Life After: The Complete Series Page 6

“I appreciate the confidence.”

  “I think you know I have more than that.”

  Logan smiled. “That I do. Please pass my respects along to Lapidoth.”

  “I will.” And with that, she rose into the air and descended to her husband.

  What was all that about? My mind reeled with what she’d said. Was there something she knew that I didn’t? Could Logan help make sense of it? I was hesitant to share her words with him. What if I sounded silly or even arrogant? I was frozen in place while I considered it all.

  “Audrey!” Romona shouted. The sharp tone in her voice shook me out of my musings. “You need to come over now.”

  The clouds had drifted further apart. I groaned. I’d have to make a jump for it. Romona had taken my wings with her. Alrik was moving the table out of the way for me.

  “It’s now or never, Princess.”

  I took a deep breath and jumped. I landed without taking anyone, or anything, out.

  “Ha!” I shouted in glee.

  Alrik looked disappointed as he moved down so I could take the seat next to him.

  “Expecting another show, huh?”

  “Well, you have to admit, it was a pretty safe bet.”

  “Don’t listen to him, Audrey, it was a very graceful leap,” Kevin came to my defense.

  “Thank you, Kevin, that’s very nice of you to say.”

  I gave Alrik another smug look before turning my attention to the desserts on the table. They looked delicious. I was still full, but I started calculating how many of the brightly displayed treats I could stuff down before having to be literally rolled back to my room.

  The remainder of the evening was unexpectedly enjoyable and blessedly incident free. Kevin and Romona went out of their way to bring me into the conversation, especially since most of their talk went far over my head. Alrik kept us entertained with outrageous stories of his adventures in the afterlife, most of which I had a hard time believing. I insisted on meeting his pet polar bear if he truly had one.

  Logan was pleasant enough. He did a decent job giving off an air of relaxation, participating in the conversation, laughing, or chiming in at the appropriate times—but more than once I caught a remote look in his eyes. That seemed to be the trick with Logan. He could expertly mask the rest of his face, but the eyes were his tell. I couldn’t stop myself from casting curious glances his way when I thought no one was paying attention. He was too deep in his own mind to notice, although I think Alrik might have caught me once.

  After that I only turned Logan’s way if he was addressing everyone, but my mind wandered to him and Deborah. It wasn’t long before I caved.

  “So Logan,” I began when the other three were preoccupied, “you know Deborah and LD?”

  “Not well,” he answered, barely looking in my direction.

  “That’s odd,” I said, “you sounded pretty acquainted. You must have made an impression?”

  Logan causally turned toward me. He sounded blasé but took the opportunity to capture my gaze with his steely blue eyes. “I would guess she remembers all of her prophecies.”

  There was a pause the span of exactly three heartbeats before I could answer.

  “Her what?”

  “Prophecies,” he repeated. “Deborah is a prophetess.”

  I was stunned into silence as my brain raced to digest the news and jogged over her words again. Purpose . . . plans . . . things looking the darkest . . . trusting the right people. Could her words have carried more importance than just friendly advice?

  Logan’s eyes were clear and intense as he waited for my response.

  “Prophetess—like a fortune-teller?” I squeaked out.

  He shook his head. “Not even close, although I can see why you might think that. The title has gotten distorted over time. Prophetess was more of a title for a leader in her time. But she’s gifted to see some of our destinies as well.”

  “So she is like a fortune-teller.”

  It was disturbing how conversational Logan was being about this subject. Almost flippant.

  “No, she’s not. The fortune-tellers like you are thinking of are either frauds or getting their information from a dangerous source. If the latter, whether they’ve spoken truth or not, I can promise you their words are not for our benefit. It’s extremely unwise to mess with fortune-tellers. The things pulling their strings are motivated only to mislead.”

  “What ‘things’ are pulling their strings?”

  “Demons.”

  “Why would they want to do that?” My throat was suddenly dry.

  He answered with a level gaze and deliberate words. “Because they’re looking to destroy humans. They hate us.”

  His words hung in the air for a time.

  “We’re the recipients of God’s unconditional love, not them. It’s part of what happened to turn them into demons in the first place. With how flawed we are, they didn’t think we deserved that love. They became angry and bitter at God for giving His love to such unworthy beings. So to get back at Him, they’ve devoted their existence to destroying as many of us as possible.”

  I swallowed past the dryness coating my throat. “How could what happens to ordinary people get back at God?”

  “Destroyed lives, denying His existence, hurting each other, all that pain people endure yet still refuse to turn to Him for help—it all hurts Him. He cares. It was never intended to be like that. And someday it won’t be anymore, but this is what we deal with now. That’s the small part that we hunters play. We go back to Earth to protect people from the demon’s influence. There’s a battle raging that most aren’t even aware of. A battle for souls.”

  “But what about free will? Aren’t people just going to do what they want anyway?”

  “Of course, but by keeping demons away from people, we’re protecting their minds from influence. Anyone hell-bent on doing wrong is going to find a way to do it.” Some dark emotion flashed across Logan’s eyes. “Demons don’t have the power to force anyone to do anything.”

  “If they don’t have the power to force anyone to do what they want, then why are we interfering at all?”

  “You’re underestimating the power of suggestion. Just because they can’t force someone to do what they want doesn’t mean they aren’t very effective at manipulation and deception. And I’m not even talking about the people who purposefully invite them in.” Logan let out a strong, low whistle. “Those demons are buried in so deep it’s like trying to dig out a tick.”

  The idea was repulsive. “Why would anyone ever do that willingly?”

  Logan held up his hand and started to count reasons off with his fingers. “Power, greed, selfishness, loneliness, acceptance, or because they simply don’t realize what they’ve opened themselves to. Pick one. It happens all the time for many different foolish and selfish reasons.” There was a bitter bite to Logan’s words. They chilled me. I wanted to get back on topic.

  “So Deborah told me my destiny?”

  Logan shrugged a shoulder like he was done with this conversation. “How should I know? I don’t know what she said to you.”

  “Hey lovebirds!” Alrik shouted. “What ya chirpin’ about over there?”

  Logan rolled his eyes. “Nothing interesting.”

  Ouch.

  The conversation digressed from there, and I pretended to listen to the others as I wondered about the repercussions of tonight’s revelations. Demons, angels, prophetesses. I didn’t think the afterlife could get any weirder, but I was wrong.

  6

  Over the River and Through the Woods

  “Wow, he’s out for blood today,” Romona said as I joined her outside the gym. Inside, Logan glared at me. I ignored him. He’d called it quits for the afternoon in exasperation after I spent a good portion of the time picking myself off the padded floor.

  “You’ve been here a while?” I guessed.

  “Not too long. Hard day today?”

  “Ha, you don’t know the half of it. I’m sta
rved. Want to grab something to eat? We skipped lunch.”

  “You skipped a meal?” Romona’s brows furrowed in concern, and she cast a dark look at the gym door. Logan was throwing knives at the wall for target practice. He needed to get a life. Or at least an afterlife. He spent too much time in that gym.

  “Yeah. I accidentally slept in this morning, and a grueling workout paired with no lunch was Logan’s way of getting back at me. At least, that was the second half of his evil master plan. The first involved getting woken up by a pitcher of water. I thought I was drowning.”

  “What? Logan went to your room and poured water on you?” She seemed genuinely appalled.

  “Yep. Speaking of, is there any way I can get a lock put on my door?”

  In the three last weeks, I’d gotten a little stronger and gained a bit more endurance. I had to—Logan was making every day a meat grinder. Our relationship had a few ups and downs but generally hadn’t gotten any friendlier, and my skills were nowhere close to what he wanted. The other hunters and trainees weren’t too bad, and I had made a few friends. But I still hated it here. The feeling that I didn’t belong with this group hadn’t dissipated. Whenever I mentioned it to Logan he would bark platitudes about everyone’s assigned jobs, sometimes even while complaining about my progress.

  Romona was still fixated on the water incident. “I can’t believe he did that. Logan’s too disciplined to pull something like that.”

  A snort escaped me.

  “And there’s really no excuse for not letting you eat lunch. That’s not safe.” She glanced back at the gym door, her face a mix of concern and calculation.

  “Hey, well, I’m okay now. Let’s just go get something to eat.” I grabbed her arm and tugged her down the hallway. I didn’t need Romona fighting my battles. Especially not with Logan, who I expected would be twice as hard on me for it. I considered heading to the locker room to clean up but was too famished to bother. Romona would just have to put up with my stink.

  Romona and I were practically inseparable by now. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly how it had happened. She simply seemed to be there all the time, and I certainly didn’t mind the company. She had a quiet strength about her. And as an added perk, she knew everyone. I’d probably met half the other hunters during our lunch breaks alone. She had a way about her that made you feel she truly cared. That was a deeper comfort to me than I would admit.

  There were times when I felt a black hole of bitterness welling up deep inside me. I wasn’t even sure where it came from, but its intensity scared me. Romona always seemed to be able to sense it, and she would offer wise and calming words. Perhaps it should have been intimidating to be around someone who always appeared so peaceful and put together, but it was a soothing balm to my soul.

  To see her agitated over something as small as a skipped meal was new.

  “So what’s up?” I prodded to regain her attention.

  “Oh.” She gave herself a visible shake and offered an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that. I was waiting to ask you about your day off tomorrow.”

  “Huh?” My plate was already loaded with food, its aroma teasing me. Now I was the one having difficulty paying attention.

  “You know, our day off training.”

  “We get days off?”

  She laughed. “Of course we do. We get them off whenever we need them, and usually one every seven days. I noticed how hard Logan’s been training you.” She let out a huff. “Let me guess. That’s something else he forgot to mention?”

  “I think he was more focused on the retribution he was going to dish up today. That’s great, though. I could use a day off.”

  “That’s what I was thinking. I wondered if you might want to go hiking? You’ve mentioned that before.”

  I looked up. Windows ran from floor to ceiling in the cafeteria where most hunters ate, letting in a plethora of light and a view of the distant mountains. She was right. The need to explore was strong. An innate part of me knew there was something out there worth searching for.

  “Yeah, that’d be great,” I said around mouthfuls of food.

  “Perfect! Leave everything up to me. I know just the spot.”

  I woke the next morning thrilled to be going somewhere other than the training center. I’d been dead for weeks now and had hardly seen anything past the bland walls of the training center and gym. Romona had said it was good to ease into some things, but that obviously didn’t include training. Logan had pitched me in the deep end immediately.

  This morning was different. Today I wasn’t going to get bumped and bruised by my own mentor. Today I wasn’t going to throw on ugly workout clothes and sweat through them within the first hour. Today I wasn’t going to feel like the task I was undertaking was too big, too hard, and too impossible to handle. Today the black hole wasn’t going to get me. Something bubbled inside my chest that said today anything was possible.

  I started my morning routine with a bounce in my step. My only moment of hesitancy was when I stood in front of my closet, unsure of what to wear. I finally pulled out some jean shorts and a light blue T-shirt, plus a pair of brown and blue sneakers. My first instinct was to pull my hair up in a ponytail, but I decided against it since I was always forced to wear it back in training. I left it cascading down my back and shoulders instead. It was likely to make me hot if the hike was strenuous, so I stretched a ponytail holder over my wrist just in case. With that I was out the door.

  I was supposed to meet Romona near the ice skating rink. I watched as snowflakes appeared about twenty feet above the skaters and floated lazily down to the icy surface. People materialized hats, gloves, coats, and scarves as they stepped on the ice. A group of kids skated together in a swarm with their heads tilted up and mouths open as they tried to capture snowflakes on their tongues.

  “I’ll bet you loved skating.” I hadn’t heard Romona join me.

  “How do you figure?”

  “By the look on your face. I think this is the most peaceful I’ve seen you.”

  “Hmmm.” It was something to consider, but until I got my memories back there was no way to truly know. “So what do you have there?” I asked, pointing to the two bulging backpacks placed at her feet. She handed one to me with a smile.

  “I’m making you work for your food today!”

  “I wouldn’t want it any other way. Which way are we headed?”

  “That way.” Romona lifted a hand and pointed toward the mountain range. My smile grew. I’d wanted a closer look at those mountains since the first time I laid eyes on them.

  “I thought you might like that. They’re even more beautiful up close.”

  “I’m looking forward to seeing that for myself.”

  Romona motioned with her head. “Great, let’s go!”

  We left the rink and headed toward the forest in the other direction from where I lived. Here the trees were denser, but not nearly as large. I imagined Hansel and Gretel picking their way over the vine-and-moss-covered ground, leaving breadcrumbs to find their way home. With no clear path to follow, I had the urge to start dropping markers ourselves. I was glad for Romona’s experienced company. I could easily have become lost for lifetimes in those trees.

  The deeper we traveled, the heavier my feet felt as they stuck to the soggy forest floor, making suctioning sounds with every step. The smell of rotting leaves and dank mushrooms permeated the air. On a few occasions I heard scampering in the thick canopy above our heads, but there was never anything there when I looked up. I followed close behind Romona, not wanting to lose her in the low light.

  “Man, this is intense.” We hadn’t spoken much since entering the tight foliage.

  “Yes, I know. It’s what’s on the other side that makes it worth picking through this mess.”

  I cast a weary glance up at the tangle upon tangle of branches above us. “It’s going to have to be pretty amazing to warrant enduring this.”

  “Well, I guess you can tell me for yourself . . . I t
hink we’re finally through.”

  I’d missed the growing brightness in front of us while I concentrated on the underbrush that constantly snagged my feet. As if on cue, my foot caught on a root and my body jostled forward the moment I tried to make out what lay beyond the tree line. I braced myself on a moist trunk to keep from falling. My hands came away with brown and green mossy residue. Yuck. I scrubbed them against my shorts before moving forward.

  It was a few more slow-moving minutes before we broke free from the forest to stand on the edge of a rolling meadow of vibrant red and yellow flowers. I blinked against the sudden brilliance, and the sweet fragrance of the flowers swept away the smell of decay behind us.

  “Wow.”

  “That was pretty much my first reaction as well. It is beautiful, isn’t it? They’re tulips. They bloom all the time here. They aren’t the most fragrant of flowers, but where there are so many of them like this, the smell is lovely. We’re not stopping, though, just headed through to the foothills beyond.”

  From where we stood, the slight undulation of the meadow cut off whatever lay beyond and made it appear that the tulips continued indefinitely.

  Free of the narrow forest path, we could finally walk side by side. I cautiously treaded through the radiant plants. Romona giggled beside me.

  “What exactly are you doing?” she asked. “Trying out a new walking technique?”

  “No, the flowers are so pretty I’m trying not to step on any of them,” I answered with a knee in the air and arms spread out for balance. “But it’s hard because they’re so close together.”

  She laughed again. “It’s really okay. Look.” She stepped in front of me and crushed a few soft tulips under her foot.

  “Oh, come on, I was trying really hard not to do that!”

  “No, wait, watch this.” She lifted her foot, and the flowers sprang proudly back up. “You can step on them. It won’t hurt them at all.”

  “Oh, I see.” I felt a bit foolish for my high-stepping. “I just didn’t want to ruin them or anything. They seem so perfect.”