The Afterlife series Box Set (Books 1-3) (13 page)

“But I didn’t do that when I died?”

Mick smiled and nodded. “Yes you did. Everybody does. You just don’t remember it. It is the same for everybody. That is why no one knows exactly what you talk to Jesus about when you die. Because you won’t remember. The next time you see him in Heaven you will remember that you have talked to him,  just not what it was about.”

“Wow.”

“I know.”

“So we will take her to the boat after this and there she will wake up not remembering anything?”

“Exactly. She might remember a little from the car accident, but she will not remember her husband or children or the meeting with Jesus.”

“But that is so cruel. She wants to be with her children and husband.”

“I know, but she needs to learn her new life before she can visit them. She needs to accept that she is no longer part of their world. And wouldn’t it be even crueler if she remembered them and knew they were mourning her, but she couldn’t visit them? And even if she did, she could not stay with them and live the life they used to live.”

I sighed. This was a lot to take in at once, I thought. “I guess you are right.”

I have no idea how long we waited. I lost track of time all that day. The woman and the Angels had disappeared through some thick clouds. Mick and I found a small one to sit on while we were waiting. I had a lot on my mind. Jason, Jackline, Mick, the woman, my parents. It seemed as though the more that was revealed to me about this world, the less I understood.

“They are coming back,” I heard Mick whisper.

I got up and lifted my head toward the sky with the heavy clouds. Out of them I saw the bright light shining through and in that light appeared the two majestic Angels once again with the woman between them. She was smiling even wider and looked so incredibly happy and peaceful. I couldn’t help smiling myself.

They approached us and handed the woman to Mick. Then one of them bent down and whispered something in his ear. Mick nodded and looked at the woman.

The Angels kissed the woman on her forehead before they soared into the air again and in the wink of an eye they were gone.

I kept staring in their direction. I was in awe. They were so magnificent.

“You are going back,” I heard Mick say to the woman.

I turned and stared at him and then at the woman. She nodded.

“Jesus told me he is answering my husband’s and children’s prayers,” she said. Then she turned her head and looked at me. “It is so beautiful up there that part of me wishes I could stay.”

I was speechless as I reached out and took her hand. As we descended I felt such a joy in my heart and a great relief as well. I was so happy those children weren’t going to lose their mother after all. I was relieved that Jesus had heard the husband’s pleading and responded to it. It gave me hope too.

As we entered the operating room, everything was quiet except for the high-pitched sound from the heart monitor indicating her heart had stopped beating. The doctors stood next to her body and stared at her with heads bowed.

“We lost her,” one of them said.

The woman looked at me and Mick and thanked us just before she went back into her human body again. A second later the heart monitor started beeping and everyone in the room turned to look at her as the life floated back into her earthly body.

“She is back … She is back!” another doctor yelled. Then the room got very busy and we followed them from a distance.

We went into the waiting room where the husband now had joined his children. They were still crying and he was holding them, trying to comfort them. That’s when I saw Mick do something really amazing. He whispered in each of their ears. Comforting words like: “She will be fine. Don’t worry. God heard your prayer.” And I sensed that they started to calm down a little. The youngest stopped crying so hard and the dad smiled at them and said: “I know she will be fine. I just know it in my heart.” His voice was so reassuring and peaceful that he managed to calm his kids down.

A second later the door opened and everybody was quiet. A doctor came in and took off his operating mask.

The husband got up and walked toward him. The nervousness and anxiety made his hands shake.

The doctor sighed and looked at him. “We thought we lost her there, but she is out of danger now.”

I looked at the children and saw their faces light up while the husband fell on his knees and started thanking God for answering his prayer. I felt a tear roll down my cheek and wiped it away with the back of my hand.

“Will she remember anything?” I asked when we had gotten back to the Academy and were sitting on my bed. Everyone in my dormitory was already asleep.

“Not likely,” Mick answered. “Some remember bits and pieces and remember leaving their body, but that is normally all they remember.”

I nodded. It made sense that people shouldn’t remember. Who would be afraid of dying if they knew for sure they would go to a greater place afterward? Who would want to make the most of their life on earth? Plus, it wouldn’t take any faith if everybody knew for sure. They didn’t have to believe or trust in anything which I had to admit I had learned was the hardest.

“By the way,” Mick said as he got up from the bed. “Now you have learned how to make yourself invisible to humans.”

I looked at him with disbelief. “What do you mean?”

He pulled out the bottle with the pink water from his jacket again. “This.”

“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.”

C
HAPTER 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.”