After a while, the initial concern wore off like a passing illness, and April’s plight was forgotten. Her despair was her own and no one else’s. When her seclusion reached the third week, most people had pretty much forgotten about April Frausini tucked away in her room with only her thoughts to keep her company.
Food was left at her door at night and the trays were picked up the following morning. Study resumed, the world kept spinning, and April’s impact on it no longer seemed to matter very much.
One night Talbot came to her door.
He didn’t say much, but it was obvious he cared. He wanted her to open the door, let him in so that they could talk. She never answered him.
Talbot said he was sorry for bringing her to France. He realized now that it was too early. Talbot said that he was worried about her. April appreciated that, but she still felt angry with him.
Every night April dreamed of a life before Talbot, when things were bad but livable, and the strangest thing was the occasional ghost at her bedside.
She wished she had never met Talbot. She wished none of this had happened.
April had been unprepared for the horrors of Hell and the dangerous encounter with the Devil.
She had been most unprepared for handling the death of Perrot’s daughter.
April blamed herself because no one else would. She should have been able to save the child.
The world was ugly and April was partly responsible for that ugliness. She wanted to believe in a better tomorrow, but a guilty conscience told her such a thing didn’t exist.
And every night, Talbot kept coming back, asking questions she would never answer.
As much as she regretted ever knowing the man, she kind of loved him for caring.
All her life she had been a broken spirit because of her gift. Her parents never understood. In fact, sometimes it seemed like they made a point not to.
Her friends had said they believed her, but had they really? And even if that was true, they couldn’t really understand.
Here was a man who understood and was worried about her, something she never had before in her life.
However reckless Talbot had been to put her in danger without proper training, she could not deny some sense of belonging when she thought of him.
Her seclusion had lasted long enough. The next time he came to her door, April would open it when he asked. They would talk and things would start to get better.
When Talbot came knocking the next night, he didn’t start by saying the usual things.
“I have to go,” Talbot said. “They want me down in Brazil for another op. I was hoping we could have talked, that maybe you could’ve continued your training and maybe gone with me. But all that will have to wait until I get back. I’m going with Mr. Ichikawa, who you met. Take care, April. I’ll see you again soon.”
April tentatively opened the door a half a minute later but Talbot was already gone.
Chapter Twenty
The Amazon jungle’s breeze tasted how Talbot imagined malaria would taste if turned into a thick, nauseous gas.
Ichikawa was at the front, hacking away at the foliage with a machete. They were dressed well for the elements, but neither was particularly ready for just how unforgiving the jungle would be.
If the water and the vegetation didn’t kill them, there were plenty of animals up to the task. They had already faced down a hungry jaguar and a one-eyed crocodile. Ichikawa said they also had to look out for the most dangerous spider in the world, which liked to hide in people’s gear and attire. There was a way to treat its bite, he said, but there would be no way to reach a hospital in time.
It was a little after running away from that jaguar that Talbot began to question the intelligence of sending them all the way down here just to fetch a demon.
The demon Gaap had survived in the Amazon for many years. Gatekeepers thought Gaap responsible for floods and dangerous waves on the great river, as Gaap was known to have power over the water.
Gaap had not let his identity be known to regular humans and he only ate enough of the wildlife to survive. Though dangerous, Gaap was widely considered to be a demon of little interest, because he posed little threat to humans in the region.
So why the sudden rush to go to the jungle and retrieve him then?
Demons weren’t uncommon in the jungle, though they were a different sort than those who lived among humans. The jungle demons were feral, behaving more like the beasts they relied upon for food than the thinking monsters they had once been down in Hell.
Talbot didn’t think Gaap was going to be much trouble, but if they found him among the other jungle demons then he and Ichikawa would be outnumbered and outgunned.
He had to hope to find Gaap alone and take him down before he alerted any friends.
They tracked his spiritual signature via satellite to a little waterfall an hour from the river.
At first they could see nothing, only the waterfall coming over a little grassy ledge, pouring into a creek that ran back to the river.
Then, out from behind the cascading water, stepped the demon.
Gaap was like a man, but tall and robust, with a blue tint that reflected the sun’s light, as though his very skin were like the surface of a rippling lake.
The demon did not notice them. Ichikawa got onto his stomach and put Gaap in his rifle’s sights while Talbot repositioned himself near the creek bed in case the demon tried to flee.
Talbot stepped on a twig. The snap was deafening.
He held his breath. Maybe Gaap hadn’t noticed.
The waterfall went silent.
Talbot looked up from the broken twig and watched as the waterfall came to life. A hundred liquid tendrils levitated for a moment, framing Gaap on all sides, then rushed towards Talbot.
He held his breath as the living liquid threw him into the creek.
His body tumbled over the rocky bottom, pulled against the flow of the stream, back towards the demon’s waterfall.
Finally he broke through the waterfall and hit the rock behind it.
Talbot rolled off the rock and back into the creek as the water started to subside.
Footsteps in the water closed in on him.
He coughed, desperate for air, and lifted his head to see the blue demon standing above him. Talbot did his best not to appear frightened.
“Intruder,” Gaap said with a quiet, lyrical voice.
In the very same moment there was a gun blast and Gaap’s shoulder ripped open with a splash of blue blood.
The demon turned to see Ichikawa reloading his rifle near the creek.
Gaap roared and directed a blast of water at Ichikawa, taking him off his feet and slamming him into the side of a tree.
Talbot drew his knife and put it around Gaap’s neck.
“It’s over,” Talbot said.
Gaap growled as the water around them came to life, bubbling and rotating out of control.
A geyser of white water lifted both Talbot and Gaap into the air.
Tree branches whipped past them as they ascended towards sunlight.
They broke through the tree tops and for a second Talbot could admire the majesty of a world so unforgiving looking so serene from above it all. He felt like God, admiring His creation from a distance, removed from the ugliness that unfolded below.
But that moment passed and the water had stopped flowing.
Talbot drifted away from Gaap as they fell back through the branches and leaves, heading back down to the forest floor.
Beads of water fell all around them like raindrops and Talbot understood he was about to die.
A witch told me I’d die in the rain.
Gaap held his gaze as they fell side by side. Those black eyes looked into him and must have seen something worthwhile, because the next thing Talbot knew another blast of water was rocketing up towards him—but only him.
The water hit Talbot just in time to slow his fall. He landed at the base of the waterfall
and came up gasping for air but otherwise uninjured.
Gaap lay crippled on the rocks.
Talbot went to him, checked for a pulse, but found none. Blue blood poured from his wounds until finally Gaap’s entire body turned to water and simply washed away.
Talbot didn’t understand.
Ichikawa was coming out of the jungle. He was badly bruised but otherwise all right.
“Why did he do that?” Ichikawa asked.
“I don’t know,” Talbot said.
“It wasn’t supposed to be this way,” Ichikawa said.
Ichikawa’s rifle cocked. Talbot felt the hair rise on the back of his neck an instant before the bullet punched through his stomach.
Talbot fell back into the water and started to pollute it with a stream of blood.
Ichikawa set the rifle down and waded into the water.
Talbot tried to swim away or push him off, but he couldn’t move his legs. He could barely keep his head above water.
“I’m sorry,” Ichikawa said. “It’s Mr. Perrot’s orders, sir. I argued with him, but he wouldn’t listen to reason. He blames you and that’s never going to change. If I didn’t do what he asked, I suspect he’d have me killed, too.”
Ichikawa put his hand on Talbot’s shirt collar and started to push him beneath the surface.
Talbot clawed at his hands, but Ichikawa’s resolution was strong and unflinching.
“I wanted the water creature to do it for me,” Ichikawa said. “I wanted to give you a proper death, one deserving of your reputation. I failed and I apologize.”
Through chattering teeth Talbot pleaded, “Please, don’t.”
“It’s okay,” Ichikawa said as he lowered Talbot’s head beneath the surface. “It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay.”
Talbot held his breath as long as possible but it wasn’t long before he was drinking in water in some desperate attempt to live.
His body convulsed. His eyes rolled back. Stillness took over.
Talbot’s lifeless body floated down the creek towards the river, where no one would ever find it, no matter how hard they looked.
In the end, nobody bothered looking at all.
Chapter Twenty One
The Gatekeepers didn’t learn of Talbot’s passing until Ichikawa returned to tell the story. A ceremony was held in memory of Jameson Talbot, a trusted friend and mentor.
April didn’t attend. April was never told.
She emerged from seclusion days later, ready to greet the world with renewed vigor.
The first person she met in the hall was Ichikawa. He stopped her, brought her to a chair, and told her a version of the truth.
April didn’t cry. She got up and left Ichikawa, and aware that everyone’s eyes were on her, she returned to her room.
She grieved for Talbot in private. She had hardly known him—had wished to have never met him—and yet he did mean something to her. He was an understanding friend who meant to answer her questions and grant her guidance. April knew somewhere deep down in her heart she would never have that with anyone else in her life, and that she would go on as the misunderstood woman with an eye for dead things.
April waited for things to quiet down and left her room in the middle of the night.
She went to Haagenti’s cell.
“You look tired,” Haagenti said. The demon sat in the corner of his cell, wrapped in his wings, eating a roast pig.
“I don’t sleep much anymore,” April said. “Do you ever sleep?”
“I hibernate when the food runs out,” Haagenti said. “As long as they keep feeding me, I will never sleep.”
Haagenti offered a leg of pig to April. She declined.
“They told me something about what happened,” Haagenti said. “First you have the ordeal with the Devil and then we learn that Talbot is gone. From what I understand, you have not taken it well.”
April shrugged.
“Do you blame yourself for the little girl’s death?” Haagenti asked, chewing on bone.
“Yes.”
The demon snorted. “It’s an awful thing, failing to save someone,” Haagenti said. “Murder is grand, but the failure to prevent a murder is most troubling.”
“A couple months ago I thought ghosts were the strangest thing I’d ever see,” April said. “I never believed in demons, but here you are. And now I’ve seen the devil in the body of a man. I saw a woman shredded to pieces and I held a little girl in my arms as she died.”
Haagenti chewed on pork. His reptilian eyes stared back at her without compassion. He licked his lips and growled his acknowledgment to what she was saying.
April said, “I want to go back to before.”
“There’s no reset,” Haagenti said. “If you view your life’s choices as a series of mistakes, then find a good man for breeding and hope that the next generation gets it right. You may still experience happiness vicariously through your offspring.”
April arched an eyebrow. “That’s depressing.”
“Can’t go back,” Haagenti said as he tossed aside a clean pig skeleton and reached for the next carcass. “There’s no reincarnation either, that’s truth. Your alternative is to move forward. Accept the world the way it is, flawed and full of evil and beyond your power to repair alone, however not without hope. Humans view their lives as so meaningless.” He swallowed the pig’s head in one big, crunchy bite. With his mouth full he said, “Demons do not suicide, Lady April. Weak humans do and we demons do not understand the human fascination with the concept. The powers of Heaven and Hell combat each other for the treasure trove of human souls on earth. Every human leaves their mark on the world. None are ever truly forgotten. There is nothing more treasured in Heaven or Hell than a human life—though, to be honest, earth’s overpopulation has driven down prices somewhat.”
“I should have gone with Talbot,” April said.
“He wanted you to go to Brazil with him?” Haagenti asked.
April nodded.
“But the last time you went with him, you met the Devil and the girl died.”
“Yes.”
“So, if you go, people die,” Haagenti said. “And if you don’t go, people still die.” He shrugged his massive shoulders. “People die, Lady April. You may be special, but you don’t change that human truth.”
April stared at the floor and said, “I think I liked him.”
“James Talbot was likable,” Haagenti said.
“I barely knew him but I’ll miss him for the rest of my life,” April said.
“Hmmph.” Haagenti grunted. “I thought the same about many a human and a demon in my lifetime. I’ve forgotten them all.”
“I won’t forget. He saw me for what I am, I think. I’ve known too much denial and abandonment to forget the first person who accepted me.”
“Talbot was a good man but he was not unique,” Haagenti said. “The world being as strange as it is, there are many people like you in it.”
April frowned, not sure if she liked where this was heading.
“Think on the greatest and the worst things in human history,” Haagenti said. “They only happened because by some stroke of God’s madness, there were so many likeminded people in the world who worked together to make their visions reality. There are always people like you in the world, whoever or whatever you are. They want what you want, too. You’ll find each other one day. Talbot meant something to you but he was only the first.”
April smiled. It almost hurt her face to do so. She said, “Thank you, Haagenti.”
Haagenti snorted. “Hmmph. Come visit me again soon, Lady April. Your studies are not yet finished.”
“I will.”
Chapter Twenty Two
April finished her training and study under the guidance of Haagenti and others in Tennessee. A month passed and it was determined that the demon had told her all that she needed for now. Haagenti bid her farewell. April left him, feeling rather sad as they parted, viewing him as a loyal dog that wou
ld never be allowed to leave its kennel. It was unfair, she thought, even while recognizing that far worse prisons had been built to house man not only in Hell, but on earth as well.
The Gatekeepers sent April to Rome.
They wanted her to get acquainted with the center of operations and its leaders.
April didn’t have much of a chance to admire the streets of Rome before she was taken below them.
She went from catacombs of stone to a modern facility of steel. April thought that her new colleagues were perhaps a tad overfunded, and that had fueled their paranoia. She mused that a hundred years from now, they would have facilities dug out beneath their underground facilities of today.
One can never hide their head deep enough, said the spy to the ostrich.
April was taken to the office of Dominic Friend, her new boss.
She wasn’t impressed by Friend and it was obvious that the feeling was mutual. He regarded her as an annoyance, as if she had no right even stepping into his office. She was only put there to slow him down.
“You spent a long time in your room crying into a pillow,” Friend said.
April noted the lack of a question mark. She said, “It was a difficult time.”
“We lead difficult lives.”
“I’ll be better next time,” April said.
“Prove it,” Friend said.
“I will.”
“Now.” Friend opened the door of his office and waved for her to follow. “Come with me.”
April followed Friend from his office. Every Gatekeeper working in Rome seemed to know who April was and couldn’t help watching her. She felt like she was being led to the electric chair.
“We developed a special mask,” Friend said. “It allows breathing in the oxygen of the room, but emissions go into a tank. That way there is no pollution to the air.”
Friend brought her to an empty basketball court. The floor was squeaky clean and the walls were lined with blue padding.
There was a loud slam as the door shut behind her. A guard locked it.
“What is this?” April asked.
Dominic Friend snapped his fingers. A door at the other end of the court opened and two guards led in a man on a motorized dolly. The man stood completely erect and was bound at the ankles, waist, arms, and neck. He wore a dark mask that obscured everything but his eyes.
April recognized those eyes. They were a shade of red and seemed to boil in the socket like a pit of fire.
Ronald Lime was wheeled to the center of the court. The guards switched off the dolly and stepped away.