Afterlife (Second Eden #1)

by Aaron Burdett

  “I won’t let you take me,” Amber said. Her lip trembled as she reached inside for the power of her curse. Eve happily poured it through her veins, its power rocketing through her and pulling her within it all at once. “What did you do with my brother? Where is Toby?”

  Tears poured freely down her cheeks. There she was, trapped in a room with a madman in nothing more than a hospital gown, covered in dirt, dust, and ash. Dino and Jason couldn’t reach her. She couldn’t transform, and she couldn’t escape.

  “No,” she said. “I won’t give up. I’ve got to find him. I’m coming for you, Toby!”

  Amber lashed out at Bone Man with every ounce of strength she had left. The poltergeist curse exploded from her as Bone Man’s power exploded from him. The two forces collided in a clap of thunder that shook the palace to its foundation.

  She glowered at Bone Man, fixed her gaze on his mask. Her vision shrunk to a point framing that pale disguise, and as the black closed around her, she aimed at it, remembering all the lessons Liam taught her about the poltergeist curse.

  You’re broken, she told the mask. You’ve always been broken. That’s all you know how to be!

  The crack on the mask split, and it slipped from his face in two great shards. Amber’s eyes rolled back, and she succumbed to the deep, cold darkness.

  Amber heaved a deep breath in a black room. She shivered in the cold, the only light to see by a needle of silver coming from a distant point far beyond her reach.

  “Amber, Amber,” Eve said, her voice sighing from the darkness. “Poor Amber. My power was just too much for you.”

  “Am I dead? Did he kill me?”

  “Of course not, silly girl. No one wants you dead. We need your body. I need your body.”

  Amber rolled to her knees and searched the darkness. “Let me out of this. I need to stop Bone Man. Please.”

  “You had your chance. Now it’s my turn.”

  “No,” she sobbed, bending over. “I can’t fail. I’ve got to save Toby.”

  “You were too slow, too meek, too mild. Then again, you’ve always been a weak one.”

  “No! I’m not weak. I’m not!”

  “You’re weak, child. You let them walk over you. It doesn’t matter if it was Chris and your mother, or Jason and Tiffany, or even Dino and Bentley. Don’t you see? You’ve always been spineless. You’ve never led. You’ve always been led. It’s time for me to change things. In our new world, Amber, we will be strong. We will be gods. No one will walk over you ever again.”

  “But I don’t want a new world. I don’t want anyone else dusted or killed. I just want Toby back.”

  “Forget him. He’s gone now. Just lie down. Sleep. It’s time.”

  Amber curled into a ball. She wept on the floor, hand flat on the cool stone. She was weak. She couldn’t save him. Even given a second chance, she couldn’t save her brother.

  “That’s it, close your eyes,” Eve cooed.

  Her lids were heavy, so she closed her eyes. I’m alone, she thought. I’m always alone.

  “And you’ll always be alone,” Eve said. “Unless you give in to me. Give yourself to me. End the pain. Say the words, and give yourself to the only one who can save you.”

  Say the words. Amber swallowed. She wanted to sleep so badly, to drift into a nothing and never feel pain again.

  The words balanced on the tip of her tongue. They pressed against her lips. They begged for freedom.

  Amber took a deep breath, and as she began to speak, a memory came to her that she had very nearly forgotten. Toby had whispered something to her on the very night she received the curse. You were the only one I remembered.

  Amber’s eyes shot open. “I was the only one he remembered!”

  “What?”

  “Toby. When he brought me to the graveyard, he said I was the only one he remembered. He loved me enough to remember me after his death. He never … He never blamed me for his death.” She sat up. “He risked everything to get to me! I was his one memory!”

  “Forget him. Say the words and forget him!”

  “No.” Amber stood, warmth rushing through her. She stood beneath the silver thread of light and squeezed her fists. “I won’t say the words because I’m not alone, am I? You just want me to think I don’t have anyone. You want me to be weak.” The warmth turned into hot anger. “You want me to forget everything I’ve gone through, what I’ve lived through to get to my brother. You need me weak, because you can’t be reborn if I’m strong. That’s it, isn’t it?”

  “No, of course not!” Eve’s scales slid hurriedly around her. “I want to give you peace. Give in. Say the words, Amber. Say the words!”

  “I will never give in to you!”

  Two red orbs flared in the black. “I will have your soul, and I will have my freedom! Fight me now, but you cannot stop me. I will consume you. I will deny you my power, and you can suffer knowing you will never find the truth!”

  Amber shook her head and stormed into the shadows. She lanced out, her hand latching around a serpentine neck. “Oh, screw you. I’m done with this.”

  The snake’s sinewy muscles twisted and writhed in her grasp. The red orbs flared. Fangs glimmered in the dim light.

  “This is my body, my soul, and you’re my guest,” Amber said. “As long as you’re staying here, I think I’ll take whatever power I want.”

  Fire ignited along her skin. It blazed into a roaring inferno, illuminating the shadows and revealing the twisting serpent coiled loosely around her. Eve writhed in her grip, fought her pull, hissed and shrieked, but Amber poured her will into the darkness as the flames engulfed them.

  Eve’s scaly skin ignited, burning away like dry paper. The snake shrieked, her great eyes reflecting the flames cloaking Amber. “You are cursed, Amber. You’ll always be cursed, and there will come a day when you lose the strength to fight me. Second Eden will come, and I will be its queen!”

  Eve reared back as the flames scorched her flesh. Amber tossed the snake into the black and glared at the pinprick of silver light. “It’s not over yet.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  Cursed

  Amber’s eyes snapped open. She flipped forward and landed spryly on her feet, her palms pressed against the ground and gazed fixed on the enemy before her. Eve’s raging power burned through her bones and ignited every drop of blood. She was a bottled tempest shaken up and let loose upon the world.

  She raised a hand, palm facing the hunched figure trembling before her. The shards of Bone Man’s mask lay in his shadow. He sobbed over them, the heels of his palms pressed into his eyes.

  “You hunted me,” she said, her voice filling the room with the weight of an ocean. “You killed innocent people, dusted innocent souls. For what? Why, Bone Man. WHY?”

  Bone Man shuddered. His hands fell away from his face, and he slowly met her fiery eyes.

  Amber sucked in a breath as the inferno turned to glacial ice. She dropped her hand and stumbled back. “Oh my God, it can’t be.”

  Bone Man blinked, his bright blue eyes focusing on her. Without the mask, she could see the man behind it, and she knew the face. She remembered it well. She’d seen it in the Census Master’s memories, and while it was older than the one in the picture she had found in the room beyond this one, she would recognize Toby Blackwood’s face no matter his age.

  “Toby?” Amber’s knees wobbled. She leaned onto the hearth for support and stared at her brother. “You’re Bone Man? All this time, it’s been you?” Tears suddenly welled in her eyes. She sucked them back and looked away. To think that after all this time, after all the trials and torture she’d survived to find him, her brother had been her greatest enemy all along, and now, she was so confused and angry she couldn’t even look at him when all she’d wanted to do was wrap her arms around him when she finally found him.

  “It was the mask,” he murmured. “When the archduke put it on me, the mask became me. It controlled me. It … It did all that. It made me do all
that.” He started sobbing uncontrollably. “I didn’t know anyone, Amber. I couldn’t turn to anyone for help. It was so dark, so … so cold. He made me a murderer. He made me a monster. God, Amber, what … what am I?”

  Amber finally wrenched her gaze from the floor to him. She placed her hand over her mouth and stare at her poor baby brother. “I’m so sorry, Toby.” She peeled away from the hearth. “You found a way to me. Even after all the archduke did, you still found me.”

  “When my body slept, the mask lost control. I would be free for a few hours, but the mask eventually would wake up and take control. I tried … I tried to dust myself, but I couldn’t. I just couldn’t.” He straightened and managed something of a smile beneath his swollen, puffy cheeks. “Then I heard you. You called to me through the mirror, and I knew it was my sister’s voice. Amber, I see and hear everything Bone Man does.” His look darkened. “Everything. The archduke told me what the relic was. I couldn’t let him keep it. I tried to destroy it, but I couldn’t, and you—”

  “Were the only one you remembered,” she finished.

  He nodded. Amber dropped her hand and ran to him. She embraced Toby, squeezing him with all the pent up emotion bottled over the decade that passed since she lost him. “They told me you were dust,” she blubbered. She leaned back and laughed, cupping his jaw. “I knew you weren’t. I knew it!”

  “You never gave up. I knew you wouldn’t.” Toby’s eyes widened. He pulled away from her and looked to the window. “He’s coming, Amber. This place is a deathtrap if you stay. He knows how to give control to Eve, and he thinks I’m going to bring you to him.”

  “We’ve got to get Jason and Dino and get out,” she said, heading for the door.

  Toby grabbed her hand and jerked her to a stop. “I can’t go with you, Amber.”

  A chill hit her core. She whipped around and scowled, suddenly furious. “What do you mean you can’t go with me? I didn’t just risk everything to come rescue you only to lose you at the very end. You’re coming with me, Toby. It’s not up for debate.”

  “You don’t understand. Bone Man killed Dino’s wife. Remember that?”

  “That was the mask. It was a relic, not you!”

  “You think he’ll believe that? You think he’ll listen to reason?”

  Amber wanted to argue, but she knew Toby was right. Dino would never let her brother live, not after all he’d done as Bone Man. Amber swallowed and searched the floor for a solution that wouldn’t come. She looked up and found her brother scanning the world beyond his window.

  “What about the mirror, Toby? Go through the mirror and run away. Get as far away as you can from Afterlife!”

  “Souls can’t survive in the mortal world for long without going completely insane. Besides, if I stepped through the mirror, where would I go? I don’t know or remember anyone.”

  “Then what are you suggesting?”

  Toby motioned for his sword, and it flew into his hand. He squeezed the grip and straightened. “The archduke knows you’re here, and he’s coming for you. I’ve got to do what I can to make things right. You’ve saved two worlds by being stronger than Eve, and you’ve saved me by never giving up when everyone else did. I might not be able to make up for what I’ve done as Bone Man, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try.”

  “What? No.” She stepped toward him, hands balled into fists. “Absolutely not. You’re coming with me. You have to come with me.”

  “No.”

  “Yes, Toby.”

  Her poltergeist curse flared, and so did his. The two invisible forces met and clashed, cracking the floor.

  “Amber, what’re you going to do, make me your prisoner? This is the only way to keep you safe, and you know it. You freed me. Now let me free you.”

  She slumped, and the tears came again. “But I’ll lose you for the second time. Is this it? This is how it ends?”

  He leaned into the open window and took a deep breath, a wide smile on his face. “Look at all this! Do you think it ever really ends?” He pulled back and faced her. A few specks of dust dotted his hair. “The curse in you isn’t what you think it is. You need to learn to control Eve, or she will control you. If you want answers, find the dust devils. No one knows the relics like they do. They can help.”

  “Toby, don’t go,” she murmured.

  “I wish I didn’t have to, but I do.”

  “I’ll come back for you.”

  He smiled. “I know. This isn’t goodbye, Amber. It never really is.” He stepped onto the windowsill and prepared to jump. Before he did, he glanced back. “I’ll keep him busy as long as I can. Take the door opposite mine. It leads back to the black garden. You should be able to use the phantom curse there.”

  “Toby!”

  He paused.

  “I’m so sorry. I tried to swim for you,” she said. “I tried. It was so deep. I was scared.”

  “Don’t blame yourself, Amber. I knew you would try. That’s why I swam so far away.” Toby leapt out the window, sailing in a long arc that careened into one of the palace’s many courtyards.

  CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

  The Lie

  Amber could only stare at the empty square of a window where her brother had stood seconds before. She’d finally found him—finally—only to have him leave her again because of the archduke.

  The archduke, she thought bitterly. Adam.

  Amber clasped her fists against her chest and glared at the window. She hated Adam. The level of animosity she felt toward the tyrant couldn’t be quantified. It blackened her blood and sent it boiling. It twisted her heart and sent it thrashing against her chest. She would make the archduke pay for turning her brother into a murderous monster, and she would make him pay dearly.

  The dull thudding against the door tore her from her thoughts. It took a few seconds longer to rip her gaze from the empty window, but once she did, her senses finally started coming to her.

  Amber ran to the door and unlocked the bolt, throwing the door wide. Dino and Jason spilled inside in a mess of frantic shouting and bravado. Dino shoved past her, fists balled and scanning the room. His gaze settled on the broken mask and lingered there for an instant before he whipped around and pulled her to him. He ran his hand through her hair. She felt his hot breath, saw the worry and fear in his eyes. “What happened to you? I thought … I thought he got you.”

  He smiled and pulled her close. So close. She could have have rested in his embrace forever. It felt like the home she’d always wanted, and she never wanted to leave it.

  “You did it, Amber,” he murmured. “You finally killed Bone Man.”

  Amber blinked. She pulled back, glancing at him and Jason. “I killed Bone Man?”

  “That’s his mask, isn’t?” Dino asked.

  Jason picked up a shard, eyeing it curiously. “It looks like that psycho’s mask.”

  “Put it down. We don’t know what kind of power might be left in it,” Amber said.

  Jason grimaced and tossed the piece to the floor. He wiped his hands on his pants and turned to them. “So we won? That’s it?”

  Amber looked to Dino. He smiled at her again, and the warmth and joy she saw within his eyes tore her to shreds. “I’ve waited so long for him to die. He’s dust now, Amber, and Afterlife’s that much safer because of you. We’re all safer because of you.”

  He leaned in for a kiss with his perfect lips. She ached to taste them, to feel them softly press against hers, but harder as they fell into their passion. But at the last instant she pulled away, her guilt throwing a bucket of ice over her heart. “Dino, the archduke’s coming. I … I felt him. We have to go. We have to go now.”

  His brows pinched together. He ran his fingers through her hair one last time and nodded. Amber turned around and ran into the dark room, the guilt of her lie twisting her stomach into knots. Just tell him, she thought. He’ll understand. He was your brother, Amber. He’ll understand!

  She turned around in the dark room. Dust glittered i
n the moonlight filtering through the windows, and Amber wondered darkly if any of it might be Zoe Cardona’s. And just like that, her courage to tell the truth died on the thought.

  “What about Toby?” Jason asked.

  The question was utterly innocent, but she could have slapped him for asking it. Dino added his agreement to the question with a quick nod. Amber swallowed and glanced into Bone Man’s room where the picture of her and her brothers as children still lay. “I went inside Bone Man’s mind,” Amber said. “Toby’s gone. Dust.”

  Dino’s shoulders slumped. “Oh, Amber, I’m so—”

  A roar shook the palace. It wasn’t any normal roar, like a lion proudly claiming its territory. This was a roar from a deep place, a dark place. The roar filled every inch of the room. It vibrated through Amber’s chest and buried in her core. It poisoned the air with a kind of vicious, savage rage that woke the deepest animal fear within her.

  Amber and Dino looked at each other. “The archduke,” they said.

  She spun toward one door while Dino headed back the way they came. “Over here!” she yelled. “That door’s a trap!”

  Dino skidded to a halt. He looked like he might argue, but Amber didn’t wait to find out. She sprinted for the door Toby had told her to take and flung it wide. A whoosh of cold air swelled over her. She blinked the dust from her eyes and ran into the hall. Dino and Jason pounded at her heels. All around them, the palace’s sirens began shrieking into the night sky. Screams and shouts perforated the air. Behind them, she heard a thunderous explosion that shook the floor so hard she nearly fell.

  Amber reached the far door. She flung it wide, and her heart soared at the sight of the small plaza before her and the field of stars crowning it. She raced into the courtyard. She spun around, already feeling the curse awaken within her.

  Dino looked down at his fists. He squeezed them, and tendrils of grey mist sprouted from his arms and shoulders. He flashed a toothy smile. “Alright, here we go!”