Chapter fourteen
Karen stepped from the tube train onto the cold, sticky underground platform. Her bare feet miraculously avoided lumps of phlegm and hardened chewing gum that marked the pre-war tile floor. The bustling, agitated crowd crushed toward the exit archways, moving past Karen but never bumping or touching her. Indeed, no one came within arm's length. She walked on as if encased in an invisible bubble.
The screech of metal from the parallel platform indicated the arrival of another train and a dry, warm wind blew through the tunnel. She wrinkled her nose at the foul breeze, repeating a mantra under her breath that kept the wind-riding spirits from causing her harm.
The throng of commuters heaved through the narrow tunnels, rushing to get to the exit above ground, and she let herself move with the tide.
She glided through the ticket booth, smiling benignly at the ticket collector on the open gate. He glanced up from his collection of stubs and looked into her eyes. He gasped. The air was punched from his lungs and his skin prickled white hot, her radiance enveloping him in one moment of exquisite enlightenment, until the light of her smile moved on and he was left with the loss of her. His groan was lost in the melee of noise and activity as he slipped into madness, the pure joy he had momentarily felt now ripped away leaving only the absence of that beauty, more terrible than any darkness.
Karen walked out onto the street, glanced up at the blue winter sky, petals of white cloud drifting past the skyline, then continued on her way to meet with the assassin at the nearby Starbucks cafe.