Afterlife (22 page)

For another moment, the wraith hesitated. I dared to glance
over at my father and wished instantly that I hadn’t; tears were running down
his cheeks as he looked up at me, and I thought maybe he was crying because I
had turned into something so horrible — something just like this creature that
had tried to hurt him.

Then the wraith suddenly shrieked in rage. “It doesn’t
!
It doesn’t get to run away.” Hate had won.

It dove for my father, and I tried to get between them. I couldn’t
stop the wraith, exactly, but it was like we somehow tangled up in each other
neither of us solid, neither of us distinct. Like fluffernutter in a sandwich:
a gooey, sticky mess. The wraith’s spirit curled around my own, sicker and
sadder than I’d realized, and I shuddered in revulsion.

“Get away from me
!
” I pushed the
wraith away, and it worked. The ghost sprang above us, a coiled blue streak of
electricity just beneath the ceiling. I had a sudden image of it coming down as
a thunderbolt. Who would it strike first? My dad or me
?
And what would happen when it did?

Then the wraith screamed, a pitiful sound, and dissolved
into bluish smoke that swirled down toward the library door. Within a second
the light had gone out, and there was silence.

I realized what must have happened. “Patrice?” I called.

“It’s in my new compact!” she called from beyond the ice.
“Which just happens to be Estee Lauder. This thing had better not break it.”
Then I heard the sound of Vic’s amazed laughter. “That was incredibly cool.”

“I try,” she said.

The ice walls surrounded my father and me. Although I
guessed they’d melt eventually, I didn’t like the idea of leaving him in there
alone to be 143 found in the morning. “Can you guys break us out?”

“Yeah, hang on!” Vic sounded excited about the whole
process. “I’m gonna use the emergency fire ax. Try out some of Ranulf’s moves.”

As I heard them going into the hallway for the fire ax, I
knew that there was no other way to avoid it. Bracing myself, I turned to once
again face my father.

“Bianca,” he said again. His cheeks were wet from tears. “
It’s …
really you?”

“Yeah.” My voice sounded so small. “Dad, I’m sorry.”

“Sony? n Dad grabbed me and hugged me so hard that my
semisolid body almost gave way, but I held on. “My baby girl. You don’t have to
be sorry for anything. You’re here. You’re here.”

And I knew that he didn’t care that I was a wraith, or that
I’d been so stupid and wrong about so many things, or that we’d fought the last
time we talked. My dad still loved me.

If I could have cried, I would have. As it was, the joy that
spread through me turned into light and warmth, a soft glow like a candle — and
I could feel it soothing my father’s pain. “I missed you, “I whispered. “I
missed you and Mom so much.”

“Why didn’t you come to us?”

“I was scared you wouldn
‘ t
want
me anymore. Now that I’m a wraith.”

“You’re my daughter. That never changes.” Dad’s face was
creased with pain. “We hated them so
much .
. . were
so afraid of them. Of course you were scared. We were so — obstinate and
shortsighted about this. We should have talked to you.”

“If I’d
known .
. .” I didn’t know
what I would ‘ve done, if I had known. Would I have turned into a vampire?
Chosen my present path? I couldn’t tell, and it didn’t matter. We were here
now. “I’m sorry I ran away like that. I know I scared you.”

My dad’s expression suggested that I hadn’t known the half
of it, but he never stopped embracing me. “It’s that boy. He was always a bad
influence on you
— ”

“Dad, no. I made the decision to go on my own. Lucas helped
take care of me, but it was my choice. If you’ re angry about it — and I don’t
blame you — you have to understand that it was my fault. Only mine.”

Dad stroked my hair, but said nothing. I knew he didn’t
believe me.

“Lucas needs your help,” I whispered. “He’s having trouble
with the transition. He hates what he is and can’t get over it. You could help
him.”

“That’s too much to ask.”

“That’s what I’m asking.” But after what I’d put my father
through in the past few months, maybe I didn’t have the right to demand a whole
lot, at least not now. “When you’ re ready. Think about it.”

The library doors squeaked, and I heard Vic yell, “Fire
brigade’s here!”

My dad and I took hands as Vic and Patrice started chopping
their way through the ice. They were laughing — apparently it was wet, messy
work — which let me whisper to him privately, “Can we go see Mom?”

I thought he’d be so thrilled, but instead he hesitated. “We
should wait. Not long — I need to think about how best to handle it.”

My heart sank. “You think Mom wouldn’t be able to accept
this. She hates the wraiths. Is she going to hate me
?
”

“Your mother loves you forever,” Dad said fiercely. “just
like me. But her experiences with the wraiths have been worse than most. After
the Great Fire of London, and the mass destruction of the ghosts there, the few
wraiths that remained were — insane doesn’t even come close. Celia lingered for
days with her injuries, and would
‘ ve
died if I hadn’t
— well. While she was trapped between life and death, she had some terrifying
experiences. You’ll never know how hard it was for her to agree to the brief
encounter with the wraith that created you. This stuff frightens her pretty
badly to this day.”

“Mom would be
. ..
scared
of me?”

“We’ll get her through it,” he promised. Already Dad looked
better than I’d seen him since before I died. Younger, if that was possible.
There was a light in his eyes, and no shadow behind his smile. “I don’t want to
leave her mourning for much [onger. It would be — I’m not going to do that to
her. I just want to think about how best we can break it to her.”

“Okay.” That sounded fair. As badly as I wanted to see Mom
again, to double the happiness I felt at this moment, I trusted Dad’s judgment.
He’d loved my mother for about four hundred years now; he knew her better than
anyone else ever could. “Wait — you said the Great Fire of London. It destroyed
all the ghosts?”

He seized my arms. “Bianca, don’t you know? If a wraith is
trapped within a structure, and that structure burns, the wraith is destroyed.
You 145 have to be careful. Fire could hurt you.”

Dad might have been lecturing my three — year — old self
about why it was a bad idea to touch the stove while it was on. “Don’t worry. I
don’t intend to let myself get trapped.”

The ice wall closest to us shattered, and Dad and I jumped
back. Standing on the other side, sprinkled with flakes of ice, were Vic and
Patrice. Vic, who held the ax, looked like he’d never had more fun in his life;
Patri — ce gingerly brushed dripping curls of hair away from her eyes. “How’s
it going, Mr. Olivier?” Vic said cheerfully.

Patrice held out her expensive compact, which was completely
caked with ice. “Any ideas what I should do with this thing? I’m not putting it
back in my makeup bag.”

Dad stared at them, then at me, like he was just putting
something together. “Wait — your friends, they all
. ..
know
about you? Spend time with you?”

“Yeah. It took me a little while to figure out how to make
it work, but we got it.”

“Lucas … Balthazar
. ..”
Dad’s
forehead furrowed.

“Yes, they’ve always known,” I said. “And don’t get mad at
them for not telling you. That was my decision, too.”

“Oh, man, awkward.” Vic tucked the ax behind his back, like
that was the reason things might be difficult. “Should we go?”

“I’m not taking this with me,” Patrice said, holding the ice
— coated compact out from her with two fingers, like it smelled bad. “Give it
to me.” Dad saw her hesitate and sighed. “We’ll return the mirror later.”

Patrice looked doubtful, but she handed over the compact.
“Well, that’s done. Glad to help. See you later, okay?”

“Okay,” I said. Vic just nodded at us and sheepishly
followed Patrice out. As they went, I saw her staring down disapprovingly at
her nails; apparently, in her rush to help me, she’d wrecked her new manicure.
For Patrice, that was a sign of real dedication.

My father and I were alone again. Wordlessly, we stepped out
of the winding blocks of ice into a snug corner of the library, where a small
sofa sat between two of the tallest bookshelves. It was a good place to sit and
talk, though at the moment we weren ‘t talking. There was so much to say 146
that I couldn’t think of where to begin; I started with the place where tonight’s
confrontation had begun. “What were you doing with that box?”

“Trying to catch a wraith.” His eyes tracked over to the far
wall of the library — the place where the trap had been set. Dad’s hands closed
around mine, like he was unwilling to let me go even for a second. “It had
settled in here without
— ”

“Without being caught. Because the trap was broken.” I
realized for the first time that my father might already have the answers I’d
been searching for. “Dad, what’s going on? Why is Mrs. Bethany setting these
traps for the wraiths?”

“To stop them, of course. They’re not all like you. Most of
them are like that thing we just captured.”

“No, most of them are more like me — ourselves, mostly, the
people that we were before. You just don’t see those. They don’t haunt places
the same way.”

He opened his mouth as if to argue, before realizing that I
really did know more about this. “If we’d understood that
.
..”

Although Dad had trailed off, I could follow his train of
thought. “You would have told me about my turning into a wraith, wouldn’t you?
But because you thought it meant being some scary, horrible thing — something
that could never be your daughter again.”

“I couldn’t stand to say the words. And we thought it would
scare you.” Dad looked very tired. “We just tried to make vampirism as attractive
as possible. There didn’t seem to be any reason for you to question it, or turn
away.”

Not until I feJJ in Jove with a human, I thought. That was
the real source of their anger toward Lucas, I realized; it didn’t have much to
do with anything Lucas had done or not done. He had given me an alternative — made
me question everything I’d taken for granted. I wondered if Dad realized it,
too.

I turned back to the subject. “Anyway, most ghosts aren’t as
crazy as that one.”

“Most of the ones here seem to be,” he pointed out.
“Remember the autumn ball last year?”

Like I’d forget nearly being crushed by massive spears of
falling ice. “If they’re so dangerous, why is Mrs. Bethany bringing them here
in the first place
?
”

“Bringing them here? Bianca, what do you mean
?
”

Quickly I explained the secret common element that every
human student at Evernight shared — each of them came from a haunted home and
147 was connected to a ghost or ghosts. Some of those ghosts had followed them
here. “That’s why she let humans in to begin with. To bring the ghosts.”

“You don’t think it might have something to do with the fact
that human students help the vampire students acclimate to the present day?
There’s no better preparation for fitting in with humanity than actually spending
time with human beings.” He squeezed my hands tightly, like he thought I was
being a little silly, but didn’t mind.

But I shook my head. W Maybe that helps. But seriously, Dad,
every single one of the humans? There aren’t that many wraiths. Not even close.

There’s no way that’s a coincidence.”

“So she has some purpose behind trapping ghosts. Some
purpose we don’t know. I’ll try to find out.” My father’s expression changed
then, turning sharp and distant, like he was mad at someone not in the room.

“Dad
?
”

“It’s just — Nothing.” He turned his attention back to me
and hugged me tightly. My glow of happiness lit up the entire library and
turned it to gold. “It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters except having you back.”

 We stayed with each other for a while after that, but
we’d already said the most important things. Soon he would tell Mom; until
then, the two of us agreed to meet up after his classes so we could at least
spend a few minutes a day together checking in, finding out how to navigate
being father and daughter now that so much had changed. It was a place to
start, and I felt like all we needed was that beginning.

When, after midnight, my father finally went up to his
rooms, I felt exhausted — like I needed! to “fade out” for a while, the closest
I could get to sleeping. But I knew I had more important things to do. Though I
had now met Christopher, and had changed my mind about being scared of all
ghosts, I’d just gotten a big wake — up call about how dangerous they could be
to the people I loved. I’d struck back against a wraith once now; it was time
to discover what else I could do, without Patrice by my side.

Whatever else Black Cmss had done to me, they’d made me a
fighter. It was past time for me to act like one.

Of course, to test myself in a fight, I needed a wraith to
fight with. But for a few days now, I·d had a candidate in mind — one ghost
that I knew 148 absolutely, positively used his powers in the most evil way.
That sounded like a good place to start.

 “That’s awesome,” Lucas said as he sat on the stone
steps with me the next afternoon. “I mean it, Bianca. It’s great that your
father knows, and it’s going to be good between you and your parents.”

His eyes were shadowed as he said it. I knew that had
nothing to do with his feeling about my reconciliation with Dad; it was the
memory of Kate’s brutal attacks that hurt him now. The cruelty of her rejection
struck me harder now that I, too, had faced my father —
!
knew
the fear and vulnerability of that moment. Lucas had shown even more courage
and faith than I had; his trust in her had been immediate and total. His reward
had been betrayal. I couldn’t imagine how much that must have hurt.