Manual 20952665

Transcript

The death of Alice Deadman would be told for generations to come. Even by Detroit City High School standards, where lunchtime typically meant knife fights in the bathrooms, drug trafficking behind the dumpsters, and a maiming or two, Alice became a legend, a landmark in her school’s long and illustrious history of violence, expulsion, and bloodshed. Which was saying a lot. Of course, this was not entirely due to her own merit. A combination of bad engineering, the inevitability of the laws of physics, and an ability to see things that others could not led to her unfortunate demise at the budding age of seventeen. Little did she know that she would singlehandedly tip the precarious balance in the scales of a war that had been brewing since the beginning of existence, simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. On the morning of the day that she died, Alice arrived at school just in time to catch the daily pre-homeroom fight that took place in the courtyard. A roaring mob had gathered around the spectacle, green flashes of cash being passed around as the students made their bets. “He won’t last two minutes,” said a freshman near the back of the crowd, craning his neck to get a better view. “I don’t know,” replied his friend. “I’ve heard some scary stories about Scott.” Alice felt her breath catch. They couldn’t be talking about the Scott that she knew, her best friend since the third grade, who vanished with no warning the previous summer and had yet to make an appearance at school since junior year started two months ago. But she had to be sure. She elbowed her way through the crowd, ignoring the glares and curses from those she pushed aside, and emerged onto a strange scene. Like the eye of a storm, the spectator’s circle enclosed a space about the size of a boxing ring. On one side of the arena, sure enough, was Scott Hammond, tall and statuesque even while wiping the blood from a torn lip with the back of Liang 2 his hand. Alice looked to the other side and saw a bear, with sunlight glinting off of its furry face. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. What she thought was black fur was actually a mass of dark tattoos covering the entire expanse of the man’s face and bald head. He was the same height as Scott and twice as wide, his hulking figure made even more massive by an oversized black hoodie. Scott spat out a mouthful of blood in the large man’s direction and grinned. The man made a growling sound deep in his throat and charged like a bear. Alice caught the glint of steel in his hand as he ran past. “Watch out!” Without a second thought, she jumped forward and made a grab for the man’s arm. He spun around in surprise, blade slashing blindly through the air. Alice fell back, crying out as she felt a sharp burst of pain on her upper right arm. The bear man looked stunned for a moment, then tumbled face first to the ground. Scott gripped him from behind, and with an effort, slipped his arm under the man’s neck and pulled. The man clawed at the bulging muscles that choked him, his face becoming noticeably darker even under the tattoos. Alice clutched her arm and watched with mingled horror and fascination amid the deafening cheers of the crowd. Just when she thought the man would surely die, a high-pitched whistle echoed across the courtyard, cutting through the noise. It was the campus police’s way of giving everyone a brief head start before they arrived on the scene to pick up whoever was still fighting, unconscious, or just slow. Students scattered in every direction. Alice hauled Scott up by his free arm and began dragging him toward the classrooms. “What are you doing?” protested Scott, trying to shake himself from her grip. “Saving your sorry behind,” said Alice without breaking her stride. Liang 3 Once they were in the hallway and safely camouflaged among their fellow students, Alice turned to Scott and raised her eyebrows in question. Scott nodded toward her arm with a frown. “You should get that arm checked out.” “It’s just a scratch,” lied Alice, covering her bloody sleeve with her left hand. The nurse’s office was on the other side of campus, and she didn’t feel like making that trek with the campus police still roaming around. A bloody arm as good as placed her in the fight. “Look, they’re not gonna suspend you,” said Scott, as if reading her mind. “You weren’t even involved.” “What about you, then?” countered Alice. “You looked like you were gonna kill him.” “I wanted to,” said Scott. “He hurt you.” Alice’s retort died on her lips. The tenderness in his voice surprised her. Before she could say anything, the first bell rang. Alice followed the tide of juniors to homeroom, with Scott falling into step beside her. “So, who exactly was the bear man?” she asked after a while. “He said I broke his little sister’s heart.” “I didn’t know you were seeing anyone.” “Neither did I,” said Scott. Alice choked back a snort of laughter as they stepped into the classroom and took their usual seats at the back. Several things happened at once. The freckled, raccoon-eyed face of Val, Alice’s new best friend since Scott’s disappearing act and borderline paranoid schizophrenic, popped up inches away from her own, baring all her teeth in a manic grin. A man with a bullet hole in the center of his forehead swooped down from the ceiling and floated near the front of the class. The Liang 4 pealing of a bell rang above the noisy chatter of the students, who continued to arm-wrestle, throw pencils at each other, and sleep without noticing a thing. “Did you hear about the satellite?” asked Val, breathless with excitement. Alice shook her head numbly without removing her gaze from the man. She didn’t realize that she was staring until the spirit looked around and their eyes met. He waved, tentatively. Alice pretended to be fascinated by the words “Pop Quiz” scrawled on the blackboard behind, or rather, through him. “They say it’s scheduled to fall out of orbit sometime today,” continued Val, though she might as well have been talking to a brick wall for all the attention that Alice paid her. “What if it’s one of those old Russian models from back in the 50’s… Hey, you look kinda pale.” Alice swallowed the lump of fear in her throat and scanned the room for the appearance of the door. Not just any door, but one that was painted white and opened with a sound like ripping paper magnified a hundredfold. Strange things came through those doors – what she could only describe as demons and angels – and spirits went into them. The bell, which she likened to the ding of an elevator upon arrival, always preceded such appearances, whether it hung in mid-air at busy intersections, materialized in dark alleyways, or morphed out of the ceiling right above the blackboard in homeroom class. Alice closed her eyes just as the dark shadow swooped out. She saw it when the old cat man who lived two floors above her apartment died five years ago. She saw it closing in on the spirit of a homeless man across the street from school, who was trying to squeeze into the stillfresh chalk outlines of his dead body. Each time, Alice told herself not to interfere, that the shadow, despite all appearances, didn’t really devour the spirits, just took them… beyond. Or so Liang 5 she hoped. Some ominous familiarity about the shadow, like an old half-forgotten nightmare, made the whole process unbearable to watch. When Alice opened her eyes again, the man with the hole in his head was gone. In his place stood a younger, taller man dressed in a flowing black cloak that rippled despite a lack of wind. He held a long wooden staff with a vicious-looking curved blade at the end. Even stranger than the man’s attire and weapon were his tapping on the blade and holding it up to his ear like a cell phone while saying to no one in particular, “Hello? Hello? Do you copy?” The man held the weapon at arm’s length, frowned at his own reflection in the blade, and gave it a final rap with his knuckles. “Damn faulty production,” he muttered. “Nothing good ever comes from outsourcing.” With an indignant sniff, he adjusted his cloak and strode out the classroom door, or rather, through it. Alice remained frozen, dumbfounded. He wasn’t the least bit transparent, unlike normal spirits, but nobody in the class uttered so much as a peep to indicate that they had seen him, much less heard him speak. It was the first time she had seen a human spirit come out of a white door, and he seemed almost alive. “Are you ok?” asked Scott, leaning over from his seat. Alice stood up so fast that she knocked over her chair. She muttered something about the nurse’s office and was out of the room before anyone could begin to protest. The strange man was almost at the end of the hall. Alice ran to catch up with him. Driven by a desperate conviction that he was real, and not simply a figment of her imagination, she grabbed the back of his cloak. A chunk of cloth came away easily and disintegrated in her hand like ashes. Liang 6 “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” demanded the man, whirling around so quickly that Alice had to jump back to avoid getting sliced by his scythe. “I could ask you the same thing,” countered Alice, eyeing the curved blade warily. “Who are you? And what are you doing at a school with a weapon?” “My job,” said the man impatiently, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I see. Going to harvest some crops with that?” “Don’t push it,” growled the man. His eyes narrowed as a thought occurred to him. “Wait a minute. You’re not supposed to see me. And how are you doing that?” “Doing what?” He gestured toward Alice’s hand. “Holding the Darkness. My Darkness.” Alice was about to say that she was doing no such thing, when she looked down and saw a thin strip of black cloth draped across her palm. Somehow, the piece of cloak she tore off had reformed itself. She shrugged. The man frowned. Up close, he looked younger, in his early twenties if she had to guess. Only one deep-set brown eye was visible; a fringe of black hair obscured the right side of his face. “Well, since you’re here, you might as well help me out,” said the man. He held the scythe so that the flat side of the blade faced Alice. “Have you seen this guy around?” Alice felt her stomach drop. Scott Hammond’s picture smiled at her from the shiny blade. She lied. She lied for all she was worth and threatened to call the police on the man, who reacted with a bout of derisive laughter and strode away, still laughing. The empty hallway seemed to stretched on endlessly, becoming longer and narrower as the walls closed in. Panic bubbled up inside her like the last breath of a drowning man. Alice bolted into the courtyard, Liang 7 away from the unbroken rows of doorways, expecting shadowy creatures and spirits to burst out of them any moment. She made a beeline for her favorite spot, an ancient willow tree by the front gates, and hunkered down beneath its trailing branches. As much as she wanted to run away, it was only a matter of time before the man found Scott. And then what? Alice leaned back against the tree, her limbs heavy with dread. How could she protect him from the countless possible ways to die? She stared at the piece of cloth still clutched in her hands, as if it held all the answers to the world. A dull throb of pain from her arm interrupted her thoughts. Alice rolled up her sleeve, which had become caked with blood, and wrapped the black cloth around her wound. She had just managed to make an awkward knot when she heard footsteps behind her. Alice jumped to her feet, stumbled, and felt a strong grip around her good arm, steadying her. “I finally found you,” said Scott. He ran a hand through his hair, the way he usually did when something irritated him. “I went to the nurse’s office, but you weren’t there.” “I’m fine, see?” said Alice, holding up her arm to show him the makeshift bandage. “What happened back in the classroom? You looked like you saw a ghost and just took off.” Alice chuckled nervously, which only made Scott angrier. He shook his head and began to walk away, changed his mind, and whirled around. “What happened to you? Is insanity contagious?” Alice remained silent, taken aback by the sudden animosity. She wanted nothing more than to tell Scott what she had seen, to warn him about his imminent demise, to ask him to show her a little gratitude for trying to save his life, but that would most likely just prove his point. Liang 8 “You couldn’t have made friends who didn’t escape from the funny farm?” continued Scott, throwing up his hands in exasperation. “This is why I worry about you.” “At least I know that Val won’t disappear for half a year without any explanation,” said Alice. “You don’t understand,” replied Scott. “I couldn’t have told anyone.” Alice felt a tap on her shoulder. She spun around and found herself facing the man in the cloak. His scythe gleamed ominously in the sunlight. “Hey sorry to break up your little lover’s squabble, but you need to get out of here,” he said. “You get out of here!” she snapped. “This isn’t any of your business.” “What?” asked Scott. “Nothing!” said Alice and mentally cursed herself for her carelessness. The man adjusted his grip, and in a flash, pointed the tip of the curved blade inches from Alice’s throat. “Move aside,” he said, urgency rising in his voice. “I can’t be responsible if you get caught in this too.” “You can’t have him.” “Alice, what’s going on?” demanded Scott. “Who are you talking to?” “No one!” shouted Alice and the man in unison. Alice squinted against the harsh sunlight, which seemed to grow brighter by the second. A falling star gleamed from the sky, leaving a thin white ripple in its wake. “Falling stars aren’t visible in daytime,” muttered Scott, following Alice’s line of sight. “I’ll be fired for this,” said the man with a sigh. Liang 9 Alice heard a soft ringing like wind chimes and the tearing sound of a portal between two worlds creaking open. The temperature around her rose, and kept rising. Fire plummeted from the sky, headed straight for the willow tree with a white door opening outward from its trunk. Alice felt the Darkness beyond the threshold, cool and beckoning. She pushed Scott away with all her might just as something pulled her backward by the hood of her jacket. The last thing she remembered was falling. She couldn’t breathe. Something soft and silky pressed against her face, filling her nose and mouth. Five more minutes, she thought, reveling in the newfound comfort of her bed. A while later - it could have been hours, days, or seconds – fiery red light flooded her vision as her eyes opened of their own accord, like a newborn seeing the world for the first time. She was lying facedown on a beach. With an effort, she pushed herself up, sand spilling from her arms, her hair, sand everywhere. Water the color of starlight licked at her toes—a silent, endless ocean with only a shore but no horizon. Something hard bumped against her leg, though she felt no pain. The charred, half-melted remains of a metallic contraption tangled around her ankle like a robotic snake. While she tried to extricate herself from its remains, she noticed several other people rising out of the surf and washing up on shore. Most of them arrived empty-handed, though she raised her eyebrows at one man who washed up next to an entire cruise ship, another who rode out of the surf on the back of a tall white horse, and a little girl who was lifted from the water by hundreds of black butterflies. “You came here on that?” Liang 10 A middle-aged woman in red shorts and a white tank top that said “AFTERLIFE GUARD” leaned over her. “Let me guess, bike accident?” continued the woman, an almost pitying expression on her face. She pulled away the metal remains with ease and pointed toward an official-looking brownstone building that overlooked the water. “They’ll tell you where to go from there.” She went without questioning and followed the rest of the crowd making their way up the sloping beach. As they approached the entrance of the building, another guard in the same uniform waved them forward, yelling “Single file line!” She took her place in line behind a stooped, balding man in a nightshift. An arched doorway loomed ahead. She could just make out the words “Afterlife Inc: In Eternity We Trust” engraved in the wood. Beyond the threshold was a vast chamber with endless rows of teller’s booths lining both walls to her right and left. There were no windows, but an invisible light source cast a chilly glow on the high, vaulted ceiling and drab stone floor. Two more guards stood at the far end of the room in front of a giant lever that seemed to control a set of ever-changing doors behind it. A girl around her age walked up to the guards, waited as she was patted down from head to toe, pulled the lever, and waited again as a series of different doors popped up out of the ground and rotated through. A wooden gate appeared, topped with a crown of lotus flowers, and remained there. With a nod from the guards, the girl went through it and vanished, gate and all. “Next,” called a clerk somewhere to her left. “NEXT!” She was still wondering where the doors came from when someone nudged her forward. Finding herself at the front of the line, she hurried to the open booth and sat down in front of a little boy in a crisp black suit. There was something disconcerting about his eyes, which shone with the intelligence of someone much older. Liang 11 “Name?” he asked in a bored monotone and shuffled through some official-looking papers. “Alice. Alice Deadman,” she said without thinking. The boy wrote something down with a shiny fountain pen that reflected the light in the room with every stroke. She winced, reminded of another blinding object that fell clear out of the sky. And then it all came back to her. Fragmented visions flashed before her eyes like a movie on fast-forward—Scott’s mysterious return, the fight in the courtyard, the man with the scythe that reflected Scott’s face, and the satellite… The room swayed before her with the hypnotic rhythm of a pendulum. Alice slammed her hands down on the boy’s desk, steadying herself against the smooth cold wood. The boy’s hand froze inches above his papers in mid-scribble. A cold sweat broke out all over her body. “Where am I?” she asked in a hoarse whisper. “Bit slow on the uptake, aren’t we,” replied the boy without looking up. He pointed toward the rear of the lobby with the guards and the lever. “They’ll get you sorted out there. Next!” “But—” “Next!” Alice walked up behind a short, plump man wearing a purple silk suit, leather shoes, and a toupee. He clutched a briefcase in his hands and was about to pull the lever when one of the guards held up his hand. Alice squinted and read ANUBIS on his nametag. His partner was CERBERUS II. “I’m sorry, sir, but no luggage beyond this point.” “But I—This is only a carry-on,” said the man, holding his briefcase closer to his chest. Liang 12 “Like I said, no luggage.” “How am I supposed to invest without my life savings?” Anubis pointed toward what looked like a scale taken right out of a doctor’s office, sitting a few feet away from the lever. “You can check your status on the Karma Counter.” “I don’t see what my weight has to do with this,” muttered the man as he stepped onto the scale. The weights shifted to the left, as though the man was somehow negative pounds. “Tough luck,” said Cerberus II, as the man sputtered with surprise. He pulled the lever – after the guards divested him of his briefcase and toupee – and recoiled at the sight of a rotted wooden door with dead weeds clinging to the frame. Carefully, he opened the door a crack, only to have it slam open as a cloud of dust blew in. “I’m not going in there,” he said. Anubis advanced to within an inch of the man and loomed over him. Alice felt her scalp prickle as Anubis’ face seemed to flicker between human features and something more bestial, dog-like. With a faint squeal, the fat man leaped headfirst into the dust storm beyond the open door. “Well, I’m gonna take my lunch break now,” said Anubis and pulled the lever again. A series of doors rotated past, accompanied by a rhythmic mechanical clanking as unseen gears and pulleys strained to deliver the right one. Cerberus II didn’t seem to hear. He came over to Alice and examined her right arm. “Is that… a piece of Darkness?” Alice glanced down, and sure enough, the black piece of cloth she had ripped off of the man’s cloak was still wrapped around her arm. A plain black door swung into an upright position Liang 13 and remained there. Anubis opened it and stepped into a rectangle of daylight. The door began to slowly close behind him. “We can’t have you taking the Darkness,” said Cerberus II, reaching for Alice’s arm. “Wherever you’re going.” Before Alice had a chance to react, the Darkness bandage slipped out from under the guard’s fingers and hovered, birdlike, just out of reach above her head. Cerberus II looked up, and in that moment of distraction, Alice slipped through the door, slamming it behind her. A high-pitched whistle nearly made Alice jump back into the door, except it had vanished into a solid expanse of brick wall. As her eyes adjusted to the brightness, she saw a tide of people flow past with the hurried air of those on their way to work in the morning. A few people in station uniforms stood around one of the many pillars marked with giant numbers. Restaurants, stalls, and booths took up the walls and space between deep grooves in the floor through which railroad tracks ran. For a moment, Alice forgot herself and marveled at the scene spread out before her. A short, green-skinned man stood at newspaper stand, barking out headlines over the bustle of the crowd (“Stocks plummet! Recession close at hand?”). An elderly woman sat behind a booth full of flowers that rapidly opened and closed their petals, arguing with a tall man in a white robe with a circle of light floating over his head. Alice would have been content to stand and stare all day until she was startled by a noise behind her. “There you are,” growled Cerberus II, his face twisted into a vicious sneer as he materialized out of the brick wall. Liang 14 Alice never saw him move, but the next thing she knew, he had grabbed her by the wrist. At that moment something black flashed before her eyes, and Cerberus II just as quickly let go of her with a pained cry. The Darkness fluttered before Alice like the silhouette of a small, winged cat. Cerberus growled, a deep, guttural sound that made a chill run down Alice’s spine, but the Darkness remained unfazed. If anything, it seemed to ripple with the menace of a cat raising its hackles. Alice watched with mounting horror as Cerberus’s head flickered and multiplied – three noses, mouths, and pairs of eyes connected by the ears. They separated with a small pop and bared three sets of razor-shape teeth. His hands expanded into paws the size of melons, fingers tapering off into six-inch ivory claws. Black fur burst out of his uniform with a sickening, drawnout rip. Underneath, masses of bulging muscles rippled and coiled, preparing to pounce. Bloodcurdling snarls emanated from each of the three heads, which continued to rise higher and higher off the ground. Alice took that as her cue to run. Another high-pitched whistle echoed through the station, followed by a cloud of billowing steam. Alice ran straight into the midst of the white haze, hoping to lose her three-headed pursuer. She pushed past faceless figures in a sea of people, racing past stalls and pillars with no direction in mind. A harsh rattle jolted the ground, and Alice stumbled out of the fog just in time to see a train roll into the station, with passengers flooding in an out of its open doors. Alice forced her way into one of the lines waiting to board the train, hoping to blend in with the crowd. Heart racing, she scanned the station and was about to breathe a sigh of relief when a large, black three-headed dog the size of a baby elephant appeared on the opposite platform. Liang 15 It cleared the tracks in a single leap and bounded toward Alice like a deadly, furry torpedo. Several people screamed and hurled themselves out of its way. Alice ducked into the train, desperately willing the doors to close, but she knew it was too late. The dog took a flying leap, ears flapping, jaws gaping. A wall of shadow materialized in front of Alice. The dog hit it head-on with a dull thump and a high-pitched yelp. The Darkness shrank back to its normal size, and Alice stared down at the unconscious human form of Cerberus II, security guard uniform somehow fully intact, as the train began to move. They passed seven stations by the time Cerberus II came to with a groan. Alice had dragged him to the last row of seats in the last compartment, which was empty. The other passengers gave her a wide berth as if she was diseased. It occurred to Alice that maybe they feared the Darkness, which perched on her shoulder like a faithful black cat. She looked at it out of the corner of her eye. It seemed to be grooming itself. Alice grabbed Cerberus II by the collar and gave him a shake. “Where am I?” she demanded. Cerberus II rubbed his head and squinted out the window, which had shown the same scenery of dead grassland since the train left the station. “Looks like the countryside of Purgatory,” he said, eyeing the Darkness on her shoulder warily. “Part of the Afterlife, the next world, the great beyond. Any of those ring a bell?” Alice shook her head. “No, there was a mistake. Someone dragged me through one of those doors while I was still alive.” “That’s what they all say.” Liang 16 She leaned in closer until she saw the fear and Darkness reflected in his eyes. “You will take me to your leader,” said Alice, feeling like a devious alien invader. “The one in charge of this crazy place.” Three more stops, and they disembarked at Central Purgatory. Alice and Cerberus II walked out of the station into what looked like downtown Detroit – streets jam-packed with honking cars, suits speed-walking down the sidewalk, homeless lurking around corners and alleyways. Skyscrapers competed for height, and over everything was a layer of gritty filth, the city’s way of staking its claim on all its inhabitants. Cerberus II waved to a cab and climbed in. Alice followed closely to make sure he didn’t try to escape. “Afterlife Headquarters,” he said. “You work for Headquarter?” asked the driver, glancing in the rearview mirror. “Well I have complaint. I live as taxi driver, I die and end up here as taxi driver!” He threw up both hands in exasperation. Alice smiled weakly and swallowed past a lump in her throat as the car swerved into oncoming traffic. After a harrowing cab ride through a twisting labyrinth of back alleys and side streets, they arrived at a skyscraper so tall that its top floors disappeared into the clouds. The walls were windowless, made out of a rough-looking brown material that reminded Alice of a tree trunk. By contrast, the interior consisted entirely of chrome so polished that everywhere she looked, she found her own reflection staring back. Cerberus II nodded to the guard behind the desk and stepped into a waiting elevator. About a hundred floors later (they arrived before Alice could finish counting all the buttons), they reached a dimly lit corridor with plush carpet and a ceiling hidden in shadows. “Cerby!” Liang 17 At a desk by the elevator sat a young woman with paper white skin and long red curls. She waved at them, a huge grin on her face. Alice snorted. Cerberus shot Alice a withering glare, then composed his face into a smile and approached the desk. “Hello, Freya,” he said in a sickly sweet voice that made Alice’s stomach turn. “How have you been?” “Oh, fine, fine,” spluttered Freya, twirling a strand of hair. She noticed Alice for the first time, and her face fell. “Who’s your friend?” “Just a guest.” “Oh… I see. What can I do for you?” “Well, if you can squeeze in an appointment for me with Mr. Grim,” said Cerberus II, “I’d really appreciate it.” “Of course! He’s in a meeting now, but why don’t you sit down and wait?” So they sat in hard chairs by the conference room door and waited. Voices drifted out into the hallway. Alice held her breath, straining to catch the words. “I’m telling you, adultery should no longer be a qualification for entering Hell! It happens all the time now, every day,” said a man with a deep growl of a voice that reminded Alice of a lawnmower. “We don’t know what to do with all of them. Tar pits and burning lakes can only go so far, and space is becoming increasingly limited.” “You forgive one sin, and then what?” countered another man with a smooth, melodious voice that made Alice think of running streams. “Next thing you know, you’ll be pardoning killers and sending infidels to heaven.” “Coming from someone whose main concerns are the caviar supply and softness of toilet paper,” growled the lawnmower. Liang 18 “You get caviar in heaven? How come all we get are… bread crusts and… and rotten fruit?” piped up someone in a drunken slur. There was a gurgling sound like a bathtub drain being unplugged, followed by a moment’s silence. “Who invited the Spaghetti Monster?” said the lawnmower. “He became a major shareholder as of two months ago,” said running streams, a hard edge to his voice. “Please tell me someone’s making plans for the Apocalypse,” said the lawnmower. “I thought I made myself quite clear, Beelzebub,” came a new voice, a voice that rang with the foreboding of a thousand ravens surrounding a field of dying soldiers. “The Apocalypse has been postponed indefinitely. We simply do not have the resources to handle such a sudden spike in clientele.” “Speak for yourself,” said running streams. “The Four Horsemen have been idling around for far too long. I’m starting to worry that they’ve lost their touch.” “And where do you think all those spirits are gonna go?” snarled Beelzebub, raising his voice. It sounded like a lawnmower choking down a large rock. “We’ll have to clean up your mess, as usual.” “You really should’ve thought of that before you rebelled.” “I’m glad I did! If someone like you was chosen to inherit Heaven over the great Lucifer.” “How dare you mention that name in front of me!” “SILENCE!” roared the voice of a thousand ravens. Liang 19 There was a splattering sound, as if the entrails of a giant tried to burst through the conference room walls after swallowing a grenade. “My father bless you,” said running streams. Alice jumped out of her seat as the door burst open with such force that it became embedded in the wall. “This is Italian silk!” cried Beelzebub, frantically brushing himself off as he stepped out into the hallway. He was a tall, well-built man with thick graying hair and two conspicuous bumps on either side of his forehead. Scars ran in crisscrossing white lines across his pale face. Alice gasped in horror at the sight of the dark crimson blotches staining his navy blue suit. A delicious, tangy aroma permeated the air, and she realized, with mixed relief and confusion, that he was covered from head to toe in marinara sauce. A younger man followed closely behind, in a red-drenched robe with patches of white poking through. His face had the distinctly pinched look of someone trying to hide the fact that they were greatly displeased. He picked a meatball out of his hair, wrinkled his nose, and swept past Alice toward the elevator while muttering something about bathing in the dew of rose petals. A towering mass of noodles and meatballs slithered through the doorway. Beelzebub aimed a kick at the center of the wriggling mass and grew more enraged when his foot became tangled in a web of al dente noodles. With one last growl, he dissolved into hundreds of buzzing flies that flew into the shadowy ceiling and vanished. Several other marinara-covered figures trailed out of the conference room. As they filed past, Alice peeked around the doorway and saw red sauce congealing on walls, on a long rectangular table, and on the chairs surrounding it. The scent of Italian spices drew her in. Alice Liang 20 couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten. Just as her stomach let out a growl, her eyes landed on the center of the table. It was the most delectable, exquisite fruit tart she had ever seen—flaky crust with a butter yellow filling, topped with the vibrant colors of berries, kiwis, and even pomegranate seeds. She picked it up slowly, reverently, and took a small bite. The filling melted in her mouth, sweeter than anything she had ever tasted. Even as she chewed, she could feel her energy returning, her senses growing shaper. Alice demolished the rest of the tart in seconds without bothering to spit out the seeds. Someone cleared their throat by the door. Alice spun around, still licking the crumbs from her fingers. A man in a pitch black suit stood mere inches away, glowering at her with beady black eyes. He had a small face punctuated by a long, sharp nose. His hands were clasped behind his back so that he looked like a raven with its wings folded. “So you think you can come into my company, take one of my guards hostage, barge into my office and then eat my food?” whispered the man with the thousand ravens fluttering in his voice. He glanced back toward the doorway, where Cerberus II was biting his nails. “Your father would be very disappointed in you.” Cerberus II hung his head and whimpered pathetically. “Are you the one in charge of this place?” asked Alice. “You shall address me as Sir, or Mr. Grim,” said Mr. Grim, taking a seat at the head of the table. “And yes, I am the Chief Executive Officer of Afterlife Incorporated.” “Good, then you can help me get out of here.” Alice shifted uncomfortably under the full force of Mr. Grim’s piercing black glare. “Sir,” she added. Liang 21 “We are quite lenient with rules that govern the Afterlife,” said Mr. Grim. “Only three things are strictly forbidden here: Reproducing, dreaming, and of course, returning to life. Although if you were willing to wait a few hundred years, we might be able to discuss the matter of reincarnation.” “No,” said Alice. “Uh, Sir. I was sent here by mistake. You see, I was protecting a friend.” “So you took his place,” interrupted Mr. Grim. When Alice shook her head in confusion, he continued, “One life for another. You traded your life for your friend’s and died in his place. It’s not uncommon—jumping in front of bullets, getting hit by a vehicle while pushing someone else out of the way. Our exchange policy is quite reasonable.” “But I didn’t really die!” protested Alice. “Even so, you passed through the gateway between life and death,” said Mr. Grim, a devious glint in his eye. “And you have partaken of the food in this world.” Alice felt as if she was about to be sick. The euphoric effects of the fruit tart had worn off, and now it settled like lead in her gut. “You tricked me,” said Alice. “No, you chose to eat the food of the dead,” said Mr. Grim. “It was a test, to see if your soul could withstand, or digest, the potent power of Olympian Nectar.” “What happens if I can’t?” “Pain,” replied Mr. Grim with a humorless grin. “More excruciating than anything you’ve ever felt. But you seem to be fine.” Liang 22 Mr. Grim slid a sheet of paper across the table to Alice. No matter how much she squinted at the tiny print, she could not read the words, which seemed to be rearranging themselves on the page. “What is this?” she asked. “Your contract,” said Mr. Grim, “for employment in the Afterlife. Luckily for you, we are in need of souls of your caliber.” Alice scoffed, wanting nothing more than to tear the paper to pieces. “Did I mention that, should you fulfill the terms of the contract to my satisfaction, I may reconsider your request to return to the living world?” As Alice stared at the blank line for her signature, a black feather quill materialized in her hand. Another thought occurred to her just then. “Why me?” she asked. “Call it… a leap of faith,” replied Mr. Grim. Against every ounce of will, against every cell or astral particle or whatever substance made up her body now, Alice scrawled her name on the line. The ink flowed out in shimmering silver rivulets. To Alice, it looked like her lifeline, transcribed onto a sheet of paper that was now in the hands of the merchant of death. She left the room feeling as though she was missing a part of herself, as though she had just sold her soul. What Alice saw waiting by the desk of Freya the receptionist did nothing to improve her mood. She recognized him by his unfashionable haircut and the chunk of cloth missing from his cloak. The man with the scythe stood with his back to her, tapping absently on the blade. With the practiced stealth of years of tiptoeing around thugs and hobos in downtown Detroit, Alice crept up behind the man and kicked him as hard she could in the butt. Liang 23 “OW!” Alice smirked as the man turned around, rubbing his behind. His eyes widened with recognition. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “You brought me here, remember?” spat out Alice, trying to mimic the venom in Beelzebub’s voice. “I was doing you a favor,” scoffed the man. “If I hadn’t pulled you in, you’d both be dead.” Alice blinked, surprised by the truth in his words. “Well, thanks I guess,” she grumbled. “Why are you at Headquarters?” “I got a job. Old Grimmy told me to meet my mentor out here…” Alice trailed off. Their eyes met, and Alice saw in the man’s dark brown ones her own dismay reflected back. His name was Dan, just Dan, not-short-for-anything Dan, and he was a Grim Reaper. He felt just as unhappy as Alice about their present situation, but there was nothing they could do about a direct order from Mr. Grim, so they would just have to deal with it. At least, thought Alice bitterly, we won’t be able to kill each other. During the cab ride through the city and the train ride, Alice sat in sullen silence while Dan waxed poetic about the responsibilities and merits that came with the job. Being a Grim Reaper was the most prestigious occupation offered in the Afterlife. She should feel fortunate, honored even, to be chosen. Shepherds of wayward spirits, travel guides to the great beyond, escorts to the next life, were among the phrase that Dan used. Liang 24 “So we kill people,” said Alice, staring out the window. The Darkness curled up in her lap, having grown to the size of the housecat. “No!” exclaimed Dan, scandalized. “Haven’t you been listening? We collect the spirits of people who have already died.” “Then what kills them?” “I don’t know,” said Dan, running a hand through his hair. “They just die when it’s their time.” Alice returned to looking at the most boring view in the history of views. A gray sky blended seamlessly into the gray fields of swaying grass. She thought of home, and wondered how much time had passed since she disappeared from school. Had anyone noticed her disappearance, or did she simply cease to exist in their minds? She tried to figure out which of her classmates was most likely to get into the next fight, and what Scott was doing right now. Something white flickered before her eyes for a split second. Alice pressed her nose against the window and tried searching for it in the expanse of gray that rushed past. She was about to dismiss it as a trick of light when she saw it again. And again. Everywhere in the grassland floated white, faintly glowing figures. She hadn’t seen them before because they were almost completely transparent. Alice elbowed Dan in the ribs and pointed. “What are those things?” she asked uneasily. “Spirits,” replied Dan. “Those who believed in nothing and hoped for nothing in life, so they end up with nothing in death.” “So they’re… unemployed.” “Not quite. Ever since Afterlife decided to go with the One Drachma per Soul Policy—” “The what?” Liang 25 Dan sighed in frustration. “They don’t tell newbies anything these days.” Alice jumped as he pulled a scythe out of the seemingly bottomless folds of his cloak. “Why do you bring weapons onto trains?” Dan removed the sickle from the wooden staff and set it across his legs like a laptop. He tapped on the blade several times, and then passed it to Alice. The Darkness scurried up her arm to settle on her shoulders, wrapping around the back of her neck. When Alice raised an eyebrow in question, Dan nodded toward the blade. Alice looked down, expecting to see nothing more than her own reflection, and nearly dropped the sickle in surprise when words began to scroll across its surface. “Here,” said Dan, handing Alice a pair of black earplugs. “Port’s on the side.” Alice took them numbly and plugged them into an audio jack on the thicker end of the blade. Orchestra music filled her ears, accompanied by a woman’s voice in a British accent reciting the words on the blade-screen. “Afterlife, Inc., formerly known as The Afterlife, The Underworld, and a wide variety of other names, has a long and illustrious history of serving mankind’s otherworldly needs, dating back to antiquity.” A series of images featuring half-naked men with loincloths and metal plates on their shoulders and chests beating each other with blunt wooden spears accompanied the narrative. Alice chuckled, reminded of those documentary knockoffs that she would always fall asleep to in history class. “In its early stages, Afterlife was run by Osiris. Centuries later, ownership turned over to the Greeks, namely Hades, who sometimes went by Pluto, his Roman alias. Along came Death, Liang 26 shortly after the turn of the first millennium, under whose rule Afterlife enjoyed nearly one thousand years of continuous growth and prosperity.” Alice leaned closer to the screen in expectation of a picture of the elusive Death—Death with a capital “D,” the end of all things. A small black square appeared on the screen, bearing a “photo unavailable” caption in white letters. “What the heck?” She turned toward Dan, who was watching the screen with rapt attention. “Shh! It’s getting to the good part.” “Yet calamity struck with the arrival of the Dark Ages, and the undisputed sovereign faced a perilous crisis. An unprecedented surge in population caused Afterlife to expand to dangerous proportions until it was on the verge of collapse.” The screen turned white, with a single, smiling stick figure in the center. Two more stick figures joined the first, then ten more (at which point the smiles became inverted), then dozens more, appearing with rapidly increasing frequency. “Malcontent among the inhabitants of Afterlife fueled a series of protests and rebellions calling for more space, improved quality of after-living, and a new leader.” A tangled mass of angry-faced stick figures filled the whole screen. “Multiple accounts describe different versions of this chaotic time. Yet the end result remains the same: Death mysteriously disappeared.” The stick figures were replaced with a photo of door. A gold placard bore Death’s name in engraved block letters. Hanging from a rusty nail directly underneath, a sign read “Gone Fishing.” Liang 27 “But not before leaving his empire to his promising young protégé: Florence Grim, commonly known as Grim Reaper in the living world. Under his regime, Afterlife underwent major restructuring to accommodate its ever-growing population.” A photo from a newspaper clipping showed Mr. Grim, looking as pinched and smallfaced as ever, holding an enormous pair of scissors, about to cut a ribbon before the polished chrome entrance to the windowless brown skyscraper. “Based on his observations of capitalism from the living world, Mr. Grim implemented the controversial One Drachma per Soul Policy, reinventing the Ancient Greek concept of buying passage for the deceased. The Drachma became the monetary unit for all of Afterlife, Incorporated, effectively giving every inhabitant investing power as well as a voice in a business dedicated to the well-being of its customers.” The film closed with another burst of uninspired orchestra music. In the back of her mind, Alice vaguely felt the train clatter to a stop. She had just lost a half hour of her afterlife that she would never get back. They disembarked at a town square. Alice stifled her gag reflex at the sight of a running fountain in the center of the cobblestoned plaza with a statue of Mr. Grim in all his balding, birdlike glory. The sculptor had made a valiant attempt at capturing Mr. Grim’s most natural pose – standing stiff as a board with his clasped behind him in a marble-smooth business suit. Baby cherubs that lay at his feet, spouting water out of their mouths. “So when do I get one of those compuscythes?” asked Alice, glancing around at the different shops as she walked alongside Dan. Liang 28 Loaves of bread and racks of pastries reposed in a shop window to their left. Alice swallowed and felt a familiar gnawing in her stomach as she caught the scent of baking bread. The store next to the bakery had couches and armchairs on display, all of them boasting enormous sale signs. There was even a pet shop with birds and poodles of every color of the rainbow held in cages. “What?” “Computer scythe. Compuscythe.” “We need to get you situated in the dorms first,” said Dan without breaking his stride. “All the Reapers in the Afterlife stay in this neighborhood. It’s also where you go through training, which you will have to complete before receiving your scythe and first assignment.” Cobblestones gave way to a paved road lined with high brick walls on either side. Hedges and rooftops peeked over the walls. Soft afternoon light glinted off of an attic window, painting it orange. “Don’t worry if it takes a while,” continued Dan. “Even I had to train for months, but time isn’t an issue in the Afterlife.” A huge shadow appeared overhead, blocking out the perpetual twilight and darkening the street. A raven the size of a small airplane swooped by so close to Alice that the wind from its wings tousled her hair. Something metallic clattered to the ground at her feet—a scythe identical in every way to Dan’s except for the pulsing red light on the blade-screen. Alice stooped to pick it up. As her fingers wrapped around the staff, a white door materialized before her and creaked open to reveal a black abyss. “I guess you can learn on the job,” said Dan, a look of pure envy on his face. Liang 29 The journey through the doorway was different from the first time, if only because Alice was conscious for its entirety. She quickly realized she hadn’t missed much, suspended in pitchblack space while following a narrow beam of light from her scythe. Dan walked beside her, and she felt, rather than heard, the Darkness pad along behind them. Alice decided to call it Cat. I’m not a cat, said a voice in Alice’s mind. Alice nearly tripped. Hello? she thought. The voice did not speak again, and Alice tried to convince herself that their brief exchange never happened. The beam of light grew wider and brighter as it melded into another light source somewhere ahead of them. Alice shielded her eyes as they emerged from the tunnel and into the living world. The sun was so much brighter than the perpetual gloomy twilight of the Afterlife, but she had missed it, along with the familiar stench of car exhaust, sewage, and week-old garbage that could only belong to one place. “Why are we in Detroit?” “It’s our designated sector,” replied Dan. “Each Reaper is responsible for the souls within a certain square mileage. Mine just happened to fall in Detroit. So where does our client live?” Alice shook her blade tablet, which had gone to the default surface-of-metal screensaver. A picture of an old woman popped up: Some Lady Who Lives on Francis Street. The portal had dropped them off three blocks away from the address so they set off on foot, stopping at red lights and stop signs because, according to Dan, it was only polite to respect the laws that governed the living world. Other pedestrians swerved around them, as if deflected by an invisible force field. They arrived at one of the city’s newer sky-rises, slipped in unnoticed, climbed three Liang 30 flights of stairs, and ghosted through the door of the old woman’s apartment. Death was unhindered by doorways, but not by traffic laws. They found her in bed, lying on her back as though asleep, except she was not breathing, and something white and shiny emanated from her chest. Alice lingered by the window, studying the flowered curtains as she tried to fight down her nausea. She had never seen a corpse before except in movies, but what the movies did not show was the rancid stench of decomposition. “You can see the spirit already starting to detach itself from the body,” Dan was saying. The blade of his scythe hovered directly above the old woman’s chest. “Watch how I use the sickle to gently extract and download her spirit, which will be transferred to the Afterlife.” “I think I’m going to be sick,” croaked Alice from the corner of the room, where she was doubled over from dry heaving. “Spirits don’t get sick!” snapped Dan. Alice looked up just in time to see the spirit of the old woman rise out of her body and loom ominously over Dan. She was different from all the other spirits Alice had encountered in both life and Afterlife. Her eyes were hollow gray voids, and she was fuzzy around the edges, as if she had forgotten what form to take. Dan jumped back as the spirit unleashed a blood-curdling howl that shook the entire bedroom. Windows shattered, dressers and lamps tipped over, and in the midst of the chaos, a white portal opened outward from the ceiling. Darkness spilled out of the doorway, engulfed the spirit, and retreated into the ceiling, shutting door behind it. In the silence that followed, Alice turned toward Dan. “Does this happen often?” “I’ve never seen anything like it.” “I think I’ve seen something like it before.” “When?” Liang 31 “That day when you dragged me,” began Alice, and then caught the murderous gleam in Dan’s eyes, “when I fell through the door. It opened up a few minutes before you came. A shadow reached out of it, almost like a giant hand, scooped up this ghost of a meth head that was floating around the classroom, and then just left.” Back at Headquarters, Mr. Grim listened to Alice and Dan recount their assignment with barely concealed disinterest. “The spirit was corrupted,” concluded Dan, who had done most of the talking. “It takes years of aimless wandering for a spirit to reach that state, and this one was only a day old. On top of that, I’ve never seen the Darkness act of its own accord. ” Mr. Grim said nothing. He sat at the head of the long conference table, with Alice and Dan on either side of him, and studied them with the cold indifference of a raven watching a dying man. Life of the party, piped up the voice in Alice’s mind. She froze and scanned the room as discreetly as possible. Keep scratching the ears, it continued. Alice stared at the Darkness curled up in her lap, which she had been absentmindedly stroking since it took on the warm softness of fur. She jumped in her seat as Mr. Grim spoke. “I see what’s happened. You have failed your first assignment as a Reaper and failed to meet the terms of your contract. I can tolerate one mistake, but not dishonesty.” “Sir, we’re not making this up,” said Dan. “I saw it with my own eyes. And Alice has seen it once before.” “You trust this girl who would work as a Reaper in exchange for returning to life?” Liang 32 Dan looked inquiringly at Alice. An inexplicable sense of shame swept over Alice like a heat wave, and she couldn’t meet his gaze. Instead, she glared at Mr. Grim, whose lip curled with triumph. As punishment for losing the spirit and spinning scandalous lies, Mr. Grim fired them both. Dan would return to his home in Hell, and Alice, Alice, who had been given a new job as his bodyguard, would follow. A palpable cloud hung over their heads in the long, long descent to Hell in Mr. Grim’s all-access elevator. “Sorry, I didn’t know that this job was your ticket out of eternal torment,” mumbled Alice. “It’s not. I became a Reaper to get out the palace and see the living world.” “Are you saying you’re the king of Hell or something?” scoffed Alice. “Crown Prince. My real name is Demon Lord Adrian XXIV.” “Okay, Dan. Whatever you say.” “My uncle’s going to kill me.” Uncle Beelzebub was quite pleased with the return of his prodigal nephew. He threw them a celebratory feast that night on a yacht in the middle of the Burning Lake. The temperature was a balmy melt-the-flesh-from-your-bones; Dan insisted that it was the coolest Hell had been for a long time. Aboard the Original Sin, Alice met and shared hors d’oeuvres with the entire royal court of Pandemonium, Hell’s palace and capital. The finest cuisine that Hell had to offer consisted more of the root vegetable whose name Alice could not pronounce, grilled to a crispy, charred black. Liang 33 “I can see why you didn’t want to come back,” said Alice, poking her portion with her fork. It crumbled into a pile of black flakes. “You try cooking in thousand-degree Celsius fires sometime,” said Dan and crunched down on one with a grimace. A chorus of harmonized moans from the orchestra of damned souls shackled to the stage signaled the start of the night’s entertainment, Hell’s most popular and only play. Several demons strutted out onstage in white sheets and gold headbands. All of them bore physical deformities – hunched backs, wrinkled skin, excessive warts – or were simply hideous. From the far side emerged another group in black military attire, as beautiful as their counterparts were hideous, and proceeded to slaughter them by throwing fireballs, mountains, and other weapons of mass destruction. “It’s an enactment of how the rebellion in Heaven should have gone,” explained Dan as they watched from the back of the roaring crowd. They spent the next two nights in the penthouse of Pandemonium. Alice’s room offered a sweeping view of fiery plains, fiery valleys, and fiery cliffs with sharp fiery rocks at the bottom. Demons and other creatures occasionally swooped among the flames, but most of Hell’s inhabitants tended to congregate in the brimstone courtyards of the palace, where they wagered the souls of sinners over games of poker and blackjack. Dan’s re-installment as Hell’s heir apparent was beginning to take its toll. Business meetings with his uncle, torture overseer sessions, and etiquette lessons consumed his time. Alice was required to stay by his side as bodyguard, yet they could not find an opportunity to speak alone until the morning of the third day. Liang 34 “We can’t just sit around and do nothing,” said Dan over a breakfast of toasted scorpions and pickled scarabs, which Alice fed to Cat under the table. “During the last stockbroker meeting, my uncle mentioned something about spirits disappearing before they reach the Afterlife. It’s cost Hell hundreds of souls, and who knows how many for the rest of Afterlife.” “You think it has to do with the giant shadow we saw last time?” asked Alice. Cat rested her head on Alice’s lap and drooled on her pants. She had grown to the size and shape of a German shepherd after running around the wilderness of Hell and preying on lesser demons. “I’m almost positive,” replied Dan, his tone hardening. “Grim is in denial about it, though. Keeps insisting that nothing’s wrong.” Alice sipped some black sludge from a cup that might have been coffee. She had attended enough stockholder meetings to know that Mr. Grim made nearly all the administrative decisions in the Afterlife. As long as widespread belief in the Grim Reaper remained in the living world, Mr. Grim would remain in power. “What about the other deities?” she suggested. “Maybe we can ask them for help.” “It’s not that simple,” said Dan miserably. Beelzebub wanted Dan to take over management of Hell so he could retire and pursue his lifelong ambition of playing the harpsichord. Since Satan had gone MIA in the living world, and no one knew what happened to the other twenty-three Demon Lord Adrians, Dan was his uncle’s only hope. It seemed that nothing could shake his resolve to keep Dan in the palace of Pandemonium for all eternity. He had fought against the archangels in the Battle of Heaven, survived a direct fall into the Burning Lake, and could disperse into flies at will. He had no weaknesses, except for one. Liang 35 “My uncle has never lost a game of Texas Hold ‘Em” said Dan as he, Alice, and Cat walked through the west wing of Pandemonium toward Beelzebub’s private poker hall. “I have a plan,” said Alice. Cat’s tail twitched in anticipation. Alice felt her resolve falter as she took a seat across from the Lord of the Flies. A predatory grin split his battle-scarred face, the white lines curving like cat whiskers around his face. He pushed a pile of faintly glowing poker chips toward Alice, infused with the souls of Hell’s finest. “I’d like to raise the stakes,” said Alice in a voice that sounded braver than she felt. “If I win, Dan and I go free, and you help us find whatever is responsible for the vanishing spirits.” “And if I win?” rumbled Beelzebub. Alice swallowed the lump of fear in her throat. “Then Dan and I will stay here, forever.” Beelzebub dealt the cards, and the game began. Alice alternated between staring at the two cards in her hand and at each one that was flipped over from the deck, struggling to recall the afternoons of her freshman year that she spent in detention, gambling with the street gang kids. She started at the clatter of chips being thrown onto the table. Beelzebub raised the bet. He’s bluffing, said Cat, who had curled up behind his chair and now feigned sleep. The Lord of the Flies would never figure out how the first and only spirit in the entire Afterlife to defeat him in poker managed to do it. “Do you ever talk to your Darkness?” asked Alice during the elevator ride back up to Headquarters. “No,” said Dan rather skeptically. “The Darkness isn’t a sentient being. Is that how you won against my uncle?” Liang 36 “He didn’t keep up his end of the bargain,” complained Alice, swinging her bag of poker chips. One flew out, which Cat snapped up from the air with a sharp click of her jaws. “He let us go,” said Dan. “That’s better than we ever could’ve hoped for. Besides, he gave us a lead.” “‘Go ask Jesus?’” said Alice. “You can tell he thought really hard about that one.” More chips please, said Cat, who was sitting in a puddle of black Darkness saliva that gushed from her open mouth. Alice obliged, throwing out three, four, five chips at once to see how many Cat could catch. By the time the elevator dinged open at Headquarters, Cat had devoured the entire bag of poker chips and grown to the size of a baby elephant. She had to shape-shift into a taller, skinnier version of herself to squeeze through the doors. Mr. Grim’s all-access elevator did not include jurisdictions outside of Purgatory and Hell. The only way to reach the Upper Spheres, or the Heavens, was by airplane. There were never any direct flights and five-hour minimum delays occurred regularly for no apparent reason. It was all part of a business decision to ensure the exclusivity of membership beyond the pearly gates. By making Heaven ridiculously difficult to reach, only those that were truly patient or truly desperate would gain entry. They took a cab to the airport and followed a group of flight attendants inside. “Official Reaper business,” said Dan to the ticket clerk and brandished his scythe as evidence. Alice summoned hers as well. Scythes appeared when Reapers thought about them, and vanished when they were no longer needed. When the clerk hesitated, Dan added, “Misplaced spirit got sent to Heaven. It actually belongs in Hell.” Liang 37 At this the clerk nodded and handed them two business-class Air Heaven tickets. They bypassed security using the same excuse and waited, and waited, and waited. After an excruciating length of time, they boarded the plane (Cat shape-shifted into a cloak similar to Dan’s that Alice draped around her shoulders) and suffered through a flight of nonstop turbulence. The streets of Heaven were paved with cloud. Alice collapsed face-first into the silky coolness after stumbling out of Departures and would have taken a nap if Dan had not dragged her to her feet. Among other things, Heaven boasted the best public transportation. Alice and Dan took an open air trolley through a series of small, tasteful shopping centers, quiet suburban neighborhoods with tall hedges, and nature preserves where children wearing white robes and golden halos calmly played hopscotch. The trolley gradually wound upward in concentric circles. Alice and Dan got off in front of a glass skyscraper – Seventh Heaven Laboratories, where Jesus worked as head researcher, utilizing his miraculous powers in the production of cute, fluffy animals, which were currently all the rage amongst Heaven’s spiritually immaculate inhabitants. A man in a white suit stood up from the security station to block their way as soon as they stepped through the door. “May I help you?” “We’re here to see Jesus,” said Dan. “Mr. Christ is a very busy man,” replied Secretary Archangel Gabriel, pushing his black frame glasses higher up his nose. “I’m afraid you can’t see him without an appointment.” “But this is urgent,” pressed Alice. “The future of Afterlife is at stake!” Gabriel chuckled. It sounded like a large bath bubble popping. “That’s what they all say.” Liang 38 The double doors behind Gabriel’s station burst open, admitting a figure in a white lab coat and sandals carrying a large crate that hid everything above his waist. “Please deliver this package to Second Heaven Laboratories and tell them that their product does not meet our latest standard for fluffiness. Also emphasize the need for shorter limbs and smaller ears,” said the figure with a voice like running streams. He slammed the crate down on top of the table. A cute squeak came from inside. As the man retreated through the double doors, Alice caught a faint whiff of rose petals. “Follow the man that smells like roses!” she cried. Alice and Dan hurtled over the security station, knocking Gabriel over in the process, and managed to catch Jesus at the end of the sterile white hallway. Before he could protest, they reiterated their accounts of the shadow, the disappearances in Afterlife, and Grim’s denial. “A shadow, you say?” said Jesus, stroking his chin thoughtfully. “Maybe it’s Satan.” “But Satan hasn’t been seen lately in the Afterlife,” said Alice. “Whenever something goes wrong, I like to blame Satan,” insisted Jesus. “Actually, he prefers to be called Lucifer,” said Dan. “Oh and you would know that how?” “I’m his nephew,” said Dan. Jesus’ eyes grew impossibly wide. He sucked in a huge breath and boomed “GUARDS!” with all his might. Alice and Dan raced out of the building, a group of archangels with flaming swords hot on their heels and gaining on them every second, because three pairs of wings were better than one pair of legs. Hop on, said Cat as she slipped off of Alice and regained her hellhound form. Liang 39 Alice obeyed without question, holding onto a fold of Darkness on the back of Cat’s neck to keep from falling off. She felt Dan climb on behind her and wrap his arms around her waist like a motorcycle passenger. Deafening alarms rang out through the streets. The clouds beneath them pulsed red in time to the sirens’ rhythm. Cat made quick time down the winding paths of Heaven, powerful muscles rippling with each bounding leap. Alice stole a glance behind them and saw that they had lost their pursuers. She was about to relax when the clouds disappeared from under them. Alice fell into water. For a wild moment she flailed about, a silent scream escaping her mouth in a stream of bubbles as she imagined herself submerged in the Burning Lake. Yet the cool water gently buoyed her up to the surface, and she saw, raised on an embankment, a familiar brownstone building, growing closer as the current pushed her toward shore. She washed up on the beach face-first and lay motionless, replaying the events of the Afterlife like an infinitely looping movie. No matter how she looked at it, Mr. Grim would never hire her as a Reaper now, after all the chaos she had caused in Purgatory, Hell, and Heaven. She would never be able to fulfill the terms of her contract and return to life. The simple fact remained: she had died. And the dead weren’t meant to come back to life. Someone’s hand shook her shoulder. Alice brushed away the lifeguard and clambered to her feet. She found herself looking into the concerned, dripping face of Dan. “Oh good, you’re all right,” he said. “I thought you might’ve gotten injured during that fall.” Alice stared at him blankly. By slow, imperceptible degrees, she felt, deep down, something quietly snap inside her. Liang 40 She tackled Dan to the ground, wrapping her arms around him and headbutting him in the chest. They fell in a heap and rolled over the sand several times. Dan was bigger, but Alice had years of experience fighting junior street gangs and the element of surprise on her side. She wedged her knee into his back, pinning him on his stomach. She pressed his face into the sand, screaming obscenities at him, asking him repeatedly why he would reveal his identity in Heaven, of all the wretched places in the Afterlife. It took two burly male Afterlife Guards to pull them apart. Alice kicked and struggled against the iron grip that one of them had on her arms, while Dan spat out sand and curses in the grasp of the other. They only loosened their grip after Alice and Dan had thoroughly exhausted themselves. “Get in line, you two,” commanded the guards and pushed them toward the rest of the spirits crawling up the embankment. They took their places in line in stony silence. As they passed underneath the arched doorway of the building, Dan cleared his throat. “Sorry,” he muttered. “I wasn’t thinking.” “It’s okay,” said Alice. “Wasn’t much of a lead anyway. Are you thinking what I’m thinking now?” Dan followed her gaze to the lever at the far wall of the vaulted room, where a door had just rotated into position. “We don’t have much of a choice.” Their plan, or lack of one, was to turn the lever as many times as the number of doors that existed and go through each one in search of the ever-elusive Death. When Alice reached the Liang 41 front of the line, she walked past the rows of booths and headed straight for the lever. As usual, Cerberus II and Anubis stood guard on either side of it. “Back again, are we?” snarled Cerberus II. An answering growl rumbled beside Alice as Cat materialized by her side, looking like her same dark, dog-like self, except wetter. Alice gave the lever a mighty heave and stepped back as the doors rotated through, clattering and clanking as they went. What came to a stop in front of her more closely resembled a straw tapestry than a door. Cerberus snickered. Alice stole a glance back at Dan, who shrugged, as if to say that was as good a place as any to start. “Nice knowing you,” said Cerberus in triumphant tones as Alice, Cat, and Dan filed past. A gust of swirling sand momentarily blinded them. Stars blinked at them from a sky swathed in the indigo and purple shades of nightfall. An endless expanse of desert stretched out in every direction – stark white ridges and rolling sand dunes. The silence was so complete that Alice’s ears rang. “This looks promising,” said Dan, and Alice couldn’t be sure if he was being sarcastic or not. They walked for what could have been days or hours. The constant wind that sifted the sand and erased their tracks seemed to erase time as well. After climbing over yet another of the countless identical sand dunes, they spotted a light flickering in the distance. As they approached, they saw a man with eagle feathers braided into his long black hair, holding a pair of heavily wrinkled hands out over a fire despite the balminess of the night. Age or weariness had etched deep canyons into the leathery, copper skin of his face, which matched Liang 42 the leather of his tunic and pants. A woven blanket with geometric patterns draped over his broad shoulders. “You are close,” said the man, startling Alice and Dan. “I’m sorry?” said Dan, recovering first. “To the edge of the world,” replied the man. “To the end of all things.” He pointed with a bony, withered finger to his left. Alice and Dan squinted, following the line of his finger. The dark outline of a mountain pass loomed over the horizon, though Alice was sure that it had not been there a second ago. “Will we find Death there?” asked Dan. The man remained silent, his eyes glowing like twin stars in the firelight. The three of them – girl, hellhound, and demon lord – continued their trek through the desert night. Once again, they lost all sense of time until they reached the towering black ridges, rising out of the white sand like frozen behemoths. A narrow path wound through the walls of rock, with rubble strewn along its sides. They passed broken marble columns, colossal sandstone blocks, terra cotta tiles, and a golden dome split in half. The rocky terrain of the mountain pass eventually gave way to smooth, round pebble on the bank of a lake so still and clear that it was a perfect mirror of the starry sky. Alice felt as if she was floating in space, incapable of telling where the water ended and the sky began. At the water’s edge sat an old man with a wooden fishing pole. “Excuse me,” said Alice, walking up behind the fisherman. “Shh! You’re scaring away the fish,” he replied in a voice that sounded like the rattling of dried leaves in the wind. Liang 43 “We’re looking for Death.” “It’s all around you,” said the old man. Under his breath, he muttered, “Idiots.” Cat padded up beside him and plopped down, laying her head on his lap. At the warning look from Alice, she said, I like the way he smells. The old man slowly reeled in his line, drew the pole back over his shoulder, and cast it farther out into the water. As the ripples on the lake surface settled, Alice caught her breath. An image of Scott appeared in the water, yet he looked different. His eyes were sunken and his features sharper, the bones more prominent in a hollow face. He clutched a silver chain in one hand, and with the other he held open a white doorway with tendrils of darkness reaching out from the other side. A procession of glowing spirits walked through the door, connected by the chain that wrapped around their necks. “Looks like Null has finally found a human servant,” said the old man. “What’s happening to Scott?” asked Alice, getting down on her hands and knees so she could lean closer to the water. “The fool has made a deal with a creature even worse than the devil.” “Is that where the missing souls have gone?” asked Dan. “For this thing to feed on them?” The fishing line caught, and the old man slowly reeled in his catch – a glistening, silver fish with wispy, blue-spotted fins. Scott vanished into the ripples of the lake. Alice cried out in protest, but the old man paid her no heed. He unhooked the fish carefully and turned it over in his hands, examining the delicate gills that unfurled with each gasp, and the vacant, staring eyes. Liang 44 “Null is the mother of the Darkness, the void, nothingness,” explained the old man as he tossed the fish back into the lake. “From her, I fashioned the Darkness, the original transporter, or Reaper, of souls between life and Afterlife.” “You’re Death,” said Dan, without any question in his voice. “With a capital D.” “Yeah, yeah,” said the old man, waving one hand dismissively. “I can’t believe you found me. Nobody’s bothered to come searching for centuries.” Alice’s awe at being in the presence of the ultimate Death lasted about as long as her talk with Jesus. Her thoughts kept returning to Scott, the grim line of his mouth and the look of cold determination in his eyes. “Why is he doing this?” she asked. “Perhaps he’s doing it for you,” said Death, “though I can’t understand why.” “I can,” mumbled Dan. A thrill of dread rushed through Alice. She felt frozen on the inside. “Why do you think Grim was so intent on keeping you here?” asked Death. “He was hoping that, by keeping you hidden away, Null would be unable to hold up her end of the bargain and lose her human acolyte. Little did he know that his plan would backfire, for under-estimating the extent of human desperation, or stupidity.” “We have to stop him,” said Dan. “And this Null creature.” “You seem to have a talent for bringing life to the Darkness,” said Death, scratching Cat behind the ears. “Maybe you will be able to.” He turned to Alice, and she saw that his eyes were the color of sunlight breaking through storm clouds. “No,” said Dan. “It’s too dangerous for Alice.” “Look, do you want to save the Afterlife as we know it?” asked Death. Liang 45 Alice nodded. With a smug grin, Death pushed her face-first into the lake. Alice felt as if she had woken up from a long sleep. She breathed deeply, feeling her lungs fill with air, the steady beating of her heart, the rush of blood giving warmth to her body. She had forgotten what it felt like to be alive. Slowly, she opened her eyes and saw that she was standing in the courtyard of her high school, in the exact spot where she had died. The noonday sun beat down on her head, hot and bright. Alice gazed up, shielding her eyes, as a pitch-black cloud crept across the sky and swallowed the sun, turning day to night. Alice took off at a run for the gymnasium, the tallest building in the school. Racing past empty corridors and basketball courts, taking the stairs three at a time, the sound of her own panting breath drowned out the unnatural silence. She burst out onto the rooftop and skidded to a halt, taking in the scene before her. A pitch-black cloud hovered over the Detroit city skyline. Even as Alice watched, tendrils of darkness spread across the sky. Shining white spheres of flight floated upward from all over the city and disappeared into the black mass. She felt her heart clench with the realization that Scott was somewhere in the midst of this silent city. He’s on the roof of the One Detroit Center, said Cat, appearing in her undetectable way and butting her nose against Alice’s hand. Alice stroked the soft black fur that she always found comfort in, but did little to appease her fears now. You can see that far? No, but I can see everything that she sees, replied Cat grimly. Let’s go then, said Alice. She jumped as she felt a hand on her arm. “Sorry,” said Dan, holding up both hands. Liang 46 “Why are you here?” asked Alice, feeling a strange mix of surprise and relief. “Death agreed to let me through,” said Dan with a hesitant smile. “I’m still a Demon Lord. That has to count for something, right?” “Sorry,” said Dan, holding up both hands. “Why are you here?” asked Alice, feeling a strange mix of surprise and relief. “Death agreed to let me through,” said Dan with a hesitant smile. “I’m still a Demon Lord. That has to count for something, right?” It did count for something. Dan summoned his favorite steed from back home – a long, spindly dragon with leathery black wings and poison dripping from its fangs. Though its flesh was falling off of its bones, they made the commute to downtown Detroit in record time. Alice held onto the sharp scales for dear life as it soared toward the black cloud, Cat wrapping around her midsection as some cloak and scarf hybrid. As the dragon circled above the Detroit One skyscraper, preparing to land, Alice spotted a tiny figure on the rooftop below. “Scott!” she called out, though he couldn’t hear her from that distance. The next thing she knew, they banked sharply to the right and landed with a thunderous boom. Alice clambered down from the dragon. Scott was standing at the far edge of the rooftop, watching the sky. He turned around at the sound of their landing, the confusion on his face turning to recognition, then disbelief. They walked toward each other, as if pulled by the gravitational force of two planets, meeting halfway. “Alice,” said Scott in a choked whisper. “I thought you were gone for good.” He closed the distance between them in a single step and wrapped his arms around her. “Scott, what did you do?” Liang 47 “I wanted to bring you back,” said Scott. “I didn’t think it was possible anymore, after two years.” “Two years?” echoed Alice. “Alice,” said Scott, pulling back to look into her face. “You were gone for two years.” Dan coughed behind them. “Sorry to interrupt your tender reunion, but we’ve got a bigger problem right now.” “I didn’t know it would turn out this way,” said Scott bitterly. I can take her, said Cat. “We’ll see which Darkness is stronger,” said Alice. “Alice, are you sure about this?” asked Dan. “Remember what Death said about your Darkness being a part of you.” I’ll have some more of those spirit poker chips for you when you get back, said Alice, patting Cat on the head. Her throat closed up, as if she was about to be sick. She had a horrible suspicion that this would be the last time she spoke to the faithful companion that had followed her in life, then to the Afterlife and through numerous misadventures. “It won’t be like dying,” continued Dan. “You’ll lose a part of yourself. Forever.” I’ll have some more of those spirit poker chips for you when you get back, said Alice, fighting back tears. Cat licked her hand. She backed up several steps, sprinted toward the edge of the roof, and took a flying leap into the heart of the black cloud. Something happened when the two forces of Darkness collided. The horizon sloped downward like the hull of a sinking ship and see-sawed in the opposite direction. A powerful Liang 48 gale nearly blew Alice, Dan, and Scott off the roof. They huddled against the short, concrete fence, holding onto whatever they could find as the world tilted off-balance. Through the wind, Alice looked upward, and thought that she saw, for a split second, a large canine figure leaping in and out of the shadows, tearing it apart with fangs that resembled black crescent moons. She thought she saw the other Darkness wrap, snake-like, around hers. After that the two forces of Darkness melded together into a seething mass that occasionally flickered as first one, then two, then hundreds of lights from spirits escaped and returned to their rightful owners all over the city. Gradually, by degrees so infinitesimal that Alice hardly noticed it happening until it was almost over, the wind calmed, the light returned, and the noise of thousands of people stirring awake reached her ears. Alice climbed to her feet and looked out over a clear sky. Scott stood beside her, but where Dan was she saw only a faint outline where the air seemed to ripple. She felt oddly hollow, as if all of her internal organs had evaporated. The hollowness persisted. It remained for days, months, and years. At times it faded, like an unpleasant thought in the back of her mind. And other times it became a dull, throbbing ache that filled her chest. Alice did not see Cat or Dan again, nor did she see another spirit for as long as she lived.