Beyond (Afterlife book 1) (16 page)

It was as if the floor suddenly opened up
and a big gap of blackness and emptiness appeared in front of us.
And it started sucking Portia into it. She hissed and squeaked in a
high-pitched tone as her body was slowly sucked away into the deep
darkness beneath us.

A second later the gap closed and Portia was
gone.

“Where did she go?” I asked Mick. We had all
gone to bed and he said he would stay with us for the night to make
sure we were all okay. They had made an extra bed for Abhik to
sleep in, but just for the night. After that he had to go back to
the boy’s dormitory, they said.

Mick sighed.

“
She went to Abaddon. The
kingdom of death and destruction.”

“
Is that where the evil
sprits live?” asked Acacia.

Mick nodded. “She is a Se’irim now.”

I shivered. “She’s an evil spirit now?” I
asked.

He nodded again.

“
Has she always been that?”
asked Abhik.

“
Yes and no. She had a lot
of good in her too.”

“
I don’t get that,” Mai
said.

Mick leaned forward in his
chair.

“
Look, it is not all black
and white. People are not all good or bad. Some just make bad
choices and get drawn toward the wrong things.”

“
So what you are saying is
that it could happen to any one of us?”

“
Basically, yes. I think
some people are more likely to be drawn toward the bad stuff than
others. But we all have to watch out for what we believe
in.”

Everyone was quiet for a while. I guess we
all had a lot to think about. I know I did.

“
Is that what they call
spiritual warfare?” I asked.

Mick nodded. “Yes it is. And today was a
really sad day for all of us. Because today the Devil
won.”

“
How come?” Abhik
asked.

“
He took one of ours with him.
We lost Portia and he won another spirit he can take with him. See
the thing is there is a war going on and, since the Devil has
already lost, he has nothing to lose in trying to take as many
people as possible with him in defeat.”

I laid my head on my pillow feeling
exhausted.

“
So we fight to keep as
many people as possible with us?” I asked.

Mick nodded again.

I stared at the marble ceiling over my
head as I had done so many times before. I felt really horrible
about what had happened to Portia but at least I was finally
understanding some of all this.

Chapter 17

As time passed I slowly stopped
thinking about Portia and that terrifying night in the dormitory.
Not that any of us could ever forget about it
—how could we? But we never
talked about it again and our life at the Academy continued as
usual.

T
he end of the first school year drew
closer, as well as the traditional extravagant ball at the castle
to celebrate. I have never been very social and I never cared much
for parties or dances back on earth, but I managed to feel excited
about this ball.

Finally something to make us all happy
again.

The girls in the dormitory had been a
little down and depressed since that night with Portia. I think we
all, in our different ways, missed having her around. Her empty bed
kept reminding us where she had gone. It was a destiny that could
happen to any of us if we weren’t careful.

But now we had something else
on our mind. I had joined the all
-girl party-planning committee. One day
while we were having a meeting, Rahmiel showed up. She surprised us
all by suddenly appearing through the wall.

“
If there is one thing I have
learned in my many years taking care of human spirits, it is that
girls like to dress up for a big ball. Am I right?” She
asked.

We all smiled and nodded.

“
But unfortunately, you all look
just the same as you did when you died, or just a few seconds
before. And we can’t change that. You can’t dress up. You can’t put
on make-up or nice shoes. Now where is the fun in that?”

She was right. We had talked a lot about
the fact that we all would be looking exactly the same for the
party as we did in our everyday life, and it would make the ball
just another ordinary day, except for the dancing.

“
So, girls, I have a small
surprise for you,” Rahmiel said.

We all looked at her with great
anticipation.

“
For one night and one
night only,” she said with her forefinger held in front of her
making her look like a giant schoolteacher. “I will make you look
just the way you want to. I can put you in any dress you wish, in
any color, and any jewelry and makeup you would like. What do you
say about that?”

We all dropped our jaws. Was that really
possible? Could she really do that for us? Then after a few seconds
we burst into a loud cheering.

“
I want a pink dress,” Acacia
said. “I want it long but with light fabric.”

“
Oh, I want a purple one,”
Mai said. “And a flower in my hair.”

“
Mine should be red,”
Alexandra said. “And could I get a tiara?”

“
No, I want a tiara,”
Acacia said.

“
But you can’t. Not if I
am having one,” Alexandra said and turned to Rahmiel. “Isn’t that
correct?”

Rahmiel laughed gently.

“
Well, children. It seems
like you have got your hands full. I will leave you for now and see
you in this room again two hours before the ball.”

T
he dancing gave me the most trouble. I
never was a good dancer when I had to use my feet, but for some
reason I was even worse when all I had to do was float in the air.
I thought it would make it easier, but it really didn’t. So I
practiced every evening after school with Mai. When the day of the
ball finally arrived, we still had some missteps during our final
rehearsal but I believe we had made great progress.

Exhausted, we threw ourselves on my bed
and looked at the ceiling.

“
So are you ready for
this?” Mai asked.

“
The ball? Sure.” I said
with a smile. “I just have to get past the dancing part, I think. I
will survive.”

“
Will you dance with Mick,
do you think?”

I felt myself blush. “I don’t know,
why?”

“
The two of you seem quite
fond of one another.”

“
Well, I guess I will. If
he asks me.”

“
Do you think he is like your
soul mate? That you will fall in love and be forever together in
eternity?”

“
Wow, I have to admit I hadn’t
thought about it in that way.”

“
Think about it. It’s the
ultimate romance story. The opposite of Romeo and Juliet. You will
be together forever and nothing can separate you. Never growing
older.”

“
Maybe you’re right,” I said. I
closed my eyes, and never told her that when I did, I didn’t
picture myself in eternity with Mick. The boy beside me was Jason.
I opened my eyes wide open at once.

Jason!

I sat up on the bed.

“
What is going on?” Mai
asked.

“
What day is it
today?”

“
June fifteenth. You know
that.”

It was as if everything inside of me
froze. June fifteenth was the date in the book. The date written
underneath Jason’s picture. I felt my heart racing in my chest and
I felt short of breath.

“
What is wrong, Meghan?”
Mai asked. “You look like something terrible just happened. What is
it? Are you not feeling well?”

I got up from the bed feeling dizzy and
nauseated at the same time. The room was spinning around me. How
could I have forgotten that it was today? How was I supposed to
enjoy myself?

“
Tell me, what is wrong?” Mai
said.

I shook my head. “Nothing, I just forgot
something important.”

Mai looked at the clock on the wall.
“Well, it better not be something that you have to take care of
now, because we are meeting Rahmiel in the chamber in less than ten
minutes.”

I rubbed my forehead, trying to think
straight. What was I going to do? What were my options?

“
I know.” I looked straight at
Mai. I closed my eyes, took in a couple of deep breaths, and calmed
myself down. There wasn’t anything I could do anyway. I had to try
not to think about Jason and enjoy the evening anyway.

I looked again at Mai. She smiled at
me.

“
Shall we get going?” she
asked.

Chapter 18

When we entered the chamber, the girls
were excitedly talking about how much fun it was going to be.
Rahmiel had just arrived and was talking to Alexandra. I felt like
I could cry at any moment, but luckily no one seemed to notice. The
girls all laughed and giggled. I really tried to be a part of it,
even though my thoughts were somewhere else. Every time I closed my
eyes I saw Jason lying on the floor and his step-dad bent over him
with the baseball bat like I had seen in that book.

Alexandra stepped forward and we all
admired her red dress and sparkling tiara. Everybody cheered and
clapped except me. I felt a tear slip from my eye and roll down my
cheek. I felt as if a fog descended over my head and everyone else
in the room disappeared.

“
Who is next?” I heard
Rahmiel say in the distance.

“
Meghan,” someone
answered. I don’t know who. It was all still very blurry to me. And
frankly I didn’t care. I sat down at a chair while the tears kept
rolling quietly down my cheeks.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and warmth
spread in my entire body. I looked up and Rahmiel was right next to
me. She was shining, lighting up the entire room just by her
presence.

“
Meghan?” Her soft voice
reminded me of my mother. I felt a little happiness inside. I was
so happy to learn that I remembered my mother’s voice. It felt nice
just thinking about it.

“
You are the only one who
hasn’t gotten her dress yet,” Rahmiel said.

I felt the pressure of more tears behind my
eyes.

“
I … don’t know if I feel
up to it,” I said.

Rahmiel smiled. Then something strange
happened. I heard her voice inside of my head.

“
Don’t worry, Meghan.
Everything will be fine. Trust me.”

I kept staring at her lips that
never moved. To my surprise
, I felt myself calm down a little. Then Rahmiel
reached out her hand and wiped away a tear from my
cheek.

“
Let’s get you in a
beautiful dress, what do you say? Blue is your favorite color,
right?”

I sniffed and wiped the tears from my eyes.
Then I nodded.

“
Stand up, please,” she
said and reached out her hand. I took it and now I was standing in
front of her. All eyes in the room were on me.

Then Rahmiel closed her eyes and turned
her hands in big circles in front of my body. Slowly something
truly magical happened. First my shoes changed and next my legs
were wrapped in this blue fairy-dust-like glitter that sparkled. As
it moved its way up, it turned into a big blue ballroom gown. It
sparkled and I felt like a girl in a fairytale. When I turned it
flowed around me. I felt my hair being lifted and finally a blue
diamante tiara appeared in it.

Rahmiel opened her eyes slowly and looked at
me. Then she smiled.

“
Wow,” Acacia and Mai said
at the same time.

I blushed. “No Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo?” I asked
trying to make a joke out of it.

Rahmiel kept smiling at all of us, like we
were her daughters going off to the prom. We all looked at each
other and I made the decision to enjoy it the best that I could.
Rahmiel spoke just before we left.

“
Remember. Just like in
the fairytales the magic wears off at midnight.”

“
Really?”

“
No. But that is the only joke I
know, so you’d better laugh.”

Dinner in Hornam Hall was spectacular. We
had wine and champagne and everybody seemed so cheerful that rubbed
off a little on me as well. I stretched my neck and looked around
to see if I could see Mick anywhere, but unfortunately he was
nowhere to be seen. Probably doing his duty in the kitchen, I
assumed. Instead I sat next to Abhik and we had a nice time
chatting and making fun of each others’ outfits. Apparently
Salathiel had dressed up the boys in nice white ties and tails and
even silk top hats. Abhik’s was a little too big for his head and
he reminded me of a little boy dreaming about growing up to be a
magician.

“
Where are your rabbits?”
I asked him.

“
Where they always are,”
he said with a smile.

“
Making more
rabbits?”

“
You said it.”

Then dessert came in on big dishes,
carried by second-year students. It was even more extravagant than
the appetizers and the main course had been.