CONTENTS
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter One - Today of All Days
Chapter Two - Black Callas
Chapter Three - Bone Man's Charge
Chapter Four - From the Heart
Chapter Five - The Fool's Errand
Chapter Six - Garage Sailing
Chapter Seven - Lost, Not Forgotten
Chapter Eight - Tea Time
Chapter Nine - The Gift
Chapter Ten - Rise and Shine
Chapter Eleven - On the Trail
Chapter Twelve - Dog of War
Chapter Thirteen - Haunted
Chapter Fourteen - Shadows in the Hall
Chapter Fifteen - Welcome to Afterlife
Chapter Sixteen - Conscripted
Chapter Seventeen - A True Friendship
Chapter Eighteen - The Wraith
Chapter Nineteen - The Iron Council
Chapter Twenty - Amber of Afterlife
Chapter Twenty-One - Have You Seen This Woman?
Chapter Twenty-Two - The Census Master
Chapter Twenty-Three - Hello Again, Liam
Chapter Twenty-Four - Roll the Dice
Chapter Twenty-Five - The Spirit Within
Chapter Twenty-Six - Hey Bartender
Chapter Twenty-Seven - Marina Arshakuni
Chapter Twenty-Eight - Closing Time
Chapter Twenty-Nine - The Lost Soul
Chapter Thirty - Lessons
Chapter Thirty-One - The Spider and the Fly
Chapter Thirty-Two - The Agate Necklace
Chapter Thirty-Three - Dust on the Blade
Chapter Thirty-Four - No Safe Quarter
Chapter Thirty-Five - The Whiskey Tango
Chapter Thirty-Six - The Scream
Chapter Thirty-Seven - Welcome Home
Chapter Thirty-Eight - Whispers in the Web
Chapter Thirty-Nine - Delusions
Chapter Forty - Chained Phantom
Chapter Forty-One - Intruder in the Halls
Chapter Forty-Two - Liberation
Chapter Forty-Three - The Reunion
Chapter Forty-Four - In the Shadow of the Palace
Chapter Forty-Five - Mask and Maiden
Chapter Forty-Six - Cursed
Chapter Forty-Seven - The Lie
Chapter Forty-Eight - Hail, Adam
The End
Copyright © 2016 by Aaron Burdett
ASIN: B01KMJJ2T8
Skull and CrossPens Books, distributed by Skull and CrossPens Press
All characters and events in this book are fictitious.
Any resemblance to persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal, and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
First Printing September 2016
For anyone who ever looked through a mirror and wondered if the person staring back was really them, this story is for you.
Want free ebooks like Afterlife? Go to www.skullandcrosspens.com and signup to receive free pre-release books given only to our fans before anyone else!
CHAPTER ONE
Today of All Days
“Amber? Do I need to come upstairs? You know how I hate stairs. My ankles are bad, you know that. I’ve told you on several occasions, I’m sure of it. It’s the left one really. Always so tired, so sore. I blame Mr. Flannery, always wanting to walk here and hike there. He really never knew when to stop, and it’s simply crucial that one knows exactly when enough is enough.”
Amber pulled the thick blankets over her head and whispered to the woman downstairs, “And how much did you walk, Ms. Flannery?”
“Why, I’m certain I’ve walked farther than anyone in Portsmouth! It’s a wonder I’m not in a wheelchair already,” the woman called.
“And where did you go, Ms. Flannery?” Amber mumbled into her comforter.
“Oh, the exotic places we went and terrible things we saw! They were enough to make anyone a studious, God-fearing Christian. There are things out there that will turn your pretty hair grey in the blink of an eye.”
Amber rolled out of bed and hurried to the open bedroom door. “Ms. Flannery? I wasn’t expecting you. I’ll be down in a second!” She turned from her door and frowned, her fingers still clutching the cool brass knob. “Why are you here anyway? Did Mom go to the store?”
A pause uncomfortably long enough to weigh on Amber’s heart passed before the old woman spoke again. “Good morning, Amber. I, ah, I assumed your mother already informed you of her plans. Be thankful my nephew Billie taught me how to check this obnoxious internet thing, otherwise I might never have gotten her message. Can’t we use phones like we used to? I certainly do miss a good conversation every now and then. Maybe while your mother’s out of town you can come visit after school? I’ll make that cinnamon herbal tea you used to love, do you remember that?”
“I’m alone?” Amber’s heart continued its long journey to the pit of her stomach as her gaze settled on her phone. “I can’t believe you actually left.” She squeezed the door knob, wishing she could crush it. “Today of all days. You said this time you’d stay!”
Amber ripped her hand away from the knob and ran her fingers through the knotted waves of her hair. So her mom left town. Again. She could already see the linen envelope on the kitchen counter, sealed with a cool kiss in the night. Leaving a note was so much easier than calling or texting, especially for a woman running from her grief.
“Amber? Dear?”
Ms. Flannery’s voice turned from gnat-level annoying to full-on nails raking the chalkboard so hard everyone who hears them arches their backs and clamps their teeth. Amber turned back to the door, leaning through the crack into the hallway. “I’m almost ready! You can go, Ms. Flannery. I’m just changing from the shower.”
“Are you sure? Need help with your makeup?”
“I barely wear any, but thanks!”
“And your uniform, does it look decent?”
“It always does!”
“Well, okay.” The twinge of disappointment in Ms. Flannery’s tone came through loud and clear. Amber could almost picture her neighbor rubbing her liver-spotted hands, lips pursed and frantically searching for any excuse to linger.
“I’ll really be just fine, Ms. Flannery. I’ll have to take you up on that tea offer. I’ve missed our little chats together.”
Amber swung the door until only a crack of open air remained between it and the doorframe. She leaned on the wall and waited.
Footsteps. The faint creak of hinges protesting as the door they held swung wide. “Wonderful to hear, my darling. I’m hosting rotary club today anyway and I barely had the time to check on you. I’m so very excited they finally wanted me to host now that that little spider Tessa Fischer moved to Portland. I think I’ll tell them we need to volunteer at that Family Food Pantry by Leary Field when the weather turns. We could do so much more for this community with me at the helm. Tootles!”
The front door thudded closed before Amber could respond. Not that Amber took offense to the woman’s quick exit. On the contrary, she was only too happy Ms. Flannery would have a captive audience at her club and not in Amber’s home. Ms. Flannery could talk to a wall until it crumbled from boredom, and Amber actually needed some time to get ready for school before her ride showed up.
She took a shower, one of those hot showers where thick trails of steam cloaked the room in an undulating grey veil and licked the tile
s with moisture. Amber listened to the water splatter at her feet, then circle the drain and vanish. When she closed her eyes and listened to the sound of the water, it dulled the anger, the frustration she knew the day would bring.
The faucet squeaked as she turned the shower off and stepped onto the wet floor. A few minutes later, Amber was dressed and fresh enough for school. She stared at her reflection. The neatly-pressed white button up hugged her too tightly at the waist, and its sleeves winged out at the shoulders. The gold Fleur-de-Lis sewn onto her pocket had a few annoying frayed threads that caught on her nail as she toyed with the design. Her pleated navy skirt was rough on her thighs, no matter how little starch the cleaners used.
Even after so many years of wearing it, she could never quite get used to this uniform. “I wasn’t even supposed to go to school today,” Amber sighed.
She slipped her shoes on and swung her backpack over her shoulder. Downstairs, she passed through the kitchen and caught the envelope waiting on the counter. “There you are.”
Amber ripped the note out and crumpled the envelope. Her heartbeat quickened as she read the scribbled lettering, then her eyes rolled as she finished it. The note was nice enough on its face, her mother’s words full of shiny promises and saccharine apologies that didn’t make what she had just done hurt any less.
Her phone vibrated and, for a moment, she forgot the note. Amber yanked her cell out and glanced at the screen. The dark cloud hanging over her brightened, if only a little.
“Perfect timing, Chris,” she said.
“Why?” her brother asked.
“You won’t believe where Mom’s gone this time.”
Her brother sighed, and it rolled into an annoyed groan. “She promised she wouldn’t do this again. What’d the letter say?”
“Borneo for a few weeks. Supposedly some part of the jungle’s been exposed and blah, blah, blah, there’s a frog that needs filming. So there. Mom’s in Borneo for a frog. Can you believe it? She basically snuck out of the house last night while I was sleeping. Isn’t that what I’m supposed to be doing, not her?”
“I’m sorry, Amber. It sucks. I know for you … for today.”
“Whatever. Maybe she’ll kiss the stupid frog and it’ll turn into her prince or something.”
Chris chuckled. He always could find a reason to laugh. “So how much did she leave Ms. Flannery?”
“I was just about to find out.”
Amber opened the counter drawer and spotted the second envelope that Ms. Flannery had never discovered in the many times Amber’s mother vanished on one of her wild adventures overseas. Thanks to their neighbor’s inability to read most emails and text messages, the money had gone unnoticed for the better part of a decade. When Chris still lived at home, he would take Amber for ice cream or let her pick a few books from the bookstore as long as she promised not to tell their mom when he tried to get someone to buy him beer at the gas station just outside town.
Amber licked her lips and flipped the envelope open, thumbing through the crisp bills. “More than usual, but you can probably guess why. I’m thinking Mom knows I just take the cash and this is kind of hush money so we don’t have to talk about it when she gets back.”
“How much is it then?” Chris asked.
“Couple hundred.” She plucked the money out and shoved it in her pocket. “More than usual, just like I thought.”
“Can you spare some for your brother then?”
“Depends on why you called. Are you calling to let me know when you’re coming over tonight?”
There was silence on the line. Amber swallowed the knot in her throat and stared out the kitchen window. “Please tell me you’re coming over. It’s only a few hours if you leave around lunch.”
“Amber, I….”
His voice trailed into that sticky silence. The cloud over her day rumbled and darkened. “So you too, then. At least you called. Thanks for that.”
“Of course I called! I’m not Mom. It’s just, school’s been really busy, and I’ve got to keep my grades up, and things aren’t like high school, Amber. You’ll learn that next year and you’ll see what I’m saying. I can’t just leave campus at the drop of a hat to come see you. And anyway, it’s been so long. Maybe it’s just … better this way. Go see him if you want, but it’s time we stop, you know, making it like this big thing every single year. There’re other ways to remember. Just go see him, say what you’ve gotta say, and that’ll be good. We’re all doing the same thing, even if we aren’t there. It’s called coping.”
Amber grabbed an orange from the fruit bowl and headed toward the door. “How’s your first semester going? Hard? Easy?”
“Don’t try and change the subject. Today’s the day. Are you going to go see him or not?”
“I don’t know, Chris, why aren’t you? Don’t give me that line about how busy you are with your lame courses and how I just can’t understand your poor, hard life when I can totally see everything you post online because you always forget to block me from seeing it.”
“Oh, come on. What I post is totally opposite of what my life’s really like. Everybody’s like that. We all do it.”
“Whatever. Mom doesn’t talk to me, but at least she doesn’t lie.”
The only response her brother could manage was a low, tired sigh.
Amber smirked and shouldered her way through the front door. A crisp fall greeted her with its bitter kiss. Hinges moaned as the door slammed shut behind her. Ahead, birches dotted with a hemlock here and there walled the manicured island of her home. Approaching winter tinged the trees’ leaves vivid scarlet, save the massive elm by the drive that dazzled the neighborhood with leaves so yellow they nearly glowed in sunlight.
“I just don’t understand why you have to be such a bitch about things sometimes,” Chris blurted.
Amber’s lips tightened into a thin line. She blinked away the tears suddenly swirling in her eyes and slowed her pace, feet crunching on the dry grass. “The drive’s not that bad, and Jennifer has her mom’s card for gas. You could’ve been here if you really wanted.”
“I’ve got classes today. A test.”
Amber wiped her eye on her sleeve. “It’s okay, Chris. You don’t have to come today.”
“Quit trying to make me feel guilty,” he said. “There’s nothing to be guilty about.”
“I wasn’t trying to do that. You’re not coming, and I don’t want to argue. That’s all.”
“Right. Fine. Anyway, if you need anything, let me know. I’ve got to get back to studying.”
Amber paused in the drive and looked down the street. Brick houses dotted the lane, each one collared by the rustling trees isolating the road from the rest of Portsmouth. “Chris, please? I could really use you here. I’ve never been totally alone today, and…” She squeezed her cell and bit her lip. “It would just mean a lot if you did.”
Chris didn’t speak, but neither did he sigh. Amber rocked on her heels and waited. The dread balling in her belly sunk deeper the longer the quiet persisted.
“I’m not coming,” he said.
“I understand.”
“I just can’t, Amber.”
“I know.”
“You’ll be okay.”
“I will,” she replied.
“Cool. Text me later then.”
Her brother ended the call. Amber dropped her phone into her pocket and folded her arms. It would have been nice if one of the others had been there. At least one of them. Toby deserved that much.
CHAPTER TWO
Black Callas
A few minutes after her brother’s phone call, a polished grey 1983 Mercedes-Benz 380SL finally rolled into Amber’s drive, top down, motor rumbling so low it bordered on a gurgle. If anyone had been sleeping on their street, the car would have shaken them right from it.
Amber shook off the anger and the hurt and painted on a smile. The car squealed to a stop beside her and sat in the drive trembling like a dog at the door itching to go outs
ide and run a few laps.
She reached for the handle, raising a brow. “Top down? Isn’t it a little cold for that?”
“That’s all you’ve got to say?” Jason asked. He pursed his lips in the rearview mirror and fixed the part in his thick, coffee-colored hair. Hazel eyes twinkling, he reached over and flung the passenger door wide. “What’re you waiting for? Get in!”
“I don’t know if I trust this thing, Jason. Does your dad even know you bought it yet?”
“Oh my God, you’re such a drama queen. Since when have I ever cared what he thinks anyway? Get in here and have some fun! We’re gonna roll up in school and people will be all, ‘Oh look at that hot ride, who’s that?’ And I’ll be all like, ‘What’s up, ladies?’ It’ll be epic.”
“What’s up ladies? Are you about to ask them where their boyfriends are in this epic fantasy of yours?”
“Hey, I’m not a home wrecker.” He bit his lip and leaned toward her. “I’d ask about any brothers or cousins first.”
Amber laughed and plopped into the cinnamon leather seats. She ran her hand along the cushion, then passed her fingers over the dash. “It’s in such good condition. Are you trying to impress somebody with this thing?”
Jason snorted as he slipped on his cobalt aviators. “Maybe. Definitely not anybody at school. Can’t handle all those closet cases.”
“Not at once, anyway.”
“I mean, if I wanted to—”
“Jason!”
They both cracked up when their eyes met, and much of the anger twisting around Amber’s heart loosened up and faded. She dropped her backpack to the floorboard as the car rolled down the drive.
The massive elm’s saffron leaves sighed in the breeze, throwing dancing shadows over her cheeks. A blade fell from its branch and fluttered onto the backseat. Amber turned around and snatched it up, then faced the mirror, rolling it in her hands.
Afterlife (Second Eden #1) Page 1
