The Akasha Chronicles Trilogy Boxed Set: The Complete Emily Adams Series

by Natalie Wright

  “Just like Ciardha. You’ve learned well the ways of the dark, grasshopper.”

  “Shut up, nub.”

  I must have rubbed her bitchy spot the wrong way. She sat in her chair, glared at me, and withheld water and information.

  Be cool, Jake. Breathe. Try to keep her engaged. Keep her talking.

  “Berrach. Interesting name. What does it mean?”

  “How should I know? And why should I care? The master saw fit to give me a new name – one that he chose for me.”

  “Wow, you must be pretty special to him.”

  “I am a chosen one. I sit on the inner circle.”

  “Inner circle, huh? How nice for you. You get any perks being in the inner circle of the God of Darkness?”

  “How about immortality? Is that perk enough for you?”

  “Yep, that’s quite a perk. Tell me, how did you get here? I mean, you were in the Umbra Perdita. I thought people couldn’t leave that world.”

  “You’re so naïve. And to think that the creature Fanny considered you highly intelligent. Once Brighid was squashed to the size of a gnat, her influence wasn’t strong enough to hold him or any of us. He turned the prison she’d made against her. My master is far stronger than Brighid ever was.”

  “So he brought you here?”

  “Yes.”

  “How long have you been here? I’ve never seen you before.”

  “Time is no matter. And I’ve told you. I’m inner circle. A peon kitchen boy like you would never get to see the likes of me.”

  “Then why are you gracing me with your presence now?”

  “Because the master has commanded it.”

  “Did he send you to break the last bone that isn’t broken?”

  “The master is not interested in breaking your bones.”

  “He’s not? Then he should have told his thugs in the field that because I’m pretty sure they broke more than a few.”

  “And they were punished most severely.”

  “Ciardha punished them?” I tried to laugh, but it came out as a cough that caused a stabbing pain to shoot through my ribcage. I tasted nasty mucousy blood in my mouth and realized I’d coughed up blood.

  “You’re going to die,” she said matter-of-factly.

  “We’re all going to die.”

  “Your death will come sooner than most. In fact, I’d say you have less than a day to remain in that body.”

  “Is that why you’re here? To hasten it along so Ciardha can fill my cell with fresh meat?”

  “I am not here to kill you. I am here to save you.”

  “You? Berrach, formerly known as Fanny, now a minion of the devil. You are here to save me?”

  She got up, turned her chair around to face the correct way, sat back down, and leaned down toward me. Her face was a few feet away. Her black eyes bored into me.

  “It is so easy. So simple. All of your pain, your worries, and your fears will be behind you. Your broken bones will be healed. Your spleen repaired. Heart, lungs, kidneys – all will be restored to full health. Your body will feel better than it ever has. The strength and power that will course through you!”

  Although her voice sounded thrilled, her eyes remained dull and glassy.

  “What’s the catch?”

  “The catch?”

  “Yeah. What is it that I have to give up to be like new? What do I have to give him in order to live?”

  “Everything, of course.”

  “I was afraid you were going to say that. Well, if by everything you mean my soul, then the answer is no. No deal.”

  “But you will surely die. Don’t you want to live?”

  “Live? You’re not alive.”

  “I am more alive than I have ever been. The strength I thought I had before was nothing. Fanny was weak. An insignificant, petty speck of putrid human flesh.”

  “That speck of human flesh was my friend. I loved her.”

  “Bah! Love. What a waste, that. Does love give you the power to do this?”

  Berrach stood, picked up the chair with a hand on either side, and pulled. Within seconds, the chair was split into two pieces as splinters of wood rained down.

  “So what, you’re like the Hulk now or something? You gave up your immortal soul for superhuman strength?”

  “I did not give it up. It was taken from me, in the Umbra Perdita. But I do not mourn it. The master has breathed a new life into me. One full of power and strength I had never known before. And he can do the same for you.”

  “No, thanks.”

  She got down on the ground where I lay. She bent even closer and reached out a small, thin, white hand toward my face.

  “Jake Stevens. Poor, broken Jake,” she said. Her fingers lightly touched my cheek. It didn’t send rods of pain through me, so I figured my right cheek must be the only part of me that wasn’t torn to shreds. Her face had softened, and if she’d still been Fanny, I’m guessing her eyes would have looked yielding and forgiving. But instead the fathomless pits of her eyes remained cold and revealed no feeling of warmth toward me.

  “Because you were once a friend of Fanny’s, I will extend to you a courtesy not given to others. I will give you a second chance. I will ask this of you again, but I promise you, this is the last time you will receive this offer.

  “Pledge yourself to the master, Jake Stevens. Let go. Open the gate and let the master in. I promise you, your pain will cease. You will be whole. You will feel better than you ever have. And you will live.”

  I didn’t say anything. Of course I couldn’t pledge myself to Ciardha. I’d rather die than lose myself to his darkness. But if I could think of something clever to keep her talking. Some way to delay a little. If only I had more time, maybe Liam would arrive with the others that had escaped. Maybe he’d be able to get me to a hospital. Or maybe Emily would come for me. Or maybe …

  But I had nothing. I was on the verge of passing out again. I could feel the blackness at the edge of my brain and the bile in my gullet trying to force its way up and out. I couldn’t think of anything clever. It took everything I had just to keep myself from passing out or puking on her.

  “Well? What will it be? Live for the master? Or die because of the bitch?”

  “I will never pledge myself to Ciardha.”

  “Then you will die.”

  “I guess so.”

  “What a waste. Pity, really. I looked forward to serving with someone who was not a dullard like most of the rest of them. A shame.”

  “Sorry to disappoint you.”

  She didn’t respond to me but stood up and pulled a phone from her pants pocket. She swiped it on, pushed a button, and held the phone to her ear.

  “Yep, still alive. Barely.”

  She looked at me, not saying anything, apparently listening to whoever was on the other end.

  “No, he will not pledge.”

  A pause.

  “I will need assistance. Both of his legs are broken. He will need to be carried.”

  She ended the call and delivered the phone back to her pants pocket.

  “Where am I being taken?”

  “To see the master.”

  “Ciardha? Why? Oh, probably so he can dine on my agony as he watches me die.”

  “He will enjoy your agony, but that is not why he is having you brought to him.”

  “What game does he have in store for me, then? Am I to be a piñata for his posse? Or maybe a game of drawing and quartering for his arena full of assholes?”

  “All excellent ideas, but none are correct. The God of Dark Energy is a merciful god, and to show his mercy, he has asked for us to bring you before him so that he can put you out of your misery.”

  “He’s going to kill me.”

  “Relieve you of the burden that you carry.”

  “Nice euphemism. I have to say, Berrach is a horrid bitch, but she has a sharper wit than my friend Fanny had.”

  “Imminent death has brought out the nasty bastard in you. Too
bad you’re going so soon. I was beginning to enjoy your company.”

  I heard the door rattle and the shuffle of feet.

  “Take him to the top floor.”

  “We know what to do, twit. We just came from up there.”

  “How dare you speak to me that way? I am inner circle. You will learn the proper respect. I will be sure to let the master know you need a lesson on how to treat inner circle.”

  “Yeah, you do that. Right after he burns you alive for failing the mission you was sent down here for.”

  I looked over at Berrach as I felt hands under my shoulders and my knees. Her face had gone hard and was even paler than it had been before. I felt them lift my body, and it sent burning knives of scorching pain all through me.

  The last thing I heard before I passed out again was Berrach saying, “Good-bye, Jake Stevens.”

  27. Cosmic Parents

  Emily

  Even while I was at one with Akasha, the familiar fear began to arise within me. What am I seeing if not the death of it all?

  The phenomenon unfolded before me, around me, and even through me. I saw the few remaining points of light coalesce until there were only two points of pulsating energy.

  I can’t even say light because they weren’t light as we know it. They weren’t like stars radiating light like the beings in the Akashic Field. There were only two orbs of pulsating energy, without color or even lack of color. They hummed a low, soft persistent note. The sound was discordant rather than harmonious as it had been in the Akashic Field. Instead of feeling at peace with the two orbs, I felt at unease with them.

  But I recognized the two energies. Each had taken human form and interacted with me. And the energies had names.

  Brother and sister. The Dark and the Light. Twins. A pair.

  Brighid and Ciardha.

  No sooner had I recognized them as individuals, they became one brilliant, shining mass of luminous energy. One being.

  The discordant hum became one single, glorious note. A beautiful note that filled me with joy. It pulsed through my being and merged with my note, and we were in harmony with each other.

  I hadn’t been witnessing a death. I’d been witnessing a birth. It was the birth of the light and of the dark. The birth of all that they would become.

  The birth of all that is.

  And I knew another truth. Something Madame Wong had tried to get me to see, but in my human form, bogged down with all my desires and fears, I couldn’t comprehend it.

  We are children of both the light and of the dark. And that meant that if Brighid is my mother, Ciardha is my father.

  They had once been a whole harmonious being at peace with itself. But when they’d split apart, somehow each of them had forgotten that they were a part of each other.

  They cannot exist without each other, and we cannot exist without them both.

  In an instant, I swirled and spun in a vortex. I felt the thrum of the Akashic Field all around me and experienced the pulsating lights and the strands of the web. And then, as if it had all been a brilliant dream, I was back in my body and in the endless grey void of the Netherworld.

  I gasped in a deep, full breath. The air filled my lungs, and I felt exhilarated. I gently unwound my legs from their crossed position and stretched my arms up overhead. I stood and shook my legs out.

  “Well?” asked the orb that was Madame Wong.

  “I understand,” I said.

  The orb brightened and pulsed. “Good,” she said. “It is time.”

  28. Open Your Door

  Jake

  Each time I passed out, I figured it would be my last. I’d feel the fog roll in and see the shade of darkness pulled over my eyes, and I’d think, “So this is it.” But then I’d wake up again.

  This time when I woke, I quickly realized that I didn’t hurt. I blinked, and I could open both of my eyes. I pumped my hands into fists, and I could move all of my fingers. I took a deep breath, and my ribs didn’t cry out in protest.

  Maybe I’m dead.

  “You are not dead, Mr. Stevens. Not yet, anyway,” Ciardha said.

  I had been placed in a heap on the cool, marble floor of Ciardha’s suite. I hesitated to try to sit up for fear that I would either be unable to lift myself or that I’d buckle from the pain. But I forced myself to try it. To my surprise, I was able to easily push myself up and to stand without so much as a joint cracking.

  “Yes, you can stand. You can run and jump and do all those things that a human body can do.”

  Ciardha came to me. I’d say he walked, but his legs didn’t move. He was about twenty feet away from me, then glided over to me and stared at me with his dead eyes.

  “But I thought that you were going to ‘put me out of my misery’. That’s what Fanny – I mean Berrach – said.”

  “That one. I had expected more from her. She is a disappointment, like all of the others. Your species is not very promising. You have fed me well, I will admit. But soon I will have what I need. Soon I will be strong enough to push beyond this world. I am sure that my next planet will provide more gifted humanoids.”

  I didn’t understand what he was talking about. What does he need that he doesn’t have yet? My mind was clear again. My synapses fired without causing me blinding pain. I can puzzle through this, I know I can. What does Ciardha need? And why did he restore me when he could have just killed me?

  “Mr. Stevens, a young man of many questions. Always thinking. Always puzzling. Yet you know the answers to the questions you ask. Must I draw you a map?”

  I kept forgetting that like Emily, Ciardha read minds like most people read billboards. But unlike the new Emily, Ciardha didn’t have the common decency to stay out of people’s heads uninvited.

  “A map might be nice. Excuse me for being a bit slow, but I’ve spent countless days being beaten, starved to death, and allowed to hover near death.”

  “Yes, you have suffered tremendously. And I adore you for it. The stronger the light, the greater the hope, the larger the morsel for me as you break.”

  “Is that why you nursed me back to health? Only to break me again.”

  “See, you can figure it out. I was so very displeased with those morons who beat you so thoroughly. I had made it very clear that no one was to take your life. My game was nearly destroyed by those imbeciles.”

  “Tough times for you.”

  “Sarcasm does not become you. It is more the witch’s thing.”

  “You mean Emily?”

  “Ah yes, Miss Adams. The woman of your dreams. Your wet dreams, I should say.”

  I couldn’t help but flush crimson from head to toe. That asshat had been inside my head even when I thought I was by myself. He’d spied on my most personal feelings. Of all the beatings and starvation I’d endured, knowing I’d been violated to my core felt the worst. I no longer owned even my own thoughts.

  “How I feel – or what I think – about Emily is none of your business.”

  “Oh, but it is. Everything is my business. But where are my manners. Come, Mr. Stevens. Come to the table. Surely that body of yours desires sustenance. Come, eat of my bounty.”

  Ciardha again glided across the floor and disappeared around the corner. I followed, the promise of food making my stomach suddenly rumble with the pain of hunger.

  I walked slowly down the long, white marble hallway and turned left as Ciardha had. The hallway opened up into a large formal dining room with an expansive table. The walls were painted aubergine, and the table and chairs were gilded. The table was set with jeweled-tone crystal goblets and napkins. The overall feeling was of a sumptuous feast.

  Ciardha sat at the head of the table and faced me. He raised his goblet to me.

  “Come, sit, Mr. Stevens. I believe you know my companion, Dorcha. And you have met Berrach.”

  Ciardha tilted his head first to Dorcha, sitting to his right, and then to Berrach, sitting to his left. Dorcha looked even more ravishing than she had the first time I
’d seen her. Her long, black hair had been woven into a thick braid that hung down her naked back. She wore a black, silk gown that was shot through with a silvery glitter that made her sparkle when she moved. Like the other gown I’d seen her in, this one was barely clothing at all. Its thin straps met up with a few inches of fabric, barely covering her nipples; then they plunged to meet a length of fabric that fell to just below her butt.

  Berrach had dressed for dinner, leaving her black jeans and long jacket behind. Somehow her hair had been tamed and fell in soft curls on either side of her face. She, too, wore a black gown that was almost as revealing as the one Dorcha wore. I found myself staring, unable to believe that Berrach’s amazing body had once been owned by one of my best friends.

  I never knew Fanny was hot.

  “I feel … underdressed,” I said.

  I felt a slight breeze, then a shift of fabric. I looked down, and a black tuxedo had replaced my ratty jeans and T-shirt that had been caked with blood and dirt.

  I walked slowly forward, unsure where to sit. But my nose picked up the scent of roasted meat, and I momentarily forgot to care about where I should sit or that I shouldn’t eat anything given to me by Ciardha. I knew only that I wanted to eat until my stomach hurt from the discomfort of fullness instead of the gnawing pain of hunger.

  “Sit anywhere you like,” Ciardha said. “Excellent food and drink. One of the few things I enjoy about having a human form.” He swirled the red wine around in his glass, smelled it, and then took a long drink. “Dorcha here has become quite adept at providing me the other pleasure I have found in this human body. Come, Mr. Stevens, eat at my table. Eat and enjoy all of the bounties I have laid before you.”

  I decided to take the seat at the other end of the table from Ciardha, the one facing him. It wasn’t that I particularly wanted to stare at his mug. But it was the seat closest to me.

  The table was set with fine, white china embellished in gold. A crystal chandelier hung over the table, casting a soft, warm glow over the whole scene. Had I not been staring at three soulless people, it might have been an absolutely lovely dinner.

  Servers came out of nowhere and removed the silver domes from our plates to reveal a sumptuous feast. On my plate was an entire Cornish hen, the skin crispy and browned to perfection. Beside it was a fan of baby carrots glazed in butter and a pile of mashed potatoes that had been piped onto the plate. My side plate held three gorgeous, yellow dinner rolls.