by Mur Lafferty
Daniel tried to block out the screams of the people as they fell, realizing their fate. He was unable to help them.
The rumbles continued far longer, and cracks appeared in the ground around him; Daniel tried to dodge as well as he could. Finally, he realized Kate was screaming at him to put her down.
He gently deposited her onto the plain in an area that hadn’t been cracked. He became human again and swooned briefly as the pain returned. He dropped to his knees beside her as she stared at Meridian, tears running down her face.
“I didn’t know; I didn’t think,” she babbled.
“I know, I know,” he said, watching the gentle light from lathe illuminate the rubble and dust from Meridian. “I wonder if anyone survived.”
“Why are there earthquakes?” she asked.
“No moon. Morrigan is gone. No lunar tides, no oblong Earth.”
“So if Chaos is gone, and Morrigan is gone …”
Daniel stared at her, the horror making him forget his pain momentarily. “Oh, god.”
“Eight minutes. It takes eight minutes for the sun to reach us, for the heat and light and gravity and everything, right? Without it we just freeze,” she said.
He nodded. “And drift off into space.”
“What are we going to do?”
He shrugged. “What can we do?”
She thought for a moment, and then took his good hand with hers. “Daniel. We’ve always sucked at this god thing. Did you ever think of getting out?”
He smiled sadly at her. “Every goddamned day.”
“I think we should go for new jobs. Barris seemed to think we were wasted here anyway. Too much potential. I would really like to do some good for a change.” She coughed, and blood showed up on her lips. Daniel realized she had broken ribs and a punctured lung.
She smiled. “Besides, I’m not sure how much longer I’d live here like this anyway. Chaos fucked my shit up pretty good.”
He smiled and kissed her gently. “There’s my delicate flower. You think we can do this?”
“If we don’t, we spin off into space and freeze. If we try and fail, we spin off into space and freeze. If we try and succeed, we don’t.”
“I love your logic,” he said.
“I love you,” she answered.
They linked hands and closed their eyes, touching the parts within themselves that they had been so afraid of. Power surged forth at their calling. Internally, they united it all, his anger and trickery, her compassion and strength, and divvied it up between them.
I’m going to miss you, he thought.
She scoffed at him. We’ll never be apart now.
They focused on the metaphysical plane and found the holes left by Barris and Morrigan, gaping wide, already bleeding. Daniel and Kate took deep breaths, and their physical forms, their pain, their fears — all disappeared.
Daniel had never felt such bliss, such power, as he appeared in the sky over Meridian. The earth groaned again as gravity forced it back to its shape, and he shone down on the devastation. If he could have, he would have wept at the sight of Meridian’s ruins, and he noticed life subs from Leviathan City emerging from the sea.
Earthquakes must have torn open the dome, he thought sadly. I hope enough get out.
He cast his sight out, past the devastation, past all the things in the world he could see at once: The other cities, the other continents: places he and Kate had never been.
Oh, Kate. What a world we made.
Dawn’s light began to peek over the horizon. I can’t wait to see it, she said. You should see the other side of the world.
Right before he slid behind the hills, he caught sight of her, and she had never been more glorious. You’re beautiful, he thought.
So are you.
We made a big mess, but we did the job, he thought.
They’ll rebuild.
If anything, we’re a damned stubborn race.
He could hear her laughter and smiled to himself. God of hell, exile, trickster, now moon. He was done changing jobs.
A sliver of power remained unclaimed, and he sent a question to Kate. She answered with enthusiasm, and he sent it back to the world. It wasn’t much; it couldn’t make things right. But it was enough to make a difference. Eventually.
His link with her was stronger than ever. The connection was more than physical, more then mental, more even than the link they’d had as gods. It was all-encompassing.
You were right, he thought. This is about as forever as you can get.
You’re my moon, she replied.
And as Daniel set over the horizon, a new day dawned, with the new sun shining brightly.
CHAPTER TWENTY
1, The Month of Scampering, Year 15
I’m fifteen today, so say the priests anyway. They’ve made me start this journal; they want to chronicle everyone’s lives past fifteen now.
I was born on the day of The Great Cataclysm. The day that five gods died in a great battle and the sun and moon disappeared from the sky. So say the priests, anyway. Two babies were found outside the rubble of Meridian, the city that fell. We had nothing but diapers and blankets, and we each held a piece of smoky crystal in our fists. We were taken in by a surviving priestess, who named me Kate after one of the dead gods. Daniel was named for another.
No one knows what happened during the war that caused the cataclysm. Gods fought. Lots and lots of people died. Two cities fell — Meridian and Leviathan City. Tons of refugees overwhelmed Lathe, which apparently was fine. One man says it was because of Kate’s blessing, but whatever.
Rebuilding has been going on for years. Meridian is rising again, only on the ground this time. No one wants to rebuild Leviathan City, as it’s close to that coral reef where all those ships keep sinking.
I’m not much of a historian. The priestesses of the Rising Sun want me to follow in their footsteps, but I’ve been spending more time at the Idea Emporium. The owner is pretty young, just a couple years older than me, but she does a great job of getting you ideas, if you can afford them.
Her brother’s name is James. He is somewhat of an enigma; he won’t talk about the cataclysm at all, and gets very somber and quiet when you ask him. I’ve learned not to. He’s started an organization of sorts in Lathe, and the way I understand it they try to figure out what the rogue gods — the ones that didn’t die — have been up to since the cataclysm. Priestess Meredith calls them blasphemous, but I want to find out what they’re about. You don’t get found as a newborn on the day that tons of gods die and think it’s a coincidence. I want to know where I come from.
James says he’s still looking for people, and may have room for us in a couple of years. He’s shooting for thirty-three members. Some older friends of ours from Lathe, Hutch and Wallace, are thinking of joining up this year. I hope they’ll tell me what it’s all about.
Daniel? What should I say about him? He’s my best friend. We’ve been raised together. We used to go behind the temple when it was still being built and try to figure out if we were special. If we had powers. Daniel split his lip and I broke my arm during one of our divine tests. We kinda stopped after that. But we do almost everything together.
I can’t imagine life without him.
Wait. Daniel’s here, reminding me we need to go clean up the temple before the setting of the sun rituals. Tonight Daniel and I have our early birthday dinner with the temple. Tomorrow we go help with the building of a new temple in New Meridian.
It’s a strange life, but a good one. I can’t imagine anything else.
Kate
STONES
BY
MUR LAFFERTY
THE
AFTERLIFE SERIES
VI
Acknowledgements
I DID NOT THINK ANYONE WOULD WANT THIS BOOK,
but the Kickstarter than ran in 2011 shocked me, frankly. Scott Phillips was the patron for the creation of this book, and it wouldn’t have happened without him. I also want to recog
nize Katie Bryski, friend, classmate, and editor. And the keeper of the torpedoes. And of course, my husband, Jim Van Verth, whose constant support keeps me going.
This book is dedicated to Scott Phillips, my patron.
Keep writing, my friend.
Prologue
Adam-
Really, using the gargoyle to hide messages? I don’t like it. It doesn’t feel safe.
Still…I guess it’s all we have left.
Amadeus scares me. His big plan for the Games gave us something to focus on besides scavenging in Meridian, but I think they’re more like a diversion.
I overheard him talking last night. He wants to find the dead gods, Adam. That will restore Meridian to its glory or something. And he thinks the way to do that by sending the winners of the games into the wastelands. He’s going to kill the winners.
I asked around, and found out that Marissa and Kevin didn’t fall off that tower. It wasn’t an accident. Amadeus “sent” them. He says they went willingly.
But they’re not here to tell us if he’s lying, are they?
But if Marissa and Kevin are already in the wastelands looking for the dead gods, why does Amadeus need more of us to go? I’m so confused.
Amadeus said I have to run in the Games. And I can’t run away to Lathe. Did you know he’s started guarding the roads to the city?
This is so much bigger than I thought it would be. I hate to admit it, but I scared.
Is he making you participate?
I miss you.
Julie
J-
Amadeus says I have to be alone — spiritual preparation, you know. He’s still letting me go for my runs in the morning, but he has that kid Timothy trail me. He’s afraid of heights, so I’m still able to get up here where he won’t follow.
J, the Games are just a front. We’re not really competing. Amadeus already knows who he wants to go, the Games just make it seem like the gods picked us.
He wants to fix my race. That’s why I’m alone, studying the old texts of the gods. Barris, Kate, Daniel, and Morrigan, but mostly Prosper.
He considers himself a priest of Prosper. He’s started planting vines on the outskirts of town, studying holy farming books, and coming up with his own prayers. He only lets me out to run before dawn when he goes to “bless” the farms outside the city, and I have to be back by the time he’s done. His guards on the road, and you, are the only things keeping me from running south.
According to Amadeus, next weekend, after the Games, he’ll bless the winners — me included. Then we go on our journey. I don’t know how he plans to kill us.
I want to ask how he knows the gods are dead in the first place? Just because they used to live among us doesn’t mean they aren’t active in the afterlife. Does he really think they’re just waiting there for us to save them? How are we supposed to bring them back, since we’ll be dead too? Anyway, if the gods are having trouble coming back, what can a bunch of kids do to help them?
A-
Adam-
I can’t believe you’re going to die and you are so calm about it! Who else has he chosen to win? I’m supposed to run, but he hasn’t told me anything but “good luck.” I don’t even know what that means anymore. Is it good to win, or lose?
He’s dangerous. They follow him so blindly. Those older kids, I thought they had left for Lathe. He got them back, they’re going to be guarding him, and us, and the exits.
He has the food, so he has the power.
If you’re going, though, I’m coming with you. I can’t be here without you. No one else is scared of Amadeus yet, and I’d be utterly all alone.
Julie
J-
I’m not calm. I’m so scared I wake up from nightmares covered in sweat. I can barely eat. All I do is run, and read, otherwise I would obsess about it.
I’d never ask you to go over with me. I want you to live. But if I had to choose someone to go with, it would be you. Remember what the dead god Barris said- when we’re weakest is when we find our strength.
I try to remember that if I can find the dead gods, perhaps they can help us deal with Amadeus.
Sometimes I think that they’re the only ones who can.
A-
J-
Where are you? Amadeus won’t tell me where you went, but I don’t think he knows either. You had to leave two days before the Games? He’s so mad. Where are you? Did you leave without me?
A-
Adam-
I’m so sorry. By now, you’ve probably heard that I’m back, but I wanted to tell you where I went. The truth, I mean. Who knows what lies Amadeus is telling about me. I told him I went to Lathe through the fields so I could avoid his sentry. But I went north.
That sacred land to the north, I wanted to see it. I went to find the battlefield of the gods.
It’s amazing. The pirates’ abandoned bunkers are there, almost buried in sand. No pirates, no priestesses, no scavengers.
The sand is black. It’s a poisonous and scary place. The ground gets darker and darker as you go north, until the battlefield.
It’s obvious where the gods fought. In the middle of all the black sand, it’s white, like it’s been scoured clean. It’s amazing. It does feel like hallowed ground. A shining disk in the sea of black sand. But there was nothing there aside from sand. I’m sorry.
But I brought back two pouches of the sand. I’m putting yours on the gargoyle’s ear. I hope it hasn’t fallen, and hope we’re not wrong that we’re the only ones who climb up here. I’m wearing mine around my neck - if the ground is hallowed, then it can’t hurt to have a blessing with us, can it?
I will see you at the Games. And be there for you if I can. I’ll bring down Amadeus if I have to.
Julie
J-
There was no pouch, but there was sand everywhere, in the gargoyle’s lap, on the spire, and down in the ruins. I grabbed what I could, but it’s pretty much gone. I can’t believe you made it to the battlefield and back in a day! I’ll put mine in my pocket tomorrow, but if Amadeus finds out what this is, then we’re both sunk. Keep yours safe.
A-
Adam-
I can’t believe I lost. I was ahead in the final race through Meridian, and Penny tripped me behind the destroyed temple. I hurt my ankle, bad.
I crawled up to our spot, this spire next to the gargoyle. I can’t go to the finish line, can’t watch you leave me. I’m sorry I’m weak.
Gods, you won’t even get this. I can see you all down there, I can see you at the finish line, looking for me. You and Penny will stand there with Amadeus smearing that foul machine oil on your forehead. Will you remember me in the other world? Will you look hard for the gods? Will you be married to her there, when Amadeus marries you in life?
How can I fight Amadeus without you?
All I need to do is step off this spire and join you.
He’s taking Penny first. I can’t see your face, but you’re still, brave, waiting.
Run, Adam. You can outrun him, you can run, we can go north and hide in the pirates’ bunkers. We can fight him.
You’re gone.
I think you saw me.
Probably dreaming.
Gods.
I can’t let you go, not now. All I need is one step. One step is nothing. One step is barely a thought. One step is no gift for you, but I have nothing else to give right now.
I will see you soon.
Julie
I can’t.
I’m leaving this letter here, and not coming back.
I’m so sorry.
J-
She let me leave this much behind. I love you. Don’t come after me. Live. Find something, someone. Beat Amadeus. Keep that sand safe.
I love you.
A
AFTER THE GREAT RETURN
AND THE RAISING OF MERIDIAN
THESE LETTERS WERE FOUND.
THOSE WHO WITNESSED WHAT HAPPENED
AND REMEMBERED THESE TEENS
> CONFIRMED THIS HOLY RELIC.
WE KEEP IT AT THE
MERIDIAN MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND RELIGION
SO THAT WE WILL NEVER
FORGET THEIR SACRIFICE.
PLEASE FIND THE OTHER EXHIBITS
AS TO WHAT HAPPENED
WHEN THE CHILDREN RACED
AND DIED
AND THE WORLD RETURNED.
KATE AND DANIEL’S BLESSINGS TO YOU
AND JULIE
AND ADAM
AND MARCUS*
*MARCUS IS REFERENCED IN OTHER RELICS. SEEK THE STONES.
PART ONE:
DREAMS
From the Holy Book of Three
The holy Kate said to Daniel, The very idea of Heaven is flawed because it contains no risk. With no risk, there is no true reward. And no reward is worthwhile unless it has another reward just out of reach.
And Daniel said to the holy Kate, If we must Reach to get past Heaven, then that is what we will name this place: the Reach.
And to that the holy Kate replied, how do we traverse Heaven in order to get there?