Under Zenith Read online

  “This place is beautiful,” I answered simply.

  “Get up,” he said quietly, his voice actually quite threatening.

  “No,” I replied primly. “I like it here and I don’t have the energy to climb another cliff. If that makes you mad then you can leave. You haven’t been the most pleasant company to have around anyway.”

  It was true that Hayden was ‘sort of’ trying to help me, but he’d been so rude since the first second we’d met that I really wouldn’t have minded getting rid of him at that point. My afterlife would have been a much more pleasant place without him in it and I couldn’t deny that after my last terrifying climb, I could use some alone time to just relax.

  Hayden didn’t say anything, but instead hooked me under each arm and pulled me to my feet, almost accidentally knocking me over the edge of the cliff in the process.

  “Go,” he commanded, pointing to the adjacent island like I was a dog he was scolding.

  “You’re not the boss of me,” I said like a five year old, sticking my chin out defiantly.

  I wasn’t a weak girl. I didn’t have to take crap from this guy no matter who he was. Daddy would have had a fit if he’d heard half of the things Hayden had said to me.

  “Isla, so help me, if you don’t jump to that other island, I’m going to push you over the ledge,” he said, bringing his face close to mine and letting his eyes bore into my soul.

  “Oh no! Hayden’s going to push me over the edge,” I mocked, bringing my hands up over my mouth and making my eyes wide.

  I wasn’t quite sure where I’d gotten all that courage, especially when I didn’t doubt for a second that he’d follow through on his threat. Maybe it was because the idea of falling to my second death was actually more desirable than having to climb up another cliff side that would probably have the same result.

  “If you’re not going to complete the tasks then you’re of no use to me. And if you’re of no use to me there’s no reason for me to keep you around, wasting my time,” he whispered, his face still close to mine.

  “Is that speech how you woo all the ladies?” I asked, quickly giving him a kiss on the cheek, then laughing at how hard he was working to maintain the bad boy image on my behalf.

  Without warning, I felt his hands on my side in a motion that knocked the wind out of me, and then I felt nothing but my stomach dropping as I went over the edge. I didn’t make a sound in that second of free fall before Hayden’s hand closed around my wrist, catching me just before I fell out of his reach. I swung like a pendulum into the side of the island, hitting it painfully.

  “What is wrong with you?” I asked breathlessly, still dangling by the one limp arm Hayden held.

  “I warned you already, but you didn’t believe me. Now are you going to complete the task or not?” he asked. “I can’t hold on to you forever.”

  “Hayden, pull me up!” I screamed.

  “I’m already losing my grip on you,” he threatened.

  “I’ll do it!” I yelled, terrified that he might actually drop me.

  “That’s more like it.”

  Almost effortlessly, Hayden pulled me back onto the grass and released me.

  “Now get to it,” he said, nodding to the island that held another step to my Destination.

  I didn’t speak, now actually quite scared of Hayden and his completely unstable moods. When he was pretending to be all dark and brooding he wasn’t all that scary, but what kind of psychopath dangled a girl over a ledge just to get her to cooperate?

  He clearly had some unresolved childhood issues that he liked to take out on women. Maybe he had been some creepy serial killer in his past life. That would explain why he was now sentenced to a life guiding the lost. Perhaps it was supposed to be ironic punishment.

  Giving myself enough space for a running start, I stared at the adjacent island. Luckily, this cliff side wasn’t as sheer as the last one. Small ledges and overhangs jutted out of the earth every few feet, making me believe that if I could just jump far enough, my climb up to the grass wouldn’t be all that difficult.

  My legs were shaking and I knew normally I’d have to do my ‘run and stop at the last second’ routine a few times. But the way Hayden had looked at me as I was swinging over the ledge, my life completely in his hands, made me feel like the risk of falling was better than staying here with him for one more second. Besides, if I stopped before jumping he’d probably count that as the final straw and toss me overboard.

  Taking one last deep breath, I ran as fast as I could and propelled myself forward off the relative safety of the grass. I flew through the air for one breathtaking moment, letting the breeze buoy me up a bit, before landing hard on one of the outcropping ledges. It had escaped my notice until that moment that I’d left my boots on the other island, but I’d just have to do without them. There was absolutely no way to go back and I knew Hayden would already be waiting for me at the safe house.

  Climbing from ledge to ledge and refusing to look back at the fall I’d have to face if I slipped, I considered my options.

  Once I reached the top of the cliff side I’d be forced to spend time in the safe house with Hayden and his multiple personalities. I couldn’t refuse to join him or refuse to do the tasks because I was pretty sure he’d murder me if I did.

  Like I’d said, I wasn’t a weak girl, but I also wasn’t a stupid girl and I’d seen enough of my friends date guys with short tempers to know that Hayden was more dangerous than I’d originally thought. He really might have been a full blown crazy person.

  Coming to the last ledge and feeling completely shocked that I’d already made the climb, I carefully stood on the grassy island top, looking around for any sign of my unstable Guide.

  The tree with the glowing purple stone in the trunk could be seen in the distance and despite the thick fog, I could easily pick my way through the field to my destination. The trunk had a sizeable split right under the stone and the stairs carved into the dirt floor were a pretty safe indication that I’d come to the right spot.

  The cool earth stairs felt good on my bare feet, and I let one pale finger trace the wall as I walked deeper into the ground. The stairs ended abruptly at a wooden door with a warm orange light shining through the open gap at the bottom of the wood. Though I knew Hayden would undoubtedly be inside, unhappy that I’d survived the task, I had to go in if I wanted any hope of reaching my final Destination.

  I lifted my chin into the air as I entered the room, ready for a fight. The room was pretty small, and closely resembled the cabin we’d stayed in the night before, though this room very obviously lacked any windows. The floor was dirt as were the walls and the ceiling, but a warm fire popped and hissed in the fireplace and the bed was open so I walked over and took a seat across from Hayden.

  He rocked gently back and forth in the old wooden rocking chair and kept his gaze trained on the fire. I was sure he was probably trying to suppress his rage or think of the best way to kill me in a fireplace, so I didn’t interrupt his thoughts.

  I’d had a dark nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach all day, but I’d avoided examining it, knowing I’d need my full concentration to face the ill named ‘motor skills’ task. Now, as Hayden and I sat in awkward silence, I pulled the issue from the recesses of my memory to examine the troubling fact in the light of a calm room.

  Hayden had only ever guided one other person before. That person was his niece. And that person hadn’t ever reached their Destination.

  It was no surprise that Hayden wasn’t the most emotional guy in the world. He was mean and gruff and really unpleasant. But I also didn’t doubt that he loved his niece and really wanted her to make it to her Destination.

  And then there was me.

  The girl who bugged him to no end.

  He couldn’t stand me and suddenly I was placing my life and my trust in his hands. If Hayden hadn’t even been able to get his niece to her Destination, then I was positive I had absolutely no hope. I was more lik
ely to get killed off because Hayden purposefully messed me up just to get rid of me. The tasks were difficult enough as it was, I didn’t need the one person who was supposed to be offering their help, out to get me.

  My choice was clear.

  Somehow I had to get away from Hayden and find a way to complete the tasks on my own. Either that or I had to watch my back every second I was around him to make sure he wasn’t about to push me off a cliff again. He was a loose cannon and I was the spark that could set him off at any moment.

  “You forgot your boots,” Hayden finally said, making me jump as he broke the long silence.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Your boots,” he repeated slowly.

  He held up my brown cowboy boots then tossed them over to me on the bed just as the room grew cold and the snow somehow began to fall in the space completely hidden from the sky.

  “You brought them for me?” I asked suspiciously, feeling my eyes grow heavy.

  This didn’t match up with the evil, murderous Hayden I had just been having a mental fight with. Of course he could have been trying to earn my trust again, just so he could force me off another cliff…though this time I was sure he wouldn’t catch me.

  “You can’t do the tasks barefoot,” he said with a shrug, obviously uncomfortable that I found this gesture so touching.

  It was definitely out of character for him, to say the least.

  “That was really nice,” I told him earnestly, though I was pretty sure my words were beginning to slur together. “It’s not bad to be nice, you know,” I added.

  “I have no idea what you’re saying,” he said with a laugh, his normally angry face actually looking amused. “I think the sleep is starting to get to you,” he said by way of explanation. “You’re not making any sense.”

  It was probably just the snow talking, or my completely exhausted brain, but Hayden was becoming more and more difficult to pin down by the second. It would have made much more sense if he had continued to ignore me until the snow came. But now he was suddenly joking with me.

  I was starting to feel like the tasks weren’t the only impossible things to figure out in this after life.

  Chapter 10

  It was odd to me that every morning when I woke from my forced sleep, I couldn’t remember my dreams from the night before. I had been a notoriously bad sleeper when I was alive. Most of the time it was terrible to never get a good night’s sleep, but the silver lining was the fact that I could always remember my dreams from the restless nights.

  In this place, however, there were no dreams and I had to wonder if I had just been sleeping better, or if the dead didn’t dream for some reason.

  Just another one of those unexplainable things.

  I supposed my existence thus far in the afterlife had been dreamlike in and of itself. Maybe because of the fantastical places I was visiting daily, my mind didn’t have the energy to try to top the landscapes I’d been experiencing.

  I let this thought echo through my mind while staring up at the dark earth ceiling. A few small roots could be seen coming through the dirt and I thought about just how lovely it would be to stay here forever. I could hang old mason jars with candles in them from the roots on the ceiling, carve whatever I wanted into the walls, then completely wipe them clean and start all over again depending on whatever my whim happened to be at that particular moment.

  The entire room smelled just like running through the sprinklers in the summertime and I wasn’t anxious to get out of bed, damp and dirty as it may be, to start another impossible task with an impossible man. Hayden seemed to be the only thing that could dampen my mood.

  The mud I had stained down my front the day before was now gone and my dress was, once again, spotless white. My hair was remarkably untangled when I knew for a fact if I let the wavy tresses endure wind, water, and nearly falling off a cliff a few times without brushing it, I’d basically have dreadlocks by this point in time. But by some miracle, the afterlife was proving to be very beneficial on the more vain aspects of my personality.

  I wasn’t about to complain.

  Without warning, a knock came at the door, causing me to jump as Hayden entered the room, looking just as annoyed as ever.

  “You’re still sleeping?” he asked incredulously, his British accent thicker than usual. “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for you out there?”

  “Good morning to you too,” I replied, getting out of bed and putting my cowboy boots back on.

  The boots Hayden had retrieved for me.

  I still wasn’t too sure what to make of him and his constantly changing moods, but I did recognize the fact that this small act of kindness hinted at someone who actually still possessed a soul. He may have been gruff and awful, but I was determined to get the good out of him one way or another. Besides, it had to be better for him stuck in this place if he wasn’t so angry all the time. It would make the time go by much faster if he would smile every decade or so.

  “Can we just get on with this?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at me lazily in a devil-may-care way.

  He had the ability to look both bored and condescending at the same time. It was amazing and frustrating.

  “Lead the way,” I said, gesturing to the door.

  He sighed deeply and exited the room with me following close behind him. As we climbed the stairs I was shocked by the lights streaming down the passageway.

  “No fog today?” I asked.

  “It’s resting higher than normal for some reason so the sun is shining through a bit better.”

  I tried to think of what this could possibly mean in a place where the weather was so perfectly controlled throughout every cycle. Did that mean I was getting closer to my Destination? Or was it just a coincidence? The sun would always shine for a moment right when I woke up, but by the time Hayden arrived, it would always disappear behind the fog.

  Surfacing from the underground room in the tree trunk, I was met by a breathtaking sight. Every task environment I’d seen so far seemed to be more beautiful than the previous, but this one had to top them all.

  The tall tree with the purple stone in the trunk was now residing in the middle of a field of brightly colored tulips. The rows of flowers alternated colors every so often and created a vibrant rainbow that sprawled on endlessly. The mixture of the sun in the thin fog seemed to turn everything gold and cause the flowers themselves to glow from the inside out.

  It was stunning to say the least.

  “This is beautiful,” I said breathlessly.

  My eyes were wide with wonder and I couldn’t seem to turn around fast enough to catch the beauty from every possible angle.

  “Not bad,” Hayden agreed with a tight lipped nod.

  He had almost complimented me.

  “Your grandma was Dutch and always kept paintings of tulips around her house. This one was your favorite,” he said, reciting my memories once more and surprising me to no end.

  “You’re such a show off,” I told him, rolling my eyes toward the magnificent orange sky.

  There were no mountains, only a few hills in the endless field of flowers, though a small cottage could be seen a long ways off. If that was our safe house it didn’t really look like there were many obstacles for me to face. At least I wouldn’t have to deal with any cliffs or high places in this task. Maybe it was supposed to be an endurance test and I’d just have to stay sane on the walk to the cottage while Hayden threw rude comments at me.

  The two of us walked side by side and I let my hand gently graze the top of the tulips as we passed through them. They bobbed lazily back and forth at my touch.

  It was actually quite a peaceful stroll and if I tried really hard, I could imagine that I was still alive and taking a romantic walk with some boy I’d met at the bookstore in Greenville.

  Maybe I’d been reading books about vocal performance and he’d made some joke about everybody in the south wanting to be a country singer. I’d smile and say I was more
folk than country, and he’d ask me if that meant I carried a banjo around with me.

  And then I’d come back to reality and remember that I was dead and Hayden wouldn’t joke around with me about banjos if his life depended on it.

  He might try to kill me with a banjo, but that was another worry all together.

  “So what is this third task supposed to be? Walking?” I asked, looking over at my Guide expectantly and hoping he wouldn’t say it was some impossible obstacle course where the tulips were about to come to life and eat me.

  Hayden stopped walking for a moment and turned to face me. He opened his mouth to speak then stopped suddenly, gasping and opening his eyes wide.

  “What?” I asked urgently, looking behind me.

  The look on his face suggested that we were suddenly being attacked by some malicious entity, but searching the space behind me I couldn’t see any threat.

  I turned back to him once more only to see him grasping at his shoulder where a metallic rod was protruding, covered in his blood.

  “What is that?” I asked in a frightened whisper.

  “Arrow,” he responded, his voice tight and strained. “Nice imagination,” he added accusatorially.

  I walked around him to view the long shaft of an arrow sticking out of his back, moving as he breathed in and out.

  Hayden had been shot…by an arrow…in the middle of a tulip field.

  If each task was something from my own memory how had this happened? There were definitely no arrows in my grandma’s tulip painting.

  I looked around frantically, knowing that arrows didn’t just shoot themselves. Someone had to be near us and I wasn’t about to get an arrow through my heart when I’d already had to endure dying in a car crash and putting up with Hayden for two days.

  “Can you walk?” I asked, facing him and putting my hand on his uninjured shoulder.

  I still kept my guard up, scanning the completely empty field for some sign of an attacker. But as little sense as it made, there was no one to be found. Hayden and I were completely alone.