Beyond (Afterlife book 1) (15 page)

“
The potion? What about
it?”

Mick smiled.

”
Oh no, you did not!” I
said.

He nodded. “I did. It is nothing but water
with a hint of strawberry.”

I got up and grabbed the bottle. I looked
at it while shaking the bottle in front of my face. “So it had
absolutely no effect on me? It didn’t make me invisible or anything
like that?”

Mick shook his head with that grin of his.
“Nope.”

“
Why?”

“
Because it is all about
believing. Flying, going through things, and making yourself
invisible—it is all about believing that you can.”

“
Clever,” I said. “Because I
believed that the potion could make me invisible to humans, I was
actually capable of doing it?”

“
Something like that,
yes.”

I smiled and sat on the bed again. “Well,
I guess I should thank you then.”

Chapter 16

I woke up feeling really happy.
As I looked around I realized the dormitory was empty. Everyone had
left but me. Thinking I must have overslept
, I hurried out of bed and down to
Hornam Hall where breakfast just had been served. I got to the
table where we usually sit, but no one was there except Jackline,
who got up from the table as soon as I approached it. I stopped
her.

“
Where is everybody?” I
asked.

She lifted both hands and shook her
head.

“
I don’t want to be a part
of any of this,” she said and hurried away from me like someone
running from a wild beast.

What was she talking
about?
I
thought to myself as I sat down and started eating my food. A
moment later the Cornwell twins arrived. For the first time I was
actually quite happy to see them. I smiled at them, but didn’t get
any reaction back. Then Nigel came and even he had a hard time
looking at me. Something was very wrong.

Had I done something that made people resent
me?

“
So where is everybody?” I
asked a little nervously.

Alexandra lifted her head and stared at
me.

“
I thought you of all people
would know,” she said.

I shook my head. “But I don’t. Did they
eat early or something? Is there something I missed out on
yesterday?”

“
Oh you missed out on
something all right.”

“
What? Can’t you just tell
me what it is?”

Nigel leaned over. “Why would you do that
to them?” he asked.

“
Do what?” I felt my heart
racing now. I had been gone all day yesterday and now everybody all
of a sudden hated me? I couldn’t have done anything since I was
gone. How could they think I had done anything?

Nigel sighed deeply before he continued his
meal. I was confused to put it very mildly.

“
Just tell me what
happened. I was gone all day yesterday, remember?”

“
Lucky for you,” Alexandra
said with a snort.

I looked intensely at Nigel. “Could
someone just please tell me what is going on?”

Nigel sighed again. He looked around
nervously, then leaned further over the table and
whispered:

“
Salathiel came to our class
yesterday and took Portia, Acacia, Mai, and Abhik with
him.”

I shook my head not understanding
anything.

“
Where did he take
them?”

“
No one knows. But rumor
has it that they are being punished because you told on them. You
told that they went outside the school area.”

A
big lump of food sank in my throat.
Mick! That scoundrel! I felt a huge rage rising inside of me. He
had told Salathiel about us going through the mirror in the cellar.
And now everybody thought I was a snitch. Even Abhik! Was that what
yesterday was all about? Getting me out of the Academy?

I got up not knowing what to do. I felt
like all eyes in the dining hall were on me. Then I started
running. I ran toward the kitchen where I found Mick.

“
Hi there. How are you
this morning?” He asked with a big smile.

“
Why?”

His smile froze and he stared at me.

“
Why what?”

“
Why would you tell
Salathiel we went through the mirror? How could you betray me like
that? I told you that in confidence.”

Mick sighed. “I am sorry. I had to do
it.”

“
No you
didn’t!”

“
Yes, I did.”

He signaled I should come closer. I sat down
at the kitchen table with my arms crossed. Mick sighed again and
looked me in my eyes. I always felt so disarmed when he did that.
But I was really mad this time. He had betrayed my trust.

“
Listen,” he said. “Portia
has been messing with a lot of dark powers and we are afraid she
might be turning to the other side soon. She is listening to the
evil spirits and letting them into her heart. We need to save her
before it is too late.”

I was confused. Why was it always like
this with Mick? Every time I thought I had a reason to be mad at
him, he would turn the conversation into something completely
different.

“
I don’t get
it.”

“
You have heard about
fallen Angels and fallen spirits in class, right?”

“
Yeah. Like they turn
bad.”

“
Yes. Every day there is a
battle going on and the battlefield is the mind. It goes for humans
as well as spirits and Angels. We have to protect our hearts
against the evil one and his attacks. And not just every once in a
while. It is all the time. The Devil will use tricks and schemes
trying to lure you to bow down to him. He will sometimes use your
own words against you, or even God’s. He is clever and knows where
your weak spots are.”

“
I heard about that in class.
But I don’t understand how you can help Portia by punishing
her.”

“
Who says she is being
punished?”

“
That’s what I
heard.”

“
Well I guess Salathiel is
trying to teach her and the others a lesson, but exactly what
happens is between him and them.”

“
So you don’t know where
they are either?”

He shook his head. “No, but I am sure they
will be back later today.”

The rest of the day I kept staring at the
four empty chairs in class. Most of all I felt bad for Abhik. I had
never meant for him to get in trouble. Portia and her pack, I
couldn’t care less about, but Abhik was not like them. Something
inside of me feared this experience would poison his heart as well
as the others’ had been. Everyone who started to hang out too much
with Portia seemed to be infected by that. I had seen it in Mai and
later in Acacia, how they slowly turned more and more vicious every
day. She had that effect on people. If Abhik would turn his back on
me because of this, would he then turn to her instead?

I got my answer later that night. I had
gone to bed and had just dozed off when suddenly the sound of
Portia’s voice yelling loudly through the dormitory woke me
up.

“
Get out of
bed!”

I sat up and stared at her. Her green eyes
looked like they had burning fire inside of them.

“
Listen, Portia, I am sorry …
I—” I didn’t get any further before she stopped me with her hand
held high.

“
I do not want to hear
it,” she said. “Get out of the bed!”

I didn’t do it.

“
Now!” she
yelled.

I looked around and they had all
surrounded my bed. Mai was staring at me with her narrow eyes,
Acacia just looked plain mad and Abhik … sweet Abhik had an angry
and disappointed look in his eyes.

“
I didn’t mean to tell on
you, Abhik, you know that,” I said to him. I got out of the bed and
walked toward him, but Portia got in between us.

“
Move,” I said.

At that moment, Portia lifted both her
arms high while making a hissing sound with her mouth. I was
somehow lifted into the air and thrown backward against the wall.
As I hit the wall my body dissolved into fluid but then assembled
itself again. I felt like I had been hit in the stomach. I was
totally out of breath, exhausted and confused. It took me a moment
to get back on my feet again.

Mai, Acacia and Abhik were standing a few
feet behind Portia. All of them were staring at her with eyes wide
open.

“
Where did you learn how
to do that?” Mai asked.

“
That is not something
they teach you here,” Abhik continued.

Portia didn’t pay any attention to them. She
stared at me with the burning fire in her eyes.

“
They wouldn’t teach you
stuff like that here,” she hissed.

“
What are you talking
about?” asked Acacia.

Portia was approaching me slowly, seeming
like she was looking forward to finishing me off.

“
Don’t you know?” She continued.
“They hold all the cool stuff back from us. They don’t want us to
know that we as spirits can do all kinds of stuff. We have all
kinds of powers. But they won’t tell you that, ’cause that would
make you as strong as the Angels. And they don’t want you to be
strong. They want you to be weak and dependent so they can control
you.”

There was a long silence. Acacia, Mai and
Abhik stared at each other.

“
Who told you all that?” I
asked.

She laughed. It was creepy. “It doesn’t
matter who told me. The important thing is they are right. As
spirits we could rule the entire world if we wanted to, if we
wouldn’t let them hold us back.”

“
You don’t really believe
that, do you?” I asked looking at her, trying to meet her eyes and
find the Portia I used to know. Because this wasn’t her.

And it scared me.

“
Yes I do. You would too
if you would only open up your eyes. But you are so blinded by all
their propaganda, by all that stuff they put in your head. You
don’t see what I see.”

“
What do you see
then?”

“
This place is holding all
of us back. They don’t even tell us how we died; we don’t even
remember our family or the people we care about. That is cruel, if
you ask me. They are the evil ones.”

I got on my feet again, still feeling a
bit wobbly.

“
I can’t believe I hear you
saying these things,” I said, staring at her fiery green
eyes.

“
Neither can we,” said
Abhik and approached.

Portia looked at him and then at Mai and
Acacia standing a little further behind him.

“
What? Now you are all
turning against me?”

Mai approached her as well. “No, we are
trying to help you, before it is too late.”

Portia hissed again. “I don’t need help. I
am stronger than any of you. You need me!”

Portia turned around and pointed at me.
“She is the one you should turn against. She got you all in
trouble, remember? She is the one who told on us. She cannot be
trusted.”

“
But Portia …” I
said.

S
he stared directly into my eyes and
suddenly my head was filled with those horrible whispering voices
again.

“
You are a bad friend … look at
how you betrayed Abhik
… look into his eyes and see how much you hurt
him. You don’t belong here … look how Mick betrayed you. How can
you ever trust him again?”

I held my hands to my head and
ben
t down on
my knees. The voices were all in my head and I couldn’t escape
them.

“
And what about Jason? You
never helped him did you? What kind of a friend does that? They
tell you it is for his best, but how could it be? Where is the
compassion? Where is the love in that?”

“
Please make it stop,” I
screamed. But Portia just kept staring at me with her green
penetrating eyes and I began to feel so
terrible inside, filled with a huge
guilt that felt like it was going to consume me from the inside.
There was nothing but despair left inside of me, like all hope and
life was gone.

“
Please, I beg of you
…”

“
Portia!” Abhik screamed.
Stop it!”

Then luckily something happened. Another
much deeper voice took over and filled the entire room.

“
Yes, it is time to put an end
to it right now.”
The voice was soothing and comforting, immediately causing
the whispering in my head to go away. I looked up and behind me
stood Salathiel along with Mick.

“
I am really sorry that I
have to do this,” Salathiel said. “But I am afraid there is no
other way. I really believed that we could save you, Portia, but it
has gone too far now.”

Portia hissed and screamed at them. She was
like a big cornered cat trying to fight its way out.

Then Salathiel lifted both of
his gigantic arms in the air and he yelled:
“Away from me, Satan! For it is
written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.”