Afterworld

by Lynnette Lounsbury

  Damon looked listless again. ‘Eastern.’

  ‘Hey, cool. My real mother went to Eastern. Small world, eh?’ Dom gazed out at the River, where the occasional grasping hand could be seen breaking the surface. He shivered. They sat in silence for a while watching nothing. Waiting for something.

  Damon shook himself suddenly. ‘Did she? What was her name? Maybe I knew her?’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know. I wish I did. Only her initial was on my birth certificate.’ He smiled. ‘I’ve been guessing all sorts of names for years. A. Green. That’s all I know. I’m guessing “Alina”, I like that name.’

  Damon’s reaction was instant. His eyes flicked wide and he scrambled backward away from Dom, an expression of sheer terror on his face.

  ‘What? What’s wrong?’ Dom checked behind him, sure he was going to see another zombie reaching for him, but there was nothing. There was nothing to provoke such a reaction. ‘What’s going on, man? Damon?’

  He leaped to his feet, crossed the distance between them quickly and grabbed the terrified boy by the shoulders. ‘Come on, get a grip, what’s going on?’

  ‘Anna,’ Damon blurted. ‘Anna Green. Her name is Anna.’

  Dom smiled. ‘You know her? She was a senior in ’95 or ’96, I figure. It’s weird, but it’s not that weird. This place often brings people together. Don’t freak out about it.’

  Damon was still shaking his head wildly this time the tears broke completely and streamed down his face.

  Dom was getting worried. ‘What is going on? Seriously.’

  Damon started to speak, but couldn’t. He coughed and put his head in his hands to take a deep breath. ‘Anna. Anna was your mother? You’re sixteen.’

  ‘Fifteen,’ Dom corrected. ‘But I’ve been fifteen for a while now.’ He laughed nervously.

  ‘She was going to get rid of it. Her parents told her she had to get rid of it.’ Damon’s face collapsed into near sobs again. ‘She was white. She was sixteen. They were not okay with it.’

  ‘Well, obviously she didn’t get “rid of it”,’ Dom found the phrase a little offensive, ‘since it was me. She was what, your friend?’

  ‘Anna was . . .’ Damon took a deep breath and tried to compose himself, ‘she was . . . I loved her.’

  Dom’s stomach curled and he gagged, the realisation hitting him so violently that he bent forward with it. ‘Oh. You’re my . . .’ it felt weird saying it, like cotton in his mouth, ‘you’re my father.’

  8

  The Necropolis

  Kaide waited impatiently in a line at the Workhouse that stretched out into the marketplace courtyard and far into the streets of the City. She wiggled her feet and legs back and forth impatiently, sighing loudly as if it might help.

  ‘Angels. Always late,’ she muttered under her breath, drawing a hooded look from the surly man in front of her.

  Eduardo glided up beside her in his older, tattered cloak, the hood pulled up over his head. His beard was longer, covered half of his face. ‘You know many Angels, Kaide?’

  ‘Where have you been? This is ridiculous, why are all these people here? I need to see Enoch and I can’t stand here all day.’

  ‘Of course you can, what else have you got to do? This is death remember, you have absolutely got all day. Shall I get us some wine to help pass the time?’ He smiled serenely.

  ‘Are you kidding me? Get your Angel mightiness on and let’s push up to the front! I tried already but I got,’ she frowned, ‘chastised, by some of the people.’

  Eduardo laughed at her. ‘The line is partly your fault. Or your brother’s fault. People who were quite happy to sit quietly and subsist on bread for all eternity are now trying to earn their way out of here, so inspiring was his display at the Trials.’ He ignored the face she pulled at him. ‘And the rest are back here because there is still something wrong with the Maze, everyone who enters seems to immediately return to the Glass.’

  ‘Except Dom. And Eva. And probably Satarial.’ She tilted her head to the side. ‘This is why I need to see Enoch. He’s the only person I can think of who might have any insight into what I need to do. The tall people are getting restless.’ She whispered the last part, aware that public opinion of the Nephilim had shifted from fear to anger. ‘Now superhero up and help me get in!’

  He narrowed his eyes at her. ‘It is not a costume, Kaide. I am not here to use my . . .’ his composure broke a little, ‘“awesomeness” to get what I want from humans.’

  She laughed. ‘Nice word, I have taught you well. I don’t care what your pride tells you, I need help. Do it. Now.’

  Shaking his head at her audacity, Eduardo obliged, throwing back his cape and making the sudden, but strangely subtle, shift in race. Kaide was impressed even after her time with the physically supernatural Nephilim. Eduardo as an Angel was taller, broader and wider than any human could ever be and those were only the changes Kaide was able to put into words. His skin, even underneath a beard, was clearly smoother, his teeth whiter and his eyes held a fiery vigour. Eduardo’s presence in the City was common knowledge, but actual sightings of the Angel had still been limited to those who had been at Dom’s Trials, and most of the crowd were stunned into silence. It took less than a moment for the people around them to step back in startled fear, moving swiftly aside as Eduardo escorted Kaide through the gap in the crowd towards the front of the queue to the gate that led to the Workhouse.

  The door opened to reveal exactly what she had hoped, the large open garden where Enoch spent his time. The old man was sitting on the marble bench by the small fountain and raised his hand to gesture them in.

  ‘Kaide Mathers, welcome. And Eduardo, my friend, come in. We have much to discuss in this . . .’ he looked around at the serenity of the landscape, his eyes squinting, ‘strange time.’

  Kaide noticed that Eduardo shared the concern that filled her as she watched the old man. While last time he had appeared old, but filled with vigour and wisdom, this time he appeared careworn and worried.

  Kaide sat in the space next to the old man. ‘You know about Satarial then?’

  ‘I know he has moved on.’

  ‘Moved on? Where?’ Kaide was animated. ‘The Maze?’

  Enoch nodded. ‘I do not believe it was of his own free will though, and that disturbs me greatly. I believe Anubis has begun to disassemble the structure of the Maze. He is a malcontent and always has been, but he does not have a great deal of power outside of his realm. To do this he must be working with someone more powerful.’

  ‘The Awe?’ Kaide queried. ‘Is the Awe trying to teach everyone something?’

  Enoch shook his head. ‘The Awe allowed humans to create their own Afterworld and would never interfere. However, the Awe will also not intervene when there are changes – it will only ever guide the right individuals into their moment.’

  ‘But what does that mean? Their moment? That sounds like some weird new-age philosophy.’ Kaide was annoyed and it moved Enoch to smile.

  ‘You may not share his blood, but you and your brother are so similar. Perhaps this is why you have been guided by the Awe into this time.’

  ‘Guided by the Awe. Okay, say it straight and plain for me, before the esoterics send me mental.’

  Enoch rubbed his face with a gnarled hand. ‘There are forces in the universe with their own worlds and beliefs. Angels are one part of these forces. Occasionally we all intersect. Someone from another race is pulling the Afterworld apart.’

  Eduardo interjected quietly. ‘The Archangels.’

  Enoch nodded. ‘I believe so, yes.’

  Kaide was confused. ‘But what could they possibly want here? From what I’ve heard they are more powerful than us and completely invincible. Why would they bother with all this?’

  ‘Because they are a race who have perfect physical evolution and minimal emotional evolution. This means they have found perfect form, but they are petty, they cause trouble for the sake of it, they want to see destruction of anything
that they feel they cannot have. In your case, the dramatic and powerful experience of life and death. The human soul grows so much through this process – it is a complex and magnificent thing, Kaide. You understand pain, loss, love, patience, empathy. You understand the need for action and sometimes sacrifice. The Angels have also slowly learned this, despite their impediment of immortality.’

  Eduardo sighed and nodded at this statement. ‘I believe they are trying to tear it all apart. Leave humans in some sort of empty inert death.’

  ‘And can they do that? Surely the Awe would stop them,’ Kaide queried.

  ‘That is what I am saying.’ Enoch gently laid a hand on her arm. ‘Dominic’s presence here has changed everything. Anubis must have sensed it, which was why he started sending people back from the Maze. And, now that Dominic is in the Maze, I suspect there is some new plan in place. The Maze is being changed. I do not know how.’

  ‘And Satarial?’

  ‘My best answer there is that Anubis believes Satarial’s hatred of Dom will cause him to stop the boy’s progress through the Maze.’

  She raised an eyebrow. ‘But he doesn’t hate Dom anymore. I mean, he doesn’t love him obviously, I’m working on that, but he’s not going to kill him.’

  Enoch smiled. ‘And that is why humans and the immortals are different. They do not easily forgive. Or change.’

  ‘So I need to go into the Maze after him. Easy. Sorted.’ Kaide smiled at both of them.

  ‘I admire your decisiveness, Kaide, but I believe you are more useful in Necropolis than in the Maze. Have you noticed on Earth that it takes a very long time for things to change?’

  ‘Of course. I lived in India, remember?’

  ‘But once a revolution begins, it can move very quickly and often without wisdom,’ Enoch continued, his eyes serious.

  ‘Yes, maybe, if you’re thinking of like, the French Revolution or Russia or Libya or something like that. Why?’

  Eduardo joined the conversation. ‘Because that is what is happening here. And you think there may be more trouble?’

  ‘Yes. I do. The humans have been ignited by Dominic’s actions. But they will not stop at following his example. You have tried very hard, Kaide, to create unity between Nephilim and humans here, and it is admirable. But it is not enough and it is not working. People are out of their houses, working and talking together. They are uniting. And they want the Nephilim gone. It would be nice to think all they wanted was for them to go through the Maze, but there is talk of revenge. Of incarceration.’ He looked to see if Kaide understood.

  She did. ‘They want the Nephilim to be the ones in the glass tanks. How very human. What can I do?’

  ‘I think you are the link. You have always sat at the crossroads of two cultures, and I believe you have found yourself there in the Afterworld. I think you may be able to convince the Nephilim to go through the Maze before violence erupts.’

  ‘But if there are problems in the Maze?’

  ‘Then what better than an army of Nephilim to help control Anubis. Find Satarial and he will lead them. Believe me, I wouldn’t want to be up against him if I had taken him against his will.’

  ‘I do believe you,’ she laughed. ‘I don’t know if I can convince them of that though. They take so long to decide these things. They don’t want anything to change.’

  Enoch stood. ‘Things have already changed. And they are escalating. Do what you can, Kaide. I have faith in your . . .’ he smiled, ‘. . . your charm.’

  She laughed and stood, ‘Is that what you call it?’ As she walked towards the exit, the door puffed open and she saw the line of people had not dissipated, but appeared to be growing. ‘And can you make Eduardo come with me?’

  Enoch put his hand on the arm of the Angel. ‘Eduardo will know when it is time for him to leave this place.’

  Eduardo frowned, but said nothing, leading Kaide out through the crowd, who stared and quietly slid aside to let them through.

  Kaide gave him a friendly shoulder-punch. ‘Well, this should be fun.’

  9

  Dominic’s Hourglass

  3998 Minutes

  Damon breathed out a long steady breath. ‘I thought you were dead. She went into the clinic and then . . . I felt so, so . . . I thought we had killed you.’ He laughed suddenly, crazily. ‘This is the absolute wildest thing that has ever happened. In all of time. I’m playing basketball in hell with my own . . . son.’

  Dom didn’t laugh. He still felt sick. It was too much for him. ‘Anna,’ he whispered. ‘Well, she had me. I was adopted as soon as I was born.’ He looked back at Damon. ‘You shot yourself because you thought she had an abortion?’

  ‘She said she couldn’t see me again. Ever. That it was too much to go through, and still love each other. I would have married her. I would have. But she chose her family. Not me.’ He laughed again, this time in relief. ‘You’re alive. That’s the best thing I’ve ever heard. Hey – what the hell? Is that a boat?’

  Dom turned his head and saw it. A large wooden longboat was beached on the shore of the River and there was a hooded figure standing beside it. It hadn’t been there a moment ago. He sighed. And that was that. One minute he was meeting his real father and the next he was being taken away from him. This place. Too much.

  Damon seemed to read his mind. ‘I can tell you a bit about me. It’s not very interesting though. I didn’t know my parents. We were poor and I lived with a half-dozen of my cousins. I’m okay at school, not great. Pretty good at math. All I was ever really good at was ball.’ He grinned. ‘You do look like me. If you added milk. But you have Anna’s mouth when you smile. Probably why you seemed so familiar.’ Sadness crept into his voice again. ‘She was the smart one. Really good at writing, always kept journals, wrote poems. She won an award for an essay she wrote in tenth grade. She ran track. Loved horror films.’ He laughed.

  ‘I . . .’ Dom tried to sum up his life in a few lines. ‘My parents are white, from D.C. My other dad, he’s a diplomat. We lived mostly in India, in Delhi. Plenty of money. I mostly went to boarding school in the US. At Horace Mann. I have a sister, like I said. Kaide. From Japan. It’s been . . .’ He looked at his father’s hopeful face and smiled. ‘It’s been an awesome life. I was really lucky.’

  Damon grinned at him and let out a breath. ‘Good. That’s . . . really . . . really good.’ The relief took the energy out of him and he lay back on the ground next to Dom just smiling and gazing upwards. After a few more moments he sat up again. ‘I have to go now don’t I? On the boat.’

  Dom studied the face so similar to his own and imagined for a second that things had been different. He would have been poor, probably. And there would have been no Kaide. But he would have been loved by this boy. He smiled. ‘Yeah. I think you’re done here. Maybe, we’ll meet somewhere else in here. When it all ends.’

  ‘You know it!’ They stood up and before he knew it Dom found himself in a tight bear hug. It surprised him. His adoptive parents did not hug him. Even Kaide rarely did. Putting his arms around Damon he hugged him back. They pulled apart, slightly awkward in each other’s embrace. Almost embarrassed. It was still strange to look at his father and see a boy of only seventeen.

  ‘See you round, man.’ Damon smiled and then walked towards the boat. The faceless, hooded boatman gestured him into the boat, and when Damon was on board, the boatman shoved off, and began to row across the River. No hands reached out, the surface was smooth and rippled only where the boat split the water. Dom walked to the edge and waved once, to which Damon gave a nod before the darkness swallowed him.

  Dom looked around at the wall. There was still no door, but his backpack lay where he had abandoned it during the fight with the Lost Soul. He trudged across the rocks and picked it up, throwing it onto his shoulders and then taking a moment to check his satchel for the hourglass. He had been on the River’s edge far longer than he had thought. There was still no sign of Eva. He was exhausted and had no idea what to do next.
He was also excruciatingly thirsty and felt torn by the thought of drinking the River water. Creeping quietly towards it he was surprised to find it still, dark and deep, no sign of any of the bodies that had been floating past earlier. It was cool and tasted clean so he dipped his hands in and drank as much as he could. Still no sign of the bodies. He squinted to see the other side, but couldn’t, it was too wide and there was little light. Swimming it seemed like the only option, but the thought of the slimy, white bodies returning to pull him under was abhorrent and his backpack was still heavy. Well, it wouldn’t kill him. The joke felt tired, even to his own mind.

  He took a step forward into the water and braced himself for the swim. The water recoiled from his foot like oil and his boot landed on the pebbles beneath. He took another step and it happened again. ‘Oh, thank God!’ Dom said aloud. Finally something worked out. Pulling a torch from his backpack, he lit it with the flint and held it in front of him as he walked, the water parting with every step into high walls of water, rising to his right and left. He walked carefully across the riverbed, his boots barely getting damp from the occasional splash of water off the rocks. At one point, far across the water, he thought he heard a voice. But he couldn’t see anything in any direction so he kept walking towards what he hoped was the opposite shoreline.

  10

  Eva’s Hourglass

  2610 minutes

  Knowing the Maze as she did, Eva was rapidly becoming concerned by the ease with which they were travelling through it. The twists and turns were completely signposted, the clues easy to read, the riddles simple. Satarial seemed less concerned, and walked ahead of her, his pace so quick as to cause her to almost run to keep up.

  ‘The East is where the light is,’ he read aloud, impatiently and turned to the left. They walked further down the tunnel, reaching another intersection marked only with hieroglyphs. ‘In the West is the water of death.’ He turned right.