The Afterlife Academy Saga

Chapter 2

2

Dreams of cold and wind were interrupted by a flicker of warmth and the crackling of fire. Slowly but surely, the gentle heat drove the frozen haze away until I regained some feeling in my body. Everything ached as I willed my limbs to move.

It was hard to orientate myself, but there was a familiar softness around me that felt like a blanket and my head was resting on a pillow. The raging wind was faint in the background, but definitely still there. Howling, whistling, speaking the language of old.

With painstaking effort, I pushed myself up from the bed. My entire body protested, but I didn’t want to give in. “Where am I?”

“You’re awake,” a female voice replied, sounding vaguely familiar. Where had I heard that before?

I turned towards the sound, trying to identify the source.

Nothing…

Were my eyes still closed?

With a grunt, I drew my eyelids open but instead of the familiar shapes and colours of the world, I was met with a strange film of white. Both darkness and brightness met, somehow creating a new illusion, a new colour that I’d never seen before.

The voice spoke again. “Don’t rush yourself. You’re still injured.”

Desperate, I tried to get my vision to focus, but nothing happened. The light colour changed, but it didn’t turn into anything. It was just a cloud of nothing.

“I can’t see.” The panic welled up within me as I blinked my eyes rapidly, hoping, trying to regain my sight. Flecks of a colour I’d never seen before danced in front of my vision, adding to the dancing white that was now my reality. “I can’t see!”

A hand found my shoulder. “Don’t worry, just a side effect from being snowsnared. It’ll wear off.”

“When?” I rubbed my fists into my eyes, forcing them to work. I didn’t like this, I didn’t want to be blind.

“You’ll have your vision back by the end of the day.”

A day?

Under different circumstances, it wouldn’t have been a problem, but right now… I couldn’t afford to waste any time sitting around. I had to find Pickles, return to Var with the nightroot, and save my friends from the bunker.

Shit. Var. Did I still have the vial?

I patted myself, searching for the glass jar. My clothes were still half-frozen stiff and I hadn’t regained all feeling in my fingers yet. There was a tingling running through them, but it wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

As I bumped into the small vial and confirmed that it was still intact, I released a small breath of relief. At least that was something. Without my vision, it would be near impossible to find them again. Unless I got Hyde to help me.

Hyde! Where was my wolf? Did the humans find him? Was he still lying in the cold?

I moved around, trying to locate the female voice but I couldn’t remember where she was sitting. I’d just have to hope she was still here. “Who are you? Where’s Hyde?”

“It’s me, Zen,” she replied, her voice coming from my right.

Right. That was why she sounded familiar. The girl from the cabin. With my joints shrieking in stiffness, I directed me towards her. “My wolf. Did you find him?”

She let out a soft chuckle. “Don’t worry, there are no wolves in this part of the mountain.”

“No, I meant…” I paused, trying to jolt my frozen brain into action. It was hard to think when I was so cold and I couldn’t see, but I had to be careful here. If I didn’t watch what I said, I could reveal a whole world of unknowns to this human girl.

I wasn’t exactly sure what the punishment was for revealing the existence of elementals, but it had to be harsh. After all, we weren’t really supposed to mingle with them. We were just their guardians of death, watching over their eternal souls and bringing them to a final resting place. Apart from that, everyone just went their own way and we left each other alone.

With a crack of my stiff neck, I swallowed my concerns about Hyde. While he wasn’t near me, I could sense his presence somewhere in the Veil. He had to have figured out how to get himself to safety and that was the main thing.

“I must just be a little confused,” I lied, rubbing my eyes again. More spots danced and twisted around each other, but my vision didn’t return. Zen had to be telling the truth about what happened to me, even though it seemed weird that humans and elementals could experience the same reaction to things. I thought we were too different for that.

Maybe not...

Some of the tingling in my fingers ebbed away to make room for a gentle burning. “How did you find me?”

“The stars guided me to you.”

“You’ve said that before,” I remarked.

“And it was the truth.”

I frowned. “How can stars tell you these things?”

The sound of ruffling clothing filled my ears and I tried to follow the noise. Zen was moving, but where was she going? What was she doing?

I had no idea. I was useless without my eyes, helpless and at the mercy of a human.

As I sat on the bed, trying to regain my bearings, I recognised the sound of water being poured.

Only just realising how thirsty I was, I licked my lips, desperate for a drink. “Could I have some water?”

“Here,” she replied, but nothing happened.

Oh, right. She was probably presenting me with the cup but I couldn’t see.

I held out a hand into the direction I thought she was, hoping I didn’t come across as completely helpless.

Cold metal was pressed into my palm and I willed my stiff fingers to curl around it. With shaky hands, I brought the cup to my lips and took a greedy sip. The water flowed into my mouth, like an oasis in the desert. It coated my tongue and chased the dryness away. Water had never been so delicious and sweet. It filled my entire mouth, the cool sensation luscious and smooth. Before I could stop myself, I’d drank the entire cup. I’d been so greedy, the water was pouring down my mouth and spilling onto my cold clothes.

“More?” I asked, holding out the mug. I’d never desired or appreciated a simple glass of water as much as right now.

Zen took the cup from me and from the noises, I could hear her refill my cup. If only I could see, then I’d have a better idea of what situation I was in. Where we were, what the room looked like, whether there were other humans around?

“Here,” she said, her voice suddenly close.

That was not fun. I didn’t like people intruding on my personal space and not being able to see them come in was a nightmare in itself. It was made even worse by the fact that she was human.

What if she figured out I wasn’t like her? What if they tried to hurt me? Humans seemed kind, but I’d also heard about their inherent cruelty, especially to each other. Whichever Zen was?

No idea.

I didn’t know anything about humans, except for what to do with their souls when they passed. Ish.

If only I could use my vision, then I’d feel less vulnerable and weak.

At least I had water. I could feel myself growing stronger just from drinking and rehydrating myself. It was icy cold, but that seemed to agree well with me.

I emptied the cup again and reached down to place it on the floor, only to knock it down and have the cup roll away.

Damn.

Luckily, it was empty and I was no longer thirsty.

Now that my mouth was no longer dry like sandpaper, I could concentrate and focus my mind on the situation at hand. I was seated somewhere inside a house or cabin, with a human so close I could almost touch it. I couldn’t see, which was just an effect from, what Zen called, snowsnare. She said it would last a day, but I didn’t have the time to waste. I wouldn’t let the lack of vision stop me from accomplishing my goals.

A loud thud made me jump, but I didn’t know what it was. Maybe a door slamming or something falling? Everything was doubly frightening when I couldn’t see.

“Zen?” a new voice said, confirming that someone else had entered the room. “How’s the girl?”

“Still a little confused,” Zen replied, her voice growing quieter.

Was she whispering? Was there something she didn’t want me to hear?

“I’m fine,” I said, hoping I sounded believable.

Nobody replied, which only made me more suspicious.

“Hello?” I called, unnerved by the silence. Shadows danced in the white nothing, but I still couldn’t see anything.

Were they just looking at me, pitying me for the poor fool I looked like? Had they left?

Why was nobody talking to me?

Confused, I pushed myself up from the bed in an attempt to walk to where I thought the door was, or from where I heard the new voice. The second woman had sounded a bit older than Zen, but I hadn’t figured out anything else besides that.

The floor shrieked under my bare feet, the wood smooth and rough at the same time. It was hard to keep my balance when I couldn’t see and it felt like there was a sea globbing in my head, making everything wobbly.

“Ouch.” I’d slammed my foot against something. A dresser? A table? A floorboard?

I had no idea, but it was something hard that hadn’t moved out of my way.

With my arms waving in front of me in search of any information about my surroundings, I wobbled through the room. I couldn’t see anything, yet I’d never been more overwhelmed with everything coming at me. There was so much information to process, so many things to consider and think about.

“Ouch!” I’d bumped into another hard surface, something smoother and tall this time. Maybe a wall? Or perhaps the door?

I clawed at the surface, trying to find any type of clue that would tell me what this was. It felt like wood, with grooves and rougher spots, but that could still be plenty of things.

My fingers wandered as far as they could go, gathering information in a slower manner than my eyes would have done.

Grooves, something metallic, more grooves.

Wait.

Metal?

I retraced my fingersteps, curling my hand around a knob. Doorknob.

Yes!

The door clicked open and a gust of wind greeted me. It wasn’t too cold, so either the weather cleared up or I was in some sort of protected situation.

Carefully, I ventured further ahead, trying to navigate myself towards the faint voices. If Zen was discussing something about me, I wanted to hear it. I needed to know what she or they were planning with me.

My foot caught behind a small ledge and before I could do anything about it, I smacked into the ground. Immediate pain jolted into my knees and hands, which I’d used to break my fall.

“f**k,” I cursed, clawing up from the wooden floor and using something hard on the side to pull me up. I didn’t know what I tripped over, but it couldn’t have been big. A stupid, little ledge that would never have been a problem if I had working eyes.

My joints pulsed with pain, not taking kindly to my stumble. They’d already been creaky and aching, but this just made it worse.

Great. And now I couldn’t remember from which direction I came from or where I was going.

I could still hear the voices, but I couldn’t make out where they were coming from anymore. It seemed to come from both sides.

Damn it.

I needed someone to help me, but there wasn’t anyone I could trust.

If only Hyde was here, he would’ve been able to direct and guide me. But a human settlement was no place for a dusk wolf, or an elemental, so I’d have to figure it out without him and do something I’d never done before.

Pretend to be human.