Afterlife (Second Eden #1)

by Aaron Burdett

  “Tiffany will get bored and move on to something else soon, so don’t worry about it anyway.”

  They paused before their classroom door. A few slow students remained, but the hallway was mostly empty. Amber bit her lip and shook her head. “Jason, I know you’re not afraid of a fight. But be careful. Tiffany, Ryder, they shouldn’t be messed with. We’ve both seen what they can do to other people.”

  “I won’t let it happen. Promise. They can only say their stupid crap for a few more months, and then you and I are out of here forever.”

  Jason slapped his hands on Amber’s shoulders and squeezed. “Let’s go garage sailing Saturday. We need to start looking for pieces for our fabulous art projects. Bet you we can find some good stuff with that money your mom left. What do you think?”

  Amber’s forced smile morphed into a happy one. “Perfect. Top down on the Benz?”

  “Duh, it’s the only way to ride. C’mon.”

  He opened the door for her, and together they slipped inside.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The Fool's Errand

  Dino took a deep breath and inched onto the ledge overlooking the ten-story drop. Afterlife flowed into the horizon, a labyrinthine city of brick and steel, crowned by smokestacks, sharp clock towers, steeples, elegant minarets, and the domes of marble behemoths. Railways curled like serpents over the lanes and alleys and low buildings, the locomotives chugging along the tracks belching smoke into the sky.

  Clouds hung low and rumbled threats of rain, their dark bellies glowing with the bright colors of garish neon signs and buzzing iron lamps dotting the city’s countless avenues. Those streets flowed like rivers of linen and flesh, packed with souls of every sort, every size, and every origin. The smells, the sounds, the twinkling sights all drowned his senses in a constant ecstatic din.

  “Up here getting a taste of the city again, I see,” Faye said, gliding next to him. “Careful, you might swallow some dust. We wouldn’t want that to happen.”

  Dino pulled his attention from the city. Some of the ecstasy of the moment wilted under Faye’s Cheshire grin.

  From her head to her toes, Faye LaBelle oozed power. She wore a floppy cartwheel hat angled to the side, its wide brim a black veil more than shade against sunlight. The brim tucked her eyes in shadows, although every so often Dino would catch a light glimmering in the darkness. Her slick as oil hair she kept in neat waves tucked behind the pale rounds of her ears. Lips the purplish black of a ripe, wet plum held a near constant, disarming smile. If Dino didn’t know her, the very sight of Faye might have made his stomach flutter. Instead, the sight of her turned it.

  She wore a simple black trench coat that ended at the knees, ever-pressed and strong against the dusty winds that blew from the Deep. Dino didn’t know much about her past before they met, only that she once held a respectable seat on the Soul Assembly before the archduke crushed it in his Ardent Revolution. Faye never spoke of her days before the archduke, and no one pressed her life from then more than once.

  She stepped onto the building’s ledge as the wind picked up, flapping her coat around her legs. A fatal drop waited below, ending at one of the countless hectic avenues of Afterlife.

  Dino cradled his chin and set his gaze on the bustling city. “You should be careful up here. If you fall, you might die.”

  “Only if you push me, Dino.”

  “Don’t think I didn’t consider it.”

  Faye laughed and strummed her chest with polished nails. “I’m sure you’re picturing the grisly scene as we speak. I’m glad not all my men are as diabolical as you.”

  “I’m not your man, Faye.”

  “Oh, but aren’t you?” she asked.

  Dino smirked and crossed his arms. “For now. I have a report for you.”

  “That’s why I came. Spill it.”

  “General Kelly’s blackjackets were in the city’s southern expansion again. A tribe of dust devils attacked their men. Gave us a good opening. We’ve got a good number of bombs beneath the fortress he’s building there. I figure we can wait until he finishes it. When the grand opening comes, boom.”

  “And boom it will go. Let’s hope we can take one of the Council with it. I’d love for that fortress to become General Kelly’s coffin. He deserves nothing less for his betrayal, the spineless bastard.” The edge in her voice softened with her sigh. “Well, you’ve done a decent job today. I suppose that’s deserving of a reward. I have news about Bone Man.”

  Dino whipped around. “What is it? Is it time? Let me kill him, Faye. I’ve done enough for you. It’s time.”

  “Don’t talk to me about timing. I’ll let you know what you need to know when I think you need to know it. Some of the spies I’ve posted around the palace saw him leave a few days ago.”

  He could barely contain his excitement. Bone Man didn’t often leave the confines of the Black Palace. When he did, he did so alone. That made him vulnerable to someone with Dino’s unique talents.

  “He seems to be hunting spirit fortunetellers,” Faye continued. “There’re already several prominent ones dusted in the Crystal District. What does he need from a fortuneteller? Is he trying to reach the living? If so, why not just use a mirror and go there himself? I fear with this expansion into the Deep, the archduke might have found another powerful relic. We can’t have that, Dino. You know what happens better than anyone when the archduke is given a weapon from the Deep.”

  “Then let me find Bone Man and let me kill him. It’s time, Faye! Let me kill him!”

  She pressed her lips into a flat line and looked to the cloudy sky. “The archduke can’t afford to let souls pile up in the streets while we thwart his expansion. The city will rise up against him. The archduke’s going to make a move soon, and it’ll be major.”

  “Whatever it is he wants he doesn’t have yet. We still have time. We’ll stop him and Bone Man. Say the word. Please. For her.”

  Faye smirked sadly and stepped back from the ledge. “For her? You wouldn’t know the first thing about what she really wanted.” She expelled her anger on a quick breath and motioned for him. “Come with me.”

  “I could just leave. I’ll find Bone Man on my own.”

  “No, you won’t. You won’t because Zoe wouldn’t have wanted it, Dino, not until your debt to me is repaid.”

  Dino lingered on the ledge a moment longer. The city sprawled before him, a vast blanket of stone buildings studded by bright neon jewels or the golden specks of lit windows.

  In the distance, a dark patch stood in contrast to the glowing city. The Black Palace, the home of the archduke. Perhaps Bone Man had already returned to his master. Perhaps the monster still lurked somewhere in the streets, slaughtering innocent souls on his slightest whims, and Dino could do nothing to stop him. Again.

  Faye cleared her throat. “Dino, I told you to follow me.”

  “I heard you.” He spun from the overhang and trailed her through the rusted, bent door. They took a dripping stairwell that carried the hint of mold to the second-level basement, where two of Faye’s men greeted them in casual clothes. While relics kept her base hidden from even the most talented of the archduke’s spies, old-fashioned guards were still a necessity.

  Dino nodded at the men as he followed her through the door and into the heart of the underground network of soldiers fighting the archduke’s rule. The massive map of Afterlife consuming the entire wall always gave him pause. It was a masterpiece constantly in the making. Red tacks marked areas of interest—places well-guarded for unknown reasons, patrol zones, communication relays, weapons caches for both them and their enemies, supply points, anywhere that brought even the slightest tactical advantage was meticulously mapped and marked in the ever-changing, ever-growing city.

  They reached Faye’s quarters, and the soldiers guarding it unlocked the door for her passing. For her outwardly dramatic appearance, she kept a simple enough room. A single, large oak desk occupied the center with a cot covered in blankets set behind it
. Books, scrolls, parchments, maps—they cluttered the floor like wild mushrooms on a dead log.

  Faye took a seat at her desk and motioned for him to pull up a chair. He found one holding a stack of books, and after carefully clearing them, took a seat before her.

  “As I was saying, you know more than anyone what the archduke is capable of when he finds something useful from the Deep,” Faye said. “The last thing I need is another Bone Man in Afterlife.”

  Dino’s heart twisted. He rapped his knuckles on the armrest and looked to the side. “That’s not going to happen. No way in Hell.”

  “It could happen. That’s why we need to strike the heart of the beast before he gains another claw.”

  “But how?” Dino turned his full attention back on her. “Nobody knows what the palace looks like now that it’s been rebuilt. Each and every time we send a team there, they get dusted before they breach the first wall. Throwing more souls at it is just cruel.”

  Faye licked her lips and grinned like a hungry cat as she leaned onto the desk. “So let’s not throw more souls at it. Let’s follow the path of least resistance straight to the archduke’s quarters. I’ll dust him myself and throw his ashes to the wind.”

  “Just as long as Bone Man’s mine, I don’t care what you do to the archduke.”

  Faye’s smile widened. “Aren’t we a pair with a past?”

  “Aren’t we. But how do you propose this? Unless we have a map, it’s hopeless. That place is a maze, well-guarded, well-trapped, and well-defended by Deep relics and blackjackets.”

  Faye interlocked her fingers and leaned back. She flashed her brows and waited.

  Dino’s eyes widened. A shock of adrenaline coursed through him, and he shot to the edge of his seat. “You have a map.”

  “I have a map.”

  “What’re we waiting for!” Dino vaulted to his feet, knocking the chair aside. “We can have a force ready in a few hours. We could take the palace—”

  “Calm yourself, Dino.” Her steely gaze shifted to his fallen chair. “You never think before you act. That’s a strength in battle, and a weakness in war.”

  Dino clenched his fists so hard his knuckles cracked. He stood the seat upright and sat down, back straight, palms pressed against his knees. “Then what’s your plan?”

  “Apology accepted. Excitement deserved. Now that we have a map, we have a real chance to end this war once and for all. I will not charge headlong foolhardily into the beast’s jaws. It will require careful planning and perfect timing. Patience, Dino, and you will have your vengeance before long.”

  “Can I see it at least?” he asked, edging forward.

  “And let you run off with it or charge the palace yourself? I’m not going to let you see it until it’s time.” She waved him off and tossed a lockbox onto the desk. “It’s better no one sees it until it’s time. The archduke has spirits same as we do, and I wouldn’t want this knowledge getting out if, oh, I don’t know, one of us were to get drunk at a gaming house and drop our guard.”

  Dino ignored the insult. Nothing mattered but that map. “And the one who gave it to you?”

  Faye strummed the box. “Nobody could know about this. Not even the one who delivered it.”

  “So you dusted them.”

  “Got a problem with that?”

  Dino tensed. She wanted him to say something, to protest. This was a test. He wouldn’t fail it, not when it promised to put him in range of Bone Man. “No. It was a smart move.”

  Faye nodded approvingly and pulled a key from her pocket. She twisted the key in two, and it clicked apart. Arcs of violet electricity zapped between the pieces. With a flick of her wrist, she flung one at him.

  Dino snatched it midair and looked at the half-key. “You want me to do what, exactly…?”

  “I’ll have one half. You have the other. When the time comes, we open it. This way if the unthinkable happens and one of us is compromised, we can’t open the box.”

  “And if one of us is captured, or one of our halves lost?”

  “The box isn’t impossible to open, given time. We’re delayed a while longer in case of capture, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take.” Faye slipped the key between her breasts and replaced the box beneath her desk. “When it’s time, it’s time. I’ve lived in Afterlife longer than most souls here, survived the call of the Deep that’s taken so many. I am a patient woman.”

  But I’m not a patient man, Dino thought bitterly. “And I’ll be in that final assault? I’ll be there?”

  She mused on the question for a moment before thrusting her chin toward the door. “Whether you kill Bone Man and fulfill your debt is entirely up to you. Prove yourself, Dino. Make things right.”

  “That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”

  “Good. It’s odd, isn’t it?”

  “What?”

  “That you of all the fools in the Fool’s Errand are the one I can trust with this. Even after her death, Zoe still finds ways to bring us together.”

  “It wasn’t you and I she wanted together.”

  Dino stood, ignoring the vicious, cold glare swirling in Faye’s dark eyes. He navigated the clutter from her desk and left the stifling air of the woman’s room. Once the door closed behind him, he took a deep breath. Already his throat dried, his tongue thirsted.

  He would go to the gaming houses tonight and toss his wages into games of chance and bottles of whiskey. His right hand went to the gold band he wore around his neck. He fingered its hard edge, felt its comforting weight on the chain.

  “Soon,” he murmured. “Soon. Things are looking up, Zoe. Finally.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Garage Sailing

  The porcelain tea kettle reflected the sun on its alabaster belly. Faded ivy braided the gold rim. A crack on the spout would make the tea pour out at an odd angle, probably why the family wanted to get rid of it.

  Amber held it up. The round woman lording over the table eyed her suspiciously like she might pocket the trinket and take off for the forest.

  “It’s pretty,” Amber said as she placed it back on the table and flashed a polite smile.

  “It was my grandmother’s,” the woman replied. Red veins lined her bulbous nose. A thick layer of fat hid whatever neck she might have had, and her chest was so big her arms could barely cross over it.

  “You should keep it if it means something special,” Amber said.

  The woman’s bristling demeanor wilted, and her arms unfolded. “I can’t keep everything. We’re downsizing. Albert says it should go.”

  Amber slid the kettle closer to the woman. “It hardly takes up any room.” She leaned over and cast a sly glance toward the lady’s husband. “I bet Albert doesn’t even notice. I won’t tell him. Will you?”

  The woman slowly mirrored Amber’s smile and gingerly clasped the kettle, scooting it to her side. “You’re right, he’d never know if I did. It was my grandmother’s, and we used to have tea parties together with it. Thank you.”

  Jason bounced over to them, and the moment evaporated. “You ready?”

  Amber nodded and allowed him to twirl her toward his convertible. They climbed in, the engine thrummed alive, and they backed onto the street. Not a cloud scarred the brilliant unbroken fall sky. The bright disc of the sun warmed her cheeks even as the brisk breeze cooled them. It was the perfect balance, and Amber drank it up.

  “I think we’ve got enough junk for six projects,” Jason said.

  She ran her hand through her wild hair. Usually, it would stay in a tight ponytail. But on the weekends and in Jason’s car, feeling the wind whip it around brought a smile to her face.

  Amber glanced at the collection of junk filling his back seat. “More than enough. I’m ready to get started. We heading to your place?”

  “Ugh, absolutely not. Dad’s got coworkers in town and if I have to stomach another freaking story about the weather or the oh-so-beautiful leaves I’m going to vomit. Let’s go to your place.”

>   “Sounds good. Turn up here.”

  They pulled up to an empty intersection. Amber’s hair went limp around her shoulders. She stared into the dome of the sky, set with the eye of the dazzling sun. The wind kissed her cheeks, and she closed her eyes.

  Open your eyes.

  Amber’s eyes shot open. She ripped around to Jason. “What?”

  He had his aviators pulled down his nose and stared off to the left. “Huh? I said look at that.”

  A sign posted across the street announced an estate sale a few blocks down the road. Amber hooked her thumb on the seat belt and ran her hand down to her lap. She could’ve sworn he said something else.

  “Estate sales creep me out,” she said.

  “But they have way better stuff than a garage sale.”

  She bit her lip and squeezed the seatbelt. “We’ve already got a lot of stuff. Do you really want to go picking through some dead person’s junk?”

  Jason popped his sunglasses back up his nose. He clenched the wheel and stared forward, shaking his shoulders. “Why, Ms. Blackwood, I do believe I do. You’ve still got plenty of money left over and I’m not a hundred percent on some of this crud.”

  “But—”

  “Oh my gawd just one more place. It won’t even take ten minutes. Promise.”

  She rolled her eyes as the car squealed around the street, zipping toward their last stop. Houses rolled by, ruddy brick and rusted fences. Trees with their bright leaves fluttered like butterfly wings in the wind. She held her hand to the side and let the breeze whistle through her fingers while Jason sang ridiculously out of pitch.

  Eventually, they spotted the sign marking the estate. The car rolled to a squeaky stop. Jason leaned onto the steering wheel, staring into the house’s dusty windows. It was a decent Portsmouth home, built in the Victorian style and painted a mint green with deep sage accents. Ivy ringed the home while a carefully-trimmed lawn invited strangers up the steps to a door hanging slightly ajar. A single tall chimney from which a curling trail of smoke drifted skyward poked from the angled roof.