Hereafter by Jennifer Snyder Read Free Book Online Page B

above me, bumpy and full of ridges. I felt as if I’d stepped inside a damp cave long ago forgotten by even the smallest of creatures. White fog bubbled from a crater a few hundred feet away from where Jet and I stood, and danced across the ground hypnotically.
    Gripping my hand even tighter, Jet put one foot in front of the other, and we began making our way through the silent darkness that was Purgatory, toward the crater that dipped into the ground. After only a few steps, I noticed something at the cliff-like edge of the crater, something shinny and black that caught the small glint of light available and reflected it.
    “What is that?” I asked, pointing, just before I realized what the objects were. “How are there crows down here?”
    We’d taken a few steps before Jet shook his head and finally answered me. “Those aren’t crows; those are ravens.”
    “How can you tell?” I wondered as we cautiously continued walking. The closer we got, the more I noticed. They hid in the shadows, watching.
    “Ravens are much bigger than crows. All you have to do is look at their size,” Jet answered.
    My eyes bounced from raven to raven until I found a cluster of three staring fixedly at me. They reminded me of the crows that used to stalk me with a similar haunting gaze and made fear prickle through my mind. I gripped Jet’s arm with my free hand and squeezed his hand tighter with my other. My eyes grazed over their inky feathers and obsidian eyes as I wondered what they were doing in Purgatory. If the crows had symbolized change—mainly the transition from a Link to a Reaper—then what did the ravens symbolize, if anything?
    “Do you know why they’re here?” I whispered, afraid to spook them or anger them in any way.
    “They’re drawn to death, darkness, and destruction,” Jet said as we crept up on the ledge of the crater. “They are also a mixture of Watchers and Trackers.”
    My eyes remained fixated on them. “The Watchers of what, Purgatory?”
    “Exactly,” Jet said, his footsteps faltering. “If we’re going to find your mother, then we’re going to need a little bit of help. I need you to summon one of the Trackers.”
    I shifted my gaze from the ravens, breaking the hypnotic hold they had on me, and met his stare. His voice had been just above a whisper, but his eyes were intense and serious. “I don’t know how to summon anything.”
    “Yes, you do,” he insisted. “Close your eyes and concentrate hard on what you need from this place—to find your mother. A Tracker will answer.”
    I hadn’t even known there were Trackers until now, let alone that I held the power to beckon them. I thought of the definition of the word track and hoped that was a Tracker’s job, to find something, to track it down and nothing more.
    Closing my eyes, I did just as Jet had told me and concentrated on what I needed. I repeated the same few words over and over in my mind: I need someone to help find my mother in Purgatory . There was a shift in the air, like a fan being switched on, and a cool breeze blew across my face. I opened my eyes and noticed that Jet and I were no longer alone and the watchful cluster of three ravens I’d been staring at had diminished down to two.
    Jet tugged me slightly behind him. I eyed the girl leaning against the far wall, half in and half out of the shadows, who now stood in place of the third raven. How could Jet think she was a threat? She was slender and about my height with perfectly straight, onyx hair to her waist. She had violet eyes and a tight, black leather jumper on.
    “Why would a Reaper Council member call out to help find a soul in Purgatory, especially one that was her mother? …This is the question I’ve been asking myself,” the girl said as she crossed her arms and eyed Jet and I suspiciously.
    “The reason doesn’t matter. All that matters is you answered, so it must mean that you’ll help us,” Jet replied.
    “This is true.” The girl smirked.