The Afterlife Academy Saga

Chapter 6

6

The stench of decaying humans was overwhelming and disgusting. There was nothing like that familiar smell of sickness to make my stomach churn. There were just rows and rows of old people, injured people, all lying in this cramped cabin, waiting for food or water. They couldn’t do anything themselves, they were just dependent on the care from the rest of the village.

What an utterly horrible way to die. It wasn’t honourable, it wasn’t memorable. They were just wasting away, bit by bit.

I’d be surprised if any of them were meant for Valhalla, at least, when their time came.

“Ugh.” I waved some of the dust away, trying to figure out what to do. Female Wind Children weren’t used to taking care of the infirmed. That was a man’s job…

It didn’t seem to be the case for humans. In fact, apart from Zen, there were two other women tending to the sick and they all seemed to know what they were doing. To fit in, I’d have to figure it out too.

Mimicking the woman on my right, I dabbed the damp cloth on a forehead.

“Careful, girl,” the man muttered, his voice meek and paper-thin.

“Am I not doing it right?” I asked, trying to wipe away the beads of sweat.

He lifted a trembling hand. “Too… bloody wet.”

“Oh, shit.”

My cloth was still soaking wet and I was just drowning this little grandpa.

Taking care of people was clearly not a natural thing, but I was going to change that.

I wrung the cloth and returned it to the man’s head. He let out a sigh of contentment, which I took as a sign of approval.

Hah, I’d be a pro in no time.

“Are you doing okay?” I asked, fluffing up the man’s pillow and smoothing his blanket. “Does that help?”

“I don’t need all this fuss,” he grumbled.

Zen appeared on my left. “Grandpa, don’t be so ungrateful.”

“Hmmppf.”

I gestured to the old man. “This is your grandfather?”

“Yes, he’s a bit grumpy.” She sat down next to him, drawing a smile from his wrinkled face. “How’re you holding up?”

“Desperate to get out of this stinkhole,” he replied, his yellow teeth catching a glimmer of sun peeking through the walls. “Either dead or alive, I don’t care. I don’t understand why I need to lie in this bed.”

“You have to rest,” Zen insisted.

“Rest? I’m fit like a young fawn.” He tried to swing his legs out of the bed, but the young girl pushed him back down.

“Stop it. Hang on, I need to go help over there.” She hurried away to a woman who was caught in a coughing fit, leaving me along with the cranky old man.

I hovered my cloth over him, unsure what he needed. He wasn’t moaning like all the other people or looked like he needed any assistance, but he was in the infirmary, so… There had to be a good reason why he was here.

“You, girl.” He pointed at me, his beady eyes flickering. “Take me for a bloody walk.”

“Ummm…” I looked around to find Zen, wondering if this was alright. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

He waved his hand dismissively as he pushed himself up from the bed. “Don’t be rude now. It’s my daily stretch. Come on, keep up.”

Before I could stop him, he pushed past me and darted for the door.

He was quick on his feet, which I took as a good sign. None of the other villagers were stopping him, so surely, this was okay?

I ditched the cloth and hurried after him. It was a good thing I had my vision back, otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to keep up with him.

“Hurry now,” he called, shuffling along the wooden floor. He was all bent over, barely able to keep his back straight, but he seemed to have no problem navigating through the slippery snow.

The stark sunlight reflected into my eyes, introducing a new stinging pain. White spots danced in my vision and I hoped this wasn’t a return of the snowsnare. I didn’t want to go blind again.

I blinked as fast as I could, driving the fog away. It took a couple of moments before the spots cleared and I was sure I could still see.

Great.

Now I just needed to keep up with this old man.

“Hurry up!” he called, pushing through the snow like he was wading through the sea.

I really didn’t want to go back out into the cold, but I couldn’t let Zen’s grandpa wander off on his own. At least Zen’s mother had given me a big sweater that was helping to preserve some warmth.

Still… The icy wind and frozen landscape was bitter and cruel. I hated it. Never again.

“Wait up,” I shouted, setting into a jog to catch up with Zen’s grandpa. He was quick on his feet for someone that was staying at the infirmary cabin.

As I joined him, he looked at me. “You’re an odd girl, aren’t you.”

It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. As his eyes pierced through me, I could tell he was trying to figure out what was weird about me.

“Just an ordinary girl,” I replied, immediately kicking myself. Who would believe that?

He glared at me. “Hmm-hmm… You’ve got a weird vibe to you. Can’t place it.”

I suppressed a sigh. He was a handful, that was for sure.

“You remind me of my late wife.”

“I do?” I breathed out a cloud. “What happened to her?”

He shrugged. “What happens to all of us. She died, girl.”

I paused for a moment, unsure what to reply to that. I was trained in the art of the Afterlife, but had no clue about actually dealing with death.

“Was she a warrior?” I finally asked.

“A fighter? Yes, she was feisty,” he said, chuckling at her memory.

I nodded. “That’s good. Then she’ll be in Valhalla, drinking and feasting in the golden hall.”

“Hah! Valhalla. Just a whole bunch of nonsense. I don’t believe in that.”

“But…” I stared at him, not sure what I was hearing. “How can you not believe? It’s real.”

“You’re sounding like my hippy dippy granddaughter now, with all her stargazing and signs. Let me tell you something, girl. There’s no afterlife. It’s just a pretty way of saying what really happens. When you’re dead, you’re dead. Wormfood.”

“You’re wrong,” I protested. “Valhalla is real.”

“And how do you know, girl? Have you died and seen it, hah?”

“No, but…” How could I convince him without telling him I was training to be a Valkyrie?

He scoffed. “There. It’s all pretty words, but it’s nonsense. There are no signs or omens, no messages from Odin. The gods don’t care about us and they’ve never cared about us. If they did, we wouldn’t be in the situation we were in now.”

I gulped. He definitely didn’t know what he was talking about and it was best that I kept it that way. I couldn’t reveal my nature to him, Zen, or any other humans out here. I had to remain inconspicuous and pretend I was just like them, human and unaware of what was waiting for them in the afterlife.

“I suppose so,” I said, careful not to agree with him too much. I didn’t want Odin to smite me for this.

The old man spat in the snow. “The gods don’t give a flying crap about people like me. Valhalla valshmalla. It’s all a lie so we die peacefully.”

“Hmmm-hmm,” I hummed, trying to disengage from this conversation. I’d never be able to convince him about what I knew and I probably shouldn’t. We weren’t supposed to show ourselves to humans, let alone reveal ourselves to them. In a way, I could understand why he felt this way. How were they supposed to know what was waiting for them if we weren’t telling them? From old legends and myths?

Those weren’t even accurate…

With him ploughing through the snow, I just shrugged. “I guess it doesn’t make a difference what we believe, right?”

“Hah, try telling Zen that. She’s obsessed with the signs, you should see her go crazy over ravens. She thinks they’re messengers from Odin himself. Hah. He don’t care.”

“I…” I didn’t know how to answer that without upsetting him or upsetting myself. So I chose to divert the conversation. “Shouldn’t we start getting back?”

The old man scoffed. “Back? Hah! I’m never going back to that shithole.”

“Wait. I thought this was your morning walk?”

He looked at me, his beady eyes flickering proudly. “Morning walk? I’m escaping, girl.”

“No, no. I don’t think Zen agrees with that.”

Without listening to me, he kept walking. “My granddaughter is lovely, but she’s got her head in the clouds. I’ve had enough of lying in the bed and pretending to be sick.”

I studied the old man, who despite his age, was very bouncy. “You’re not sick?”

“No, of course, not. Do I look ill to you?”

“I guess not…” I pushed my cold hands in my pockets to warm them up, remembering the dust bunny was happily asleep in one of them. “Oops.”

“What you got there, hmmm?” the grandpa asked, gesturing to the moving bulge in my pocket.

“Oh, it’s just my hand.” I pulled my hand back and waved it in front of his face. “See.”

“It’s still moving.”

I covered my pocket with my sweater. “It’s nothing.”

“If you say so, girl.”

Just as he was about to walk further away from the village, a sound travelled towards us.

“Grandpa!”

That had to be Zen. She must’ve found out he’d tricked me into aiding his escape.

The old man grumbled as he pushed through the snow. “I’m not going back there.”

“But…” I looked back to where the young girl was hurrying towards us. “She seems worried.”

“She’s wasting her time worrying about an old git like me,” he scoffed, moving surprisingly fast through the slippery snow. “Hurry now.”

Caught between the two, I stared back at Zen. She saved my life and clearly didn’t want her grandfather to run away, but then, he didn’t want to be locked up. What was I supposed to do? Who should I help?

Caught in my indecision, Zen raced past me and grabbed her grandfather by the arm. “Stop. That’s enough. Mum will be so mad at you.”

“Lemme go,” he protested, swatting her away. “I don’t want to go back.”

“You have to.”

The grandfather pulled a face. “Don’t want to.”

“Don’t make me call Mamma.”

“Fine,” he grumbled, giving up and allowing Zen to pull him back. As she passed me, she glared angrily. “You and I are having a talk later.”

“Me?” I gestured to myself. “What did I do?”

“I said later!”

Eek. So much for helping out then… I wasn’t in the mood for a talking to, especially not from a teenager. Even if she’d saved my life, she didn’t own me and there was no reason why she could boss me around.

“Pfff…” With a longing look down the mountain, I identified the dark tree line of the forest. It didn’t look that far away, but with the snow, it would take a long time. Especially with the dark clouds brewing in the North. The air was blue and clear now, but the temperamental and unpredictable storms would make it suicide to go down.

I’d learned that from experience.

Rescuing Ryoko and the others would have to wait.