your guardian, I must do what I came here to do. You’ve just committed such an unacceptable act in the afterlife, and you will pay heavily for it. You also have that valuable egg in your hands,” she eyed the golden egg. "Ugh…something tells me that the egg isn’t happy about what you’ve done either. I fear for you, spirit. We shall meet again—we’re going to have to.”

  And then she was gone.

  As soon as she was out of sight, I immediately rushed out of my room and raced out of the dorm. I scooped up the SoulBird’s body and then headed around the building where the dumpsters were. I opened one of the dumpsters and tossed the SoulBird inside.

  “Take that, Grenada!” I snickered. “Now the SoulBird is back where it belongs!” I turned around to head back to my room, but then I stiffened with shock. The golden egg was settled four feet in front of me, next to a bush.

  How had that happened?! I had left it in my room! I dropped the lid of the dumpster, and it banged shut.

  “Hey, did you hear something?”

  I gasped at the voice. Over the bushes, I could see Cain heading my way with his fire SoulBird on his shoulder. I cursed and stood up straight. Cain was one of the most hated Mediums in the academy. The other spirits in our class were so vile toward him because he was harmless and unusually polite. His fire SoulBird, Pete, was his only companion.

  It wasn’t long until the both of them saw the glow in the shadows and noticed me.

  “Hey! Zach! It’s you!” Cain was looking at my direction.

  “Oh, great,” I stepped in front of the egg, but it was no use. He had already noticed it.

  Cain hurried up to me and then gasped. “No way! Dude, you have the missing—”

  “Shut it,” I hissed savagely. I picked up the egg and bent down to look into his eyes. The egg shone under my chin and accentuated my threatening glare. “If you tell anyone about this egg, I swear, I can—”

  “Hey, I never said I would tell on you,” said Cain, holding his hands in front of him and taking a step back. His fire SoulBird ruffled its feathers at me. “I’m actually quite curious about the importance of that egg, and I’m glad you have it with you right now. I can probably give you more information about SoulBirds so that we could both figure out the significance of that golden egg.”

  I raised my eyebrows. Cain was smart. He was the smartest guy in our class, which was another reason why he was always picked on. I always pictured the guy becoming a successful angel in Heaven one day. He was my opposite in every way—he was short, book-smart, and polite. He never got in trouble—at least, not on purpose. I always wondered why he ever ended up at the bottom of Purgatory with the rest of us.

  But I did not want to be seen with this spirit. It would make me look like a sore loser, just like he was. “Listen, just shut up and stay out of my way.” I leaned down so that I was staring at the shorter spirit straight in the eye. “Don’t say anything about this egg to anyone. If you want to learn anything about this egg, go steal one for yourself. There’s still two more out there.”

  Cain took a step back. He met my gaze carefully. “Um…okay. Suit yourself.”

  I glared at him for another moment, and then stepped around him. I didn’t look back as I carried the egg back to the dorm. I felt rather perturbed about my encounter with Grenada. That wretched angel claimed that she had watched me as a mortal on Earth. If she was telling the truth, she could be very useful to me. But I kept quiet and thought sulkily about what I had just done. I had destroyed a SoulBird—an angel SoulBird. I was probably going to deserve the upcoming punishment, before I could do anything useful with this egg.

  I felt like a complete mess the next morning I woke up. The sound of Gretchen’s cawing SoulBird nearly made my head explode. I groaned and struggled to sit up. My eyes were sticky and wet, and everything was a blur. Only the golden egg was clear enough for me to see.

  My arms shook as I reached for the egg beside my bed. I held it close to my chest and rasped, “Urgh…I feel like crap. What’s happened? Did you give me a nightmare? Did you send Grenada to rape me?” The egg was intensely warm now. I started to feel even worse.

  I struggled to make my way to class. It took me ten minutes to leave the dorm building, walk across the campus, and enter the lecture halls to find my classroom.

  “Zach!” I heard Cain calling my name, but I didn’t turn around. I must have looked like a zombie as I continued to make my way through the crowds to avoid the short man.

  By the time I had settled into my seat in the High Donner’s class, I felt like I had a fever. As soon as High Donner announced that the Higher Lucien was arriving to collect the egg today, I leapt out of my seat and rushed out the door, ignoring the High Donner’s call. I stumbled through the hallways, feeling like a nauseous zombie. I could barely see where I was going. What in the world had that egg done to me?! Was this my supposed to be my punishment?

  I managed to find a sink at the end of the hallway. I purged into the sink in front of me. It took about five minutes before I came to the point to where I couldn’t throw up anymore. I backed away from the sink as my vomit started to sizzle and boil. I raised my eyes to gaze at myself in the mirror. I didn’t know why some girls were so crazy about me. I was skin and bones. My arms hung limply from my dirty, bedraggled shirt, and they were covered with scars. My face looked flushed and terrible. I opened the door and stepped out of the bathroom, and collapsed. I landed on my kne
es and then fell on my chin. The fire was sizzling on my head again. I could hear Saint Grenada’s voice scolding me, but I was too dizzy to understand what she was saying.

  Suddenly, droplets of water splashed on the back of my head. Someone was passing me, pushing a pile of cleaning gear on a rolling platform. It was the janitor, Ebenezer. And something was glowing from his cleaning gear. It was the golden egg.

  Immediately regaining full consciousness from the sight of the egg, I rose to my feet and crept toward the janitor. He made his way into an elevator. Frowning, I turned and ran down the stairs and found him in the lobby room. He made his way to the exit of the building, and I ran up behind him. I gave him a strong shove and he fell forward into his cleaning gear. Ebenezer yelled in confusion, and I immediately took the egg that was in an empty pail. I dashed across the campus with my heart racing. The Higher One was coming today. I was going to sneak this egg back in Gretchen’s office so that when she handed it to the Higher One, it could hatch in his hands like he was expecting. I ran toward her building, and then collided with another spirit.

  “Watch it, you—” I was just about to curse at the spirit’s face, but then I stood still. I had bumped into Damien Black. He and his gang of obnoxious friends were blocking my path.

  “Wattup there, Zachy? Why the rush?” Damien stepped forward with a smirk on his face. His eyes were fixed upon the golden egg as it started to vibrate in my arms.

  A beam of light suddenly shot forth from the egg, and hit Damien in the eyes.

  “Hey! What the hell?!” Damien jerked his head away from the light. His fire SoulBird squawked at me with fury. “What’s that? You’ve got the principal’s egg, don’t you?” He faced me with a naughty smile.

  “Yup,” I replied simply. “Just waiting for the Higher Lucien to come now. Gonna show this to him and pretend Gretchen tried to steal it.” The idea suddenly came to me in my head. I didn’t want to look like a wimp and tell Damien that I was scared of keeping this egg around me any longer.