The Afterlife Series Box Set

by Willow Rose

“He did,” Salathiel said. “But Adahy is no longer on the school premises, so he will not be able to harm him again.”

  No one spoke for a few minutes and I became afraid that they were about to leave the chamber. I started to float away as silently as possible, when I heard Hjalte Havskäg say something that made everything inside of me freeze.

  “He might not be able to reach Adahy, but what about our young Meghan?”

  “We will have to protect her as best we can,” Salathiel said.

  I sighed. I knew perfectly well what that meant. More Angel guards and no more leaving the castle to see Jason.

  “Let me go after him and take him down,” Hjalte Havskäg said. “I was supposed to guard him down there, but I failed. Let me fix this.”

  “No, Hjalte,” Salathiel said. “It is honorable of you, but we need you here with the students. I will put this matter in the hands of the Angels. They will take care of it. They will search the castle immediately.”

  Then Hjalte Havskäg mumbled something I couldn’t hear.

  “But please don’t tell Meghan about this,” Rahmiel said. “She has just gotten engaged to be married and this is supposed to be a happy time in her life. She has had a lot on her mind lately, too much if you ask me, and I want her to be happy.”

  “But she will certainly know when you give her extra protection and when you no longer allow her to leave the school premises again,” Mrs. Higgins said with a concerned voice.

  “Then we must make sure that she doesn’t notice the extra protection. And the temporary rule to not leave the school will go for everybody. No student leaves the school premises unprotected.”

  I hurried back to my dormitory. How Adrian had managed to escape from the dungeons and Hjalte Havskäg was beyond my understanding, but it had happened and he was here somewhere in this school. I knew it would be a matter of minutes before the guards would be looking for me, and I was back in my prison. But at least I was protected. It was worse for Adahy. No one thought about sending someone to protect him, and as far as I could see, he was a much more obvious target than I was. Adrian might want to get back at me, but he had more reason to hate Adahy.

  And it was all because of me.

  Chapter 22

  Salathiel and Rahmiel gathered all the students in Hornam Hall.

  “We suspect that we have an intruder at the castle. To protect you the Angels will search the entire castle all night,” Salathiel said.

  There was a lot of murmuring among the students. Some tried to guess what it could be. Others just complained they would have their sleep interrupted by the searching. Mai and Acacia, who stood next to me, whispered something to each other while I didn’t say anything. I was worried about Adahy and I glanced around the Hall to see if he was there somewhere, but as expected he wasn’t there. I wondered if they had even told him what was going on.

  “There is no reason to be alarmed, it is probably nothing, but any disturbance should be reported directly to me immediately,” Salathiel said. Then he paused. “Ring one of the bells if necessary. We will hear that right away.”

  “Have there been more screamers?” an elderly woman asked with a trembling voice.

  Rahmiel took over. “No there have been no more incidents, fortunately.”

  “Then how do you know that there is something to be afraid of?”

  Rahmiel smiled. “Just trust us,” she said.

  “Whatever this is, we will find it, be sure of that,” Salathiel said.

  The hall buzzed with voices as we were told to return to our dormitories and go to sleep. When I went into the corridor Mick came toward me.

  “Do you want me to spend the night with you?” he whispered.

  I hesitated before I answered. “No, I’m okay.” I looked into his blue eyes. I didn’t want to be mad at him anymore. I was too tired.

  “Are you sure? It is no problem. I can sneak in and out without anyone noticing me. I am great at that.”

  “The guards will take care of me,” I said. “I’ll be fine.”

  Mick looked disappointed. “Okay. Will I see you tomorrow?” He grabbed my hand and felt my finger where the ring was.

  “Sure.”

  I didn’t get much sleep at all that night. The search of the castle kept me awake and so did the thought of Adrian being out there somewhere. At one point I got out of bed as I heard voices coming from the yard. I saw two Angels passing the tower. Then I stared at the forest. Would Adrian hide in the castle, knowing that everybody was looking for him? Or would he go into the forest? Maybe he had turned himself into some animal and was hiding in there. Maybe he was out looking for Adahy. I swallowed hard. I had to find Adahy and warn him before it was too late. I felt like I owed him that much.

  The next morning I felt all of the guards’ eyes on me constantly. I had breakfast with Mick as usual but that day I couldn’t stop staring at Abhik’s empty chair on the other side of the round table. I missed him so much. Why didn’t he come back? Why did none of the screamers come back? It was strange and a little scary.

  I sighed deeply and had no appetite. I felt Mick’s hand on my arm. I turned to look at him.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  I nodded. “I was just thinking about Abhik. I miss hanging out with him.”

  Mick smiled. “He will be back. The Angels will cure him. Don’t worry.”

  I smiled secretly. This was how I knew and loved Mick. Always positive thinking and comforting to be around.

  “So are we good?” he asked. “I mean you and me.”

  I nodded again. “I think we will be.”

  “You forgive me?”

  “Don’t I always?”

  Now he was grinning. “Yes, you do.” Then he became serious. ”I didn’t mean to hurt you, you have to know that.”

  I smiled. “I know that.”

  “I just love you so incredibly much. It’s like I can’t … I can’t stand not being around you.”

  “And you can’t stand to share me.” I said and caressed his neck gently. “I get that, Mick. I get you.”

  “I am so glad you do,” he said.

  “But you can’t let the jealousy control you like that. It controls your life. It controls our life.”

  He looked pensively. “You are right. We don’t need that in our life. I will try to improve.”

  Classes were constantly interrupted all day by Angels oozing in and out of the rooms, patrolling and asking the students questions. It was clear to me that they had become more desperate as the hours passed and they were nowhere near finding Adrian or even a trace of him. It was almost impossible for the teachers to teach with all that going on. The concentration among the students just wasn’t there. I was probably the least concentrated of them all. Every time a class was interrupted by an Angel streaming through the wall, I would jump and feel my heart racing. I was certain that they came to tell us that Adahy had been hurt. The worst part was the guilt. I felt it was my fault that he was attacked in the stables in the first place and now … if he was attacked again, and I hadn’t even tried to warn him, it would kill me. How could I live with myself knowing it was my fault?

  “Meghan! I asked you a question,” I heard a voice say.

  It was Mrs. Ohayashi. She was standing right in front of my desk in her red kimono. Her narrow eyes looked at me.

  “Sorry, what?” I asked.

  Mrs. Ohayashi snorted. “It is incredible how some students think they never have to study,” she said with a mocking voice.

  “I did study,” I said. “I just didn’t hear the question.”

  “ ‘I just didn’t hear the question,’ ” she repeated, still mocking me.

  “Well I didn’t.”

  Mrs. Ohayashi sighed deeply. “Okay little miss, the question was: what is the Batuz?” She said and looked at me, searching for some sign that I didn’t know the answer.

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw Nigel waving his hand. Lucky for me, I knew how to answer this one.
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br />   “The Batuz is an amulet that the Angel Habriel cut out of a unicorn’s horn. If you wear it, it will make you invisible not only to humans but also Angels and other spirits. It is extremely rare and only known to have been used once by Habriel himself. In the wrong hands of someone evil it might be a very dangerous weapon.”

  Mrs. Ohayashi forced an awkward smile. “Good, Meghan,” she said with a small hiss. “Now stop thinking about that Cherokee Indian and start focusing on what is going on in here.” Then she turned around on her heel and went to face the rest of the students.

  I was left completely speechless.

  After class I approached her. She sat behind her desk with her head bent over some papers.

  “Come closer, Meghan,” she said without looking at me. Then she lifted her head. “So now you want to know how I knew that you were thinking about Adahy?”

  “Uh … Yes. How did you know that?” I asked with a trembling voice. Mrs. Ohayashi had always scared me but now she was being really creepy.

  Mrs. Ohayashi smiled shortly and then turned serious again. “If you must know,” she said. “I am telepathic to some degree.”

  Her eyes returned to the paper she was reading. She put a few red marks on it and wrote something with aggressive movements.

  “What does that mean?” I asked.

  She didn’t look up when she answered. “I can read some people’s minds. If something is important to them, that is. If they are worried or concerned, I sense it very strongly.”

  “Wow,” I said.

  She looked at me again with her narrow black eyes. “It is actually pretty annoying from time to time. Like always hearing about your worries about that Jason guy. It just goes on and on, doesn’t it?”

  “Well … I guess.”

  “You shouldn’t worry so much, you know. It will just make you sick. It is really not worth it,” she said and returned to her work. she put a few more red marks on the first page before she turned to the second.

  “Do you know where he is?” I asked.

  Mrs. Ohayashi seemed occupied with her work and didn’t answer so I asked again. “Do you know where he is?”

  She stopped and put the pen down. “Where who is?” she asked.

  “Weren’t you telepathic? Adahy of course.”

  She burst into a loud high-pitched laughter. “Ha-ha. Just messing with you. Why do you want to know where he is? So you can warn him about Adrian?”

  “Yes.”

  She shook her head. “That is not a good idea.”

  Then she returned to her work putting in more red marks.

  “Why not?” I asked a little irritated.

  “Why should you do that?”

  “To make sure he is safe. He doesn’t even know that Adrian has escaped. Adrian hurt him once before. He will certainly try again.”

  “Still a bad idea.”

  “Why?”

  “It is not good to mess with other people’s business. Why do you even care?”

  “So now it isn’t good to care about someone else?”

  Mrs. Ohayashi sighed. “Okay, I will take you to his cabin. Be down here in my classroom at midnight. And be precise.”

  “But won’t he be asleep then?” I asked.

  Mrs. Ohayashi sighed deeply. “We will just have to wake him up then, won’t we? You want to warn him about this, right? In the middle of the night no one will see us.”

  “Sure … But what about the guards? They will never let me go out in the middle of the night.”

  Mrs. Ohayashi sighed deeply. Then she got up from her seat and floated to an ancient Japanese chest of drawers she had in the corner. No one ever came near it, since the rumors were that it was filled with all kinds of dark magic that wasn’t even allowed on the school. Some even said it was a gateway to Satan himself—that Mrs. Ohayashi was like the gatekeeper of hell, and she went through it every night and came back out of it every morning. I wasn’t stupid enough to believe them, though. But I did feel my heart begin to race as she opened the top drawer.

  She stuck her hand in and pulled something out. It looked like and old leather bag. Then she closed the drawer carefully and floated toward me.

  “This can help you,” she said and handed me the bag. “Put it on while you are still in your bed and you will have no problems getting past the Angels.”

  I started to unleash the rope to open it, but Mrs. Ohayashi stopped me. I looked at her. She shook her head.

  “Not now. Wait until you are alone, and don’t let anyone see what is in the bag,” she said.

  I had hardly left the classroom in the cellar before I found a corner where no one would see me. Carefully I opened the rope around the bag and looked into it. I was paralyzed. I put my hand inside and took it out. The amulet was shining in the sunbeams from the window next to me. It had a green emerald in the middle that looked like an eye staring at me.

  “The Batuz,” I whispered as I put it back in the leather bag. In history I had learned that it was guarded by the Angels. Since it was too dangerous in the wrong hands, it had been locked up along with other treasures in Heaven. How did Mrs. Ohayashi get her hands on a thing like that?

  Chapter 23

  With the amulet around my neck, I floated with ease past all the guards in the castle. They didn’t even stop their chattering or in any way sense that I was there. It was a great feeling and I quickly found myself in the cellar of the castle. I floated through the door to my Art of Transition classroom and found it empty. Only the light from the big moon outside lit up the room. It was so quiet I could hear my own breathing.

  “Don’t breathe so hard. Someone might hear you.”

  I turned and found Mrs. Ohayashi standing right behind me. In the dark I couldn’t see her eyes at all.

  “Do you see me?” I asked.

  “No, but I hear you. With all that noise you are making, someone is bound to hear you soon.”

  I swallowed hard.

  “Don’t do that either,” she said.

  “Do what?”

  “Don’t swallow like that. That makes way too much noise too. Plus I really don’t like it. It’s disgusting.”

  “Oh, okay,” I mumbled.

  Mrs. Ohayashi sighed. “Let’s go.”

  We crossed the big lawn in a great hurry and entered the woods to find a marked path. Mrs. Ohayashi stepped in front of me and we followed the trail that wound deep into the dark forest. On our way we passed a lake and went through a dense patch of cedar trees. It took less than five minutes to reach an impasse. The path let us directly into a rock and I thought we had gone in a wrong direction, but Mrs. Ohayashi continued. She put up her hand and simply penetrated the rock as if it wasn’t there. Then she went through. I, on the other hand, had never gone through solid brick walls or anything that solid, so I became nervous. I put my palm on the rock and tried to push it through. But it didn’t work.

  Suddenly Mrs. Ohayashi pushed her head back through.

  “Are you coming?” she asked.

  I sighed. “I don’t think I can.”

  “Nonsense,” she hissed. “You are a second-year student. You are in my class. Of course you can go through a rock by now. Just do it!”

  Her angry voice made me jump and as I did I pushed my hand right through the rock. Slowly I pushed the rest of my body to follow until I had passed through what appeared to be the solid stone façade of a mountain. It was dark inside and I couldn’t see anything, not even Mrs. Ohayashi. I took in a deep breath. With my hands outstretched in front of me, I ventured a couple of small steps into the inky darkness and stopped. Fear seized me for a second as I tried to breathe, unsure whether or not I should continue. Then I heard Mrs. Ohayashi’s voice somewhere in front of me.

  “Come on, what is holding you up? I don’t want to spend the whole night out here. I have classes in the morning, all right?”

  I pressed on. I didn’t see Mrs. Ohayashi anywhere but assumed she was in front of me. Slowly my eyes got used to the dark
ness, and a few minutes later they adjusted enough to make out a single passageway curving off to my left. Within a hundred feet, the tunnel turned abruptly and suddenly I found myself on the edge of what looked like a huge cavern, like a big hole of emptiness. The air in the tunnel felt heavy and oppressive.

  Bravely taking another step following the path along the cavern, I saw Mrs. Ohayashi floating in front of me. I caught up with her as we reached the exit. Light from the big moon above us hurt my eyes as we went back into the forest.

  “That my dear, was a shortcut,” she said as we both were outside again. “You can take that thing off now. We are far away from the castle now and you do want Adahy to be able to see you, right?” she asked.

  “Sure,” I said and took off the amulet. I gave it to Mrs. Ohayashi who put it in her pocket.

  “His cabin is not far from here, just follow me.” Mrs. Ohayashi started floating through the forest.

  I followed her closely.

  The forest was so quiet that it was almost unnatural. Where were all the animals? I looked in the trees but saw no birds, not even an owl. A short path led us to a clearing. An old wooden shack stood in the middle of it, lit up by the bright moonlight.

  Mrs. Ohayashi stopped.

  “Is that it?” I asked.

  She nodded while glancing around with a nervous look. She hesitated as I floated into the clearing. I looked up and saw the stars above. They seemed even bigger than usual. The shack in front of me looked small and old, and suddenly it looked like something I had seen before. That was when I looked down at the path in front of me and saw the blood. An entire trail of blood went through the grass. My heart stopped and I froze. It was the cabin from my dream.

  I turned to look at Mrs. Ohayashi, but she was no longer there.

  “Mrs. Ohayashi?” I called.

  No answer.

  “Mrs. Ohayashi?” The sound made an echo between the trees. And then it was quiet. Not a sound, not a wind, not a tree moved. I was alone.

  The quiet was broken. I heard a sound above me and looked up. A bird. A big black crow circled in the air. Then it started descending. Faster and faster it moved toward me while cawing so loud it almost hurt my ears. It came so close I had to move to avoid being hit by its beak. As it flew past me I was certain I heard it laugh. Then it was gone.