by Katie May
Fuck, I’m getting a boner.
Thankfully, there are no other Ghosts in here. My boner shall remain a secret.
“Hadley, do you know why you have been called here this evening?”
She gulps and licks her lips. Her perfectly pink and pouty lips. Probably coated with strawberry lip gloss.
“I might have an idea.”
“Care to elaborate?”
“It wouldn’t have anything to do with that floating dead girl… undead dead girl? Newly dead, dead girl?” She cups her chin in thought. “Recently dead, undead girl. That’s it, isn’t it?”
Administer scowls at her, but she brushes it off. This is how she always copes with things that make her uncomfortable. She jokes about it as if humor makes it less real.
“Twice baked dead girl?”
“Hadley, did you or did you not see a girl floating in the river?” Administer asks, ignoring her jests.
“I did. Preston, Auston, and I saw her. Why don’t you invite them to this little get-together you’re having? Oh! Are there appetizers? Refreshments? ‘Cause I could sure use—”
“Enough!” Administer slams his hands down onto his desk. The smile melts from Hadley’s face as she grips the underside of her chair with white knuckles.
“We know you saw her, Hadley, and we are very sorry you did. But we must know, did you notice anything significant when you came upon the body? Anything unusual that might have seemed out of place?”
She bites her lower lip in thought and plays with the hem of her skirt.
“No, nothing, other than the fact that she didn’t look like a normal dead—undead—whatever kind of person. Her face… it—it was gray and cracked, like she was made of ceramic or something.”
She tucks her hair behind her ears and continues, “And her eyes, they—they were missing, and the vacant holes where they should’ve been were charred. Burned. It was horrible.” She shudders when she finishes.
“Anything else? Can you give us a rundown of everything you did leading up to finding the body?”
Hadley takes a deep breath and wipes her hands on her skirt, but I leave before she begins. I can’t stand watching her squirm under their stares. It’s like they are holding her accountable for something she clearly didn’t do.
It makes me uncomfortable.
Gliding through the nearest wall, I make my way through the forest, back over Veritas bridge, and head over to the Academy.
I enter the Premonition classroom, now empty. Crystal balls and tarot cards line the walls. The desks are set up in a circle so everyone can feel included.
Barf.
But that’s not why I’m here.
Heading over to the fireplace, I slip inside and lower myself through the grated floor. I only found the room below a few days ago, one of the many I’ve come across while exploring the Academy. Unlike most walls, there are some in the Academy I can’t pass through. So I’ve made it my own little game, my own mission, to chart where I can and can’t go. I plan on making a map of sorts, like the Marauders once did.
Exiting the mouth of an antechamber, I enter into a larger one. The ceilings are surprisingly high here. An eerie, greenish glow lights up the space, but I can’t figure out where it’s coming from. Stretching out before me is a labyrinth of winding passageways and dead ends.
Some corridors end in doors I can’t open, others lead into darkened spaces or simply stop, forcing me to turn around. I don’t know why, but I know this place is significant. I feel it in my bones...well, my essence since I no longer have bones...and my spidey sense coming alive.
If only I had someone to explore it with.
Chapter 14
Braxton
Leaving Malcom’s classroom has me on fucking edge. He’s ominous on a good day. But today? Well, let’s just say that something has really spooked him. His appearance is ruffled when I leave his class, hair standing at strange angles from all the times he’d raked his fingers through it.
“Be careful out there, and mind yourself in Hell,” he’d told me. Like I fuck around when I’m in Hell, as if I want to be there longer than I have to be.
I might be a Demon, but that doesn’t mean I have no fear of the creatures that lurk in the fires of Hell. Only a fool has no fear, going about his days thinking the world fits in his palm.
I am no fool.
Malcom even muttered something about the Darkness under his breath. But I have no idea what he’s going on about. Of course it’s dark in Hell, it’s fucking under the Earth.
But I’ll take his cryptic warning to heart.
Malcom is one of the fiercest, most dangerous souls in the Afterlife, and if he thinks I need to be more careful, then I damn well better listen.
Walking through the halls of the Academy this late at night gives me an eerie feeling. Ancient tapestries hang from the walls depicting strange creatures and former headmasters. Their dormant eyes seem to follow me as I walk by. My footsteps reverberate down the stone hall, even as I try to tread lightly. The echoes are tricking my mind, making me think that someone—or something—is following me.
The hair on the back of my neck prickles, and my body erupts in goosebumps.
Something is here. I know it.
My intuition is never wrong.
Stretching out my right arm, I summon my sword. It manifests quickly, and I grip the leather hilt in my palm. I give my weapon a twirl then spin around, the sharp edge aiming at my stalker.
To my surprise, nothing is there… at first.
A figure begins to shimmer, revealing a body where there was only air a second before.
A Ghost.
Sneaky little fucks.
A familiar head full of light blonde, ear-length hair morphs into view. Mischievous bright green eyes and a smug grin soon follow.
Karston.
Of course it's him.
“What do you want, and why are you following me?” I sneer at him. It’s hard to believe that only a few years ago we were so close.
“Oh… You know. I was just floating around, looking for someone to torment, and saw your bitch ass walk by and I thought, ‘Hey! Brax always was a prat. Let me see if I can still get under his skin.’”
“Mission accomplished. Just the sight of you makes my skin crawl.”
His smirk grows wider, and he glides over to me. He opens his mouth to say something when voices trickle down the hall. Karston’s green eyes widen before he shimmers back out of view.
It’s Malcom. And he’s with the headmaster, Stefan.
I hustle into a nearby room and inch the door closed. Their muffled voices filter in from under it.
“Yes, but what should we do about the girl?” Malcom inquires.
“Well, if it’s anything like last time, then all we can do is wait,” Stefan responds. “If the Darkness is found and thrown back into Hell, the soul’s essence should make its way back to the soul and reanimate it.”
So that’s the darkness Malcom was mumbling about before...
“How did you find it when it happened last time?” Malcom whispers.
Stefan sighs. “We didn’t. One day it was hiding amongst us, traveling from soul to soul. We think it was trying them out like clothing, looking for the best fit. Then one day, it was just gone.”
“And how long ago was that?”
“Almost twenty years to the day…”
Stefan’s voice becomes too quiet to hear as they move farther away from me. Once I’m sure they’re gone, I nudge open the door and creep out into the hallway.
To my horror, Karston is still there, waiting for me.
“Well, that was interesting,” he mutters, scratching his head.
“Interesting is not the word I’d use to describe it, Kars. Didn’t you hear what they were saying?”
His ghostly face pales, even more so than it usually is.
Now that is interesting.
“You know something, don’t you?” I accuse, stalking towards him.
“Yes, actually. It’s the reason I came to find you. I thought… Well. I didn’t know who else to come to, so I thought you might want to know, seeing as you’re in Hell all the time.”
Well, that’s shocking. Since we’ve come to Afterworld Academy, Karston hasn’t looked for me, or even risked a glance in my direction. I might as well have been as invisible as he is.
“Come on,” he says, turning around. “There’s something you need to see.”
“Don’t fuck with me, Karston,” I growl, recalling my sword back into my forearm. “I’m not in the fucking mood.”
“When are you ever not in a mood? You know, if you keep making that frowny face, it’ll get stuck like that forever.”
I huff and follow him. He winds through the empty halls, down a flight of stairs, and over to a statue of a Hellhound. Its sneering face gazes down on us, its stone eyes menacing.
“This is where you brought me? To a fucking statue? I’ve fought these things in real life; I don’t need to look at a stone version. I have more important things to do than this, so if you don’t mind…” I turn and stomp off, frustration oozing off of me.
“Brax, please.” The tone of his voice makes me pause. He’s not called me Brax in over two years, when we were Dearly Departeds ourselves. I stop in my tracks and turn back to him, crossing my arms over my chest.
He points to the alcove behind the statue. “It’s back there.”
“What is?” I question, stalking behind the hound. “All I see are bricks and mortar. Nothing more.”
His grin spreads across his face once more. “That’s because you don’t know where to look. There are advantages to being a Ghost, Demon.”
Karston materializes and lands on the ground with ease. He grips his chin in thought then pushes on a brick near his head. To my surprise, the stone depresses and the wall slides into itself, revealing a darkened, arched tunnel.
“Wait here,” he whispers before dematerializing.
I decide to count to sixty. Even though I’m intrigued, if he’s not back in a minute, I’m leaving.
I jump when he whisper-shouts, “Coast is clear,” into my ear.
“What the fuck!” I yell, pushing against his chest. Except he’s not fully materialized, and my hands go through him, making me stumble forward and him laugh even harder. I spin to face him, once again glaring. “Don’t do that shit. You know I don’t like being snuck up on.”
He chuckles, winks, and walks down the tunnel.
I grumble but head off after him. The ceiling is low here, and the top of my wings bash into it when I walk. I hold out my palm and call on my fire, wanting to light the dark space. My flames dances off the walls, calming me, as we come upon a wooden door.
It appears old. Metal filigree decorates it in the crest of the Afterworld Academy, and the number three sits in the middle.
I don’t have time to think on it as Karston turns the handle and pushes the door open. I follow him inside as artificial lights flicker on overhead, revealing a very modern room.
“What is this place?” I ask him, looking around. It feels medical in a medieval sort of way. Gurneys are lined up around the perimeter, and open shelving displays dust covered bottles filled with strange liquids. Dozens of unfamiliar smells assault my nose. I see movement out of the corner of my eye and look over to see a wall full of cages, each holding a venomous creature.
Snakes, frogs, spiders… You name it. Each one follows me, their bodies ready to attack as I walk by.
“It’s a holding area of sorts,” he tells me.
I pass by the creatures, following Karston who’s heading towards an adjoining door. “Why the hell do they have a room full of poisonous creatures—” My words are cut off as we stop in a smaller room, my dead heart stuttering in my chest.
A dozen gurneys lie vacant, sprawled across the room and along the right wall are a series of drawers. My guess is cryo drawers to house the dead. But that’s not what stops my heart…
A young girl, no older than fourteen, lays on a gurney. But she doesn’t appear normal. Her skin is grayed and cracked like a long forgotten old doll. But that’s not what chokes me. It’s her eyes, or lack thereof. Scorched holes remain where her eyes should be. As if they were burned right out of her face.
It’s unnerving, to say the least.
“What happened to her?” I whisper, my voice getting caught in my throat.
“The Darkness,” Karston replies. And for once, there’s no humor in his words.
“So this is what Malcom and the headmaster were speaking of?”
“Mmhmm. So far this is the only victim, but I won’t be surprised if more show up. I’ve been creeping around. Listening to whispered conversations. Poor Hadley got crucified ju—”
“Hadley?” I interrupt. Surely it can’t be the same girl, the one I used to watch from the dark corners on Earth. The one I saw speaking to that dumbass Jake the other day. I was both horrified and elated when our eyes locked, but I was too distracted at the time to consider the ramifications of her being here. I’ll admit, the sight of her with that pompous Angel sent me reeling. I immediately turned to the Demon girl beside me, Natasha, and whispered, “Laugh like I said something funny.”
And when Hadley’s eyes widened with jealousy?
I didn’t know if I wanted to feel guilty...or relieved.
“Yeah. She’s—umm…”
“She’s what?”
A flush creeps up his pale skin, his cheeks reddening as he rubs the back of his neck.
“You like her, don’t you?” I accuse. “This Hadley. She means something to you.”
Fucking great. The one girl I want him to stay as far away from as possible is the one he’s got his eye on.
He sighs and raises his green gaze up to meet mine. An emotion I’m all too familiar with passes over them, but he stifles it behind a yawn.
“Gosh, look at the time.” Karston feigns looking at the nonexistent watch on his wrist. “This Ghost needs his beauty rest.”
He shimmers and walks through the nearest wall.
“Karston!” I shout, running into the previous room. “Karston, get back here!”
“Chill out, Demon.” Little fucker manifests in the tunnel with a smug grin on his face. “Just testing your reaction time. To be honest, you’re getting a little slow.” He taps his wrist, and I clench my fingers, my teeth gnashing against one another. I’d strangle him, but he’d disappear before my hands could wrap around his throat.
“There’s that scowl! I’d forgotten how much I missed it! Your complacency is so boring.” He holds the door open for me, and I stalk past him, once again calling my fires to light the way in the dark tunnel.
As the tail of the Hellhound becomes visible, I slow and glance around its hulking form, ensuring we’re alone. Karston slides up behind me and fiddles with something, which causes the wall to slide back into place as if it had never moved.
“How many more places like this exist?” I ask him, my curiosity outweighing my extreme dislike for him. “I mean, hidden ones. Are there more?”
“Loads.” He forks his fingers through his blond hair. “I discovered a new place just last week in the Premonition classroom. This one is like a riddle I can’t solve, a puzzle I don’t have all the pieces for, and you know how much I love puzzles.”
I nod my head, my mind reeling.
“Catcha ya later, Demon,” Karston calls as he fizzles out of sight, leaving me all alone with the snarling statue. I bring my fingers up to massage my temples, my head spinning.
Hidden rooms, victims of the Darkness, and Hadley.
My future seems more uncertain than ever, and the fate of the Afterworld hangs in the balance.
Chapter 15
Hadley
My breathing was shallow, breaths stuttering in and out. Sawing. Wheezing. The sound one would expect in a horror movie, as the life drains from the girl.
Everything ached. My arms were leaden, flushed against the scratchy wh
ite sheets. One second I was hot, blistering, and the next I was encased in an icy blanket.
When they say your life flashes before your eyes, they meant it.
Behind my closed eyelids, I saw my mom’s tearstained face. My dad’s apathetic expression as he stared down at my body. Ocean’s glimmering blue eyes, the source of her namesake. They had arrived after death already claimed me. Too late to say their goodbyes. Honestly, I feel more upset for them than I do for myself. Goodbyes are for the living, and I can’t imagine not being able to say mine.
And then I saw nothing, swept away in an abyss of darkness like one would get swept away in an ocean.
Darkness everywhere, inky tentacles slithering towards me.
“Hello?” I called, voice hoarse. From screaming? Crying? Death? I couldn’t decide.
Something brushed against the back of my bare thighs, and I jumped, spinning wildly. My heart hammered in my chest. Thump. Thump. Thump. It bordered that precarious line between fear and excitement.
For some indefinable reason, I felt comforted by that touch.
At the same time, I was terrified.
I turned wildly but was unable to see anything. Darkness. Darkness everywhere.
Pressing in on either side of me like a shrinking room. Surrounding me. Consuming me. Drowning me.
A scream bubbled out of my mouth...
I wake up in a cold sweat. My hair is matted to my forehead and the back of my neck, and I shove the slick strands away impatiently.
A nightmare.
Again.
In the bed next to mine, Aggie sleeps blissfully unaware. She’s naked, of course, and I look away before I unintentionally get an eyeful. There’s only so many times I can see her saggy boobs before I need to bleach my eyes.
Muscles stiff, I sit up in bed and stretch my arms above my head. The week has been mercifully uneventful. No dead bodies. No cracked skin, burnt out eyes, and broken limbs. No suspicious stares from fellow students and hushed whispers by professors.