by Cege Smith
“I have my reasons for assisting in the small favors that The Third asks of me. As long as they don’t interfere with my primary responsibilities I don’t see any harm,” Jeffrey answered.
His reply wasn’t that much different than Lucy’s when Ellie had pressed her on the same topic. Somehow Mikel had something on the two of them to sway them to his side. There was a long pause as Ellie finished eating, but the silence was comforting. She found that she wanted to trust Jeffrey. He had been helpful so far as she figured out her place and was going out of his way to take care of her. But as long as he assisted Mikel, she couldn’t take him into her confidence.
“I assume I’ll see everyone again at dinner?” she asked. “Mikel said one of the new arrivals is a strong empath, just like you said. I just don’t know which one yet.”
“Yes, I sent them upstairs to rest. I’m sure you’ll get all of that sorted out at dinner,” Jeffrey said. “If I may be so forward, I wanted to let you know that I think you’ve been doing a spectacular job so far. You should be proud of yourself,” Jeffrey said.
The words of praise made Ellie blush. She didn’t take compliments well. “Where’s Lucy?”
“Lucy said something about having an errand, and that we shouldn’t expect her for dinner.” Jeffrey’s tone said if Lucy didn’t come back at all he wouldn’t be disappointed.
“Oh,” Ellie said. She was frustrated that Lucy had mysteriously disappeared again. She wanted to talk to her and tell her about what she discovered in her parents’ house and ask what that could possibly mean. She pushed away from the counter and took the roses into her hands. “I’m going to take these upstairs. I’ll see you at dinner.”
“Don’t be late,” she heard Jeffrey call out as she left the kitchen. She ignored his comment and fell deep into her thoughts.
She paused at the door to David’s room and almost stopped to knock, but decided against it. Even if he was there, she couldn’t be sure it was him and not Mikel. Up in her room, she set the roses on the bedside table by the window and then took a small quilt off the rocking chair. She sat down on the window seat and pulled the quilt over her legs and curled up next to the window.
She leaned the side of her head against the window pane. Her breath created a fog on it almost immediately. She put her finger up to it and drew a small sun. She closed her eyes and thought about the lake view that would be right outside the window on the Other Side. It scared her how she was already making the distinction between the two places as if she had lived in the Afterlife much longer than she had.
Feeling drowsy, Ellie leaned back against the pillows and let her mind wander. She ran over everything that had happened since her arrival and she still couldn’t believe all that had happened. Somewhere along the way she had also lost David. She wondered if she’d ever see him again, and the thought that she wouldn’t made her want to cry. Then she thought about her parents. They had been keeping a secret; she was becoming more and more certain of it. If it was anything close to what she was thinking, Ellie’s world would certainly crumble even more.
She hadn’t slept since she arrived, and although she knew her body reacted differently to time passing here, she was bone weary. She wiped the thoughts from her mind and her body relaxed. Soon her world faded to black.
“....What do you think happened?”
“How am I supposed to know?” Ellie was irritated. She didn’t know why they always had to cover the same things time after time. “It’s not like I can ask them. But obviously my parents had a secret that I never knew about.”
“That makes you angry,” the Voice said.
“Yes, that makes me angry! What do you think? Because if they did know about the Afterlife then that means that there may be a whole lot of things I’ve always taken for granted that weren’t true.”
“Like what?”
“Like this whole thing of being able to see auras. Or how about the fact that I’m some kind of super freak in the Afterlife? Or the fact that I’m here in the Afterlife at all when most people on the Other Side just hum along on their merry way until they die and are supposed to be here? Don’t you think things are lining up a bit too coincidentally?”
“Maybe you should be relieved instead of angry.”
“Relieved?” Ellie’s voice was shrill. “This is like my worst nightmare.”
“I think you are looking at this all wrong, Ellie. What’s happening is a good thing.”
“I think I need to find somebody else to talk to,” Ellie grumbled. “Next thing you’ll be telling me that I should be flattered that Mikel is clearly infatuated with me.”
“Talk to me about Mikel.”
“What’s there to talk about? He’s the creep that set me up. He’s forcing me to steal psychic abilities from innocent people who are just supposed to be passing through the waypoint, no doubt for some crazy plot to take over the Afterlife. Oh, and let’s not forget that because he didn’t tell me anything about my own ability, I ended up snuffing out somebody’s soul completely.”
“But you said that he’s expressed affection for you.”
“Allowing me to see my parents’ house and giving me some flowers ranks pretty low on the affection scale. And if that’s the best he can do, he ought to keep it. Not that I want it. Ugh! I don’t want to talk about him anymore.” Ellie was flustered.
“Things are rarely as black and white as you make them out to be.”
“Great, you’re taking his side too,” Ellie said. “Why can’t people understand? He’s evil. I’m never going to care about someone who is evil.”
“Evil, good, black, white, happy, sad. Extremes. I think you will find that there is often more to the story than what is visible at first glance. To judge so quickly almost certainly guarantees that you will overlook something important. You yourself have admitted that you’ve killed someone since you’ve arrived in the Afterlife. Does this make you evil?”
“No, that’s ridiculous. It was an accident,” Ellie sputtered. “You aren’t going to convince me.”
There was a pause and then a face blossomed in the darkness for the first time. Ellie was stunned. It was Roni.
“You still aren’t ready, Ellie. Your time is running out,” Roni said.
Roni was the Voice.
Ellie’s eyes fluttered open and she thought she heard a knock on the door. She had fallen asleep on the window seat. She sat up and heard the knock again. Trying to clear the cobwebs from her mind, Ellie called out, “Who is it?”
The door opened a crack and David’s head appeared. He smiled when he saw her and took in her rumpled appearance. “Hey there, sleepyhead. It’s almost time for dinner. Jeffrey said you were up here. Can I come in?”
“Sure,” Ellie said. Her mind wasn’t quite firing on all cylinders yet. David opened the door all the way and walked in.
It was automatic for Ellie to think he looked great. He had a short-sleeve blue T-shirt that matched his eyes and wore a pair of jeans. His trim physique was mouth-watering. He sat down on the window seat next to her. “How’d you sleep?”
“Fine,” Ellie nodded. She tried to pat her hair down without looking obvious.
“Did you dream about anything nice?”
Ellie wrinkled her nose. She tried to remember what she had been dreaming about, but couldn’t recall. “I don’t remember.”
“Jeffrey says dinner’s going to be epic tonight,” David said.
“Why?” Ellie was having a hard time keeping up with the conversation. What was wrong with her?
“Something about a powerful psychic energy. Sounds like you’ll have your hands full with that one,” David said.
It had never occurred to Ellie that someone may have the awareness or ability to fight her back. The possibility filled her with dread. “I won’t know until I try,” she said lamely. Then she remembered something Mikel had said to her. “Mikel said he blocked him.” She sat up straight. She caught herself before she said what had just occurred to her. Was
Mikel blocking her too? Was that the reason she couldn’t see auras anymore?
“Don’t worry,” David said, patting her arm. “I’ll be there to help you.”
Ellie had forgotten about Lucy’s spell, so when David touched her, suddenly she saw Mikel sitting there and not David. She gave a yelp and shot to her feet.
“What is it?” The image of Mikel had disappeared and she was looking at David’s face again.
“I thought I saw a spider,” Ellie said, thinking fast. She pointed over to the corner of the window past David’s head. “There.”
Although his eyes narrowed, he swung his head around and looked at the window. Then he looked back at her. “There aren’t any spiders or any other insects in the Afterlife, Ellie.”
“Oh,” she said. “Sorry. Must have been a shadow then. You know, David, I just woke up. I should probably change and get ready for dinner. How about I meet you downstairs in half an hour?”
She saw that he was weighing trying to stay, but then he stood. He moved to her and she forced herself to stand still. He took her hand and kissed her cheek. As he pulled away she found herself looking into Mikel’s emerald eyes again. The flickering between the two faces was making her ill.
“Okay then,” she said, taking a deep breath and pulling her hand away. “I’m going to go jump in the shower. I’ll see you soon.” Then she quickly made her way to the bathroom and shut the door, locking it behind her.
She sensed that he was still on the other side of the door, listening. She went to the tub and turned on the water. As she turned back to the door she almost screamed to find a figure behind her. Lucy put her hand over Ellie’s mouth and a finger to her own lips. Then she put her finger to her ear and pointed to the bathroom door. Ellie nodded.
Lucy whispered a few words and kneeling down, drew a wide circle with a lipstick that appeared in her hand. She grabbed Ellie’s hand and pulled her inside the circle. With both of them inside, there were just a few inches on either side.
“Your spell worked,” Ellie said quickly. “It’s definitely Mikel and not David. I knew it. It would have been nice to know how it worked though. Just seeing Mikel when I know I’m touching David’s body is making me jump out of my skin.”
Lucy nodded. “That’s what I needed to talk to you about. I think I’ve figured out how he’s keeping David out of the way.”
Ellie’s eyes widened. “How? Where is he? How do you know?”
Lucy shook her head. “I was able to call in a favor. Let’s just say it’s complicated. Mikel can hijack David’s body, but it’s entirely up to him if he tortures David by letting him tag along as a silent passenger or if he leaves his consciousness locked up in a little cell in Hell. I think, though, for the moment it’s pretty certain that any time Mikel knows he’s spending time with you, David’s consciousness will be there too. That’s exactly the kind of thing Mikel would get off on. Either way, things for David are bad.”
Ellie felt like she had been punched in the gut. “What do we do?”
“As long as David’s open, then Mikel can get in.”
“I don’t understand what open means,” Ellie said.
Lucy looked around and then settled on the shower. “Think of it like any kind of water faucet. As long as the tap is open, water can flow through freely. When the tap is closed, then nothing can escape. It’s the same concept. When David was born, Mikel was able to make it so that David was always open, so he could take over whenever he wanted to. We need to close the tap.”
“How?”
“If you can get me close to the real David, I can do it. But that means that you are going to have to draw Mikel out. Like completely out,” Lucy said.
“That sounds dangerous,” Ellie said. “What if Mikel hurts him?”
“He can’t do that. Not yet. Not as long as you aren’t into him,” Lucy said. “The waypoint needs that energy.”
Ellie stood up straighter. “Of course I’m not into him.”
Lucy put her hand on Ellie’s arm. “He’s been full court press on you since you got here, Ellie. He’s pulling out all the stops for you to start feeling sympathetic toward him. The more time you spend with him, even if he’s wearing David’s face, opens you up more to his manipulations. You won’t want to, but soon you are going to care about him. And that’s all he needs to start thinking about getting rid of David.”
Ellie started to say something else, but Lucy held up her hand. “It’s going to be irrelevant pretty quickly though. That’s why I had to talk to you now. If that guy downstairs is as strong as I think he is, the energy the waypoint is pulling from you and David won’t be half as much as what that guy is bringing. Mikel is going to want you to take that as soon as possible.”
“I won’t,” Ellie said stubbornly.
“He will use David against you. Either way, he’ll get what he wants. We need to work fast, Ellie.”
All the information was coming too fast. Ellie was starting to feel helpless and she was angry about Lucy’s assumptions of how she felt about Mikel. But she needed to hold it together. Her fate and David’s were intertwined, and she needed to do whatever it took to save him.
“Okay, I’m in. Tell me what to do,” she said.
Lucy grinned and told her the plan.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Thirty minutes later, Ellie descended the stairs. Her mouth felt dry and her heart was racing. As she reached the last step, David stepped from around the corner. The moment of truth had arrived.
“There you are,” she said, smiling at him. “I’m not late, am I?”
Looking a bit uncertain, he smiled back. “Right on time,” he said, holding his arm out. Ellie took it and this time was prepared when the image flickered and she saw Mikel standing there. He led her to the dining room, where it looked like they were the first ones to arrive.
“Would you pour me a glass of wine while we wait for the others?” she asked. There were several bottles of wine on the sideboard. Apparently Jeffrey was expecting a repeat of the last time they had a group for dinner.
“Of course,” he said. He moved to the bar and Ellie looked away as she saw the flicker out of the corner of her eye. If what Lucy said was true, the next hour was going to be a painful one for the real David. She hoped that he would understand when she finally was able to talk to him again. In the meantime, though, she intended to touch him as often as possible because seeing Mikel’s face made it easier to think about what she and Lucy were about to set into motion.
A glass of red wine appeared around her and she felt his hand on her hip; his breath against the back of her neck sent shivers down her spine. The fact that the sensation wasn’t unpleasant made her worry that Lucy’s comments earlier weren’t that far off the mark. That was unacceptable and had to be nipped in the bud.
“Thank you,” she said, taking the glass from him and taking a deep sip. The alcohol was going to calm her nerves. Then she turned around and put her arm around his neck. She saw the surprise in Mikel’s eyes. “I’m so glad you are here. I was thinking that all of this would have been so difficult if I didn’t have you here to lean on. What we have makes all of this worth it.”
“I’m glad that you think so, Ellie,” he said. He reached up and touched her cheek. “Your safety and comfort are the most important things to me.” Then his eyes lit up. “We should dance.”
“What?” It was a suggestion that Ellie wasn’t prepared for. “There’s no music.”
Putting his hand on her hip and taking her other hand, Mikel started to slowly lead her in a circle. His head dipped down next to hers and he started to hum a wordless slow song. Ellie didn’t know what to do other than dance. She soon discovered that even without music, Mikel was a skilled dancer. They glided around the room. At one point he pushed her away for a small spin and she laughed. Ellie loved to dance, but it was one of those things that you had to have the right partner for. As he pulled her close again she thought how different he was from any man she had ever
met. His complexities and darkness were things that could attract as well as repel. He was also very dangerous, and couldn’t be underestimated.
“I think that I’d like to have another drink,” she said breathlessly.
“I have always enjoyed dancing. It’s one of those things that I don’t often have occasion to do. But you’ve moved me, Ellie. Meeting you has been one of the best things that has happened in my life.” He stared deeply into her eyes and Ellie wished that he wasn’t so convincing in the way that he spoke to her. “I love you, Ellie Coulter.”
The words out of her mouth were automatic. “I love you too.”
A broad smile crossed his face and then he spun her again.
“Hey, what’s going on in here?” Lucy appeared in the doorway, frowning, and Ellie dropped Mikel’s hand. Then the flicker and she was looking at David’s handsome face again.
“I am declaring my eternal love for my girlfriend,” he said.
“I see,” Lucy said, looking at Ellie with a raised eyebrow.
Ellie blushed but she was annoyed at the same time. Part one of the plan was for Ellie to be so utterly believable in her affection for the faux David that Mikel would relax his guard. She thought she was doing a bang-up job of carrying it out to the letter. She frowned at Lucy and reached out to touch David’s arm.
“I was expressing the same sentiment,” she said. Mikel looked at her with a grin. Ellie grabbed the wine glass with her other hand and took another deep sip. As she hoped, the alcohol was working already. Sometimes being a lightweight had its advantages.
At that moment, the three visitors entered. Since they came single file into the room, this time Ellie knew exactly which one was the one that was her target. He was a smaller man and looked to be close to retirement age.
“This is Dan, traffic accident, Cam, heart attack, and Henry, stroke,” Lucy said, pointing to each. “Everybody, you remember Ellie. This is her boyfriend, David.” Lucy enunciated each consonant in David’s name as if she was drilling it into her own memory.
