Afterlife (31 page)

Everything was going perfectly, until I felt a chill — and
the visions began.

My mind filled with image after image of the humans below,
people I’d never known well but now felt an intimacy with that was as powerful
as love. Different faces, different emotions, different ages: Every human being
down there felt precious to me now. And above this, a darkening veil of terror
for those humans’ safety, and hatred of the vampires who danced in their midst.

The wraiths. The Plotters, to be exact. Suddenly I could
feel them over the entire dance, gathering like storm clouds. Was this how the
attack had begun a year ago? “What are you doing?” I whispered, safe that I was
far enough above the crowd for the orchestra to drown out my words.

The images changed to violence: vampires being set aflame,
being frozen within blocks of ice, being caught in the kinds of traps that Mrs.
Bethany set for ghosts. No one plan took form, but I could tell what it meant.
These ghosts feared for their anchors’ safety, and for their own. And they
wanted revenge on the vampires below, for Mrs. Bethany’s plan.

Those people are safe, I promised. If you want to move on,
you know that I can help you.

I expected surprise, happiness, maybe a rush to depart.
Instead I felt only a deeper wave of fear. Honestly, I wasn’t much less
frightened myself, and I didn’t yet know how — or if — I could perform the
wonders Christopher claimed. So how could I make them any promises?

Yet I felt that, if they would follow me, I had to try. If I
was able to usher several of the wraiths away from Evernight Academy in one
swoop, that would be as effective at stopping Mrs. Bethany as anything else we
could do.

But a hard rush of refusal hit me, like a hard — breaking
wave on the shore in winter. And then a rising tumult of energy.
aimed
downward, in points like a hundred arrows — What’s
happening?I thought. I looked wildly at the crowd; Balthazar and Patrice were
off hunting traps, but everyone else I cared for was down there dancing. There
was no time even for a warning.

The energy streaked toward the floor like thunderbolts, and
I expected a rain of ice or snow. Maybe ghostly apparitions. I didn’t expect
every single human in the crowd to instantly collapse, unconscious.

The orchestra’s music snarled into something unrecognizable
as instruments stopped, one by one, and the vampires began to react. A few of
them were obnoxious enough to laugh, but most of them were worried — either
about humans they cared for, or because something obviously dangerous was
happening. Lucas knelt on the floor, two fingers at Skye’s neck to check for a
pulse. Ranulf held Cristina in his arms, though she was completely limp, her
head flopping backward. Vic lay facedown, his arms and legs splayed awkwardly
like an abandoned rag doll.

And then he moved — or. I should say.
his
body moved. Because I knew from the first moment that whatever was rising wasn’t
Vic.

I realized: I Wasn’t the only wraith with the power to
possess humans.

The other humans began coming to as well, but their eyes
were clouded — a milky greenish color all over, with no pupil or iris. Yet none
of them were blind. Their movements were slow and awkward, as though they had
not moved in a very long time. Lucas drew back as Skye, or something that
looked like Skye, stared malevolently at him from her place on the floor.

Vic squared his shoulders as he pulled himself fully
upright. If I hadn’t already sensed that Maxie Wasn’t among the attackers, I
would have known that she wasn’t the one possessing him just from the
expression on his face. It was so unlike Vic, so strange for him, that it took
me a while to recognize the emotion I saw — cruelty.

He shouted, “Mrs. Bethany!”

It wasn’t Vic’s voice. It was a hoarse rasp that made me
instantly think of someone whose throat had been cut. I wished desperately for
a mirror to free him — but would the traps work if a wraith was possessing a
human being? Remembering how securely armored I had felt when I’d possessed
Kate, I suspected not.

Mrs. Bethany stepped forward. She didn’t look scared. Just
mildly interested. Her long, starched dress of lace was stark white.

“Free our kind,” Vic said. The crazy raspy voice seemed to
make the entire room shiver. “Free us. Or we shall strike, and your kind will
perish.” Smoothly she replied, “If you force me to exorcise you from your
anchors, they will suffer terribly. Some might die.”

The mask of cruelty on Vic’s face didn’t waver. “You have
been warned.”

Then, suddenly, as if the marionette strings had been cut,
all the humans collapsed again — but this time, only for a second. Within
moments, they were up, rubbing their heads if they’d fallen, confused about
what had just happened. Nobody seemed to remember exactly, which was probably a
mercy for everyone involved.

I tried to take hope. We were collecting most of the traps
tonight. Once we figured out how to act safely, we’d be able to free the
wraiths ourselv·es. Given time, I could probably convince many of them to leave
this realm with me, if they could no longer remain safe here.

And yet I sensed that something terrible had already been
put into motion — something we might not be able to stop.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE I WENT ALL EVIL.” VIC SAT ON the steps of
the gazebo, where we’d gathered after the chaos had died down. Although it wasn’t
yet midnight, the Autumn Ball was definitely over. “Did I shoot ftre out of my
eyes or something cool like that?”

“No, you were just scary as hell.” Lucas leaned against the
gazebo railing. He’d loosened the tie of his evening suit and undone his
collar, a view I wished I had time to appreciate more. Skye, like most of the
human students and plenty of the vampires, had long since retreated to their
rooms for the full — scale freakout that evidently followed a mass possession.
“They just wouldn’t listen to you, Bianca?”

“They listened, but they were afraid.” I sat on the railing
next to him, all but solid; nobody outside our group was around to see.
“Whatever they’re planning, it’s coming soon. If we don’ t free the wraiths
quickly, I’m scared they’ll start hurting people — humans, vampires,
everybody.”

Patrice, who hadn’t witnessed the possessions and, as such,
was thinking more clearly than most of us, began analyzing our position. “We
were able to sweep most of the areas we wanted to. A total of forty — seven
traps are in the records room. It stands to reason that we didn’t find every
single one of the traps, but we must have the majority of them by now. So if we’re
able to do that, it should change the wraiths’ minds, right? Or at least give
them some reason to hope, and show them that we’re on their side.”

My mother shifted on her feet, and my dad slipped his arm
around her shoulders in a half hug. I knew she found it difficult to think of
herself as being on the side of the wraiths, but she hadn’t fled; she stood
here with us.

“We have to free the trapped wraiths,” I said. “And after
that, destroy the traps we’ve got, to stop Mrs. Bethany from using them again.”

“It is unlikely that anyone so determined as Mrs. Bethany
would allow herself to be stopped by the destruction of a few traps,” Ranulf
pointed out.

I nodded. “But when we’ve freed the trapped ones, the
wraiths who have traveled to Evernight will stop being so afraid. I can
convince some of 201 them to leave then, maybe.”

“And maybe it’s not a bad idea to start tipping off the
human students,” Balthazar said, catching on to the idea. “The hauntings didn’t
scare them off, but possession might.”

Lucas added, “And if possession doesn’t, vampires certainly
will. I’m not above showing my fangs if it will get some human students out of
this school for good.”

“So we can really shut her down.” I began to get excited;
for the first time in far too long, it felt like I was getting the upper hand
over Mrs. Bethany. “Destroy the traps, empty the school of anybody except the
vampires who need to be here.”

My father looked wary. “When we destroy the traps, we’ll
disrupt the deep magic inside. It’s going to be an enormous release of energy.
Nobody will be able to miss it.”

Lucas grimaced. “In other words, Mrs. Bethany’s going to
know we’ve messed up her plan. Not later, when we start telling the human
students right away.”

From his place within the gazebo, where he sat on one of the
long benches, Balthazar said, “And she’ll act. Immediately. When we do this, we
have to be ready for the repercussions.”

“She Wouldn’t actually kill
— ”
Another vampire, I wanted to say, but I couldn ‘t, not after seeing what she’d
done to Samuel Younger. Mrs.

Bethany had nurtured this plan as her dearest wish for two
centuries, and she wouldn’t hesitate to destroy anybody who got in her way.
When I looked at my father, he nodded once in confirmation.

“She would,” Dad said. “And she’s played favorites a lot
this year — among the faculty and the students. I suspect other vampires are in
on her plan. If we don’t want to get staked or worse, we need to get out of
here as soon as we’ve set the wraiths free.”

Lucas turned to my parents — the first time I’d seen him
directly speak to one of them since that initial altercation with my mother at
the top of the school year. “Any chance she’s going to be gone for a while
anytime soon?”

There was an awkward pause that made me cringe, but then Dad
seemed to pull himself together. “No such luck. But we could come up with a
distraction, maybe. A crisis to get her off the grounds for a day. She’d hear
about it when she got back, but that would buy us some time to cover our 202
tracks.”

“She’ ll know I’m in on it,” Lucas said. “After I turned her
down flat the other day — she’s got to know. But hopefully I can cover for the
rest of you.”

Mom cleared her throat, like it cost her some effort to
speak to Lucas politely. “Mrs. Bethany will suspect us, too, especially if we’re
involved in getting her off campus. So we should just agree now that it was the
three of us. Nobody else.”

“Hey, that’s not necessary,” Balthazar said.

“Spare me the noble routine, okay?” Lucas shot him a look.
“Nobody wants that woman on their bad side if they can help it. So don’t be
stupid.” To my surprise, Balthazar grinned. “You’re a good friend, Lucas.
Though You’ll never admit it.”

They shared a smile, and I could see my parents realizing
that — against the odds — Lucas and Balthazar had actually gotten fairly tight.
For some reason, the fact that I loved and accepted Lucas didn’t have as much
impact on them as that simple proof of friendship.

Vic made aT sign with his hands. “Time out from the male
bonding, okay? There’s one thing we haven’t talked about — Bianca.”

“What about me
?
” I said.

“You ‘re, like, Superghost, right? So You’re exactly who
Mrs. Bethany is gunning for.” Vic looked from person to person, as if hoping
someone would contradict him, but of course nobody could. “Okay, so how do we
stop her from figuring out that you’re a wraith? And that you’re here? Because
she’s got to be on the lookout.”

“You’ve all been really careful,” Mom said. Her eyes briefly
met Lucas’s, as if thanking him for helping to protect me. It was a small
moment, but it made me want to hug her harder than ever. “She has to know that
Bianca’s changed into a wraith, but maybe — maybe Mrs. Bethany doesn’t realize
that she’s here. If she did know, wouldn’t she have tried to capture Bianca
before now?”

I had to admit that was a good point. The traps weren’t for
me specifically; Lucas’s room hadn’t been targeted.

Mom continued, “I don’t like not knowing how much Mrs.
Bethany knows, but hopefully it’s about to be a moot point. Within a couple of
weeks, 202 I suspect the three of us will have left Evernight Academy forever,
and .
.. You’ll come with us, won’t you, Bianca?”

“Wherever you guys are.” I leaned my head on Lucas’s
shoulder, with enough weight to make him smile. The glowing strands of my hair
fell across his chest. “That’s where I’ll be.”

 Afterward, as everybody prepared to go back into the
school, I went invisible, becoming no more than a vapor trailing overhead.
Balthazar, I noticed, rose from his seat but didn’t walk away with the others,
lingering at the gazebo a moment longer. The moonlight outlined his silhouette
amid the scrollwork iron and the ivy.

I drifted a little lower and whispered, “Are you okay?”

“Sure,” he said, though his voice was odd. I remembered the
Autumn Ball two years ago, when we had walked out here together to watch the
stars; it was the night I’d told him that I loved Lucas, and I was still
learning how deeply that had affected him. Was he recalling that night, too
?

Balthazar looked up in my general direction and said, “Lucas
is heading up to double — check the traps, make sure they’re well hidden. So he
won’t be going to bed for at least an hour or so.”

“Yeah. What about it?”

“I want you to come into my mind when I’m dreaming tonight.”

Immediately I knew why he was asking, what he planned to do.
“
Balthazar …
I don’t know if that’s a good idea. We’re
headed into a fight. You need your strength.”

Til be all right. It’s taken me a long time to face what I
have to do — but I see it now. We can’t put this off any longer.” His
expression was unreadable, but his voice was firm. “Trust me.”

After spending a couple of months second — guessing him at
every turn, for something that hadn’t been his fault to begin with, I owed him
that, didn’t I
?
“Okay. I’ll come.”

We went back into the school. The great hall’s grandeur was
in shreds — the candles were out, the flowers had been knocked on the floor by
panicking students, and the orchestra’s bandstand had clearly been abandoned in
a hurry. Balthazar unfastened his bow tie and cuffs as he went up the stairs;
his footsteps echoed on the stone. After what had happened earlier tonight, I
was willing to bet that most people remained wide awake and would be for hours,
but nobody was risking wandering around alone at midnight.