Knadyn: A Terraneu Novel (Book Six) (13 page)
Read Knadyn: A Terraneu Novel (Book Six) Online
Authors: Stormy McKnight
Keep reading for an
excerpt
The first in my new series:
Maliuth: The Reborn
One minute she was driving along, minding her own business and the next thing…wham!
She was being pulled into a bright light. Alea Wyatt was killed in a motor
vehicle accident. Her energy left sitting in the void waiting for something she
didn’t even know existed.
She couldn’t see her surroundings,
but there wasn’t a sense of panic or fear going through her, so that was a good
thing. All she felt was peace and calm. Into her mind popped the realization
that she was dead. The knowledge didn’t cause her pain or despair, it was just
a fact that she accepted. Her first thought beyond that was, why wasn’t she
freaking out? She was only thirty-eight years old. She had a long life left
ahead of her still. There must be something calming in this void to be keeping
her from screaming and ranting. She didn’t know how long she hovered there in
the stillness when she finally heard a voice.
“
Do you have unfinished business
?”
The question boomed out of nowhere with a hint of impatience.
“I don’t think so.” Taking a moment to think she had asked, “I guess that
would depend on what you consider ‘unfinished’…I mean there are a lot of things
I would like to see—”
There was a resounding sigh then the voice came back, “
That’s right you are Terran or as you call
yourself…human
.” She was suddenly flying through the light and landed with
a thud in a seat. “
Is this better
?”
Alea opened her eyes to see that she was in some kind of DMV hell. There
were thousands of small tables with paperwork on them as far as the eye could
see. She was shocked to note that not all of the occupants of the room and
their various seats were human. She noticed a large counting digital wheel with
the words “Now serving number” over it. The thing was turning faster than she
could keep up with and the number displayed was so large her mind couldn’t
fathom it. Turning to face the “woman” in front of her, she realized that
although humanoid, this creature wasn’t human.
“
Well. Is this better
?” She
could hear the woman’s words but the mouth didn’t move.
“Sure. Yes.” Alea had never been one to question authority or rock the
boat. If her food wasn’t prepared correctly, she ate it anyway. If someone
asked to take cuts in front of her in line, she always politely let them. Even
if that one person ended up being a family of twenty. She had always tried to
do the right thing. Therefore, even though this room was totally overwhelming
and hearing voices talking in her head wasn’t normal…she just said yes.
With a knowing smile, the creature held out a form, “
I am your Universally Appointed Afterlife social worker. I need you to
sign here.”
With a pointy finger along the pages her social worker
instructed,
“and initial here…here…and
here.”
“What am I signing?” Alea didn’t want to be rude, but she had always read
the fine print before signing anything. It was out of habit that she had
blurted the question and when her social worker looked exasperated, she almost
just started signing.
“
It is the release of our energy,
currently in your possession, back into the system.”
“Your energy? You mean this form of my body. Back into the system to
become what?”
“
To become what it is meant to
become.”
The woman said cryptically.
“What if I don’t want to sign?” she was stalling for time as her mind
processed what was going on.
“
You don’t really want to know
that.”
Upon hearing that warning, everything went away. Alea knew this was
what hell must be like. No sound, no hint of light…just a blank canvas of
nothing.
“Okay.” She whispered frantically, “I get it.” Then she was able to see
again and gave a sigh of relief.
“
It works every time.”
The
voice held a hint of gloating and Alea wasn’t amused. Before she could react,
there was a flash and a wild looking male stood there. He was tall and gangly
with messy black hair falling across his oversized eyeglasses.
With a quick look at his clipboard he muttered, “
Flaura. We have a huge bottleneck of Earth human’s and not one of them
has learned anything. How hard is it to use the energy they have been given
wisely?”
He looked Alea over with disinterest, “
The universe is clamoring for their energy. Why are you sitting here
with that one
?” He waved a hand at her. “
Does she meet minimum requirements or not
?”
“
I don’t know Florian. She is such
a…doormat.
” Before Alea could defend herself Flaura went on as if she
hadn’t just insulted her, “
Don’t you have
some Neutisians to process. I hear their star went supernova.”
Flaura gave
a longing look at Florian. “
I would be
happy to help with that
.”
“
They are going fast. You know how
advanced Neutisians were. Their energy is a prime commodity and all of the good
sectors are acting fast
.” Seeing the dejected look on Flaura’s face he
relented, “
Give this one her three days
and then come help. They are truly wonderful to process and your sector could
use a few Neutisians.”
Grabbing the pen, Flaura pressed it into her hand.
“Why are the Nutisans so great?” Alea held the pen tightly in her hand.
“
Neutisians,”
Flaura corrected,
“
were almost to energy level ten
.”
She replied as if that explained everything. At Alea’s blank stare, she just
sighed and added. “
Most
Earth humans are at a level three at the
highest, if that gives you any indication of the different levels of
advancement. Where Earth humans are prone to violence and closed-minded. The
Neutisians were…well, the opposite
.
I
have only ever gotten a few level ten’s in my sector, and none of those were
ever wasted on Earth
.”
Alea stared at the papers and at Flaura’s pointed look started signing
and initialing where the woman had requested. “There. I’ve done what you
asked.” She felt tears stinging in her eyes.
“
Don’t go all weepy on me.”
The
woman held out some type of tissue. “
I
forget how hard Earth humans are to process sometimes.”
Alea noticed the
tissue she was using had gone from white to purple where she had blown her
nose. For some reason this was amusing and she started laughing. This woman was
going to have a purple snotty tissue to remember her by. She bet a fancy
Neutisian couldn’t do that.
“
That’s better. Now you have a few
days to say good-bye and get any unfinished business out of the way. Look for
your next assignment sometime before the three days are up. If you are needed
before that, you will have to go early.”
Giving her a stern look Flaura
leaned closer. “
This part is important,
so pay attention.”
Alea turned her full attention to what Flaura was
saying. Emphasizing each word her social worker said, “
Whatever you do…do not miss your window! If you do…you will become a
lost particle and who knows how long that will take to retrieve you.”
“What is a lost particle?” Alea couldn’t help asking.
“What you call ghosts or spirits.
They failed to go through their window and if enough time passes, start to
think they are still alive. In most cases we find them, but sometimes the
energy fades to the point where they are stuck in the black void.”
Alea bit back a terrified gasp, “How will I know what I am looking for?”
she would do anything to avoid that black hell!
“You will. Just keep your eyes and
mind open.”
Flaura gave her a small smile
, “You held it together pretty well. For an Earth human you aren’t so
bad.”
With a flourish, she stamped the papers Alea had signed. There was a
flash of light and she swore she heard the faint sound of laughter as the room
she had been sitting in disappeared.