Life After: The Complete Series

by Julie Hall

“You’re letting yourself fall into a shame spiral when my words are meant to correct and teach, not disparage. I’m giving you hope, Audrey. Whether mighty or small, the size of your strength matters not, because you have my wellspring to pull from, and it is unending.”

  “H-how did you know what I was feeling?” Perhaps it had been written across my face.

  But a part of me knew that wasn’t the case.

  The lines on Hugo’s weathered face softened as he reached out to lay a hand atop my own. Power poured into me from the point of contact and rushed up my arm and throughout the rest of my body, filling me with supernatural warmth that made my blood buzz.

  It validated the reality of what Hugo was trying to tell me.

  “Audrey, I always know how you are feeling. Up here,” he pointed his finger at my head, and then lowered it to my chest, “and in there. I’ve acted as your trainer these last several months, but I’ve always been so much more than that. I am your comforter, your helper, the still small voice inside. I am the Spirit within and without. I am the one who knows you best and loves you most. I make intercession for you to the Father when your words fail you.”

  He looked at me with meaning. Willing me to catch on. And I did.

  “You’re the Holy Spirit.” I knew my eyes were full of wonder.

  His smile confirmed what I didn’t need confirmation of.

  “Kevin was right. I am completely dense. I mean, I think I might have known, but not really. You know?”

  His laughter caught me off guard. “No, this was the moment orchestrated for you to become aware. If it would have benefited you to know earlier, you would have. And if it would have benefited you to remain unaware for a while longer, you would have remained so. Nothing in my kingdom is ever too late or too early.”

  “But why now?” I was still struck a little dumb by the revelation that my mentor had been one of the Godhead this whole time.

  “You’ve seen my power work in many ways. You’ve been physically, mentally, and spiritually trained by me. You’ve even seen my power on Earth, although you haven’t recognized it as such. And there are times I am like the wind.” He lifted his hand and moved it rhythmically back and forth, as if dancing with the air. “You can’t see the wind, but you can see its effects. It’s time you fully grasp what my power is so you can take hold of it and use it for yourself. So you can be assured of what can be accomplished through my power. So you know whatever battle you enter, you aren’t entering it on your own strength, but mine. You are fully equipped to fight the enemy, because I will never leave or forsake you.” A fire burned in his eyes.

  “Wow. Okay, I’ll admit. This is all a little much to take in.” I pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes and rubbed. I’d always known something was different about Hugo, but it had never even crossed my mind it could be this big. For all intents and purposes, I’d been training and spending my days with God without even realizing it. “Can we start small and work our way up?” I asked.

  He chuckled, already knowing how I processed information.

  “You said I’ve seen your power on Earth but didn’t recognize it. Are you talking about something other than the battle with my family? The way you poofed those demons out of existence was pretty awesome, by the way.”

  He nodded. “Audrey, go over to the wall and pick up a sword for me, will you?”

  “Ah, sure.” I rose and walked over to the weapons, looking back at him before selecting one. “Anything in particular you want me to grab?”

  “No, your choice.”

  “O-kay.” I reached a hand out toward a long katana, a curved, slender, single-edged blade with a squared guard and a long grip to accommodate two hands. I lifted it from the wall with my right hand. The instant my left joined my right on the grip, the blade was set ablaze. Dropping the sword immediately, I jumped back as it clattered to the floor.

  “What the . . .” I turned frantic eyes to Hugo.

  “The sword was always only the vessel of power, not the source.”

  My mind spun. “You mean I’m the reason my sword burns like dry kindling?”

  “Yes and no. More accurately, it’s my power working through you that makes your weapon unique.” He indicated the katana lying harmlessly on the floor at my feet. “That was my holy fire burning along the blade. Without me it’s just like any other weapon. In one way or another, I’ve been with you on every step of your journey. That is just one of the ways I’ve come alongside you.”

  Questions swirled in my head. They ran so quickly through my mind I had difficulty settling on just one. I grasped the first one I could hold on to.

  “Why are you telling me this now?”

  “Because now you need to know. There are hardships in your future unlike any you have faced before, and you will need to be reminded of where your strength comes from when you feel you have nothing more to give.”

  A shiver ran down my spine. Those were not comforting words. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

  “No, I don’t suppose anyone would. Come sit back down with me. We have more to discuss.”

  I looked down at the sword at my feet, hesitant to return it to its place.

  “Don’t worry, you can pick it up. I’ve only imbued your angelic sword with my holy fire in any sort of ongoing way. That was just for the sake of demonstration.” With a soft smile Hugo returned to his spot on the mat.

  I returned the katana to the wall without incident and took a seat across from Hugo once again.

  “Why doesn’t everyone’s sword, you know, do the lite bright thing? Why just mine?”

  “Each one of my children has their own set of special gifts. This is just one of yours. There is a plan and a purpose for it, just as there is a reason you’ve been chosen to be a hunter. The road you’ve been set on is not an easy one, my dear Audrey, but it is a good one. And I don’t intend to let you move forward without everything you need to succeed.”

  “Do we all have hard roads to travel, or am I just extra lucky?”

  He chuckled, even though I hadn’t meant it to be funny. “Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, but small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life.”

  “Say what?”

  “In other words, though your path may seem hard at times, it brings the greatest reward. Some may choose to take what appears to be the easy way, but in the end they’ve only hurt themselves. The Father cares for you deeply, and although you will face challenges, it is in the furnace that your character will be refined.”

  “Character? Your talk of challenges and difficulties and furnaces is making character sound a little overrated right now.” Uncrossing my legs, I hugged my knees to my chest.

  “Ah, but your noble character has brought you this far. I am so proud of the woman you are and the woman you will become. Now is not the time to lose heart, dear one.”

  I chewed my lower lip. My hands were clammy. “You’re freaking me out a little right now.”

  “That’s not my intention, but I do want you to be prepared. None of my children are promised an existence without trials, but with me, there will never be a trial you cannot overcome. And Audrey, there is beauty and happiness in your future as well. But if you aren’t prepared for there to be hardships, you’ll easily fall into a pit of bitterness when they come.” His eyebrows pinched in concern.

  “Is my family really safe now?”

  “They are doing well.” I didn’t miss that he hadn’t answered my question. “I would tell you not to worry about them, but before you can do that, you have to understand and believe they each have their own demons to battle.” He lifted a hand to stop the words desperately clawing to burst from my mouth.

  I wanted to help them fight those demons.

  “Their paths are different from your own, and yes, there are times you will be able to come alongside them to help, but you will never be able to shield them from every hurt the world may throw at them. Even if it were possible, doin
g so would be a disservice to them. You can care deeply about someone but still trust the Father will ultimately take care of them. Until you surrender their lives over to me, you will be trapped in a cycle of worry and anxiety over them.”

  “I don’t want to be caught in that cycle.” I lowered my eyes.

  “Then don’t be.”

  “I’m not sure I know how not to.”

  His gentle finger tilted my chin and expressive eyes met my gaze. The smile he offered was neither happy nor sad, but it was fleeting. His other hand hovered over my shoulder before dropping back to his lap. “You fight against what you can’t change with what you know to be true. When anxieties surrounding your family members crop up, give them over to me. They are not your burden to bear. When you don’t let go, you are really saying you don’t believe I can work in their lives. Those chains of unbelief will keep you captive. You’ll remain stagnant in your journey, unable to move forward as you were intended. You’ll miss out on the riches waiting for you.”

  My thoughts turned introspective. It wasn’t as if I didn’t want to do exactly what he said, but it seemed so difficult. Part of me was hardwired to worry about my loved ones, but I knew concern and care for them shouldn’t turn me into a ball of anxiety.

  I nodded. “I’ll try to remember that.”

  “I’ll remind you,” he promised. This time his hand did land on my shoulder, giving it a squeeze before letting go. The squeeze packed a punch of power behind it!

  “Why didn’t anyone tell me who you were?” I asked next. Kevin knew who he was right away. Others must have recognized him as well.

  “Before you saw me with your family on Earth, I never revealed myself to anyone when we were together. If you think back, you’ll remember times where you thought I was overlooked. It was because others literally couldn’t see me.”

  “Well, that explains the gauntlet technicians. I always thought they were really rude to you.” Looking back, I almost laughed. “Wow, I wonder if they thought I was talking to myself all the time? And then none of my friends knew who you were either. But why keep your true identity a secret?”

  “I wanted you to get to know me without being intimidated by who I was. Your heart needed time to know me, to trust me, in order to fully accept who I am. You may be slightly overwhelmed right now, but you’re handling all of this with a great amount of maturity. Your heart and head were finally ready for this mystery to be revealed.”

  “I wouldn’t have been—” One look at Hugo reminded me that he knew me better than I knew myself. “Okay, yeah, I probably would have been weirded out.” I took in a big breath of air and held it a moment before blowing it out. “Where do we go from here?”

  “Why, forward of course. Always forward.”

  “And that means . . . ?”

  “You’ve completed your formal training.”

  “I have?” My heart picked up its cadence and I resisted the urge to pump my fist up and down in the air. Score one for the tiny female!

  “Yes, you have. I’m very happy with your progress. You did exceedingly well yesterday evening.”

  “Does this mean we won’t be training together anymore?” I deflated a little.

  “Not in the same way we have been the last several months. You’ve moved on to a different type of training. More like a buddy system than a mentor-mentee relationship.”

  “Oh, good. So, we’ll be—”

  “You’ll be working mostly with your grandmother.”

  That could be fun. And challenging. But mostly fun. Romona was, after all, my best friend. Deep inside, I’d sometimes wondered if I would ever move on to the next step. “Oh, that will be good. I—”

  “And also with Logan, of course.”

  “What?” My heart started to chug like a freight train. This had ‘bad idea’ written all over it. “You can’t be serious.”

  “As a heart attack, my dear.”

  I blinked. Twice. “Did you just make a joke?”

  “That I did.”

  “You can’t honestly believe training with Logan again is a good idea.” I scoffed . . . at the Holy Spirit.

  Whoops!

  Having known him as only Hugo for so long, it was easy to forget whom I really spoke to. My eyes did a quick check of the ceiling.

  Phew.

  No thunderclouds to strike me down with lightning.

  Hugo chuckled. “No, I don’t think it, I know it. You push each other to be better. And the level of care you have for one another means you will always look out for each other.”

  “But . . . we . . . it’s terribly complicated.” I bit my lower lip.

  A small smile appeared on Hugo’s face. “Do you honestly think I don’t know every facet of your feelings for one another?”

  I didn’t have to look at my hair to know it had changed colors. “Do I have to answer that?”

  His response was a full smile.

  “In the past, Logan and I have been nothing but a disaster together.” I abandoned my lips and started chewing on a fingernail. I didn’t even care. This news was worthy of a good fingernail chew.

  “You’ve both matured since then. At least, somewhat.” That was a backhanded compliment if I’d ever heard one.

  I fell back on the mat and let out a pain-filled groan. “Why are you doing this to me?”

  “I’m sure there will come a day when you will thank me for this. You two have some things to work through, but once you do, I have no doubt you will be a force to be reckoned with.”

  I sat up so quickly I had to throw a hand out to steady myself. “Like as in a force together?” I interlinked my fingers. “Like you know,” I lowered my voice to a whisper, “together, together? Or just like a good fighting team together?”

  The volume of his laugh startled me. “Oh, wouldn’t you like to know?”

  “Well, yeah.” I threw my hands in the air. “Why do you think I asked?”

  “Always trying to read ahead in the story. I’m sorry to say you’re going to have to take this one a page at a time.”

  “You laugh at me a lot, you know,” I grumbled.

  “It’s because you amuse me so.” His gentle hand rested on my shoulder. “It endears you to me even more, Audrey. You are so uniquely you. But now I must go.”

  He rose smoothly to his feet and started toward the door.

  “What? You’re leaving me? Now?” I scrambled to my feet much less gracefully.

  Don’t leave me!

  He stopped and turned back to me. “My lovely daughter, I have never left you, nor will I ever. I’m simply making myself less obvious for the time being.” He opened his arms, and I rushed forward in an instant.

  The arms I had once considered so frail wrapped around me with strength. The Holy Spirit’s power buzzed from my toes to my head. I closed my eyes and burrowed my face in his chest, determined never to let go, but after a moment the weight of his arms disappeared.

  Looking up, I found myself standing in the gym alone. Yet Hugo’s energy still hummed in every cell and fiber of my being.

  I was alone, but not really. I stared at nothing, absorbing the wonder until the sound of a new voice broke my trance.

  “I had a feeling I’d find you hiding out in one of these deserted gyms.”

  24

  Something Stolen

  “Logan.”

  Logan strode into the room, only stopping with a few feet of separation between us. He looked every bit the part of male perfection.

  My breath caught.

  His hair was finally trimmed up a bit—thank goodness there was no danger of me having to take a scissors to a potential man-bun anymore—but still on the long side the way I liked it. There was a healthy glow to his sun-kissed skin, and a spark shone in his electric blue eyes.

  My eyes swept over his body before I could stop myself. He wore those dark-washed jeans and faded graphic tees better than anyone I knew.

  Yum. No, shoot, stop it.

  I forced my eyes to r
emain on his face.

  “I’ve been looking for you,” he said.

  A delicious shiver shook my body at the deep timbre of his voice.

  Stop it. I ordered myself again. We are not happy with him.

  Why was I referring to myself in the plural? I needed to pull it together.

  “Funny, because that’s what I was doing when I stopped by your room at the healing center. You’d checked yourself out early, though. I was told I’d just missed you.” I didn’t temper my accusatory tone.

  Rather than looking properly chastised, Logan smiled. A real smile. A rarity for him, so of course it made me uneasy.

  “Really? Well, that’s very interesting.” He took a predatory step closer.

  I stepped back. “Hardly.” I rolled my eyes, avoiding his—they were starting to do funny things to my stomach. “You’d been knocked unconscious during the battle. The least I could do was pop my head in to make sure yours was still working correctly.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Yes. But you weren’t even there.” I wasn’t sure why I felt the need to remind him again.

  “I’m sorry to have missed you.”

  “Are you?” I challenged.

  His eyes softened. “Always.”

  His candidness took me aback. Was he riding high from his little Earth-induced infatuation with me? I narrowed my eyes.

  As much as I hated to hear the words, I had to know. “So, I, ah, just wanted to check and make sure you’re okay now with the, um,” I waved my arm awkwardly between the two of us, “you know, the ah, issue you were having back on Earth.”

  Logan cocked his head and the side of his mouth. “Exactly what issue are you referring to?”

  “You know, the thing you were struggling with down there.” I flushed as I remembered The Incident. Then gritted my teeth. “The thing I was supposed to be helping you out with because you were having some self-control issues.”

  Logan drew his eyebrows together as if he were trying hard to figure out what I was saying. I didn’t know if it was sincere or simply a ploy to make me uncomfortable. If the latter, I was going to make sure he paid dearly for my discomfort.