All The Pretty Ghosts (The Never Series Book 1)

by Jamie Campbell

  When the realization that they were all gone had fully set in and the deep-seated panic had really started, it was the seventeen year olds that worried the most. Those with birthdays approaching nearly went mad with the question mark over what would happen to them when they turned eighteen.

  Nothing happened.

  Whatever had caused the Event didn’t seem to linger to take those who grew older. It appeared that we wouldn’t be struck down when we turned into adults. It took only those unfortunate enough to already hold that status.

  Which was a good thing, really. I wasn’t far off turning eighteen myself. I wasn’t worried about losing my life when that day arrived. But I did worry about it every other day. If I survived to eighteen I would consider myself lucky.

  Many did not get that privilege anymore.

  “What do you think it means?” Oliver asked, pulling me from the swirl of my thoughts.

  I shrugged, because I really didn’t have any answers. Nothing that would really explain how it was possible. “I don’t know. But I think it’s wrong to keep them hidden away when we need them so much.”

  “Could they really do anything up here? You said there weren’t many of them.”

  “It doesn’t take a lot of people to make a difference. Sometimes even one person is enough.” I stared at the wall, trying to make everything fit together in my mind. All I could find were jigsaw puzzle pieces that didn’t fit together.

  The seeping mildew on the wall made a butterfly pattern when stared at for too long.

  “What about if they die above ground?” Oliver pondered. “That’s got to be a big risk. If they managed to stay alive this long, they wouldn’t want to put everything at stake.”

  “They don’t all have to come up at once,” I mumbled.

  I wasn’t heartless, I knew how terrifying it would be for the adults to take that leap of faith. The threat of an instant death was enough to make them run back to their safe cavern and live out their life there.

  But there was a whole population that was dying on a daily basis from things that could be avoided. If the adults took some control, showed that we weren’t alone, they might be able to change things.

  Perhaps it didn’t have to be like this.

  That was what I hoped the adults would truly believe in – the mission to save the children that were left. If they didn’t survive, there would be no more. Repopulation wouldn’t be possible when everyone was dead.

  “How do you think the children would react?” I asked. We had focused on the adults, but there were many more things to consider.

  Oliver didn’t need to think about it. “The hopeful would believe their parents would be next to return. The hopeless would think they were an illusion.”

  I had to agree.

  Chapter Twelve

  Oliver left early the next morning, insisting he had more people to help and would return before nightfall. We were to stay in the basement until it no longer felt safe.

  Or the mold killed us.

  With the whole day stretched out in front of me, I knew what I had to do. There were so few things I was certain of anymore, so many promises that had been broken to ensure everything I knew would never be stable again.

  But there was one thing I knew for sure.

  Jet was lying.

  He had known more about the adults, and the mole people themselves, than he was letting on. For whatever reason, he was keeping their secrets and did not care enough to share them with me.

  But I needed to know. I had to know everything he did, otherwise my curiosity would eat away at me forever. There was no way I was going to be able to simply walk away and forget about what I had seen.

  Finding the mole peoples’ territory was tricky but I knew I had to find it. I retraced my steps through the destroyed and desolate landscape. My studious eyes watched for every movement, anything that could tip me off to someone’s presence. I wasn’t going to be taken by surprise by the mole people again. It only took a slight twinge of my arm to remind me all over again.

  I stuck to the shadows, conscious of my footsteps that were too loud at times. My shoes were a size too big, flopping with every step and making it worse. What I wouldn’t have done for some fluffy slippers – comfortable and stealthy.

  The set of stairs that led into the underground tunnel came into view in the distance. I hadn’t noticed it the day before but it was almost completely circled by buildings. The district looked to be some kind of commercial area before the Event. Whatever offices the buildings once held were long departed.

  I snuck as close as I could while staying sheltered by the debris and remaining walls. If I were to go any further, I would be too exposed, potentially sacrificing myself again. Another beating would be a lot more painful than the previous one with all my fresh bruises.

  Trying not to use my sore arm, I climbed up to the second floor of the nearest building and sat on the edge. My feet dangled over the ledge as I positioned myself so I could see the tunnel entrance.

  What I had wondered yesterday while being dragged underground was how had I been surrounded so quickly by the mole people? They hadn’t come up from the tunnel or I would have seen them. So they had to have a secondary way of getting in and out of the underground.

  No matter how many times I scanned the area, I couldn’t work it out. There had been dozens of people around me when I was caught. They had to come from somewhere. If I was going to find Jet and catch him unawares, I was going to have to figure it out. I did not fancy the idea of being captured again just to speak with him. He might not let me go another time.

  “Hey, you’re the girl from yesterday.” The female voice startled me, sending me vicariously close to the edge of the building. I went to jump up but she sat beside me before I could. Blonde hair instantly caught the midday sun as she moved, her bright blue eyes surveyed me curiously.

  “What do you want?” I asked, keen to get it over with. Just because she looked friendly, it didn’t mean she was. I had been caught out before and suffered the consequences.

  The girl shrugged. “I don’t want anything. Why, what do you want?”

  “Nothing.”

  She smiled before holding out her hand. I looked between it and her eyes, wondering for a moment what she was up to. I couldn’t work it out. My hand met hers cautiously, shaking it.

  “I’m Aurelia,” she said before releasing my hand. “Jet said your name is Everly. Is that right?”

  “Everly, yes.”

  “It’s nice to meet you. Although… I didn’t think I’d see you back here again. Not after what Perry and her friends did to you.” She pointedly looked at my arm. “Sorry about that, by the way.”

  My hand was rubbing my sore shoulder before I realized I was doing it. My eyes searched the area behind us, not only looking for an exit but to make sure Aurelia was alone. “I didn’t exactly make friends with Perry.”

  Aurelia laughed, it seemed genuine. Her wispy golden hair shook with the movement. “Nobody makes friends with Perry. I think Jet is the only one she tolerates.”

  “She mustn’t know him very well then,” I said before I could stop myself. I wasn’t going to engage in conversation with the girl. I was planning on being polite and then leaving.

  “Perry knows Jet very well. He’s not that bad. He let you go, after all.” She nudged me with her shoulder, making my body go rigid. She must have noticed as she pulled back quickly but didn’t say a word about it.

  Perhaps she wasn’t as bad as I thought.

  “Jet only let me go because he didn’t know what else to do with me,” I pointed out. It wasn’t like he had any rope to tie me up with that time.

  “Now it sounds like you don’t know Jet very well. He doesn’t ordinarily let people leave the underground. He knows what would happen if someone said something they shouldn’t.”

  “So there’s been others that were taken down there?”

  Aurelia nodded. “A few. Perry puts them to work… unless
she doesn’t like them. Then I’m not sure what happens exactly. But we never see them again.” She said the words so casually it was difficult imagining she was talking about murder.

  Death had a different definition these days.

  So did denial.

  “Were you one of those people? One that was allowed to stay?” I asked. Aurelia didn’t seem like the kind of girl to live in an underground cavern. She seemed too full of sunshine.

  “Kind of. Perry is my sister.” She laughed at my stunned reaction, the sound echoed in the destroyed office block. “She tolerates my presence. As long as I don’t get in her way, she doesn’t bother with me.”

  “Have you lived in the tunnels since…”

  “Yeah. Perry and I were home when it happened and we just… started running. We hated leaving our parents but they were gone, it was too late for them. We ran down into the tunnels in case worse was coming. We never really came out again.” Her eyes drifted off to the sky as if she could see the memories playing out above us. They probably were, for her.

  She was lost in a silent reverie, it seemed wrong to interrupt her private memory. I stared out too, waiting for her to return to me and our conversation.

  I kept an eye on the tunnels, watching for movement. Nobody came or went down below.

  “So how do you know Jet?” Aurelia suddenly asked.

  “He kidnapped me once,” I said bluntly. There was no point sugar coating it. I was certain Aurelia wasn’t oblivious to his dishonorable activities. She probably knew more about them than I did.

  A smile spread across her lips, revealing her white teeth. She probably glowed underground. “That sounds like Jet. So he’s let you go twice? He must like you.”

  “Actually, I escaped myself the first time.”

  “Impressive. I bet he hated that.”

  I couldn’t stop the chuckle escaping from my lips. “No, I don’t think he liked it much.”

  “He’s nice once you get to know him,” Aurelia said, seriously again. “It’s amazing what he does for all of us. We never go hungry because of him.”

  My mind thought back to all the boys in his gang, how they would go out on raids for supplies. Was he acting on a much larger scale? Stealing enough for everyone I had seen underground? “He steals food for you all?”

  Aurelia shook her head, blonde tendrils bouncing. “Only sometimes. He showed us how to grow food. We have a whole garden bed that we use to grow fruit and vegetables.”

  “Underground?” I couldn’t fathom the concept. Sunlight was the key ingredient in getting anything to grow. It wasn’t like they had any of that down below.

  She gave me a sly smile. “There’s a lot more to those tunnels than you realize.”

  I didn’t press her for more because I knew I wouldn’t get it. Aurelia had probably already told me too much, the others could do unfathomable harm to her if they knew about it. I certainly wasn’t going to tell on her.

  Instead, I returned to the original subject. “So how do you know Jet?”

  “He saved my life once.” Her gaze went skywards again. “I got lost one day and couldn’t find my way back to the tunnels. Perry had told me not to go out by myself but I didn’t listen to her. It got dark and I was so scared. Until Jet found me. He helped me find Perry and lied for me.”

  So some girls Jet played good Samaritan to and others he tied up and tortured. I wondered what criteria he used to ascertain which way he would go. Or perhaps there was no thought to it at all, he simply reacted according to his mood. Maybe when he saw me he couldn’t resist harming me. Perhaps Aurelia was cuter, bringing out the protective side of him.

  I didn’t know and I didn’t care. I didn’t need to know anything more about Jet to understand he was a liar. He obviously knew everything about the people in the tunnel, including the adults, and he didn’t deem me important enough to share the information with.

  “He must have liked you,” I finally replied, realizing Aurelia was waiting for me to say something. She still had that dreamy look in her eyes. I wondered if she had a crush on Jet. She couldn’t have been more than fourteen at the most, maybe he was old enough to be swoon-worthy for a young girl. He was pretty good looking if you could forget about his personality.

  Aurelia’s face lit up. “Jet’s really nice.”

  To some people.

  It was time I tried to get some real answers from the girl, I had engaged in enough banter with her for one day. “Do you know about the other people that live in the tunnels? The older ones?” I needed to be careful of my words, just in case she didn’t know about their existence.

  “The adults?” Aurelia asked. Clearly my concerns were for nothing. I should have predicted Perry’s sister would have known all about them.

  “Yeah, the adults. Do you know much about them?”

  She shrugged, sadness crossing her eyes. “Perry says I shouldn’t talk to them. She doesn’t want people to bother them.”

  “Don’t you think it’s strange they survived?” I prompted. All the openness she had previously radiated was shriveling up now as she censored herself. Aurelia wasn’t comfortable with the conversation, it was as plain as day.

  “I guess some people were lucky,” she finally replied. “Perry says I shouldn’t talk about them.”

  Perry was a bitch.

  “It’s okay, I won’t tell anyone.” Any guilt I felt about coercing a young girl was overridden by my need to know. I had to have facts about the adults, perhaps I didn’t need Jet after all.

  Aurelia’s eyes flicked up to meet mine. She studied me like she could tell I might be lying. She might only be a young girl, but she was smart. Perry would do better by paying her more attention rather than see her as nothing more than a little sister.

  She wasn’t talking. I racked my brain, trying to remember how I would convince my own sister to do something she wasn’t sure about.

  There was only one thing that would work. “I’ll pinkie swear on it, if you want me to.” I held out my pinkie finger, seeing if she would shake it. Her gaze flicked between my hand and face. At least she was considering it.

  “Aurelia!” The sharp voice cut through our quiet moment. The girl instantly jumped up.

  “I have to go,” she said, already backing away.

  “Aurelia! I know you’re out here, come here now.” I looked down and caught sight of Perry, stomping around below.

  I pulled my legs in from the ledge and shuffled over to make sure she couldn’t see me. Peering over just enough, I saw Aurelia catch up to her sister. They disappeared into the building opposite, swallowed up by the ruins. Their secret tunnel had to be in that building.

  At least Aurelia gave me one clue. Now I knew where to watch for an invasion of the mole people.

  I remained on the floor, watching the area for more movement. I still needed to speak with Jet. Despite Aurelia’s promises that he was a nice guy, I was never going to believe her. He was a criminal, a sadistic, horrible person who had kept me hostage against my will – twice. She had made him sound like a saint. I knew the truth.

  Nobody else passed through the area all afternoon. I was left alone with my thoughts, coming to no other conclusion than knowing I was no closer to solving any problems.

  The sun was starting its slow descent down to kiss the horizon. It was time I started moving. I stood, stretching my limbs and finding them still painful and stiff. It was going to take a while to get over the damage the mole people had inflicted.

  I walked slowly, compensating for my wrecked body. Oliver said he would meet me back at the basement apartment, hopefully he would make it back before I did so I didn’t need to worry about where he was.

  Not that I ever stopped worrying about Oliver.

  As I rounded a corner, a loud explosion erupted through the city. Instinctively, I crouched down and my arms flew over my head – sending pain bolting through my shoulder.

  There was no debris that rained down on me this time. Wherever the explosion
was, it wasn’t anywhere near me. A puff of smoke in the distance was all I could see of the damage and death that had occurred.

  All I could pray for was that Faith and Oliver weren’t anywhere near the building that had blown up. That thought spurred me into action. Ignoring the now pulsing pain in my shoulder, I set off in a run toward the apartment. There was nothing I could do about knowing my sister’s whereabouts, but I could find Oliver.

  I had to know he was okay.

  My eyes searched the streets for the landmarks that had guided me only that morning. My feet pounded on the pavement in the same rhythm to my heartbeat.

  Thud. Thud. Thud.

  It echoed in my head.

  The thought of being without Oliver, of something taking him from me, was unbearable. He had become a part of me, just as sure as my own limbs. Without him, I wouldn’t be able to survive. I was fooling myself the entire time I was living in my house on the hill. Being without Oliver wasn’t living, it was only existing.

  By the time I rounded the last corner, I was nearly crazy with panic. My lungs burned and my legs were quickly turning to jelly. I stopped outside the apartment building, taking the steps down to the basement two at a time.

  He wasn’t there.

  “Oliver?” I called out. My eyes found all the nooks and shadows, searching them and making sure he couldn’t be hiding anywhere from me.

  There was no response.

  If Oliver wasn’t here, he might have been in that building. The explosion that could be heard echoing around the city could have engulfed him. Swallowed him up like his life meant nothing. Like he was nothing.

  I couldn’t breathe.

  This time, it wasn’t the mold and mildew making it difficult, but sheer panic. I had to find Oliver. The thought repeated in my head, shutting down any other thoughts.

  I ran for the door.

  And almost ran straight into him.

  I managed to stop myself before collided with his chest. Again, I found myself desperate to wrap my arms around him but couldn’t cross that line. We were friends, I wasn’t supposed to need him so badly.