Afterlife (Second Eden #1) (20 page)

“And what’s the Deep have to do with me?”

“Every soul hears the Deep’s call at some point. Usually, we can ignore it. Sometimes, we don’t. It changes us, pulls us to it. We can explore it, find things left behind by the most ancient souls or formed somewhere deep within the grey sands, but there’s always a price. No one ever returns from the Deep unchanged. It always leaves a scar. Some say the Deep is God. And others, The Devil. No one knows for sure.”

“And you think that’s where that box came from? That Toby took it from the Deep and brought it to me? But why?”

“No idea, but something was stolen from the archduke’s palace by a thief no one knows, and we suspect it was a very powerful relic. I was trailing Bone Man in hopes of finding the thief when the mirror pulled me through and I found you instead.”

The elevator doors opened, and they stepped out. Their footfalls echoed on the hallway as they approached another door.
 

“Your ramblings about your brother sounded silly at first,” he said. “But I’ll admit at least part of your theory might have merit. Do you remember what your brother looked like when he gave you the relic?”

“Well, I never technically saw him, but I knew it was him. I heard him. I felt him. It was him. He must’ve used the mirror same as you and brought me the box.”

Dino opened the door to an alley filled with the muffled song and shout of crowded city streets. Guards in plainclothes nodded as they passed, one tipping his hat and winking at Amber.
 

“The mirror might have brought him to you,” Dino said, “but it didn’t actually summon your brother. Think of the mirror like a doorway. You can speak through it, but the sound won’t travel very far. You need something else to carry a voice, something made especially for it. Is there anything you can think of that might’ve done the trick? Maybe something special, something of yours or your brother’s?”

“Mom got rid of most of Toby’s things after he died. I kept a few pictures that I liked, but nothing that I haven’t touched or talked to for hours already.” She paused at the intersection to a bustling street, pinching her coat collar. “Wait….”
 

Dino’s eyes brightened, and he leaned closer. “What is it?”

“I did find this necklace. It was agate, and the man told me it could speak with the dead. Even Ms. Flannery’s books said it had something to do with spirits. I wore it to my brother’s grave, but it didn’t work. At least, I didn’t think it worked because nothing happened.”

“Agate does have a certain appeal to spirits, if what the fortunetellers say is true. Let me see it.” He held his hand out and waggled his fingers. “Don’t worry, I’ll give it back.”

Amber’s hand went to her neck, gracing the spot where it would have rested had she been wearing it. “It’s at my house still. I left it on the counter.”

“Great.” Dino checked the sidewalk before pulling Amber into the flow of traffic with him. “The one thing that might help us, and I’m sure Bone Man already has it.”

 
“Well, I’m sorry for not packing a bag just before a freak tried to ram a sword through my chest and I was kidnapped by a ghost. Next time I’ll be sure to set a reminder.”

“I was only trying to—” Dino groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “Look, I don’t want to get in to this again. Is there anything else you can tell me about that necklace? Anything at all?”

Amber resisted the urge to flip him the bird. Instead, she flashed a plastic smile and glared at the road as she thought. “The woman who owned the necklace had a weird name. I do remember that. She died years ago, though, but maybe if this is the City of Souls we can find her and she can help?”

“It’s as good a lead as any. Ah, my favorite café.” Dino grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her into a small café that swelled with the hot aroma of fresh-baked bread. “What’s her name?”

Amber wrested her arm from his grip and rubbed her wrist. “Don’t pull me around. I know how to keep up.”
 

He raised his hands and took a seat. She joined him, her stomach rumbling as she inhaled another sweet whiff of bread-laden air.
 

“Marina was her fist name. The last was something different. Arsha … Arshakuni?” Amber’s eyes lit up, and she slapped the table. “Marina Arshakuni! That’s it.”

“Great, then we’ve got a place to start.”
 

“Where do we go first?”

Dino smiled at the waiter as the portly man placed two porcelain teacups on the table alongside a kettle with a steamy tongue trailing from its spout. Once Dino thanked the server and ordered a few buttered croissants, he began pouring her a glass of dark tea. “One thing the dead do well is keep records. I suppose when you live an entire life only to forget it once you die, you want to make sure who you are in the life after is remembered. Getting your name recorded in the census is probably the oldest law in the city. Every new soul who shows up here is recorded by a Census Master. If Marina Arshakuni came through the gates, a Census Master will have the record.”

“Then they’ll know about my brother, too!”

Dino eyed her from behind the trail of steam rising between them. “Maybe. How long ago did he die?”
 

Amber cupped the hot tea and inhaled its rich aroma. She took a sip, drinking in Dino as much as her tea. “Around ten years.”

He frowned and tapped the table. “Really? Oddly coincidental.”

“Why?” Amber set the cup on the table. “What happened ten years ago?”

“The Ardent Revolution happened. It was a dangerous time to be a new soul in Afterlife.”

Amber swallowed the lump in her throat. For a moment, she saw something dark in his eyes, a deep, angry storm swirling in those pools that held so much more than he would ever say. The moment vanished, and the brooding darkness glittered above a sanitized smile. “It might be wise to teach you a thing or two before we go pay the Census Master a visit, just in case someone like me comes along and tries to take you where you don’t want to go. Think you could throw a punch?”

“Depends whether or not your jaw’s catching it.”

Bentley leaned against the boxing ring, looking Amber up and down. “You’re not in the Fool’s Errand, are you?”

“No, I’m not,” Amber replied, not sure whether it was a compliment or an insult.
 

Dino smirked, brushing his hand through his hair. Amber frowned at the movement. Jason combed his hair with his fingers like that. She wondered if he knew she was gone, if anyone did. If Ms. Flannery dropped by in the morning, she would probably discover the empty house with its kitchen thrown in chaos and no sign of the girl who lived there.

“There’s no better wraith in the Errand than Bentley Diya,” Dino said.
 

The man called Bentley inspected Amber. He was short and the kind of dark of a rich coffee freshly brewed with eyes that matched perfectly. Sinewy muscles rolled like steel cables beneath his smooth skin with each slight movement he made. He kept his head perfectly shaven and polished to a shine and wore a pinstripe vest with gold buttons, dark pants, and black combat boots knotted tightly up his shins.

Bentley gripped one of the ring’s bands and threaded the slick bulges of his shoulders through, hopping spryly to the concrete floor of the cavernous warehouse in the district Dino referred to as the Smoke Quarter. Other boxing rings dotted the dusty floor while punching bags hung from chains and sparring matts and free weights filled the spaces between. The room smelled of sweat and the stink of warm bodies and was crowded with the men and women of the Fool’s Errand engaged in mock combat or furious exercises.

“So....” Bentley tapped Amber’s shoulder, bringing her attention back to him. “She’s the special case?”
 

Dino nodded. “This is the one.”

Bentley circled her like a lion around a wounded gazelle. His dark eyes drank her in. His smile hungered. “I know quite a few fools who’d love a chance to meet the girl who tossed Dino Cardona into a wall. Some of ‘em want to fight you. Most of them want to thank you. Myself? I want to see what I’m working with. Get in the ring.”

Amber bit her lip, suddenly aware of each and every person in the enormous room looking her way. Already some of the others in the warehouse had slowed or altogether stopped their fights or dropped their weights. Their eyes pressed on Amber as they edged closer to Bentley’s ring.

“Go on,” Dino said. “You afraid?”

Amber shot him a look and stepped confidently into the ring. The air in the warehouse warmed. She wriggled her fingers at her side and walked awkwardly to the center as the mat bounced beneath her weight. She wriggled her toes, wedged as they were in the boots, and looked to Bentley. “Isn’t there something I can wear that’s not boots and a dress? This isn’t really what I’d pick to fight in.”

Bentley sprang from the ground, flipping over the ring’s bands and landing before Amber. “You won’t get that luxury in the city. If you dress like a soldier, then the blackjackets will treat you like one. Our strength lies in our ability to blend, so you’ll need to learn how to slink from a crowd, strike, and melt away in seconds. Now, show me what you got.”

Dino backed away from the ring, leaning on a tall steel support with a wide, smug grin stretching up his cheeks. The look sent Amber’s own cheeks blazing. “What do you want me to do?”

“Come at me,” Bentley said, raising his fists.

By then, the crowd had formed a tight wall several heads deep. Their whispers echoed off the brick and steel of the dusty building. Amber stepped back. She raised her fists, but no matter how hard she squeezed, they just didn’t feel tight. “I’ve never been in a fight before. I don’t know how to start.”

“Start by swinging,” he said.

Amber punched. Bentley laughed and sidestepped so quickly Amber stumbled forward and nearly fell flat on her face. She ran into the bands, glaring at Dino as his brow arched.
You can do better
, his expression said.

She slapped the bands and spun around. Bentley was an inch from her, her own shocked face reflecting in the dark brown of his eyes. His hand latched onto her arm and spun her around, launching her to the other side of the ring.

Amber hit the bands, her back lighting on fire as she crashed to her knees. Some of the people watching chuckled. She stared at the ground, then hit the mat with a fist and wobbled to her feet.
 

Bentley balanced high on a corner post, watching her with a closed-lip smile. Amber brushed her hair back and raised her fists. Bentley’s lips parted, and he flashed his alabaster teeth. He flipped into the air and dove straight down, fist balled into a missile of knuckled fury.
 

Amber screamed and leapt aside. He struck the mat and sent her flying into the bands again. She doubled over one and coughed uncontrollably, struggling to her feet. She raised a hand in surrender. “Wait….”

Bentley’s shadow slipped over her. His boot connected with her jaw, and she spun aside, mouth blazing from pain. Dino appeared in her vision, wincing. A few of the people watching beside him grimaced.
 

Amber struggled to remain conscious as her gaze swept over the crowd. A woman with thick braids motioned for her to stand while the short man beside her just shook his head.

They pity me
, Amber thought.
 

Bentley’s hand latched onto her shoulder so hard she screamed. In an instant, Amber was shooting toward the rafters.
 

“I thought you were a fighter, girl?” He laughed and spread his arms as hers flailed wildly. “Where is the fighter? Not here. Not here!”

Amber screamed as she plummeted to the ring. Bentley shook his head and opened his arms to catch her. He pivoted, flying backward as she smashed hard against the mat.
 

“Oops, I missed,” he said.

The world spun. Amber’s head throbbed, and her aching body barely obeyed her mind’s commands. She struggled to her hands and knees and looked up. Once again, she saw Dino, leaning against the rusted column. His face was expressionless, his jaw tight, the crowd around him a wall of disappointment at her pathetic showing. He unfolded his arms and stepped toward the ring. “That’s enough, Bentley.”

Amber clenched her fists. Dino brought her here to humiliate her. Dino wanted everyone to see her get beaten by this man, so she would know her place.
 

“You wanted me to teach her,” Bentley said. “This is how a wraith learns, although I doubt she’ll ever make much of one. You had enough today, girl?”

His shadow once again fell over her. She slapped the mat and rolled aside, barely avoiding his heel as it rocketed down where she once lay. She jumped to her feet and ducked his fist but took another brick of knuckles to her chest.

Amber gasped, stumbling back into a post. Dino ran beside her, looking up. “Enough, Amber. Stop this.”

“Isn’t this what you wanted? To see me get my ass handed to me?”

His jaw tightened again. “No. I didn’t think he’d go this hard.”
 

Bentley charged her, crossing the mat in a single terrifying lunge. Amber watched the dark block of his fist zoom toward her. She was cornered with nowhere to run, no way to dodge.
 

Amber squeezed her eyes shut and looked to the side, bracing herself for what would come next.

When no hit came, she cracked an eye open. Bentley’s knuckles lingered a hair from her jaw. His fist loosened, and he dropped his hand. “You’ve got courage, but where’s your anger? A wraith needs anger to throw a punch. You’re a sad little ball of doubt and pity.”

Amber slumped on the post, her slick palms sliding along the ropes. “I thought you were going to break my jaw.”

“And I thought you were going to fight me. Dino told me you had the wraith curse. Where is it? Why don’t you use it?”

“I don’t know how. I thought you were going to teach me, not beat me to death!”
 

Bentley tilted his chin down and frowned. He broke eye contact and swatted at the air as he strolled to the center of the ring. “She’s no fighter, Dino.”