Life After: The Complete Series

by Julie Hall

  “Are you done?” His voice was even as usual.

  I slowly lowered my arm and willed myself to ignore the itch as I shuffled over to him.

  Logan didn’t wear gloves as he demonstrated a few basic punches for me. He moved slowly to demonstrate the correct stance and form, but the bag still swung violently when he connected.

  When he felt satisfied with his instruction, he let me take my turn. I wound up for my first punch and put as much power as possible into the hit. The bag barely groaned. My hand started to throb.

  “Oww! You didn’t tell me that was going to hurt!” I shook my hand out to alleviate the pain.

  His brows furrowed. “It’s not supposed to. That’s why you have the gloves on.”

  “Well, it totally did.”

  “That means you’re not doing it right.”

  I didn’t have a comeback. He was probably right.

  “Okay, then what am I doing wrong?”

  “Hmmm.” He took a moment to think about it. “Pretty much everything.”

  “Well, that was extremely helpful.”

  “It’s obvious you didn’t listen to anything I was saying.”

  “That’s so not true. I did exactly what you told me to.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Well, let’s see. Your stance was off, your arm was in the wrong position, and you didn’t have any follow-through.”

  “Wow, is that all?”

  “No.” Logan didn’t elaborate, but it looked as if he wanted to. His blue eyes blazed.

  We stared at each other in silence. I knew it was stupid, but something about him made me bristle.

  We were interrupted by another loud bang of the doors.

  “Oh, isn’t this cute? Staring deeply into each other’s eyes.”

  I flushed a few shades darker. Alrik was leaning one shoulder against the doorframe, grinning.

  “That is so not—” I sputtered.

  “Not a good time, Alrik,” Logan spoke up behind me.

  “Yeah, I can tell.” He barked out a laugh. “So, did she?”

  Logan was silent for a moment. “Yeah, right after the run.”

  “Ha!” Alrik looked extremely pleased with himself. “You can settle up with me later.”

  I gasped. “Excuse me? Am I hearing you right? Did you actually bet on whether I would throw up today?”

  Logan wouldn’t quite meet my gaze, but Alrik appeared to be having a dandy day. “Not quite if, hon, but when.”

  My blood pressure spiked. “Seriously?”

  Logan still refused to look me in the face—suddenly, repositioning the punching bag was really important to him. “I thought you’d last until at least after kickboxing.”

  Using my teeth to tug off my oven mitt of a boxing glove I chucked it at Logan’s head. To my utter annoyance, he caught it easily before it smashed into his face. I ripped the other one off and threw it at him too. He caught it just as effortlessly.

  “Oh, hey there, hon, don’t be so upset. We all do on our first day. It’s nothing personal,” Alrik said from the doorway.

  “Do you guys even care that I died, like, literally yesterday?”

  Finally Alrik, with shoulders hunched and downcast eyes, had the decency to look a little convicted.

  “We’re just trying to make you feel like part of the team.” He pushed himself away from the door frame. “Okay, okay, I can tell when I’m not wanted. I’ll let you guys finish whatever it was that I walked in on and get back to work. Don’t worry, Aud, the first day’s always the worst.”

  Then he looked over my head to address Logan. “Good luck with this one. She’s got some spunk!”

  When the doors shut behind him, I was determined to do a better job. I couldn’t be that bad at all of this.

  “Okay, give me the gloves back.”

  Logan gently handed them to me. I flinched away when he tried to help me and stubbornly tightened them with my teeth instead, way past caring how I looked. I was going to get the bag to swing or die trying.

  5

  Celestial Heights

  “Is this a joke?”

  I stood next to Romona inside her favorite restaurant, staring straight up. Giant cotton balls floated aimlessly through the air in twenty stories of open space above our heads. The white puffs, which reminded me of clouds, were about the size of small cars. People lounged on them as if sitting on oversized floating bean bags.

  Romona had insisted on bringing me here to celebrate my first day of training. I couldn’t stop staring. The waitstaff buzzed around the cavernous room with small bronze wings fastened to their backs. They flitted through the air with the grace of ballet dancers, trays brimming with all sorts of foods and drinks.

  “Pretty neat, huh?”

  I tore my eyes from the scene above. Romona was grinning from ear to ear.

  “Yeah, I guess. I mean, is this for real? Do we really eat on those?” The height was making my stomach flutter in nervousness.

  “Yes, it’s a lot of fun.”

  “How do we even get up there?”

  “Using those.” She pointed to the right where a row of bronze wings hung on pegs.

  “You’re not kidding, are you?”

  “Nope. You’re going to love it. Flying is amazing!”

  She tugged me over to the wings. The hostess appeared and demonstrated how to fasten and operate them properly. We were assigned a cloud—that’s actually what they called them—toward the top of the room. Romona took off and glided through the air with ease. I was told flying was like swimming, but without having to kick to be propelled forward. Taking a deep breath, I bent my knees and pushed off the ground.

  She was right: flying was amazing. I enjoyed it for all of five seconds before smacking my shoulder on the floating crystal chandelier. I dipped hard to the right and plummet down, then bounced off the side of a cloud. The people seated on it gasped as they were shoved into a wall. Fortunately the clouds were as soft as they looked, so it didn’t hurt much to ricochet off one. Unfortunately, the hit literally dumped me in the middle of someone’s dinner.

  The couple in front of me was covered in food. I’d hit their table at an angle, causing everything that wasn’t on me to catapult onto them. The man and woman stared at me with matching looks of shock as I tried to get right side up. In an instant Romona gracefully landed on the edge of their cloud.

  “Oh my goodness! Are you okay?”

  I didn’t know if she was asking me or the couple I’d just baptized in aqua-colored gravy.

  Alrik’s familiar voice boomed from somewhere above. “Hey, Aud, that was amazing! I’m giving it a 9.5! Would have been a 10 if the landing had been a little cleaner, but extra points for dramatics!”

  I looked up and instantly regretted it. Not only was Alrik beaming down at me from twenty feet above, but he wasn’t alone. Logan and a boy named Kevin who I’d met at lunch were leaning over the edge of their cloud as well. What were the chances they’d be at this same restaurant? I looked at Romona with the question on my face.

  She cringed. “Sorry, I may have mentioned to Alrik that we were headed here tonight.”

  I ignored the boys to deal with the problem at hand. The couple I’d crashed into were mopping food off of themselves and their seats.

  “I am so sorry! I can’t believe I did that. I’ve never tried this flying thing before. That chandelier just popped out of nowhere.” I laughed nervously.

  “Is there anything we can do to help?” Romona asked.

  The woman stopped cleaning and looked up. An unexpected smile blossomed on her lips. I was startled by the agelessness of her face. If I had to guess, I would say she was frozen in the age between motherhood and her golden years. Her beautiful silver hair refracted the light when she moved, and the slender wrinkle lines on her face didn’t make her appear old but rather accentuated the interest of her appearance. Her eyes of blended browns and greens sparked with life.

  “Oh please, this is nothing to fret about. It was a simple
accident.” Her smile reached her eyes. “And besides, we welcome unplanned interruptions in our lives. Don’t we?”

  She playfully poked her companion in the side to get his attention. He was handing a batch of soiled napkins to the server and receiving clean ones in return.

  “Pardon?” With a head of thick salt-and-pepper hair and dark brown eyes, the man possessed the same ageless splendor as the woman. “Oh yes, no harm done. You just took us by surprise, that’s all. Things like this keep us sharp in our old age. My name is Lapidoth, but please, you call me LD. Most people find Lapidoth quite a mouthful.”

  “Are you injured?” The woman’s slight frown did nothing to diminish her timeless beauty.

  I did a quick assessment of all my appendages. Everything seemed to be working properly. Only a few sore spots, but those could have been from training. “I don’t think so. Thanks for being so gracious. I feel so bad.”

  “It is a small price to pay to meet new friends. Would the two of you care to join us?”

  “Oh, ah,” I looked to Romona for guidance. She smiled at the pair.

  “Yes, thank you. That would be nice. My name is Romona, and this is Audrey.”

  “My name is Deborah, and LD is my husband. Please do take a seat.”

  She indicated a hand toward the soft bench on the other side of the table. “Now, I hope I’m not being too presumptuous, but by any chance are you new, Audrey?”

  I smiled at her. “Not presumptuous, just insightful. I’ve only been here a short while. This is my second day, in fact.”

  I snuck a glance up at the guys’ table, but they’d gone back to eating their dinner.

  “Should we order some more food to replace what we ruined for you two?” Romona offered.

  “You read my mind!” LD said.

  Romona’s smile broadened. “We’ll let you order then. I like most things.” She left out the part about me not knowing what I liked.

  “That is most kind,” LD said and then waved over one of the servers.

  I took the opportunity to sneak glances around the restaurant while he ordered. Mercifully, no one appeared to be watching us anymore. Maybe crashes were a regular occurrence.

  After taking our order, the server politely cleared what was left of the mess on the table. I watched as he expertly zipped through the air.

  “So, Romona, Audrey, what brings you out to Celestial Heights tonight?”

  “This is one of my favorite places.” Romona answered. “I wanted to show it to Audrey. Although I’m afraid she’s no longer going to trust my picks.”

  Romona glanced my way for confirmation. I lifted my eyebrows at her as if to say, “You’ve got that right.” Romona laughed back good-naturedly.

  “Oh no, you mustn’t be turned off to things so easily. Some things just need practice and perhaps a little bit of patience,” Deborah said.

  “I suppose you’re right.” I conceded.

  “So Audrey,” LD interrupted. “What has been your favorite thing so far? Or perhaps the most surprising? I love to hear from the new arrivals what they think.”

  I thought about it for a moment but couldn’t come up with much. Everything had been a surprise, and I hadn’t been here long enough for favorites.

  “I’m not really sure. I haven’t actually seen very much yet. I think I’d love to go hiking and explore the mountain range, though. Are we allowed to do that?”

  “Of course! I would suggest going with someone who knows the lay of the land before venturing out on your own,” LD said.

  “I’d love to take you sometime if you’d like,” Romona quickly offered.

  “That would be amazing! There just seems to be something out there calling to me.” No one spoke. “Sorry, that probably sounded kind of weird.”

  “Not at all. It’s completely understandable.” Deborah leaned forward to pat my hand. I got a wave of good intentions from her. It felt like being wrapped in a warm fuzzy blanket on a chilly night.

  She, on the other hand, quietly gasped and jerked her hand back a few inches. Her clear eyes widened, and her gaze seemed far away. The next moment she leaned back, and the smile returned to her face. I looked over to check if Romona had caught what had just happened. From the look on her face, she had.

  Deborah changed the subject without addressing her odd behavior. “So do you two know each other well?”

  “We just met, actually. We’re kind of the only girls in our jobs.”

  “Ah! You must be huntresses, then?” LD’s eyes lit up with interest.

  “That must be extremely exciting.”

  I looked at Deborah doubtfully. She laughed. “I have a feeling you are in for quite a ride.” I didn’t miss the pointed look she gave her husband.

  LD took Deborah’s hand. “My wife is usually right about these things.”

  That’s when our dinner arrived. The food was a beautiful array of colors and smells that effectively distracted me from our new friends’ strange comments. It took three servers to bring it all. It couldn’t be possible for us to eat everything. Some of the dishes were so perfect they could be mini works of art. The smells were equally captivating. My stomach rumbled loudly in expectation.

  LD picked up a plate of something purple, about the size of a small potato, and encouraged me to try one. I tried not to appear skeptical.

  “Sometimes looks can be deceiving,” he said with mischief in his eyes.

  With a forced smile I reached for the object. It had a soft texture and felt like it would pop if I squeezed hard enough. That thought almost turned me off. I took a small bite, which broke off easily like a soft roll. My eyes widen as I chewed. It reminded me of a dense cake doughnut with fresh fruit inside. Mmmm, delicious. It was just the right amount of sweetness without being overpowering. The second bite was even better than the first.

  “Wow, this is great,” I said between chews.

  LD sat back proudly.

  Deborah pointed to a pureed dish, red with green seeds throughout. Christmas colors. I spooned some on my plate and added a few other suggested dishes. Everything was incredibly tasty.

  Deborah and LD were wonderful dinner companions. LD shared about the first time he came to Celestial Heights and how, after forgetting to put the wings back on, he almost fell off the cloud after the meal. We all laughed. I appreciated his sincere attempt to put me at ease. Before I knew it, we had finished everything in front of us. I stared at the empty serving dishes in amazement. My stomach was full beyond belief.

  “This was so much fun! I’m glad I crashed into you two,” I admitted.

  “We would welcome the intrusion anytime.” Deborah said with a smile.

  As if on cue, a familiar voice boomed to the right of our table. “Hey, you girls want to join us for dessert?” The guys’ table had drifted down next to ours.

  Even if I weren’t utterly stuffed, I wouldn’t have wanted to join them.

  “Thanks for the invite, but we’re not done here, Alrik.”

  “Oh don’t be silly, of course you can join your friends. We’ve already taken up enough of your time,” Deborah jumped in.

  “No, no really—”

  “Great, and Aud, look, you can just walk over nice and easy so you don’t cover us in food too.” He wore a wicked grin. He was having way too much fun with this.

  Romona turned to our dinner partners. “It was truly wonderful to meet you.”

  “Oh I assure you, the pleasure was all ours. We wish you both nothing but the best.” LD waved good-bye. He was already standing and adjusting the wing’s straps on his shoulders. He picked up Deborah’s once his were in place to assist her.

  She rewarded him with a smile and accepted the wings. “Why don’t I meet you at the door? I’d like a moment with Audrey if you don’t mind.”

  There was a knowing look in LD’s eyes. “Of course, I’ll see you shortly.” He turned and gave Romona and me a small bow of respect before rising and disappearing below the cloud.

  Romona st
epped easily over to the guys’ table, taking both of our wings with her. She immediately launched into a story, purposefully capturing their attention.

  I turned to face Deborah, curious and a little apprehensive. What could she possibly want?

  She didn’t bother to ease into her topic. “Audrey, it’s important for you to know that you do have a purpose.”

  “Oh, okay.” I didn’t know how to respond.

  “When things look the darkest, I hope you remember that. There is always a plan, a bigger picture, even if you don’t understand at first. Despite how it might appear, how you might even feel, you are never alone, not for one single moment.”

  Okay, that sounded creepy. A chill ran down my spine like someone had just walked over my grave, but even so, her words resonated within me, causing my heartbeat to pick up its pace. Something inside was telling me to pay attention.

  “Thanks. I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

  “I hope you will. I realize this may not make much sense now, but I believe that someday it will.” She hesitated, pursing her lips as if considering whether she should continue. “Also, be careful to trust the right people. Learning to correctly discern motives is going to be important for you.”

  Without warning, she hugged me tightly. I was wooden in her embrace. Her words stirred something inside that equally scared and thrilled me. For a wild moment it felt as if she spoke a deep wisdom that my soul recognized. But mostly, I was weirded out.

  Over her shoulder, Logan considered us carefully. When she pulled back, she gave my arms a final squeeze, shooting a bolt of fearlessness through me before releasing them to gracefully slip on her wings.

  She turned to the table across from us before leaving. “Enjoy your evening.” She waved and then addressed Logan: “It’s nice to see you again.”

  Logan smiled and inclined his head in a friendly gesture.

  “I take it you are still figuring things out?”

  “That I am,” he answered.

  “There’s nothing wrong with that. I have faith you will work it out.”