Afterlife (Second Eden #1) (6 page)

“Nobody cares? Oh, well, good, because I’m like
so down
with the straights,” Jason snapped in his mock Tiffany voice. “Oh wait! Oops, forgot, don’t give a shit either, except when I don’t care, I don’t have to go around cornering people in the halls telling them I don’t care.”

Amber suddenly got the feeling this conversation had very little to do with her and very much to do with Tiffany and Jason. He reached over Tiffany’s shoulder and grabbed Amber, yanking her past the girl.
 

Tiffany grabbed Amber’s wrist before she could stumble out of reach. “Amber. Come. I can make you so much better than what he can.”

Amber wrested out of her grip and scowled at Tiffany. “No. How many times do I have to tell you? No!”

“How’s Ryder doing?” Jason asked, his tone sickly sweet.

Tiffany’s cheeks reddened. “My boyfriend is fine!”

“You sure about that?”
 

He didn’t wait for her to answer. Instead, he tugged Amber around a corner and headed down the emptying hallway. She rubbed her wrist and shoulder behind her. “You mind telling me what Ryder Foster has to do with this?”

“Who cares? I just wanted her off your back. Maybe I’ll wait for homecoming and ask him to be my date to prom? I’m thinking a big production at the game would be oh-so-romantic.”

“Don’t be shady. I know he has more to do with this than what you’re saying. She’s super pissed about it too if she’s willing to go out of her way to get me after years of not even knowing my name.”

“Can you imagine the look on his face if I asked him out on the field?” Jason’s eyes gleamed as he swept his hand before him. “Epic. The crowds, the lights, the heart-shaped box of chocolates in my hands and rose in my mouth. His cheeks blushing. The crowd going wild. Tiffany and her gaggle storming off.”

Amber slowed her pace, fixing her stare on him until he focused on her. “Please, Jason.”

Jason sighed and dropped his hand. “Look, Ryder’s just one of those closet cases. Tiffany doesn’t get it and she’s afraid I’ll force her to see it too, so she’s trying her best to tear me down bit by bit so I don’t, and the best way to do that is by taking away my bestie. She came at you with the FLC thing because her friend Katie was late to school the other day and saw you. She’s told a bunch of people about it, and now Tiffany’s made it her mission to save your soul.”

“Saw me doing what?” Amber asked, although she already had an idea, and the realization was a cold stone sinking deep into her stomach.

“Katie saw you at the cemetery lying on the ground. She’s telling everybody you feel guilty about … what happened, and that it’s finally getting to you.”

“But I do feel guilty. I could’ve done something.”

“You couldn’t have saved him, Amber. How many times do we have to go over it?”

“Doesn’t make it any less true. I should’ve done something. Why didn’t I go into the pond sooner? Why didn’t he swim out there? It just doesn’t make any sense.”

“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.

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?”