"No, no, Dad." She grazed his cheek again. "It isn't your fault. You didn't mean to do it. We were fighting. That's all."
"My fault," Osier said again.
"No." She tenderly attempted to kiss his forehead. "I love you, Dad. Don't worry. It's okay."
"Love you, too… Eden…"
Going stone still, she stared at her dad. Her entire life, she had never heard him say those words. Until now.
Now that I'm dead and can't tell him how much I've always loved him, too. Sadness and loneliness filled her like she had never known. It was worse than grieving. She hated being dead. Hated it with every fiber.
****
Her funeral was small, far smaller than her mom's had been. She was still shocked, though, by the number of people who came. People that she didn't even know were there. It was dissatisfying and lonely to watch everyone cry about how they were never going to see her again when she stood five feet from them.
Eden watched her new friend, Arnica, step forward with orchids in hand and lay them on her grave. Arnica was tiny and always wore duct tape dresses. Arnica laid her hands on the coffin and a tear dropped from her face and onto the cherry wood. Walking forward, Eden touched her shoulder.
"It's okay," Eden said. "I'm fine."
No response. Like she was surprised.
When Arnica moved to walk away, Eden was shocked to see that her dad had placed the cross necklace on the top of the coffin. It begged for her to touch it, but she knew what would happen. Her hand would go through the wood, like usual.
Yet she still wanted to touch it.
She reached forward and expected her hand to go through the cross and into the coffin, but instead the necklace was solid in her hand. She was able to pull it off of the coffin. What on earth? She stared at it.
Shrugging her shoulders, she pulled the necklace over her head and then grabbed her hair and shifted it so that the necklace would fall around her neck. She tucked the necklace underneath her blouse. If that necklace was something she had died for, then she might as well keep it with her if she could.
She spun around and saw her dad had not noticed the cross was gone. He didn't appear to notice much of anything. There was a bottle of alcohol on the chair beside him, and he picked it up and chugged a swig. Eden knew it was the strong stuff because it was the only kind he drank.
I can't help him. She felt her stomach sink. What am I supposed to do?
"Finally losing hope, are you?" said Alexander, and she whipped around. She hadn't known that he was behind her or that he was at her funeral at all. "So sad, the way your shoulders slump like that."
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Paying respects to the body that gave me hours of viewing pleasure," Alexander said, grinning wickedly. "It's nice that you sleep in the nude when it gets hot out."
Eden crossed her arms. "It's my funeral. Couldn't you show a little respect? And it isn't like being dead is any fun, either. No heaven, no anything. Just this."
"That's not true," Alexander said. "Technically, there is a hell… Well, I guess it's a minor hell. It's called purgatory. There is a heaven. You just have to earn your way to heaven by working through the tasks given to you in purgatory."
"You serious?" she asked.
"Deadly." He smirked.
"There are no real 'pearly gates.' It was just a metaphor humans took literally. But why am I giving up ectoplasm talking to you about this?" Alexander frowned. "If you go to purgatory, you'll figure it out yourself."
"I haven't seen any entrance to this 'purgatory,'" Eden said. "Wouldn't there be some bright light or something? No, I just ended up back where I started."
"You have. You were just living at the time." Alexander sneered. "Haven't you ever wondered why your kitchen was a little strange?"
"Purgatory is in my kitchen?" She gasped. He has to be kidding me. "When my mom said cooking was hell, I thought that she was joking."
"Technically one of the gates to purgatory is above your kitchen table," Alexander said. "I expected you to find it yourself when you came back home with your dad, but he had different plans and went to a hotel instead."
"How did you know where I was?" Eden asked, eyes wide.
"Easy," Alexander said, grinning. "I've been following you ever since you died."
She bit her bottom lip and thought about what Alexander had just said.
Purgatory, huh? If she still had hairs on the back of her neck, she was certain that they would have stood up on end. She examined Alexander and realized something. Maybe she was being a judgmental snob about the whole deal, but she didn't think that he appeared to be the type of boy — or in his case, man-child — that had any interest in helping someone for the sake of helping someone. He had an ulterior motive.
A moment of silence went by. Her mom's face flashed in her vision, and then she stole a look at her dad.
"I'm not going," Eden said.
Alexander's eyes widened in shock. "What do you mean? You do realize that if you stay on earth, you'll be stuck here for good. With me. Your dad will never hear you."
The idea of being stuck on earth with Alexander made her want to gouge out her ears, but she knew one thing that was more important than going to heaven. It was finding her mom, Rebecca, and telling her how sorry she was for their fight. After that, she could go see this "other world" and whatever else was there.
On top of that, there was her dad. He appeared so sad. Even if he couldn't hear her now, she was able to speak to him in his sleep. Maybe she could force him out of his alcoholic stupor if she tried hard enough.
"You can't help him," Alexander said, following her gaze. "He has to figure out how to save himself. Humans have tasks in life they have to fulfill before they die. That's his. You conquered yours, so you died. Now it's time to atone for your sins in purgatory. It's the way the system works. You don't want to be trapped in hell, do you?"
"What was my task in life? And how do you know so much?" she asked. "There is something about you that you aren't telling me, isn't there?"
Alexander sneered again. "There are many things that I am not telling you, but I suppose if it'll help… This is my task, okay?"
Eden raised an eyebrow. "I don't follow."
"That's because you haven't been to Zemiothstai yet," he said, sounding frustrated now. "Zemiothstai is the world we souls call purgatory. When you get there, Saint Peter is going to come and give you tasks you have to work on. I wasn't welcoming enough, so now I get closer to heaven every time I give a new person direction on how to get to heaven. But you have to go to Zemiothstai to meet Saint Peter. You can't worry about your dad. You can't worry about your mom. You have to move on to the next world. The system will take care of the kinks you had in your life. You've got to trust in it."
Rebecca's face flashed in her head again. How was she supposed to trust in a system that she knew nothing about when her heart told her that something was wrong? And how was she supposed to leave her dad when he was so immersed in sadness? Maybe if she waited for him, maybe if she stayed here until he died, then they could go together, and she would feel less horrible for all that she had done.
Suddenly, the cross on her chest began to grow hotter and hotter, and she felt something she never thought she would feel as a spirit — blinding blistering pain. She shrieked and grasped her chest, panting. It felt as if something choked the life from her, but that was impossible, because she was already dead.
Go, said a voice in her head. A female. Go now. Do not linger here. We do not have much time.
"Who doesn't have much time?" Eden asked. "I don't understand."
But nobody answered, and the pain went away. She blinked and saw that Alexander lingered before her.
"What just happened?" he asked.
"You mean you didn't hear the voice?" she asked.
He shook his head and then stared quizzically at the necklace around her neck. His eyes widened in shock.
"Wasn't that what caused y
ou to fall down the stairs?" Alexander asked, pointing at the necklace. "And it was on your coffin a second ago, right?"
She nodded. "Maybe crosses don't apply to the realm rule."
"They do, though," Alexander said. "Everything applies to the realm rule."
Fear danced across Alexander's face. He grabbed her arm, and she once again felt sharp pain. Her eyes widened.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"I've never seen anything like this," Alexander said. "I've got to get you to Zemiothstai fast. I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling about that necklace."
"Why?" She touched it. "What's the big deal? It's just one necklace."
"The rules are bending, Eden. The rules do not bend. Ever. For no one or nothing. I've been reincarnated twice, and I would know." Alexander stared at her. "The fact that the necklace can be picked up by the dead…"
He fell silent and then began to drag her. This time, she didn't fight.
Chapter Nine
When Eden got home, her eyes widened in surprise. There was something above her dining room table. It was a glowing white light that sucked in everything around it, distorting the air. She recalled when she had first moved in and things had fallen over of their own accord. That's why, she thought, frowning.
"Are you sure that this is safe?" Eden asked. "It looks dangerous."
And mysterious. And scary. And impossible. She couldn't believe that she was dead and standing in her hallway staring at a giant glowing orb of energy that dissolved everything around it.
Before Alexander could answer her, she saw a flash of white and covered her eyes. A moment later two people, or more rather, ghosts, appeared next to her table. One of them was a red-haired woman wearing Victorian clothes, and the other was a dark haired man with a frown on his face. Eden opened and shut her mouth several times, and she couldn't stop staring.
"Rather rude, isn't she?" the man asked, glaring pointedly at her. "What are you looking at, girl?"
Alexander grabbed her arm and pulled her sideways. "So sorry. She's new. First time using a vortex to transfer to purgatory."
The pair exchanged looks, walked through a wall, and then disappeared. Eden couldn't help herself. She sniveled.
"They just came out of nowhere and walked through my wall," she said. "Impossible. I don't believe it. No way."
Alexander frowned. "Okay, before I let you go on your own, I should probably let you know a few more purgatory key facts. Rule number one. Don't be stupid and think that you're invincible and jump off of things. If you go to purgatory or reincarnate, you live a life without your memories of your time in purgatory or your past life, but your sin total keeps adding up. I've done it twice, and it keeps you in the system for ages longer than normal. Rule number two. People over there aren't nice, as you just saw. Remember that this is hell, Eden. Hell. Nice people are the ones that are moving on, and the mean ones are stuck there for forever. That's why the world is being clogged with more and more evil. The bad people keep reincarnating."
"Are you kidding me?" she asked. "You're sending me alone into that? And I can die? Again? That's not right."
"I didn't design the system, sweetheart. And it's reincarnate, not die." Alexander shrugged his shoulders. "One more thing. There may or may not be a war going on right now. You want to watch out for soldiers, particularly those dressed in black."
Now he's got to be kidding. War? In hell? She shook her head and glared at Alexander.
"Very funny," she said. "A war? Seriously?"
"The good people and the bad people formed legions," Alexander said. "I'm telling the truth."
It took her only a millisecond to see he was not kidding. His eyes were wide, his mouth was tight, and his jaw was tense. She now realized why he had taken residence on earth, even if it was lonely. She had no idea what Zemiothstai was going to look like, but she had a feeling it wasn't going to be pretty.
"Maybe I should just stay here and find my mom."
"Your mom is probably over there, too," Alexander said. "The dead move on unless they are specifically told not to — like me."
"And how am I supposed to survive in hell?"
Alexander grimaced. "I told you. Saint Peter is going to give you tasks. Listen to him. Do what he says. Just avoid the army work and try your hardest to not get reincarnated. It is simple. What is with you fresh souls? Always so stupid."
"But I—"
But Alexander turned and walked away from her. She realized that her tutorial was over and grimaced. She spun around and gazed at the glowing white orb.
Here goes nothing, she thought, stepping toward the vortex while gulping. She walked toward the cyclone, arm extended, and expected to feel pain. She didn't. Instead it was like she was being stretched. Having misgivings, she stepped back, only the orb wasn't letting her go now. Instead it pulled at her, sucking her in. She had no choice but to step directly into the unknown.
When she did, there was a flash of white light and suddenly she was moving so fast she vibrated. She shut her eyes tight, expecting the voyage to be over fast, but it wasn't. When she opened her eyes again, she saw that she was in a dark purple abyss filled with stars that appeared far closer than she had ever seen before.
Am I in outer space? Before she had time to grasp this fact, she glanced up and saw she was quickly heading toward a disk of light that appeared far too solid for her to hit at this speed and survive. She began to flail, trying to slow herself down, but she couldn't. She wailed as she hit the white disk, but instead of colliding with it, she shot right through as if out of a cannon and landed headfirst in a grassy field.
****
"Oh, man," she said, sitting up on her haunches and looking around.
Zemiothstai was not the dark, fiery inferno that she expected. In fact, it appeared a great deal like earth, except the sky was a dark crimson red. Like blood. It made her heart fill with fear for reasons she could not explain. She struggled to her feet and glanced around.
Yellowing grass rose around her, and up ahead were thick, dense trees with bright green leaves. She could hear the vague rush of a river. Some distance away she could make out another person walking down a dirt path. She was shocked by just how un-evil purgatory was.
But where is this Saint Peter?
"Yes, yes, I'm coming," said a booming male voice. "Give me a minute."
She was so shocked that she became statue still. The voice had come from nowhere, and she had no idea where he was now.
"Why, I'm right here," said the same male voice, this time from behind her.
With a yelp, she whipped around. There was a short, dark-skinned man behind her with a black beard and dark brown eyes. He only came up to her chest. In his hand, he held a writing board and a feather quill pen. She saw no tray for ink.
Saint Peter shook his head. "Ah, yes, the mandatory scream of horror. Check."
"You, you…" She tried to take a deep, steadying breath but then realized that her lungs didn't work. For a second, she had forgotten she was dead. "You're Saint Peter?"
"The one and only," he said. "And you are Eden Schmidt."
She nodded. How does he know that? And appear from nowhere? Impossible.
"My dear, nothing is impossible," Saint Peter said, answering her thoughts again. Her mouth dropped open. "Only humans think like that. We live in an infinite universe."
"I see," she said.
Saint Peter beamed at her. "I doubt you do yet. Spend enough time dead, though, and then you will."
Because she had no idea what that was supposed to mean, she nodded. Saint Peter was a confusing person. Or spirit. At the moment, she wasn't one hundred percent sure what he was.
"A spirit works as well as anything," Saint Peter said, flipping through his clipboard with a grin on his face. "No need to be so confused by labels. We are what we are. Nothing changes that."
"Right." Eden frowned.
"I always am." Saint Peter nodded. "Okay, let's see here. Avoid water. That's a good th
ing to know. And head east, to Jophiel. The rest of the kinks will work themselves out; I believe… Yes, that ought to do fine… Oh. One last thing. Do not go out at night. At least, for now anyway. Evil is out at night, and you are new here."
But what were her tasks? She hadn't heard one. Head east, to Jophiel? Was that all? Maybe she had been so evil she couldn't get into heaven.
"Wait," Eden said, "Please. What about my tasks?"
Saint Peter smiled at her and then pointed to her chest where the cross was. "You don't need to worry about ordinary tasks. Your role is much bigger than that. You'll be told what you need to do eventually, but you are not prepared to know yet."
"But what about getting into heaven?" she asked.
For the first time, Saint Peter's smile evaporated. "Dark times are coming."
Then he disappeared in a flash of light.
Chapter Ten
If it added sin tallies to her naughty card to curse at a saint, then Eden was never going to get out of Zemiothstai. Then again, it appeared that getting out of here wasn't a possibility for her anyway, because she didn't even have any tasks to complete.
It doesn't matter. I have my own task. I don't care if I have to scour every inch of this planet — or plane or realm — I'll find Rebecca. Then I'll go back to my dad and take care of him. I was selfish, leaving him behind.
With that thought in mind, she stalked across the grass plains where she had met Saint Peter and headed east, because Jophiel was as good a place to start as any. She found a road and made it to some dense, dark trees and then stopped and gazed up. The trees were beautiful.
As she peered into the horizon, another person ran by and gave her a dark look as if she was crazy. She ignored the person and continued to watch the trees. At least, she did until sharp pain seared up her leg and caused her to yelp.
She inspected the pathway underneath her and gasped. There were worms. Hundreds and hundreds of worms. They were all fat and white and slimy. Most of them were the size of her thumb, but she saw one that approached that was as fat as her leg and as long as her forearm.
Until We Meet Again Page 4