Arise (Hereafter)

by Hudson, Tara

  Gaby kept her face stoic as she brushed my hands off of her.

  “I’m not going to screw this up for you again, Amelia. Besides, this is my fight.”

  “No, this is my fight. The demons want me. They always have.”

  “I guess they want both of us,” she said quietly. “Now shut up so we can hear what happens.”

  I opened my mouth to protest but then clamped it shut instead. What could I say? How could I thank her for what she’d just done? Slowly, gently, I took one of her hands in mine and gave it a light squeeze.

  Then we fell silent. Listening.

  For a while nothing happened. The only sounds I could hear were my ragged breathing and Jillian’s occasional whimper.

  Then, suddenly, it began: a faint thud, thud, thud emanating from Gaby’s rib cage. She heard it too, because her eyes widened and flickered down to her chest.

  Alex apparently couldn’t hear it. Behind me, he made a small, impatient sound.

  “Well?” he demanded. “Is it happening?”

  I didn’t answer him. I just couldn’t.

  By now Gaby looked terrified, and for good reason. With each passing second, the thudding from her chest became louder. But despite the volume of the beats, the silent, empty spaces in between them grew longer.

  If those silences continued to grow, then soon her heartbeats would stop altogether. And neither of us had any idea what would happen to her then. After all, how do the dead die?

  Although I couldn’t answer that question, I had a pretty good idea about what was happening to our surroundings. Although it was already a chilly night in the French Quarter, the air was growing colder. Almost unbearably so, to the point where my teeth began to chatter with each falling degree. Shadows started to lengthen and change, shifting from their normal grays to more livid, sinister purples.

  “The dark world is opening,” Gaby whispered, “isn’t it?”

  I simply nodded and tried not to shiver in the frigid wind. I sucked in another panicked breath; but before I had time to release it, I heard terrified cries coming from behind me.

  I spun around and found the young Seers looking far more alert than they had a few seconds ago. By now Annabel had doubled over, moaning in pain, while Hayley and Drew fumbled closer together.

  Shocked, I looked up at Alex. He hadn’t moved, nor had he removed the gun from Jillian’s chest.

  “How did you wake them?” I demanded.

  To my surprise, Alex shook his head. “I didn’t. I only brought one syringe. I don’t know what’s woken them—maybe the cold.”

  It made a terrible sort of sense: the unnatural chill of the dark world would force them awake, force them to see this horrible place. That explanation, however, didn’t fully pacify me.

  “Let them go before everything shifts over,” I demanded. “The demons just want Gaby and me—this isn’t Jillian’s fight, or theirs.”

  Alex shook his head again. “I have no power over that, Amelia. The voices said that if I found a way to open their world and bring you to them myself, they’d reward me by letting me inside. They must be letting in any living person who happens to be nearby.”

  Feeling another wave of terror, I glanced back at the young Seers. Although they were awake now, none of them looked like they were in any shape to get away. Not before the netherworld descended completely.

  Still, I had to try. I let go of Gaby’s hand and dropped down beside Annabel.

  “Run,” I whispered urgently. “Annabel, you have to run.”

  She turned her head, staring up at me with bleary eyes. “Amelia?” she croaked.

  I realized, dizzily, that this was the first time she’d actually seen me. Hayley and Drew must have seen me too, because they repeated my name in a chorus of confused voices.

  And at that moment, another confused voice repeated it as well.

  “Amelia?”

  My head shot up; and, in the span of one horrified second, my eyes met Joshua’s.

  Chapter

  TWENTY-NINE

  Joshua stood at the highest point of the footbridge, staring down in disbelief at the scene in front of him.

  “Run!” I screamed, bolting up. “Joshua, you have to—”

  But it was too late. Before I’d even finished my sentence, the world shimmered and changed.

  All at once, frost spread in a glittering sheet across the landscape. The metal structure above the wharf groaned in protest as its roof dissolved and its girders turned lurid shades of red and purple. Even the footbridge changed, melting beneath Joshua until it disappeared—swallowed whole by a dune of cold, wet sand.

  “Run,” I whispered, finishing the useless command I’d tried to give Joshua before the darkness closed in on us.

  I didn’t know whether Joshua heard me or not. But when his eyes connected with mine, I saw a glimmer of understanding in them. Although he’d never seen it, Joshua had listened to me describe this place enough times to know where we were.

  Alex obviously knew too.

  “Yes!” he crowed, laughing giddily. “I’m home! I’m home.”

  I angled my body so that I could see him better. But the maniacal glow in his eyes made me recoil. The sheer joy of being here made him shiver uncontrollably. If he didn’t look insane before, he certainly did now.

  And I wasn’t the only one who noticed.

  Jillian also watched Alex’s excited display closely. Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, she wriggled out of his grip. Unfortunately, she made a crucial mistake once free from Alex’s grasp.

  “Joshua!” she cried, stretching out one hand to her brother, who was more than an arm’s length away.

  In a flash, Alex grabbed a hank of her hair and jerked her back to him. Then, for extra measure, he lifted the gun into the air and brought the butt of it down—hard—onto her right temple. When she crumpled under the blow, Joshua screamed from the bridge.

  I’d never heard him say such a foul word. The odd thing was, I’d screamed the same word.

  Joshua and I moved simultaneously, scrambling to rescue Jillian. But Alex anticipated that reaction. With both hands gripped to the gun, he pointed it directly at Joshua and stared me down.

  “Tell him to stay back or he’s dead,” Alex told me. “You don’t want his life to end in this place, do you?”

  I froze.

  “Joshua,” I muttered, holding my palm up to him. “Joshua, honey, stay back.”

  He froze, too, although his mouth curled up in anger and frustration. I tried not to look at him, keeping most of my attention focused on Alex instead.

  Moving slowly so that he wouldn’t do anything retaliatory, I circled around, placing myself between Joshua and Alex. My eyes flickered down to Jillian—cowering on the ground, bleeding but thankfully still conscious—and then I looked back up at Alex.

  “That was unnecessary,” I said.

  “Trust me, it wasn’t. I think all of you are underestimating the fact that I’m in control.”

  “I know you are. And Gaby and I are staying, I swear. But at least let Joshua get Jillian,” I pleaded. “At least let him take her and his cousins away from here.”

  Alex frowned, studying me. Then, unexpectedly, he nodded.

  “Fine. Joshua can drag them a few feet back. But I’m not promising that the dark ones won’t take them too. And … Jillian stays right here. As leverage.”

  “That’s not fair.”

  Alex glared at me. “Life’s not fair, Amelia. I know that better than anyone.”

  “Then show a little mercy, for God’s sake.”

  While Alex and I argued, Joshua crept over to the young Seers and helped each of them half crawl, half stumble away across the sand. Although Alex didn’t try to stop them, I could tell he watched them closely.

  Someone else—someone Alex had temporarily forgotten about—unfroze too.

  Apparently Gaby had recovered, because she now moved carefully, almost out of Alex’s line of sight. As I emphasized th
e unfairness of the situation to Alex, I saw Gaby crouch next to Jillian, whisper in her ear, and then drop something into her open palm.

  Midsentence, Alex finally noticed the exchange at his feet. Scowling, he pulled the gun away from Joshua and directed it down at Jillian again.

  “Back off, Gabrielle. Or I will shoot the girl.”

  Gaby did as he said, sneering at him as she crawled away from Jillian. Once Gaby had moved far enough away, Alex shook his gun at Jillian.

  “Stand up,” he ordered her.

  Still bleeding, Jillian rose shakily. She faced Alex but kept her eyes on the ground, like she couldn’t bear to look at him. Unaware of her fear—or enthralled by it—Alex reached out to brush a strand of her hair away from the bloody mess at her temple. When she flinched, he laughed.

  “Why?” she asked softly, finally staring up at him.

  “Because you hated her the most,” he whispered, “so you questioned me the least.”

  “But … I liked you.”

  Alex had just opened his mouth to answer when Jillian’s expression abruptly changed.

  With a feral shriek, she wrenched her hand upward, shoved something into his open mouth, and then sealed his lips by planting her palm against them. She dug her fingers into his cheeks, and he flailed, grabbing at her with one hand and waving the gun with the other. I saw him swallow reflexively, right before his gun went off.

  After that, everything seemed to happen at once.

  Alex, who I thought would recover and fire again, stumbled backward instead. For a moment he simply looked furious. Then, without warning, his eyes rolled backward and he began foaming at the mouth.

  While strangled sounds ripped their way out of his throat, Jillian clambered backward toward her huddled family. Gaby, however, didn’t move. Which was strange, considering the fact that blood had begun to soak through the middle of her cream-colored shirt.

  She’d been shot.

  I gasped, dropping beside her on the floor of the pavilion. “I thought you said we couldn’t get hurt!” I cried out, my voice harsh with fear for her.

  “Don’t worry about me right now,” she said, but I didn’t listen. I clutched at her abdomen, trying to staunch the flow of blood with my hands. Yet Gaby managed to stay perfectly calm, swiping away my hands without taking her eyes off Alex.

  “Seriously, Amelia, stop it. It doesn’t hurt. Besides, you don’t want to miss the show.” She cocked her head toward the pavilion, and the corner of her lips lifted into a frightening smile.

  Almost involuntarily, I followed her gaze to the pavilion into which Alex had stumbled.

  Although he remained upright, Alex had fallen to his knees as he convulsed. In the still moments between convulsions, his cold gaze found Gaby’s. He must have been conscious enough to see her smile, because his eyes momentarily widened before they rolled completely back in their sockets and he collapsed.

  Suddenly, I could hear another heartbeat, thudding loudly and wildly: Alex’s, I was certain. But his heart didn’t get the chance to ease slowly into death like mine had. Instead, it stuttered more frantically, its individual beats growing indistinguishable until they became one long thud.

  Then, abruptly, they stopped.

  The following silence was almost palpable compared to the preceding frenzy. In the stillness, Alex didn’t twitch or gasp. He didn’t move at all.

  He was dead, as far as I could tell.

  Everyone—the living Seers, the dead Risen—held their breaths as we watched his motionless body. Then we sucked in a collective gasp when Alex sat back up.

  Slowly, horrifyingly, he opened his eyes and glared at Gaby. He grabbed for his gun, which had dropped to the ground when he fell.

  But now he couldn’t seem to grip it. He frowned, turning away from Gaby to stare harder at the gun. He swiped his hand over it once, twice, and then growled in frustration.

  Gaby barked out a brittle laugh. “Having a little trouble, Kade?”

  His cold gray eyes bore into hers again. “Did you … kill me?”

  Gaby’s grin widened. She raised her hand and began twirling another small bottle in her fingers.

  “Technically,” she said, “Jillian killed you. But I’m the one who gave her the ground oleander seeds, so I guess you can blame me.”

  Alex screamed inarticulately and fumbled for the gun again, with no success.

  Watching him, Gaby tisked several times.

  “That gun isn’t going to do you much good, Kade. Besides, you’ve already killed me twice.” She paused, glancing down at her bloody shirt. “Well, sort of killed.”

  “Gaby?” I whispered, reaching hesitantly for her. By now I couldn’t hear either of their heartbeats. “Gaby, what’s happened to you?”

  Keeping her eyes on Kade, Gaby lifted one shoulder in her usual flippant shrug. “Who knows? I feel numb again, so maybe I’m not Risen anymore. But that would be a small price to pay to condemn Kade to this hell.”

  “You want to condemn me, Gabrielle?” he snarled. “Then come condemn me.”

  “Gladly,” she spat.

  She suddenly wrenched out from under my hands and flew at Alex. He bolted up as well, meeting her mid-lunge. Within seconds the two of them had tangled together, snarling and clawing at each other’s throats.

  I leaped up too, ready to intervene in their fight. But then I hesitated.

  I glanced back at the young Seers, who’d gathered around Joshua like he was their protector. Which, given their hazy mental state, he probably was.

  Despite the fact that she still looked disoriented, I caught Annabel’s eye. “Form a circle,” I commanded her, “and do an exorcism on Alex. Now.”

  “I don’t know how—,” she started, but I cut her off.

  “It doesn’t matter. You’re the oldest, and I know you’ve seen your grandmother perform an exorcism before. So you have to try.”

  When she frowned reluctantly, I took a threatening step in her direction.

  Almost immediately, Annabel nodded in agreement. She began grabbing at the other Seers and arranging them in a circle on the sand. While Alex and Gaby shouted obscenities behind me, I watched as the Seers—including Joshua and Jillian—clasped one another’s hands and started to mimic Annabel’s chanting.

  Somewhat satisfied, I turned back to the brawling ghosts. To my horror, I found Alex straddling Gaby, with his hands wrapped tightly around her throat.

  “Let her go!” I screamed.

  But a screeching noise from somewhere high above us drowned my voice. I gazed upward and felt my heart go cold.

  Because a hundred black, birdlike shapes filled the bruised sky. And they’d started to dive right for us.

  Chapter

  THIRTY

  I didn’t have time to warn anyone before the black shapes descended, some dropping to the wet sand and some landing noisily inside the pavilion.

  Within seconds of landing they transformed, shifting from indeterminate forms to humanlike figures with white-blond hair, sleek black clothing, and bloodless-pale faces.

  They were glorious. Hideous. And each of them turned their black, pupilless eyes on me.

  One of them—a male with a cleft chin and thick jaw—broke rank and strode over to Gaby and Alex. The male placed one hand gently on Alex’s shoulder and when Alex glanced up, gave the boy a sharp-toothed grin.

  Instead of being horrified, as any sane person would be, Alex immediately rolled off Gaby and dropped at the creature’s feet.

  “Thank you,” he mumbled, touching the hem of the creature’s pants. “Thank you for allowing me inside. Thank you.”

  The creature smiled benignly down at Alex’s show of gratitude. Then it affected a worried frown.

  “Oh, child. It seems that you’ve gotten yourself killed.”

  Alex shook his head forcefully. “But not before I brought them here. Both of them, sir. For you.”

  “Ah, excellent,” the creature murmured. He looked down at Gaby, who was still gasping a
nd clutching at her throat, and then up at me. When his black, pupilless eyes locked onto mine, he smiled again.

  “Truly excellent.” He glanced back at his companions. “I believe one of you is here for this one?”

  Another demon stepped out of the crowd and approached us casually, moving as though she had all the time in the world to claim her prize. When she came close enough for me to see her features—long white-blond hair, angular bone structure—I hissed in recognition.

  It was one of the demons from High Bridge. The female who had swooped down like a Harpy and dragged Eli with her into the darkness below the bridge.

  And now she was here for me.

  “Well, hello again,” she said pleasantly. “You’re finally home with us, yes?”

  “This isn’t my home.” My voice sounded far stronger than I felt.

  The female demon laughed, and at first her laughter seemed beautiful—crystalline and sparkling. But listening to it made my ears ring painfully. When I clapped my hands over them, she laughed even harder.

  “Please stop,” I begged, nearly unable to hear my own voice.

  To my surprise, she listened, and obeyed.

  In fact, she was silent as the grave when she flew, lightning fast, to stand in front of me. Now only inches away, she flashed me a ghastly, needle-sharp smile. Then she touched me—wrapping her frozen, skeletal fingers around my wrist.

  I tried to scream. But once again I didn’t have time. I hadn’t even opened my mouth when the fiery glow burst forth across my skin like a torch.

  This was what the demons wanted; this was what they’d hunted me down to claim.

  But when the red-orange glow ignited, the female demon shrieked, dropping my arm and scuttling away from me like an insect. She ducked behind her companion, peering around him only to hiss angrily at me.

  I should have felt relief that she’d let me go. And I did.

  I also felt very, very confused.

  After all, her companion from High Bridge hadn’t feared my glow; he’d coveted it. So why on earth was she suddenly afraid of me?

  Frowning, I stared down at my arm. There, where she’d gripped me, was a steaming handprint. It looked like she’d burned me, which didn’t make any sense since I didn’t hurt.