Read What Following Brings Online
Authors: S. E. Campbell
What Following Brings (15 page)
****
The halls were crowded with people, prisoners and Demons alike. There were so many souls Eden had trouble pushing her way through them in order to get to the stairs.
I
'
ve got to get to Yuri. I hope he hasn
'
t been trying to get through the door again.
She
frowned and bit her bottom lip, but she continu
ed her path upward, toward the stairs.
Once she had reached the second floor, she heard the sound of movement and
looked
around. She paused, stepped out into the corridor, and walked forward. When she made
it several
steps, she stopped.
That
'
s odd. I
swore I heard
something, but what is it?
The corridor
appeared to be the same it always was.
There
were no l
anterns
so the only light was
that which
came off of her own soul
.
As far as she could see, nothing moved.
Just as she stepped forward, she heard the sound of loud footsteps thundering down the stairs. She whipped around and saw Adanna, Don, and Sergeant Dale standing at the foot of
them
, wide-eyed and fearful.
“
What
'
s going on?
”
Eden asked.
“
Yuri
'
s gone,
”
Don said, and Adanna nodded her head
vigorously
. Don reached over and grabbed
Eden
'
s
shoulder.
“
What?
”
Eden asked, feeling devastated.
Her third soul, gone.
“
That
'
s impossible. Just seconds ago Aaron said he
saw
Yuri and hauled him back to
â
oh.
”
Jared
'
s face filled her vision, and she sprinted toward the bottom floor again. Once she got there, she
raked
the crowd and started to shout,
“
Jared? Is Jared here? Come out.
”
There
was no response. Eden went rigid and realized the horrifying truth. Jared had listened to every word Aaron had said and had gone upstairs and freed
Yuri
while nobody was l
ooking
. She shook her head, shuddered, and realized why Yuri had been frustrated by Adanna
'
s disappearance. There was nothing more aggravating than having someone she needed being stolen away from her.
Yuri did not know how important he was. Yuri did not know he was a part of her tasks to get to heaven.
Determination filled
her, and she balled her fists.
I will find him. I don
'
t care how long it takes me, I will find him.
Turning around, Eden moved to sprint back towa
rd the second floor when she nearly ran into Adanna and the others again.
“
Eden,
”
Don said,
“
why is it so important some Demon got away? So what? Yeah, General Yuri was the most annoying out of the lot of soldiers because he was
a lot smarter, but he
'
s probably running right now, heading for greener pastures.
”
“
Adanna, I need him,
”
Eden said.
“
He
'
s like you. He
'
s my third piece.
”
Adanna
'
s mouth dropped open
. She
raced
to
the second floor. Eden recalled the sounds she had heard earlier and started to run too. As she moved, she
looked
behind her
at the others
and shouted,
“
Everybody
search
for General Yuri. I refuse to leave until I have him back.
”
She had never been one to give orders, but this was just so important.
The prison was dark as Eden
peered
down the hallway and crossed her arms over her chest. Yuri was gone. She bit her bottom lip and wondered whether she would ever find him now. What if he disappeared into the cracks,
like an ant
?
No,
Eden thought.
I
'
ll find him. I
'
ll find him and I
'
ll fix this. There is no such thing as an impossible task.
With a sigh o
f
frustration, Eden slid down the wall,
pulled her knees beneath her chin
, and stared straight ahead. Lately, she had been feeling
sad
a lot. She threw back her head and shut her eyes
. She
thought of her parents. She remembered a day when they had been happy, a day she always thought of when she tried to remember why she
had
loved her dad to begin with.
They were at the beach at the Santa Monica pier in California
. The
ocean
spray filled the air and smelled of salt. Eight-year-old Eden leaned out over the side of the railing and
looked
downward, into the
ocean
below. The water was dark brown and cold, yet a big part of her was tempted to
toss
herself into the icy waves below
, just to feel the air whistling through her hair
. But then her dad grabbed her arm, drawing her away.
“
Eden, don
'
t get so close
to the edge
,
”
her dad said.
“
You
'
re so
skinny
,
I swear you could fit through the guard slats.
”
Eden backed away and her dad grabbed her hand and squeezed
. He sighed.
“
I met your mom here,
”
he
sai
d, appearing whimsical
.
“
I saw her standing right over there.
”
He
pointed at the corner of the pier where a thin, wiry fisherman reeled in an empty line.
“
My own personal goddess, fresh off the shoot.
”
Smiling, Eden
looked
at
the corner of the pier and found it
easy to think of her mom being
here, looking into the water. Her mom
'
s eyes were the color of the
waves
down below, greenish-brown and shimmering. Her mom had always been so beautiful. Eden sighed.
“
I went over to talk to her
. She
turned
around and gave me this large smile,
”
her dad said.
“
Then I asked her out and she told me not on her life. She walked away, and I watched her go.
”
“
But if she told you
no
, how come you
'
re married now?
”
Eden
asked
eyes wide.
“
One of the fishermen said she always came here,
”
her dad said.
“
He said
she
stared
at the water
appearing
sad or something like that. The next day I came back, and she was here again. I went up to her and said,
â
Why won
'
t you go out with me?
'
and she stared straight into my eyes and
told me
,
â
Because I don
'
t feel like it.
'
Then she walked down the pier again and disappeared.
”
“
Wow,
”
Eden said.
“
That doesn
'
t
sound nice
of Mom.
”
Her dad shrugged.
“
Well, I cam
e back again
the next day
and asked her,
â
Do you feel like it today?
'
and she said
â
No!
'
and left. I came back to the pier every day
the
entire month and asked her
the
same question, and then one day, she said yes. We went to a restaurant and had dinner, and about two months later
,
I found out she was pregnant with you. That
'
s
when
we got married.
”
Staring at her dad, Eden
'
s mouth dropped. She had never heard this story before.
“
I thought people got married first, then had babies.
”
As Eden
looked
at her dad, she saw a blush come over his plump cheeks.
“
I probably shouldn
'
t have told you that,
”
said he said
, ruffling her hair.
“
Sometimes things get out of order, and...
”
Eden continued to stare at him, thinking,
I don
'
t understand.
How could things get out of order?
“
Oh,
boy
,
”
he
said, running his hand through his hair.
“
I guess what you could say is I was so eager to have you I
wanted you before I got married
. You
'
re the best thing that
'
s ever happened to me, anyway.
”
“
What about Mom?
”
Eden
asked.
“
Was she happy to have me around, too?
”
He
stared at her
. This
time, his face drained of color instead of filling with it. Then his
mouth
split into a grin again and he poked her thin stomach. He poked too hard and it hurt a little, but Eden didn
'
t mind. Her dad was usually too busy working to spend much time with her
. This
vacation was like a dream. Maybe, if Rebecca had
gone on vacation with them
instead of staying at home with the man her dad called the
“
pool boy,
”
then she could have taken part in this too.
“
Am I not good enough for you, Eden?
”
her dad asked, laughing.
“
You
'
re good enough,
”
Eden said.
“
I love you, Dad.
”
Smiling,
he
reached down and
took her small hand in his
, and the two of them began to walk down the pier together.
The sound of footsteps drew Eden from the memory, and she did not know whether she felt happier or sadder than she had before. She loved her dad
and
missed him a lot. She missed her mom too. Both of them were so engrained as a part of her, but having them ripped away from her like they wereâ¦
It
'
s because this is important. I was chosen for this.
She stood up and stared straight ahead
. She
thought of what the
E
arth was
probably
like now. Her dad was
likely
in trouble, and who could save him? Her. She could save him. And she was going to find Yuri and she
'
d convince him to st
ay with her, because he was one of her five and she needed him.