The Afterlife series Box Set (Books 1-3)

  “No.”

  “Well, you will be fine. Just watch out for obstacles. Meteors and satellites and things like that. They will knock you out and tear you to small pieces if they hit you. And I don’t think it will be easy to find all of your parts if they start to float around in space.”

  I nodded. I still felt confused. “So how do I know when I hit the right speed?”

  The professor put a forefinger in the air. “I have the solution for that as well,” he said and opened his huge bag again. He pulled something out and gave it to me. It looked like a wristband. It wasn’t very big, but had a display on the middle. “This will tell you how fast you go. I made it myself … Well what are you waiting for? Put it on!”

  I did as he told me.

  “I have set it so it will make a beeping sound when you hit the necessary speed,” he continued. “Then you hit the button right in the middle, there, and it will begin counting how many times you have circled the equator. Handy, right?”

  I had to admit it was quite smart. All I had to do was to fly really fast and I knew how to do that.

  “So, are you ready?”

  “Are we doing this now?”

  The professor sighed with a smile. “Well we might as well. How are you feeling?”

  “Great!”

  He nodded and examined me closer. “Well I see no reason why we shouldn’t be able to do this today. Today is as good as any day, right?”

  I nodded. “I’m ready.”

  “Good. Do you know where you are going? Do you have an address?”

  I took out a piece of paper where I had written down Rosey’s old address where she lived before she went to the psychiatric hospital. It was in my folder, and I was certain it was there for a reason. I was beginning to think that this was my assignment: to develop my skills to fly back in time. It seemed logical, that Salathiel would design this so I would practice enough to be able to control it, so I wouldn’t end up like Benjamin and Peter.

  “Great. Now remember, you cannot stay longer than an hour. Then you have to go. If you stay longer, you will freeze in time.”

  I nodded thoughtfully before I floated onto the runway and put myself in the right position. Professor Einstein put up his instruments while I warmed up and took in a lot of deep breaths. Then he looked at me. “I will be monitoring your every move from here even though for me it will be like you are not gone at all. According to my calculations you will return at the exact same moment you left. But everything will be recorded in this machine here,” he said and patted a big grey metal box. “So we will be able to analyze it all afterwards and can use it for coming students with the same skills. Scientifically, this is a huge moment for us all.”

  “Let’s do it,” I said. I felt comfortable in the professor’s hands. I bent my knees and put myself in position for takeoff. Then I closed my eyes and focused all my energy on the center of my body. The professor started counting down.

  “Three … two … one!”

  Boom! I was airborne. As I reached the end of the runway, I kept accelerating until the big flash hit me and I broke through the light barrier. The wristband showed that I had reached 202,000 miles per second. I had to do more than double that speed. So I accelerated again. Soon I passed 300,000, then 400,000 and shortly after, the wristband beeped. I had reached my speed. I lifted my hand and felt how it wobbled in the wind. Then I hit the button on the wristband and it started counting. I was afraid that I was too slow and maybe missed a round or two, but I wasn’t sure. Butterflies filled my stomach. What if I failed? What if I ended in another year? Could I find my way back? How did I even know if I had reached exactly eight years ago, and if it was November fourth?

  Suddenly the wristband beeped again. It said 843 on the display. I had reached my destination. I slowed down and tried to orient myself. I felt dizzy from all the spinning and needed to get to the ground as fast as I could. But where was I? In some town? I saw a lot of houses beneath me. I heard children playing in the yards. I landed on the ground and sat on the grass in the front yard of a house until everything stopped spinning. This was the fastest I had ever flown and I could feel it in my body. So I needed to rest a little before I could continue. I reached into my pocket and found the note with the address and a map that I had brought. I was thrilled to discover that I wasn’t far from my target. As soon as I felt recuperated I started looking for Rosey’s home.

  As I came closer to my destination I slowed down. I didn’t have to look at the map any longer, I knew exactly which house on the street I was looking for. I recognized it immediately from my dream. The wooded lot, the porch out front, the big tree. I felt my heart pounding in my chest and I had a hard time catching my breath. Now I knew exactly how Rosey’s daughter and husband had died.

  I floated around the house just like in the dream, but he was already in there. The door was already open the same way I had seen it in my dream. I swallowed hard and approached the door. Then I heard a horrifying scream and everything froze inside of me. I’d heard that scream before. I went through the door. My heart raced. What was I supposed to do? The killer had to be inside the house. He had to be upstairs already. Was I supposed to save them? I couldn’t change history, could I? No, I had tried this once before and it only brought trouble. I had changed Jason’s destiny and it had ended up in a mess. That couldn’t possibly be my task. The screaming had stopped and I guessed that the killer now had killed the husband and stabbed the mother, who had to be … Rosey? What did he do next? He went for the girl in the next room, the girl who was hiding under the bed. I couldn’t let him do that, could I? … No!

  I spun myself around in the living room while gazing anxiously at the stairs. It was so quiet up there. What was going on? Another scream broke the silence. He found the girl, I thought. What was I supposed to do? I realized now that I hadn’t fully thought this through. I couldn’t just watch a thing like this take place. I just couldn’t.

  I hurried upstairs and saw Rosey crawl toward her daughter lying lifeless on the floor. Rosey had been hurt and was bleeding heavily from her abdomen. The killer was still in the room. He leered at Rosey as she fought to reach her daughter and hold her in her arms while her life oozed away. Rosey screamed and lifted her daughter’s lifeless head. Then I saw her spirit. The daughter’s spirit slowly left her body.

  Suddenly, Rosey’s husband’s spirit was there too. He came into the room looking very confused. Then he hugged his daughter and took her by the hand. And while Rosey screamed her sorrow over the lifeless body, her daughter and husband flew to her. They hugged her as long as they could, but I knew she didn’t feel it. Her face was tormented as she tried to wake her daughter as if she was only in a heavy sleep, like this was only a bad dream that they both could escape.

  I looked at the daughter and her father as the spirits who had come to get them greeted them. I heard the small voices from the evil spirits, the Se’irims who had come as well and were crawling like dark shadows on the wall, but they had to yield to the light that came with the spirits. The Se’irims had come in vain. Rosey’s daughter and husband left the house with the spirits and they took all the light with them. I was surprised to see that the Se’irims didn’t leave as well. I could still hear their whispering voices and see their pointy shadows. What were they waiting for?

  I looked at Rosey who now had seen the killer in the room. He was wearing a mask, but she could look into his eyes. A thought immediately entered my mind and caused my heart to stop beating. Was Rosey going to kill him? Was that how she ended up in the psychiatric hospital? For killing her daughter’s and husband’s murderer? If so, should I stop her? Could I prevent her from ending up in that prison the rest of her life? But if I did, then would she commit suicide and die on the date that I was supposed to help her get to the other side? Would I destroy my own assignment?

  As the thoughts twirled in my mind, Rosey stood. Anger and hatred filled her eyes. I suddenly recognized the glowing red shield of anger that
had been around Jason ever since his step-dad beat him and his mother was taken away for killing his step-dad and saving Jason’s life. The whispering from the Se’irims became louder and almost deafening. They were cheering her on, I realized. They wanted her to kill him, so they could get him and put Rosey in a prison for the rest of her life. Destroy her life. Rosey’s eyes went black as she grabbed a chair and ran toward the killer. She swung it in the air and tried to hit him. The killer laughed at her and grabbed the chair by its leg. Then he used it to push her back so she hit the wall behind her. She groaned and held a hand to her bleeding abdomen. The killer came closer with his knife stretched out in front of him. As he bent over her, she kicked him so he flew backward and dropped the knife. It was hard not to want Rosey to kill him. I really wanted him to suffer for what he had done to this family, but I couldn’t let her do it. Not knowing the consequences and having seen it with my own eyes. She grabbed the knife from the floor and started walking toward him. She was panting and barely holding on in the pain from her bleeding wound, but the anger drove her forward.

  That was when I made my decision. The killer looked at the knife and realized that Rosey was capable of doing this. The anger inside of her was big enough to be able to kill. I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes.

  “I am sorry Rosey, but it is for your own good,” I said and started flying toward her. Then I grabbed her by the waist and held on to her the best I had learned and made her tumble to the ground.

  The killer moved fast. He got on his legs and stormed out the door. I heard the front door open and then he was gone. The whispering voices immediately stopped. I turned to look at the wall and saw the shadows pull away. Then they were gone. I turned to look at Rosey. She was no longer conscious. The blood continued to run from her stomach. I hurried downstairs and grabbed the phone and dialed 911. I stayed at her side until the ambulance arrived. She was still breathing when I left her.

  I had no idea how much time had passed as I soared into air. I could only hope that I hadn’t stayed longer than the one hour I was supposed to. I accelerated into air and for the first time I went into space. It was really quiet out there and dark. All I saw in the distance was the light from the stars that shone in front of me. I accelerated and hit the light barrier. It looked like all the stars melted into one big flash. I reached my speed as the wristband beeped again, and then I stopped and turned around. As I flew back I began to feel nauseous. It became worse the closer I got to Earth and as I went back through the atmosphere I felt like I had to throw up. I was shaking all over my body and had a hard time keeping it steady. Then I felt cold. I realized that one of my feet was completely frozen and I couldn’t move it.

  “This is not right,” I said. “Something is really wrong.” Slowly the icy feeling crawled through my body and soon I couldn’t move any of my legs. I spotted the castle in the distance. But I never made it past the ocean. I was unable to move any part when suddenly my body collapsed and I fell out of the sky. The last thing I remembered was hitting the water.

  Chapter 22

  Everything was black for a long time and I felt like I was still floating around in space. Suddenly I blinked and saw a bright light. Then a face—a familiar face. It smiled peacefully.

  “Where … where am I?” I tried to sit up, but a hand was on my forehead holding me down with a gentle touch.

  “Shh. Just rest,” said the voice. I realized to my relief that it was Rahmiel. “You are in the hospital tower. Professor Einstein helped you get here.”

  “But how … what?”

  “We sent out a search team to find you. We found you floating on top of the ocean. Luckily the professor could find your exact location on his instruments.”

  “What happened?”

  “You were gone in the past too long, so we nearly lost you. Luckily, you flew faster than the professor had told you to do, so you caught up with the time and you got back just in time before your body froze.”

  “What about my legs?” I tried to move them and they felt perfectly normal under the covers.

  “You are in perfect shape. You hurt your shoulder when you landed and it needs healing, but other than that, you just need to rest. You have been unconscious for a week.”

  I touched my shoulder but it was in a bandage. It hurt when I tried to move it. “A week? I have been gone for a whole week?” My heart was beating fast as I tried to get up from the bed once again. Rahmiel put her hand on my chest and I leaned my head back again. “If I have been gone for a week, then what about … has … has Jason … is he here?”

  Rahmiel looked at me seriously. “Jason is here. He arrived Saturday.”

  “Oh.” I felt like crying. Jason had been at the castle for several days and I hadn’t even been able to see him and talk to him. My heart raced. I really wanted to see him soon. “Why did it take an entire week before I woke up?”

  “You were really in a bad state when you were brought in here. Your body collapsed completely and big parts of it were frozen. It takes time to restore the body. You will have to be more careful in the future—no more time travel for a long time. You have to be much more careful in the future. You are extremely strong. Much stronger than you think you are. But that makes you vulnerable and a target for evil forces. I think we all know now why Azazel has been after you. In the wrong hands you could be a strong weapon. He wants you on his side.”

  I swallowed hard as I remembered how he had tried that in the forest last year. He had told me he wanted me to bow down to him. I had refused, but my guess was that he hadn’t given up yet. I would have to face him some time again.

  “But …” Thoughts were flashing through my head as I tried to remember exactly what had happened. “Rosey … ?”

  Rahmiel smiled and stroked my head. “She is fine.”

  I smiled by the thought that I had saved her from a future in prison. This time I got it right. I had helped someone. “So what about my assignment?” I asked.

  Rahmiel looked at me. “What about it?”

  “Is it changed now?”

  “Why would it be changed?”

  “Because I changed Rosey’s destiny.”

  Rahmiel glowed and smiled. “Ah that. Well, we need to talk about that.”

  “I know I wasn’t supposed to do it again, to change someone’s destiny, but I couldn’t bear to see her do this to herself and not act. I had to do something.”

  “Once again, you showed compassion for another human being. There is nothing wrong with that but …”

  “Am I getting in trouble for this?”

  “No,” laughed Rahmiel. “Don’t you think we knew you would do this?”

  I looked at her surprised. “What do you mean?”

  “We know you, Meghan.”

  “So was this my assignment? To change Rosey’s destiny?”

  Rahmiel shook her head slowly and lovingly. “No, sweetheart. Your assignment is still to help Rosey get to this side.”

  “So she will still kill herself? Even though her life is changed?”

  Rahmiel sighed. “I am sorry, sweetheart. You did change her destiny, but you didn’t prevent her from ending in the psychiatric hospital. She is still there.”

  My eyes became wide. “Why? I don’t understand. How? … If she didn’t kill him?”

  “She never was going to kill him.”

  “But … she went toward him with the knife. She had all the anger … she was definitely going to kill him.”

  Rahmiel shook her head again. “Rosey would have died in that fight. The killer would have killed her in the end.”

  I felt the room started to spin around me. Was she supposed to die? Had I instead saved Rosey’s life?

  “But the Se’irims were there. They were waiting for her to kill him!”

  Rahmiel sighed deeply. “I am afraid they were there for Rosey.”

  “For Rosey?”

  “They knew if Rosey had died that day, they could have taken her.”

 
“What? Why?”

  “She was so filled with hatred that our spirits would have been unable to get to her. The shield of anger would have prevented it.”

  “Wow! Really?” I remembered how I had tried to hold on to Jason when he had that shield around him, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t even touch him.

  “Yes, you saved her, and now she can go to be with her family once she dies. You made that possible.”

  “But … was it my fault that she ended up in that psychiatric hospital, and lived a horrible life?” That didn’t make me feel well.

  “You might say that, but you could also argue that you saved her eternity.”

  My head hurt. I couldn’t quite grasp what she was telling me. So they had to know that I would do this when they designed the assignment, because if I hadn’t, there wouldn’t be any assignment at all. Rosey would have been dead eight years ago and would have gone to the dark side. “So it was all a part of my assignment, a part of my education?”

  Rahmiel nodded with a smile. “That is right. But you are not done just yet. You still need to help her once she dies.”

  So now I finally understood how my story was connected to Rosey’s, and for once I really looked forward to seeing her again. A part of me felt guilty because I had put her in that situation, but another felt happy for having made it possible for her to be with her family for eternity. But whatever my emotions were telling me, I suddenly felt much closer to Rosey. I looked forward to helping her.

  All of a sudden I felt a huge tiredness come over me like a wave covering a beach during a storm. I fought it but my eyelids kept closing as I dozed off for a second.

  “I should leave so you can rest,” Rahmiel said. Then she sighed. “But first there is one thing I have to talk to you about.”

  I opened my eyes again and stared at her. She looked very serious and that made me wake up immediately. I wasn’t used to seeing her like this. “What is it?”