The Garden of Eden (6 page)

Chapter Thirteen

Asher

Holy heck!

I was dead.

It was Eden who had met me on the dark and murky pier. It was Eden who had probably called me to her. And it was Eden who was going to take my soul. And you know what? I was totally okay with it.

I was dead, but I could still feel Eden’s touch like before. So I didn’t care I was going to The Realm of the Dead.

Eden

As soon as we were back at the Headquarters, Abraham showed me to my room, promising not to take Asher’s soul. He had said Asher’s soul was already taken, but I knew souls were stored in those little crystal spheres that hung around your neck. I couldn’t let him take the one person whom I felt a connection to. Not when I had a plan to get him back. And I also had a plan to learn how to use my trait so that once I did get him back I wouldn’t kill him, or anyone, again.

My bedroom here at the Realm of Death Headquarters was just as lush as the furnishings downstairs in the foyer. My room was situated at the top of the grand oak staircase and at the end of a long hallway. Once I opened the door, Asher appeared. He was sitting on my four-poster bed with black velvet bedspread and throw cushions. I smiled and ran towards him, but stopping just before we touched.

“Hey,” I said, a little breathlessly.

“Hey.”

“I thought you had disappeared.”

“I’m still here. This place is like a haunted house. Do you understand how many spirits there are?”

“Are any of them evil?”

“No, they’re more like… trapped.”

“Lost souls,” I gasped.

“What?”

“They’re lost souls. They can never leave.”

“How do you know?”

“Just a little thing I learned here.” I sat down on the bed beside him. His gaze was intense. I moved back an inch.

“You don’t have to be afraid of me anymore.”

“I should be saying that to you about me. I am not afraid of you.”

“Well, you don’t have to avoid me anymore.”

“I just don’t want to hurt you anymore.”

“How can you hurt me when I’m already dead?” He brushed my bangs out of my face, which set my blood on fire. I couldn’t resist anymore. I leaned forward and kissed him with everything I had. He definitely didn’t feel dead to me.

“Wow,” he said, breaking the staring contest we were having.

“Worth the wait?”

“Definitely.”

We were lying on the bed, on top, not under the covers. I wouldn’t let him get that close to me yet. And nothing had happened, only the kiss.

“Tell me something.”

“Anything.”

“What is it about me that you like? Because I don’t understand.”

He propped himself up onto his elbow, “First, you’re hot. Second, you’re not boring.”

“Come on, I am
so
boring.”

“No, you’re not. You’re the most interesting person I have ever met.”

“But I’m not technically a
person
.”

“Exactly.”

“And sorry to say, buddy, you’re not either. Welcome to the world of the supernatural.”

“I like it here,” he replied with another breath-stealing kiss. Asher pulled away for a moment and drank me in. “Don’t you find it weird that I’m a ghost and we can do this?”

“At first, but remember I am the new Daughter of Death. So you’re not a ghost to me.”

“Daughter of Death. I like it.” He chuckled and kissed me again. I rolled over so that I was now straddling him. My hands found the bare patch of skin in between his jeans and the bottom of his shirt. I pushed my fingertip underneath the fabric. Asher gasped and pulled me to him so that I was now flush right up against him. This position was doing all kinds of bad things to my body. Just when I was about to rip off his shirt, the door opened and Abraham stepped in.

“Eden…”

“Oh, My God, Abraham! Knock please!” I jumped off Asher faster than humanly possible (I wasn’t human) and adjusted my clothes, trying to cover any bits that may have been revealed in our hot make out session.

“Sorry, I didn’t realise you had company.”

“There’s something you should know,” I began to tell him. He had to know. “From this moment on, Asher won’t be leaving my side.”

“Eden, you do know he has to move on.”

“No! He’s never moving on, not while I’m the gatekeeper’s apprentice.”

“He can’t stay here, unless you want him to become a lost soul.”

“He’s not going to be a lost soul, not while I have anything to say about it.”

“Well, you better find the time, courage and heart to say goodbye. Training starts soon.” And with those parting words, he left the room.

“Ugh!” I threw a pillow across the room and it exploded in a firework of feathers.

“What if he’s right, Eden?”

“No, you can’t say that. I’m never saying goodbye to you.” I jumped into his arms again and we both fell backwards onto the bed. “Don’t worry, I’ll find a way for us to stay together.”

“I don’t doubt you, not for one moment.”

My heart fluttered like any teenage girl’s would when their crush told them what they were waiting to hear. But I wasn’t an ordinary teenage girl and Asher didn’t need to tell me he cared. I knew.

Chapter Fourteen

Eden

After reluctantly leaving Asher’s arms, I dragged myself to the bathroom and changed. For a world full of death, I sure I had good digs—and a good wardrobe. After I showered, I slipped into grey skinny jeans, black lace up boots that went all the way to my knees, a black tank top, and a huge, comfortable black woolly jumper. It was the most comfortable thing I had ever worn and I wanted to live in it forever. I applied some red cherry lip-gloss (yes, there was lip gloss here too!) and went off to find Abraham for my training. I had no idea what my training would involve since he promised to teach me how to use my trait properly. My trait was the touch of death, so unless it involved touching people and bringing them here, I had no clue. After searching the entire house, well, exploring the house, I eventually found Abraham in the library. As soon as I entered the library, I was completely awestruck. There were two stories, and four walls, completely covered in books. To get to the top level you had to climb a ladder, and each ladder had wheels on the bottom. Sliding ladders! Cool! I couldn’t wait to experiment. Abraham’s voice snapped me out of my daydream.

“Good morning, Eden.”

“Morning? But it’s still dark.”

“It’s always dark here. But it
is
morning.”

He was seated at an oak desk in the middle of the room, writing something in a leather bound ledger with a huge white quill. A Nephilim feather? There were two vintage winged armchairs opposite, and he gestured for me to sit in one. I sat and he looked up from his writing.

“Before you scream or freak out…” Abraham’s eyes searched the room and the chair next to me. The one I was sitting on was mustard yellow and the other was baby blue.

“Where is Asher? This involves him, too.”

As if waiting for him to give the signal, Asher suddenly appeared beside me. My beating heart grew wild. “What involves me?” asked Asher, giving me a wink. Great. What was he doing to me? I thought I had control over my emotions. Obviously not.

“We are going to the earth realm for Eden’s training.”

I sat up straighter in my seat. “Can I see my Mum?”

“No.”

“What? Why?” Why did I take this stinking job? Oh yeah that’s right, because it’s my fate. Well, fate sucks.

“Because you’re on a strict schedule. Treat it like school, and you, too, Asher, since you refuse to cross over.” Abraham narrowed his eyes at Asher. Asher met his expression and returned it. I rolled my eyes. Boys! So immature.

“Fine. But like school, we get to have fun after homework.” I suggested, hopeful.

Abraham sighed. “Fine. You can see your mother
if
I see potential. But we have to leave the earth realm when I say.”

“Fine.” I wasn’t happy with it, but I had a slim window of opportunity and didn't want to waste any of it.

The journey back to the earth realm didn’t drag on as it had the last time we made the crossing. I had Asher with me to help fill the time. We played spot-o but there wasn’t much to spot. It was always dark and too misty to see anything on the lake. As soon as we reached the pier and climbed out of the boat, Abraham touched both our shoulders before we could take a step forward, and we were jolted backwards into nothingness. It was the most surreal experience, like falling, except I don’t think we were falling
down
. We were falling sideways. And a second later, we were standing on solid ground again, but in a different location.

“What the… don’t ever do that to me again!” I yelled, doubling over. I was about to be sick. Asher squatted down and put his head between his legs.

“Or me!” he muttered.

“You’re going to have to get used to that, it’s all part of your job.”

“What exactly was
that
?”

“All Nephilim over the age of twenty five should be able to do that, it’s called teleportation.”

“It’s seriously insane. In the future, please warn me.”

“Got it.”

Asher stood up and gazed around. “Where are we?”

“We’re at a hospital.”

“I know that, genius, but which hospital?”

“Georgetown University Hospital, in New York City.”

“
Why
are we here?” I asked. Were we going to kill patients?

“There are a few patients here in a coma. I want you to help them, Eden.”

“Help them? Hang on, I thought we were here to help me control my trait and teach me how
not
to use it—not
to
use it.”

“This is your job, Eden.”

He was a seriously a sucky teacher. I didn’t want to kill people, even if my trait caused me to. I realised I had a choice. I could use my trait for good instead of bad. But I had one problem. And that problem was becoming a serious pain in my backside. I had to find out how to deceive Abraham and trick him into believing I am helping him, when really I am helping the person. If my theory were correct, I could save lives and everyone could have their loved ones returned to them. But it involved carrying soul spheres around. Luckily, I had Asher to help me.

My plan went like this: I would take a person’s soul who was near to death and harvest it like so. And then when back in the Realm of Death, I would give the soul sphere to Asher and he would hide it and keep it safe. Now the next part was a little tricky: I had to convince Jaz to open the Sacred Tree. The Sacred Tree showed us our fates, and if my theory were right, it could also change the fate of a person. Now all I had to do was figure out how to interfere with someone’s fate. If I could, then they wouldn’t have to die.

Before Abraham touched me, I looked at Asher, who was beside me as always, and met his eyes and he nodded. He knew what he had to do. Asher and I had discussed the plan quietly in my room back in the Realm of Death so Abraham wouldn’t be able to hear it. He disappeared to do his job, while I disappeared to do mine. We had separate lives and separate fates, but in the end I knew they would both intertwine and become one.

Abraham led me into a private room where a woman who must have been in her twenties, it was hard to tell, was laying on a bed attached to lots of tubes and wires. A breathing tube was all that was keeping her alive. This was one of the comatose patients. I wondered what had caused this woman to fall into a coma, what caused her fate to end here. But that was none of my concern right now. Now I had her life in my hands. I walked towards her and before I placed my hand on her forehead, I looked back at Abraham. He nodded reassuringly.

“Go on.”

I placed my palm flat against the woman’s forehead. It was cold and I waited for a sign. In just a few seconds the monitors began to beep wildly and then flat-lined. She was now dead in the earth realm, but not to me. Her spirit appeared to my left.

“Am I dead?” she asked me, staring at her own body. Nurses and Doctors came running and passed straight through us. I gasped. I would never get used to that feeling either.

“Yes.” I had to say to her. I wanted to tell her no and that she would return to her family soon, but I couldn’t tell her the truth in front of Abraham. “Don’t worry, you’re safe now.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m Eden; I’m the gatekeeper to the Realm of Death. I’m here to carry your soul on to your next life.”

“I can’t believe I’m dead. My fiancé…”

“Don’t worry. You will see him again soon.” That last part was the only truth I could give her. I took an empty soul sphere out of my pocket and held it up. The woman’s body began to flicker like a flame and then all her colours blurred together into a single colourful swirl. Her form began to shrink until it was no more than then size of an eyeball and flowed into the little crystal sphere. It was the most unusual thing to witness. As I hung the sphere around my neck, I glanced over at Abraham and he smiled.

“You’re a natural.”

“Thanks. Can we go now?” He nodded and led me out of the hospital. I took two more souls that afternoon, a young boy who was dying of leukaemia and a twenty-something football player who had suffered a bad concussion in a fall. He was another comatose patient. As I hung them around my neck, I thought of Asher and wondered if he had made it home.