Beyond (Afterlife book 1) by Willow Rose Read Free Book Online Page B

me,
maybe I wouldn’t have been so afraid.”
    “ And maybe you wouldn’t
have fought for your life either,” I said thinking that it made
sense that no one told us this was what waited after our human
lives were over. Then no one would want to be human.
    Abhik nodded.
    “ I guess you are right,”
he said.
    I spotted a new and even bigger cloud not
far from us.
    “ I’ll race you to that
one!” I said and flew as fast as I could toward the white puffy
cloud.
     
    Later when it was dinnertime and we had
gotten our plates full, Abhik and I were having a nice time
chatting and talking. Mick came out of the kitchen after preparing
our food and joined us at the round table. I remember being
incredibly hungry. Flying always did that to me. It still does. I
was shoveling both lasagna and T-bone steak into my mouth at the
same time.
    “ How come we are not
allowed to go outside the Academy’s area?” Abhik asked Mick. “It is
kind of boring to be flying in the same area all the time. There is
a whole world out there to explore. Could you imagine flying over
the Taj Mahal?”
    “ Or the Statue of
Liberty,” I said.
    Mick smiled. “That day will come when you
graduate, but right now you are not trained enough to go outside
the school. What if someone saw you?”
    “ You mean like
humans?”
    “ Yes, that would be
horrible. How do we explain that to Salathiel? You are not done
with your training yet and therefore not allowed to go out of the
school area. Those are the rules.”
    “ It is not like spirits
haven’t been seen in the human world before,” Abhik said. “Some
humans even have pictures of spirits that they think haunt their
houses.”
    Mick shook his head. “Those are only
examples of why you shouldn’t be running off to the humans just
yet. Those are spirits who have not been careful
enough.”
    I nodded; it made sense.
    Mick took his plate and got up from his
seat. He leaned toward me while talking in a low voice. “Try to
enjoy your time here. You will get to the rest soon enough. Just be
patient,” he said and pushed his chair back in its place. He left
us with a “See you.”
    He had barely left before someone far less
friendly turned up. It was Portia flanked by Acacia and
Mai.
    “ Talking to the maid, are we?”
she asked.
    I sighed. “What do you want
Portia?”
    She sat down at the table with her two
friends next to her. She leaned over and whispered. “Some of us are
going out tonight,” she said with a low voice.
    “ You can’t,” I said
shaking my head. “They lock the doors and windows at night and none
of us are good enough to go through brick walls or double-glassed
windows yet.”
    Portia smirked. I knew at that moment she
had something planned, and it wasn’t good.
    “ I have found a way out,”
she whispered.
    “ Oh no, Portia, you will
just get in trouble.”
    She looked at me with contempt. “I forgot,
you’re the teachers’ pet,” she said while her two friends giggled
next to her.
    “ Well if it keeps me out
of trouble, then yes I am.”
    “ Don’t you want to see
what it is like to be near humans?”
    I have to admit I was tempted. But I
pretended not to be.
    “ No. Why?”
    Portia smiled. Her green eyes lit up.
    “ Portia has learned something,”
Acacia said. “A friend from the second year told her how to mess
with the humans.”
    “ Mess with humans,
but—?”
    “ They told us a lot of cool
stuff,” Mai interrupted me. “Like how to move things around in
their houses so they get all confused and uh … uh … how to go into
their flat-screen TVs. They have done it a million times. And they
get in their computers as well. They mess up everything. It is so
awesome!”
    I was stunned. Where did all this come
from? “But that is not our purpose! That is not what we
do!”
    Portia rolled her eyes. “Told you she
would be boring.”
    The two other girls nodded.
    “ I will go!”
    I closed my eyes. It was Abhik.
    “ No you won’t,” I said.