Alive (The Veiled World Book 1) Read online

Axel sighed and stared down at his hands. “My hands are unclean.”

  Ollie tossed down his spoon. “Disgraceful. Come here.” He beckoned Axel with an index finger, like one would do a two-year-old child, all the while casting side glances at me and grinning like a proud peacock. Did he actually think I was getting a kick out of this?

  Axel came to stand between us. Though my head was already tilted in his direction, I kept my eyes downcast. I didn’t want him to think I was enjoying this.

  “Look how filthy he is, Amber. And he smells rotten, doesn’t he?” Ollie sighed, as though in agony. “Should I punish him, Amber?”

  I set my spoon down and finally stared up into Axel’s dirty face. He was covered in dirt and sweat and yeah, he smelt like shit. His bright blue eyes bore into mine, his shoulders tense, like rocks beneath his shirt. I was sure his one desire right now was to pummel Ollie’s pale face with his dirty fists.

  I shrugged and reached forward to swipe one of the little bread rolls from the basket in front of me.

  “Don’t ask me. I’m a farmer’s daughter. I love the smell of a hardworking man. He smells fine to me.” Knowing Ollie was watching me, I stuffed the entire roll into my mouth and then smiled.

  The king laughed again and when I snuck a glance at Axel, he was staring at me, half grinning, his brows raised in surprise. When I grinned back, Prince Ollie’s eyes brimmed with tears and he pounded against the wooden table with his fists.

  “Get out of my sight and return when you do not smell like my chamber pot!”

  Axel moved away from the table, kicking Ollie’s chair leg as he went, but Ollie ignored him and turned to me and smiled. Great. So I hadn’t disgusted him with my rude eating habits.

  “That one should have been drowned at birth. And to think, if his own brother hadn’t drowned, or if Axel wasn’t such a coward and had saved him, there would be two of them. Imagine two like Axel?” Ollie shuddered and clinked his glass with mine but I did not meet his gaze or sip my wine.

  I stared after Axel with a softened heart. So not only had his brother died, but, by the sounds of it, Axel was being blamed for his death. I knew how that felt. I glanced around the table. Claire was deep in conversation, or laughter, I should say, with Reece and Reuben, sitting opposite. The king, Bruce, and Kyle were having an intense discussion about surfing. I tried not to spit up my soup when Kyle described the inside of a wave-roll, a tube ride, as the tunnel to heaven. We all knew Kyle had never left Red Gum until twenty-four hours ago. He’d never even seen the beach. But he was a good swimmer and practically lived in our local pool, winter or summer.

  Kyle caught my eye and smiled when the king said, “Tell me more about this ‘hang ten’ you mentioned earlier. Ten what? Ten men?” I smiled back.

  I leaned forward, stuffing a forkful of roasted chicken into my mouth, only realising now just how hungry I was. While I chewed the succulent meat, I watched Jacob, Noah, and Bella. Noah’s head was nearly spinning as his eyes moved from wall to wall, which were lined with paintings that were so detailed they seemed real. The pictures depicting dragons seemed to capture Noah’s interest the most.

  Jacob sat rigidly in his seat. Bella had shuffled her chair in so close that it was touching Jacob’s and she kept leaning over to reach for pepper or salt or more bread, desperately trying to get his attention. But it was almost comical to see the old woman, Anya, who’d served my soup, get to the items first.

  Jacob looked up suddenly, as though he had felt my stare, and half smiled before Anya noticed his empty plate and loaded it up with more roasted potatoes and chicken. I grinned at his mountain of food and he raised his brows and put his hands to his stomach as though he was too fat for this and I grinned again. I couldn’t believe how much communication I’d had with Jacob in the past few hours, more than in my entire lifetime of knowing him.

  “Who is that clown at the end?” said Prince Ollie. “The one stuffing his face like a wild boar.”

  I stopped grinning and turned to face Ollie. The way he was leaning into my personal space and holding my gaze without blinking prickled the hairs on the back of my neck. I hated when people did that. It was so intrusive and made me nervous. To reduce the awkwardness, I kept looking away to reach for my fork or knife, or another bread roll, although I’d eaten three of them the past two minutes.

  “Well, out with it. The oaf’s name?”

  Ollie’s breath stank of onions, and not the nice roasted ones served on silver platters beside the chicken, but old, rank, sour onions. I slid my chair closer to Claire’s. Anything to be away from him.

  “I don’t see any oafs.”

  Ollie laughed hysterically. He sounded like a giggling five-year-old. Weird. Most of the table stopped talking and eating and leaned in to stare at him. The king’s weathered face tinted pink and he asked Kyle, rather loudly, to tell him more about “this point break you speak of.” Out the corner of his wrinkled eye he glared at his son, lips peeled back in revulsion. So what Axel said in the aeroplane was true.

  Ollie, oblivious to everyone’s stares, continued to giggle until finally, after clutching his stomach with small, pale hands, he turned to me and said, “You are too humorous, Amber.”

  I picked at a potato on my plate, stabbing it with my fork. “I wasn’t being funny. There are no oafs at this table. And the person you are referring to as an oaf is my friend and I’ll thank you to not speak so rudely about him. His name is Jacob.”

  “Ah, I see, you’re sweet on him and he hardly notices you.” Ollie leaned in. “I’ve read a lot of novels. We clean out ships and metal birds, the ones you call aeroplanes, whenever they stumble into our world, and I have quite the impressive collection. I’m partial to the romance novels.” His dark eyes glittered. “And I know a broken-hearted girl when I see one.”

  He turned to the king and shouted across the table. “This one’s broken, father, I must keep her. She isn’t to be a challenger. It’s not safe for her.”

  Everybody silenced.

  The king threw down his chicken leg and glared at his son, his face turning redder by the second.

  “Have you gone mad?” The king shook his head from side to side. “Look at her, son! Just look at her! Look at the size of those shoulders and biceps. She’s ten times stronger than you and quite possibly stronger than everyone else in this room. Yes, including the guards. And you want to keep her here? With you?”

  The guards behind the king frowned and narrowed their scrutinizing gaze at me.

  I tried to pull my shoulders in and appear small and delicate—girly—but when I looked down and saw Claire’s tiny hand beside my big, bony man-hands, I groaned inwardly and shoved them under the table.

  “Thank the Goddess that the fate of the kingdom does not rest in your hands, son.” Spittle landed on Kyle’s and Bruce’s plates, but they didn’t notice because their eyes were on father and son.

  “Because you will never see your mother if you keep our best specimens from seeking the dead. Never! Is that what you want?”

  Great. So I was a specimen.

  I could hear Bella laughing and when I glanced over, Jacob was glaring at her. Noah pretended to be lost in one of the dragon paintings, which could well be true, but I knew everyone was avoiding my eyes because of pity. I didn’t know what was worse, pity or accusation.

  “Don’t be bashful, Amber. I can see your cheeks are burning. You are beautiful,” said Ollie, rather calmly for someone who’d just been verbally ripped in two by his dad. “Don’t listen to him. I have always admired unusually tall girls ever since reading a science fiction novel about an especially tall female alien who had crashed landed on earth. She had three breasts and was originally from the planet Tozora.” Ollie’s dark eyes glazed over as he took my hand in his and raised it to his lips. “And I have always wanted one for my very own.”

  I choked on my potato and stood up to skol my wine and clear my throat. Snatching my hand from Ollie’s, I eyed the king. “Will you please excuse me
? I need to lie down. I feel sick all of a sudden.”

  I glared at Bruce, who sat opposite me, hoping he’d put an end to all of this. He did promise my parents he’d look after me. It said so on the permission slip. But he was raising his empty wine glass over his head and motioning for Axel, who had returned freshly dressed and with damp, clean hair, to refill his glass.

  The king shook his head. “No. Hear me out first. I must speak to you. All of you.” He stood and tapped his glass with a knife.

  Everyone set their cutlery and glasses down. They were just as eager to know more about our situation as I was.

  “By now, I’m sure you are aware of the fact that you are no longer in your own world. And that you have been brought here for a purpose.”

  I shared a glance with Kyle, who’s tanned skin seemed to pale dramatically. He was scared. So was I. And we weren’t the only ones. When I put my hands onto my lap, Claire closed her fingers over mine, giving me a squeeze. I didn’t look at her. If I did, then maybe I’d cry. She hadn’t come this close to me, let alone touched me, for such a long time. Instead I kept my eyes on the king, wanting to memorise his every word.

  Something in me, despite what I’d heard on the plane with the boys, felt like this was possible. Despite the two against two million odds. That I could actually bring my brother back. And if I did, everything in my life would be okay again. Okay was all I wanted. I was fine with okay. I just wanted everything back to the way it was before Sam died.

  “Well, that purpose is to journey through the Veiled World to the Land of Resting Souls.” He took a sip of his red wine and swallowed thickly, his bony Adam’s apple bobbing up and down inside his thin neck. “The world we are in is not like yours. We are, at this present moment, at the gateway to the Veiled World, which is a place where the dead live out their heavens and hells for eternity. At the heart of this Veiled World lies the Land of Resting Souls. A place all souls, good and bad, come to rest.” He nodded in thought and met each of our gazes. “Ever since our ancestors have been sucked into this world, we have attempted to reach the Land of Resting Souls. Historical documents state that this has happened twice in the past. But we have been failing of late. The past fifty years have seen the kingdom reduced by ninety-five percent. There is hardly anybody left. All have gone to seek the dead only to become dead themselves. The more I have sent out to retrieve those newly dead the more I have lost.” Wine spilled over the edge of his crystal goblet. He set it down with shaking hands.

  “You are our last chance.” He sighed and stared across the room to what I guessed to be a portrait of his beautiful wife. Long black hair framed a beautiful, round face with full lips and large, round green eyes. “My wife has been dead since my son was born. Taken by his birth.” He frowned at Ollie, who was at this moment motioning for old Anya with the crook of his finger to take his plate. The king, temporarily distracted, raised his brows at his son and cleared his throat.

  Then he slammed his fist down on the table. “But I will not rest. Not until my wife is back.”

  Anya began collecting plates of those who had finished but the king stopped her in her tracks with a glare.

  “As I have said, we have documentation from our ancestors. Information that will help you on your journey. So listen closely to what I have to say. Those who were marooned here, those who accidentally slipped through the portal that brings us here, just the way you did yesterday, they are who will guide you. Their sacrifices will be what aid you. They documented the changing landscapes, which you have now witnessed for yourselves; your first taste of it. Beyond this kingdom, no landscapes are ever the same.” His eyes scanned our faces. “And why is that?”

  At first I thought it was rhetorical, but he slammed his fist against the table again, making his goblet jump.

  “No one cares to guess?”

  Kyle hesitantly put a hand in the air.

  “Yes, my friend, what do you think?”

  “To stop people from bringing the dead back from their resting place.” He looked around the table and shrugged. “Maybe the dead are supposed to stay dead. Maybe it was just their time.”

  Kyle had lost his grandparents, so I understood why he’d want to let them rest. But my brother was young and had a full life ahead of him. Death had robbed him of that chance.

  The king laughed, as though Kyle had said something amusing. He shook his head. “No. You are wrong. The dead are trapped in the Land of Resting Souls by a cruel woman who keeps them from us. Her name is Leirza. She does everything in her power to keep us away from those whom we love.”

  I thought of Sam and shook my head, not wanting to believe he was being kept by a cruel woman.

  “The shifting landscapes, otherwise known as the Change, however, are not created by Leirza. No, we have documentation from those who have crossed and returned that tells us the changing landscapes are, in fact, different versions of the resting souls’ afterlife. Because there are so many souls, there are many, many versions of heaven out there.” He raised a hand and pointed to us each in turn. “Know this. Not all heavens are clouds and cherubs or pearly gates. You will all face danger. You will.” He nodded, his blue eyes turning dark. “And some of you will die.”

  A deep silence followed until I cleared my throat.

  “If the changing landscapes are a result of the many versions of heaven, why would the dead chose to spend eternity in terrible, dangerous places? Wouldn’t they choose somewhere safe that they love?”

  “Good, courageous question!” He glared at the others. “When I say heaven, I use the world loosely. Not everyone is satisfied when they die. Their souls do not always rest, despite how peaceful the Land of Resting Souls sounds. Therefore if somebody has died unhappy or with unfinished business, he may choose the world which best suits his needs. Face his fears for example. If he died at the jaws of a lion, then perhaps he may choose to relive the moment. If he died in flames, then perhaps he rests on a bed of flames for eternity.”

  My brother’s face, surrounded by fire, appeared in my mind and I hoped and prayed that the king was wrong, that my brother would never choose to relive his painful death.

  “Will we come across our loved ones out there?” I asked, my voice hoarse.

  “No. They are never found walking around. Their souls are kept by Leirza. They roam in their afterlife, yes, but as only a ghostly version. A version that you cannot see with human eyes.”

  I hated the idea of my brother roaming around invisibly, trapped in his own version of heaven. But if it was true, I wondered what place or memory he had chosen to dwell in. Part of me expected to enter the Veiled World and come across our farm, but then Sam had always complained of wanting to leave Red Gum behind to live on the coast. He hated the farm and was hardly ever helpful to Mum or Dad. Most of the farm jobs were left up to me. No. He’d definitely choose to live by the beach.

  “Has any group ever returned to the castle together? Alive and well?” Reece asked.

  “No. But you, my friends, are young, and I can see you being the first group to have success and bring home all your loved ones, and my queen.”

  Ollie smirked and shook his head. His father glared at him and I could see Axel’s face become red with rage by the looks of his clenched fists.

  Axel cleared his throat. “Tell them the truth about the souls. They have a right to know, sir.”

  The king banged his fist against the table once again. Ollie stood up and glared at Axel. “How dare you speak up to my father!” he declared with a hand on his bony hip.

  Axel’s face turned even redder. “Excuse me, sir, but I feel they should know the truth.”

  “There is no other truth except that which I have spoken. Be gone from the ballroom.”

  “Salt him, Father.”

  The king ignored his son and stared hard at Axel, who stood his ground, his broad shoulders tense.

  “Leave now without a word or you will be salted.”

  “If you don’t tell them, then
I will,” said Axel, his voice low and gravelly.

  “Guards.” The king sighed, as though suddenly very tired. “Salt him and put him in the dungeons.” The king pointed a trembling finger at Axel. “And, boy, if you ever speak of this again, you will never, ever, see your little brother again.”

  Chapter 10

  Axel

  I shrugged Gerald’s hands off me and walked myself out the door.

  The king was a liar.

  But that last threat…perhaps it meant he was thinking of letting me join the group as a challenger. But that was possible only if one from the group decided not to go. The only group number to have ever been successful, and twice for that matter, was a group of nine. Even though only one from each group of nine had returned with their loved one.

  Someone dropping out was my only hope. The girls—the other two, not Amber—or perhaps one of the boys could possibly weaken with fear and pull out. Especially when they learned they must face the Choosing Ceremony tomorrow. I had to hope for that.

  The guards led me down the familiarly dark, dank corridors to the salting room, just above the dungeons.

  My body started shaking from the pain I was soon to experience. Nothing was going to plan. Why would the king not tell this group the truth? That whoever was lucky enough to reach the Land of Resting Souls would only have the opportunity to bring back two souls—their own loved one and the soul of the king’s dead wife, even if all nine made it there alive. He always told challengers the truth. Why not this time? Was he afraid because they were young? That perhaps they would decide not to seek their dead loved ones if their chances were so narrow? No one had yet to turn down the offer of their dead loved one’s return.

  Nothing would ever change my mind. I knew the implications and I intended to be the one to bring back my brother. A vision of Amber on the aeroplane filled my head, of her head hanging down, her golden hair over her face when she’d revealed that her brother had died. Something told me she wasn’t going to back down. That she wanted this as much as I. That would eventually be a problem. In the end, if we got through to the Land of Resting Souls, it would be a very big problem indeed.