Page 85 of Till Death

Amon shook his head in disbelief, backing up slowly.

“I know we’ve got a lot to talk about, so why don’t you wait for me? It will only take a minute. I need to have a word with Jade alone.” Hank snapped his fingers and a sputtering Amon disappeared in a blink.

Wherever he’d sent his brother…I hoped it was bad. I sank to my knees when my legs refused to hold me.

“Wow.” My lips rounded around the word.

Was it really over?

“Hey, you. How’s it going?” Hank said, a grin beaming on his wrinkled face.

“How is it going?” I repeated dully. He stood over me, way too tall for me to continue to look up at, and I pushed up to my feet if only to prove a point. I didn’t care who he was; staring down at me was a no-go. “Hank, you’ve got to be kidding right now.” I waved my hand in his face. “Go away. I don’t want to see you right now. Or ever again.”

He continued to stare at me through wide, guileless eyes. “I’m not sure what you mean, Jade. Especially since you brought yourself here this time. Really miraculous and truly commendable.”

I was about three seconds away from grabbing him by the filthy collar of his shirt and dragging him in for a little uncomfortably close eye contact. That might be the only way to get my confusion across.

“I mean, how am I here? The fight is done. I’m supposed to be dead and trapped in my own personal eternal torment right now,” I replied. “I was not supposed to be able to drag your brother into the Void without magic. Right?”

Which I knew would be a loop of watching Cole die, losing him, over and over until the end of time. Nothing but my loss shoved in my face repeatedly. Not the cosmic thank you I would have liked for my part in hopefully saving the world, but I understood the repercussions of my actions.

What I didn’t understand was the way Hank’s lips twitched slightly as he tried to hide a smile.

“Is something funny to you?” I asked.

“You’ve done so much, Jade. Not just for me, but for everyone in this life, the past, the future. All timelines all at once. United because of you.” He held out a hand for me and I stared at him.

No more aches or pains.

No more physical discomfort of any kind, but it seemed the mental kind followed me from reality to the afterlife. And for some strange reason, I didn’t want to take his hand. We stood there for who knew how long before I finally, reluctantly, placed my palm on top of his.

Hank tugged and, swallowing hard, I fell into step beside him, dropping his hand as quickly as possible.

“I’m dead-dead for real this time. Aren’t I?” It was more of a statement but we both knew the truth. Saying it out loud simply made it all the more real.

“Yes, you are,” he replied and held out his hand. “It’s not a bad thing.”

I glanced at where he was gesturing and found a wooden door. Much like the ones in Hell and like the one he’d showed me leading to his favorite moment in time.

“What’s this?” I asked. “A trick?”

“Quite the opposite,” he replied and reached for the handle. When he twisted it and pushed the door open, the other side looked equally as white and void like to me.

Definitely some kind of trick.

But still, he dipped his head for me to follow him and stepped through.

As we crossed the threshold, the dim glow of the Void faded and formed into an equally familiar landscape. Buildings, a perfect blue, cloudless sky, and a street with no cars… It was the actual afterlife, where souls who weren’t destined for Hell went to live out the rest of their immortal existence, a dimension running parallel to the living one.

My old home.

But why was I here?

Was it even real?

I’d lived in the afterlife when I worked for Styx Corp, which also felt like a million years ago. I glanced overhead in time to watch the night sky shift into place and click together like the last pieces of a puzzle.

“What are we doing here?” I asked Hank.

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