Hereafter (Shadowlands 2)

“Joaquin! I can’t believe you did this!” Krista cried, jogging forward to give him a hug. She covered her mouth as she watched her name sparkle, and everyone began to applaud.

“Dude, you are out of your mind!” Tristan shouted to hoots and hollers. He moved forward to high-five Joaquin, and I trailed after him.

“Not bad, huh?” Joaquin asked, clearly proud of himself. He raised a hand toward the party, and I saw Pete, who’d put on the “Happy Birthday” song, signal back.

“I’m stunned,” Krista said. “I thought you said this whole thing was lame.”

Joaquin shrugged modestly. “Yeah, well, it was important to you, so…”

“Best birthday gift ever,” Krista told him.

“This is going well, I think,” Tristan said, gazing out over the party. “So far so good?”

“Yep,” Krista said. “No fog equals good birthday.”

I glanced back at the tent, where Fisher and Darcy broke from a kiss. She smiled happily.

“Yeah. Not bad at all.”

The four of us started back toward the crowd. Bea, Cori, and Kevin were already digging in to their salads. I spotted my dad pulling out a chair for the mayor, and suddenly felt a tingling sensation that started in my toes. My whole body went cold, and I stopped so abruptly it took Tristan a moment to realize I wasn’t next to him.

“No,” I said, pressing my hand to my heart as my eyes filled with tears.

But the effervescent sensation didn’t stop. It just came on stronger, swirling through me, bubbling from my toes all the way up through my torso and into my head.

“What?” Tristan said, the remnants of a smile still lighting his face. “What’s wrong?”

My throat completely closed. I stared at Tristan, desperate, until realization washed over his face. Then, all of a sudden, a hush came over the bluff. Bea dropped her fork and stared at us. Lauren stopped dancing. Slowly, everyone else on the dance floor stilled as well.

That was when I felt it, creeping up my legs and over my shoulders. The cold wetness of it. The first fingers of fog curled around my feet and my knees went weak. The sparklers started to hiss and smoke, dying out one by one.

“Sonofa—” Joaquin said, turning around to face it.

The fog rolled in over the bluff, rushing toward us over the grass. Tristan, Krista, and Joaquin all stared at me grimly until the mist consumed them.

“It’s my dad,” I croaked finally, the fog hissing in my ears. “I’m supposed to take my dad.”

A clear path to my father opened up in the fog. I could see him plain as day, looking wonderingly, blindly, into the mist. I was supposed to walk along that path, take his arm, and usher him over the bridge to his eternal life.

“No,” I shouted. “No! I won’t do it. I can’t.” I turned around and ran, the fog engulfing me from all sides.

“Rory, no!” Tristan shouted.

I could practically feel him coming after me and turned on the speed.

“Don’t!” Joaquin yelled. It sounded like he was somewhere to my left, but it was impossible to tell. Still, I turned right and barreled ahead, tears streaming from my eyes, trailing across my face, and dripping onto my shoulders.

My father was going to die. He was going to die for real. That’s what this really was, wasn’t it? This moving on? He was going to leave, and I was going to be left here. Alone.

“Rory! Stop now!”

Something in Joaquin’s voice made me freeze. I gasped for breath, the ragged effort scratching my lungs.

“Don’t. Move,” Tristan instructed. “You’re right on the edge of the bluff.”

I gasped, my head going weightless. Suddenly I could feel it, the emptiness in front of me. My toe twitched, and a rock popped over the edge, clicking along the wall into the endless nothing. I had almost fallen. I could have been killed. Except…

“So what?” I cried, my voice cracking as I turned around. I couldn’t see them. There was nothing but fog. “I can’t die, right?” I shouted into the nothingness, my fingers curling at my sides. “Who cares if I fall?”