Afterlife (Second Eden #1) (38 page)

“It’s complicated.” She hugged her mom, savoring the scent of her hair. “But it’s good to be back. How was Borneo?”

Her mother leaned back, cupping Amber’s jaw in her hand. “You know I love you. I always want what’s best for you. I’m so sorry. I should’ve been here. I never should’ve gone. I won’t. Not ever again.”

“Thanks, Mom. I’ll be okay. I swear.”

“I know.” She flashed a smile weighed with her tears. “Can you put some clothes on? I need you to come downstairs.”

Amber frowned. “Right now?”

“Please, Amber. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

“Okay.”

Amber blinked the last of the sleep from her eyes and rolled out of bed. She slipped into some pajamas and yawned, following her mother into the hall. “The whole town’s been looking for you,” her mother said. “It’s been weeks since anyone saw you. We thought the worst. So did the police. But now that you’re here, things will be better. They’ll be much better.”

For some reason, her mother’s tone did little to ease Amber’s rankled nerves. She gripped the bannister as they entered the first floor and walked into the living room.

Amber paused in the doorway. A policeman stood by the couch. Beside him sat Ms. Flannery, gripping the wrinkled sheet of skin of her liver-spotted hand. Amber’s school counselor Ms. Tinsley sat in another chair, holding a legal pad flattened on her pleated pantsuit. Beside them sat a man wearing a navy blue suit and bright smile. Two big nurses in pale scrubs flanked him, smiling, but watching her intently.

“What is this?” Amber asked.

Her brother Chris padded into the room from the kitchen, arms folded. “We’re all here for you, Amber.”
 

“Chris? Glad to see something finally brought you home.”

The man in the blue suit cleared his throat, flashing his eyes. “Why don’t you have a seat so we can talk, Amber?”

She looked to her mother. “Who is this guy? What’s going on?”

“He’s here to help. Please, just have a seat.”

Groggy, confused, and increasingly frightened, Amber plopped onto the couch. Chris slid next to her and placed a hand on hers, squeezing lightly. “You don’t know how good it is to see you. I’m sorry. I should’ve come. It was stupid of me not to.”

She pulled her hand from his. “What’s going on? I don’t understand.”

“Amber?” The man in the suit maneuvered his chair until he faced her with his wide smile and sparkling eyes. Ms. Tinsley and Ms. Flannery watched from their seats, two wrinkled sentinels with pursed lips and opinions waiting in the wings. The officer lingered inconspicuously in the corner like a coat on a rack with a pistol peeking from his hip.

“Yes?” she asked.

The man’s smile widened, and when he spoke it was rich, smooth honey. “My name is Dr. Ellis, but I’d love it if you called me Hunter. Is that okay?”

“Okay, Hunter. Will you or somebody please tell me what the hell’s going on?”
 

Her mother slid beside her and wrapped her arm around Amber’s waist. “Everything is going to be okay,” she whispered.

Hunter nodded reassuringly. “Of course it is. Now Amber, you’ve been gone for a long while. Do you know how long?”

Amber shook her head.

“Well, it’s been long enough to make most of us pretty scared,” he chuckled. “Long enough for the police to call off the search. Did you know they were looking for you?”

“I had an idea,” she murmured.
 

“Can you tell us where you’ve been?” he asked.

She shook her head again. What was she supposed to say? That she spent her days in the City of Souls, running from fools and sinners and blackjackets?

His smile flattened, if only a little. “That’s too bad. So tell me, Amber, have you had any dark thoughts lately? Thoughts of harming others?”

Amber leaned back. She’d only just come from practically turning a warehouse full of people inside out, but she knew that wasn’t an answer that would satisfy him. And besides, the way he asked the question implied he meant a different sort of harm, a dark kind violence that stems from wanting to hurt someone, not from having hurt someone. “Of course not.”

“Bursts of anger?”

“No. I’m fine. I don’t have a bad temper. Never have.”

“And yet you argued with your brother and threw your phone against the wall so hard it shattered.”

Amber swallowed, her gaze darting to the wall where she had destroyed her phone in a fit. “That was different.”

“And when you screamed at Mr. Engel for displaying your art without your permission?”

Heat rose in Amber’s throat. “That was different too.”

“And when you threatened Tiffany and got into a fight with her boyfriend Ryder?”

Amber tightened her fists as the walls closed around her. “That was—”

“Different?” Hunter asked.

“Yes.”

She looked to Ms. Tinsley. The counselor smiled like someone might smile at a puppy that can’t quite learn a simple trick.
 

Hunter nodded, his gaze flicking to the others before settling back on her. “And what about yourself?”

“What do you mean what about yourself?” she asked.

“Hurting yourself. Have you ever thought about doing that?”

“Of course not!”

“We found the sleeping pills, Amber. Your mother’s. Spilled, all over the bathroom floor like you meant to take them.”

Amber dipped her chin, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Shit.” She looked up, flashing her best smile. “Look, that was all just a coincidence. I had a stressful day. I needed to get some rest. The bottle spilled, and I just didn’t want to pick them up right then. I totally meant to pick them up. I just forgot. That’s all.”

Hunter leaned onto his knees, his hands interlaced between his legs. “I can certainly see how that could happen. But do you think how, from our perspective, this is all just a little too coincidental? Do you see how we might think the worst?”

“Well … I guess so. But it’s not what it looks like. I’m fine. I’ll be fine.”

Amber’s mother squeezed her. “Of course. That’s all everyone wants.”

“It is!” Hunter clapped, leaning back. “So we’re in agreement?

The others nodded. Amber blinked, turning to her mother. “In agreement for what? What is he talking about?”

Her mother pressed a hand against her lips to try and keep from crying. The heat in Amber’s throat continued to rise as she whipped around to the doctor. “What is this, some kind of intervention?”

“We just need you to come to a special retreat with me for just a little while. It’s in your best interests, Amber. There, I’ll be able to keep an eye on you, to make sure you’re making progress toward getting better.”

“Making progress? I’m fine. I
told you
I’m fine!”

Dr. Ellis glanced at the nurses. Amber’s mother squeezed her hard. Chris clutched her hand and wouldn’t loosen his grip. She tried to fight them, but they wouldn’t let her go.
 

“You’ll be fine,” her mother cooed. “It’ll all be over before you know it.”

“We’re doing this because we love you,” Chris said.

“Yes, dear, we love you!” Ms. Tinsley batted her lashes and inched to the edge of her seat. “So very much. I’ll come visit and we’ll have tea!”

“It’s for the best,” Ms. Tinsley croaked. “Your classmates still want you to graduate with them. There are hundreds of flowers piled around your locker.”

Amber struggled in her mom’s tight hold. “Why won’t you let me go? What’s going on here? Mom? Mom!”

“It’s for the best.” She kissed Amber on the brow while she wept. “Because we love you.”

Amber writhed in their grips, but they only held her harder. She took a deep breath and scowled at the doctor. Her power welled within her as her spirit flowed into the room like an invisible wave of frothing rage. “You can’t stop me. Not if I don’t want you to.”

“Now please,” he instructed, “before she gets out of hand.”

A sharp pain pricked her neck. Warmth flooded through her body. It washed up her throat, coated her brain, and blossomed over her torso. In seconds, it pooled in her fingertips and collected in her toes. All the stress and tension in her body washed away with that warm tide, and her frown wobbled into a lazy line. “What’s … What’s this? I’m feeling … I feel wrong.”

Amber’s mother gently lay her on the couch. A nurse hovered over her, holding a dripping syringe. Amber clutched weakly at the man’s scrubs, but he caught her fingers and placed them on her stomach.

As the world faded, Dr. Ellis appeared, embracing Amber’s sobbing mother in his arms. “She’ll be okay now. We’ll take good care of her. Very good.”

“It’s for the best,” her mother said. “It’s because we love her.”

Colors faded from Amber’s vision. All the sleep she thought she left behind came roaring back, and her mind sunk into a deep, soupy black.

“Where is she?” Bone Man hissed.

The words whipped through Wilhelmina’s luxurious room. The Scarlet Spider watched him from her couch, her arms thrown wide on the pillows behind her. Her bright dress pooled at her feet like freshly-spilled blood.

Wilhelmina licked her lips and batted the eye unhidden by the blond curtain of her hair. “She was here, yes, but no longer. I assume she ran to Faye and the rest of the fools, or at least whatever’s left of them. I do hope next time Faye will pick a less unfortunate name for her uprising.”

Bone Man rolled his neck, and it cracked so loud the Spider winced. He smiled behind his mask and stepped forward. “Tell me, Spider.”

“That’s all I know, Hound. Dino Cardona waltzed aboard like he owned the place with her on his arm, fought his way here looking for information on some relic necklace, then fought his way out and vanished like he’s done hundreds of times before. I’ve half a mind to dust Fat Gary and Campbell for letting him get into my inner sanctum. I can’t stand feeling so vulnerable in my safe—”

“Quiet.”

One of the chairs before her couch flipped into the air and landed behind him. He took a seat, and it slid across the floor until he sat face to face with the woman. “I smell your lie.”

“I’ve always heard you have a keen nose.” She smiled, strumming her ruby nails on her silky chest. “What can I say? It’s Afterlife, and I’m the Spider. It’s kind of my thing. But you knew that.”

“Where is she?” he asked again, the calmness in his voice rippling through the room.

“I told you. She went to the Errand.”

“You know where she really is. If you don’t tell me. I will flay you. Here. Now.”

Wilhelmina scooted back in her seat almost imperceptibly. “The Spider has many eyes, sees many things, hears many others. So? I wouldn’t be the Scarlet Spider if I didn’t spin a tight web. Yes, I have spies in the Errand. It’s how I keep tabs on Faye. I need to make sure she doesn’t make a move on my assets, you see. But where she is now? I haven’t the foggiest.”

“WHERE IS SHE!”

The mirrors coating the walls shattered, and glass went flying. The Spider didn’t flinch. She didn’t jump. But her body dispersed, and as the shards rained over her, they passed through her translucent form. “Now, Bone Man, you know if I knew where to find her, the archduke would be the first to know. I’m a loyal servant of his rule. I was one of the first to convert during the Revolution. Why, the mere thought I would lie to you is offensive.”

The last of the glass fell to the floor, and she solidified. Bone Man placed his hands on his legs and took a deep breath. He stared at Wilhelmina, his eyes unblinking, silence weighing on the air. Not a single shard had come within an inch of him.

He raised a hand. The door behind Bone Man exploded inward. Wilhelmina cried out as Fat Gary stumbled inside, clutching at his throat. Three blackjackets lorded over him, ramming their sabers through his barrel of a stomach, spraying glittering dust from his wounds.

“Fat Gary!” Wilhelmina rocketed to her feet.
 

He trembled, clutching at the ground as what remained of his body collapsed to ash. The Spider turned on Bone Man, face full of poisonous fury. “Why you bastard, you’ve killed my best man!”

Bone Man calmly rocked to his feet, smoothing his jacket. He pulled out a sheet of paper and tossed it at the woman.
 

She grabbed it midair and unfolded it, gaze darting over the words scrolled onto it. “He’s actually given you permission to burn all the casinos? But they’re neutral! They always—”

“If I find the girl, not one of your precious casinos will burn.”

The fury contorting her features dwindled. She blinked, lifting her chin until their eyes met. “Not one?”

“Not one.”

She smirked, crumpling the Archduke’s order. “You’re a better strategist than they give you credit for. I give up Amber, you spare the gaming houses. Fine. I can give you a trail to follow, but on one condition.”

“That is?”

“The archduke must know that I am the one who found her. He must know that it is the Scarlet Spider who did what the generals of the Iron Council could not. He will know that I and I alone am responsible for bringing her to you.”

Bone Man squeezed his cane. He swallowed, then nodded. “Done.” He turned to the blackjackets. “Tell the archduke the Scarlet Spider has found the girl, and I have gone to fetch her for him.”

The soldiers saluted and sprinted off to fulfill their order.

“Good.” Wilhelmina smiled, rubbing her palms together. “Follow me.”

Bone Man followed Wilhelmina from her room, stepping over the ash pile of her bodyguard as he exited. Her scent filled his nostrils. She spoke the truth, that much he could tell. Yet, she struck the bargain too easily for his tastes.
 

He hated feeling like a fly in her web, but the archduke wanted Amber, and that is all that mattered. There would be plenty of time to deal with Wilhelmina Hofmeister once the dust settled.

“Now about Amber,” she said. “It’s not so much about where she is, but about where she
isn’t
.”

Bright lights burned Amber’s eyes as they opened to the world. The room was liquid, the walls rivers of churning grey, soupy and alive. Amber’s stomach twisted. Bile burned the back of her throat as vomit threatened to spew from her sagging lips.