by Cege Smith
A terrible idea crossed Ellie’s mind. “What did the woman look like?”
“She’s older, but still attractive. Her hair is so blonde it looks white,” Jake said watching her face.
“Lillian,” Ellie said. She tried to think of everything that she had told him that could be used against her. She felt so stupid. Of course, if Lillian was alive, then Jeffrey was still working for her. On the Other Side, Jeffrey had worked for Linda Jordan, Lillian’s alias. Here in the Afterlife, he had served her for her tenure as the Guardian. “Thanks for telling me, Jake. That is really unfortunate.”
Ellie realized that she had to find Lucy and tell her about Jeffrey before Lucy spilled the scoop about Mikel. “I have to go, Jake. Keep me posted on what else you see and hear.”
“Ellie, wait,” Jake said, but Ellie was already heading down the stairs. If she was lucky, she’d catch up with Lucy by the time she reached the kitchen where she would inevitably run into Jeffrey. She figured since Jake was a ghost he’d find a way to contact her again.
She reached the landing of the first floor and pushed the door open. The staircase opened up a hidden door in the hallway that led to the kitchen. Ellie stepped out into the hallway and found it empty. She quickly made her way to the kitchen. She found Lucy standing in the middle of the room with her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide with fear.
“What is it?” Ellie asked.
Lucy pointed at the door to the pantry, which was closed. Ellie moved further into the kitchen so that she could see what Lucy was pointing at. She gasped. The floor was covered in blood. There were smears all over the stove and countertops. She saw what had happened in her mind. Jeffrey had been standing at the stove. He was attacked from behind with some type of sharp object that drew blood quickly. He dropped to the floor and was dragged into the pantry while bleeding profusely.
“We need to open the door,” Ellie said. She started to shake. “If he’s still…alive…then we have to do something.”
“Ellie, things like this don’t happen here,” Lucy said. Her voice wobbled.
“Seems to be a lot of that going around,” Ellie said. Her heart was beating hard against her chest as she gingerly stepped around the streaks of blood on the floor. Her hand shook violently as she reached out to grasp the knob to the pantry. She looked back at Lucy, who looked as if she was about to be sick. Ellie couldn’t stand the suspense any longer. She turned the knob and shoved the door open.
The room was empty.
“What the hell?” Lucy said.
“You rang?” Mikel’s voice caused both women to jump.
“Did you do this?” Ellie demanded as she swung around glaring at Mikel. “Where’s Jeffrey?”
Mikel took in the blood and disarray with a disinterested expression and shook his head. “Not me. I’ve been hiding away just like you told me to do. I’d say that the snitch was found out though.”
“You knew he was Lillian’s spy?” Ellie’s head spun. Did everyone in the Afterlife know everything except her?
“Lillian Bradford?” Lucy said in surprise. Her head swung between them. “I thought Mikel took care of her before you even came here.”
“I thought I did, but unfortunately I didn’t actually decimate her soul. I simply banished her,” Mikel said with an annoyed sigh. “Then Lillian cut a deal with somebody higher up the chain than me and turned me in at the same time you did. Poof! She got sprung from eternal torment, and I got the cell. No doubt she’s angling for my job.”
“If Jeffrey was working for her, she wouldn’t have done this to him,” Ellie said.
“No, but I keep trying to tell you that someone else has an interest here and in you. Someone who may not want Lillian snooping where she doesn’t belong either,” Mikel said. “I mean, that’s what I would do.”
“And you still expect us to believe that this wasn’t you?” Lucy said. Her tone clearly said that she believed everything bad in the world could be traced back to Mikel’s door.
“I need to show you something,” Mikel said to Ellie, ignoring Lucy’s question.
“So show me,” Ellie said.
“Not here,” Mikel said. “I need you to come with me.”
“I can’t leave the kids here by themselves,” Ellie said. Bobby’s accusation from earlier that evening still rang in her ears. “I can’t go anywhere. Plus we still don’t know what happened to Jeffrey.”
“I can tell you what happened to Jeffrey,” Mikel said. “He’s dead. By the looks of it, it’s the kind of dead that means he’s not coming back. It’s time to move on. Leave the witch to babysit the brats. We have work to do.”
“How about you go back to Hell?” Lucy shot at him. “I’ll gladly send you back.”
“This would be a whole lot easier if you could say one straight thing to me,” Ellie said. Her head was starting to hurt. She wanted to lie down, but she had a feeling that rest was far from where she was at that moment. “Tell me where you want me to go and what you want to show me.”
“The less people who know where you are the better,” Mikel said tersely. “I’m sure I’m not the only one who has noticed that things are getting dicey around here. You’ll be back in no time, I promise. I’ll even let the witch spell you so that you can get back without me once you are there.”
“Can you do that?” Ellie asked Lucy.
Lucy stomped her foot. “I can give you something like a homing beacon spell, yes, but you can’t trust him, Ellie. I can’t protect you if I don’t know where you are.”
“Perhaps it’s time you started letting Ellie protect herself,” Mikel growled.
“I can take care of myself,” Ellie agreed, and realized that she had accepted the fact that she was going to be leaving again with Mikel. Mikel had manipulated her perfectly. She glared at his smug smile.
“I’ll meet you downstairs,” Mikel said. He left the room before Ellie could argue.
“I guess I’ll just stay here and clean up and hope that whatever came and grabbed Jeffrey doesn’t come back,” Lucy grumbled.
Ellie was agitated, but she bit back her sharp retort. Lucy was scared, and she couldn’t blame her for that. “Maybe whatever Mikel is going to show me will help us clear all of this up.”
“Hurry back, Ellie,” Lucy said. Her voice was small. “The spell is already done. Just say “home” and you’ll be back here before you know it.”
“Thanks, Lucy.” Ellie gave Lucy a quick hug and then followed after Mikel. In the basement of the mansion, there was a large white stone altar where all of the power of the waypoint was focused. Ellie had traveled a way line from it once before, when Mikel had taken her to visit her childhood home.
Ellie found Mikel standing on the other side of the altar already drawing the symbols in the dirt floor that she knew designated the time and place where he wanted to go. “You going to let me in on the mystery yet?”
“Not yet,” he said. He stood up wiping the dirt from his knees. He looked at Ellie expectantly.
Stepping into the circle to join him, she extended her hands in the air. She barely felt the slash across her palm before the white light absorbed them. Unlike the teleportation with Lucy, traveling on the way line with Mikel was painless.
She opened her eyes and cried out in joy.
They were standing in the middle of her coffee shop. At the table that was always reserved for her sat Melanie Wilson who smiled broadly at her.
“Hey, Ellie. Welcome home.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
A loud clanging noise filled the air and David winced. He didn’t need to see Lila’s reaction to the sirens to know that they were running out of time. He hurried after her through the deserted streets. He saw a large looming building on the horizon and guessed correctly that was their destination.
“We aren’t about to enter the lion’s den, are we?” he asked. The air temperature had noticeably dropped in the last few minutes, and he could see his breath crystallize in the air.
“I
need to access the way line to take you to the Bradford waypoint,” Lila said. Her voice was tense. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
“Why are you doing this?” David asked. He wondered why Braz had put his young protégé in such a compromising situation. If anything, he thought that Braz should have shouldered the risk of the escape himself.
“Braz said to do it,” Lila said.
“Then your unquestioning loyalty is admirable,” David replied.
Lila cut a glance at him. “I owe Braz everything. He wouldn’t have wanted me to do this unless it was important. I don’t ask questions.”
“Trust can be misplaced.” David knew that better than anyone.
Lila stopped and stared at David. He felt her gaze weighing him. “Braz is risking everything to help you escape. After everything I’ve heard whispered about you, I can’t figure out why for the life of me, but Braz has never done anything to make me question my ability to trust him. Considering what we’re doing right now, I would think you would feel the same.”
“There’s politics going on here that I can’t see,” David said. “I’ve been used my entire life by almost every person that I’ve trusted. Forgive me if I don’t trust blindly anymore. Once I see Ellie with my own eyes, I’ll be able to weigh in on my ability to trust Braz’s intentions.”
Lila seemed ready to say something else, and then she changed her mind. “We need to go.”
“No arguing here,” David said.
Lila broke into a fast trot. David tried hard not stare as more details of the building came into focus. The rows of buildings ended at that one, and as far as he could see, it stretched as far as he could see in either direction. He could see faint glows in different rooms dotting the building’s side, but otherwise it looked deserted and menacing.
“What is this place?”
“This, Mr. Mitchell, is the core of Purgatory,” Lila said, sweeping her arm to encompass the towering stone building. “The closest thing I could compare it with from the Other Side would be a processing plant.”
David could only begin to guess what the transport meant by that. Again he was struck by Braz’s earlier comment that Purgatory was a machine. At the time, he hadn’t taken it literally, which may have been a mistake. As eager as he was to get to Ellie’s side, he thought that a little knowledge about Purgatory couldn’t be anything but helpful for them.
“So Braz told me that everyone sees Purgatory differently. That they live in a dream state until it’s decided where they will go,” David said. His voice seemed to carry, but he felt more relieved to have some noise in the uneasy silence.
“Yes, something like that,” Lila said. She seemed distracted. “But I don’t know a lot about that end of things.”
“You just bring them in, huh?”
“That’s my job.” Lila led David down a street that ran parallel with the building. She seemed to be searching for something.
“Let’s not go in the front door,” he quipped, trying to keep her talking.
“It changes.”
“What does?”
“Central Processing. It changes all the time. Braz usually takes me in. The last thing we want to do is wander into a group of guards.”
“I’m confused,” David said.
“Here!” Lila shifted direction and was already in the shadows of the building before David caught up to her. A large door appeared before them. Lila touched a panel to the side of the door, and a small pad lit up. She put her palm flat against the panel, and David heard gears start to whirl and then the door slid open three feet, just enough for them to enter.
Once through the door, David looked around as Lila closed the door behind them. They were in a hallway. He couldn’t see any windows or doors. “What is it about this place and doors?” The question meant to be rhetorical and he saw Lila glare at him and wished he hadn’t voiced the words out loud.
She closed her eyes and then settled her feet. She reached out her hands as David watched in awe as the hallway started to fold in on itself and morph into something else. The wall, which a second before had been in front of him, reappeared on his left hand side. He found himself in a room that had no windows or doors, with Lila still at his side.
“What just happened?” he breathed.
A sly smile appeared on Lila’s face, and David saw a glimpse of the girl who had entranced the entire audience in the club. “No magic if that’s what you are thinking. That’s not my gig. It’s a simple refraction of light to hide that which needs to be hidden.”
“Hopefully you can do the same with us if those guards you mentioned show up,” David replied.
“We needed a few minutes to talk because I need to think,” Lila said as she faced him. “Braz clearly believes that I can do this, but there’s a critical missing piece to this little adventure.”
David was about to ask what, when the answer popped into his mind. “We don’t have a third.”
“Bingo,” Lila said. “That’s the beauty and the curse of who, or more appropriately, what I am. I am the most junior of the three transports, which means that I’m last to be picked up and the first to be dropped off with my charges. Peter and Dane have been around longer and they have earned the right to be able to travel between their sector and Purgatory alone, which is how they were both here tonight.”
“Is it just that you need one of them, or that you need to be part of that trio?” David was trying to figure out what Braz was thinking. He would have known about Lila’s limitation.
Lila’s eyes clouded. “I don’t know. I’ve never had a reason to ask. Do you have any magical or psychic abilities?”
“No, that’s Ellie’s thing,” David said. He had come too far to give up. They were missing something, or he was missing something. He scanned the conversation he had with Braz again looking for a clue. “Wait.” A thought occurred to him. “How do you know where to take the souls that you transport?”
“The soul knows,” Lila said. “It’s hard to explain, but it’s not as if the transport decides on the destination. We are simply there to ensure the safety of the soul on their journey from the waypoint to their sector. Along the way line, I can tell if any of them will be staying with me. The soul knows.”
“So my soul doesn’t have a sector,” David said. He saw Lila shiver at his words. To her, the idea of an unbound soul was completely foreign and infinitely scary, which made him feel even worse about himself. “Where would my soul go then? If we were on a way line?”
“I’m no expert,” Lila said slowly. “But my guess is that your soul would still go to wherever you were supposed to be at that moment in time.”
“Like the Bradford waypoint?”
“You are assuming that’s where your soul would take you?” Lila twirled a strand of her long hair around her fingers. She looked even younger than she had before.
“Yes.” David was more certain than ever that his destiny would take him to Ellie. “If you can get me to the way line, I think I’ll be able to take it from there.”
“The way lines can be dangerous, especially to the uninitiated,” Lila said.
“I have no choice,” David said.
“Okay, we can try,” Lila said. She raised her arms again and concentrated, and David found they were standing in a different room. Here, there was a large circle in the middle of the room. The edges of the circle glowed, and the hair rose on David’s arms. He didn’t need to be magically gifted to feel the immense energy that swelled in the room.
Then David realized that they were not alone. Black robed figures emerged from the corners of the room, and David was dismayed to see Lillian step forward with Braz at her side.
“There you are, David,” Lillian said. Her eyes flashed in anger. “Imagine my surprise when I arrived in Purgatory to speak to you about Mikel’s trial and discovered that Braz had misplaced you. With a certain other incident today, it is a good thing that we caught up to you before any permanent damage could be done.”
The shackles around Braz’s wrists told David everything that he needed to know. He was too late.
“I will not submit to you, Lillian,” David said. “My cooperation with you is over.”
Lillian clucked her tongue. “You have been reassigned to the sector of Hell for the duration of your stay in the Afterlife as Purgatory doesn’t appear to be quite as neutral as it would lead us to believe.”
Lila swore under her breath. Then David felt the shortness of breath in his chest that he had felt in the club, only magnified by a factor of ten. He fell to his knees, and that was when he felt his body lifted off the ground. A flash of black shot between him and Lila and then they were inside the circle.
Lillian’s cry of outrage met his ears just as the light soared up from the floor, and David saw a blinding road of light shoot off into the distance. Then all the darkness was gone, and David’s thoughts lost all sense of cohesion.
Colors and shapes stretched around him. He felt as if all of his bones were being broken and then melded back together again. A cacophony of wails filled his ears. His voice joined theirs and matched their intensity. Then there was blissful silence. Moments later, it was broken by voices in argument. Familiar voices.
Dane and Lila.
“Are you insane?” Dane yelled.
“Don’t you yell at me,” Lila yelled back. “Braz said to take him, so I was taking him. How was I supposed to know we’d walk right into a trap?”
“Braz told you to help the guy that the entire Afterlife is afraid of, and you just said okay? What were you thinking Lila? Let me guess. You weren’t. Your blind trust in that old sod overruled every logical thought in your head.”
“How dare you! You have no authority in Purgatory, and that just pisses you off,” Lila shot back. “What are we doing here?”
“Anyone care to tell me where here is?” David shook the cobwebs from his head. As his eyes shifted into focus, his mouth fell open. He was lying on a small bench. Sunlight warmed his skin. A dirt road ran past him into the distance. He sat up. It was as if he had been transported in time to an old time country bus stop.