Read What Following Brings Online
Authors: S. E. Campbell
What Following Brings (28 page)
As Asag charged around the house and howled,
“
Where are you?
”
again, the house moaned a final time and then the rafters
collapsed
inward.
Wood
, dirt, and pieces of stone
caused a cloud in the air
. Even all the
weight from the collapsed building
could not kill a demon. Eden could hear him shuffling beneath the piles of wood and heard him scream in pain. He then pulled himself out of the wreckage, breathing heav
il
y. As people continued to scream around him, his many arms, now cut, extended toward the sky.
“
Where are they?
”
he cried.
Both Eden and Yuri remained silent as Asag
stumbled away, down the street
.
He disappeared from their view and let out an angry
scream.
“
You think that did the job?
”
Yuri asked.
“
For now,
”
she said.
“
But there will only be one way to stop him for good
. I have to open the gates of heaven again
.
”
Yuri nodded and hugged her. She hugged him back so hard
,
had she been alive, she was certain it would have caused
her arms
to hurt.
“
Thank you for not leaving me,
”
she said.
“
Thanks for comin
g to my rescue in Asag
'
s prison
and thanks for not running now, even when I asked you to.
”
“
You are a pain in the butt,
”
Yuri said, looking into her eyes.
She grimaced and then he
smirked
.
“
But you
'
re
my
pain in the butt,
”
he said.
“
Come here.
”
And then he
kissed her, and she sighed, shut her eyes, and tangled her fingers in his hair.
Eden and Yuri walked toge
ther in the desert. Darkness surrounded them,
but they had lanterns to keep the Raiders at bay. That did not stop the mist, though, from hovering around them, a giant, thick cloud. The two o
f them continued to hold hands
as they had for the last who knew how many miles they had walked.
To Eden, it felt like she had done an eternity of walking.
“
And that
'
s why I saw your mom,
”
she said.
“
That
'
s
also
why I knew your backstory and couldn
'
t focus
the day I met you
. Pretty crazy, huh?
”
“
Yeah, it is.
”
Yuri frowned at the ground.
“
A couple of years ago I would have called you
insane
, but nowâ¦
”
“
Tell me about it,
”
she said.
“
I don
'
t know how long I
'
ve been here, but I was once an average, ordinary high school student.
”
“
I wouldn
'
t call you
average
,
”
Yuri said.
“
Yuri,
”
she said,
grinning
at her hands.
“
Probably below average.
”
Yuri shrugged.
“
Maybe a little less.
”
With a gasp, she stared at
him
. He chuckled at her expression, whipped her around so they were facing each other, and he hugged her.
“
I
'
m just kidding,
”
Yuri said into her hair.
“
You
'
re above average. Definitely above average. In fact, you
'
re the most amazing girl I
'
ve ever met.
”
She
put her arms around his neck
and buried her nose into his shoulder. Before this, Eden hadn
'
t realized souls had a
scent
. She hadn
'
t spent much time getting up close and personal with any
one. But souls did have a smell
and Yuri
'
s was amazing. It was sweet but still masculine. Spicy. She couldn
'
t name what it was, but it
was
better than any cologne she had ever smelled before. And she had lived through middle school, where some boys had taken to drowning themselves in cologne before coming to class.
As she released Yuri
and began to walk again, she noted
he
lagged behind her. She glanced at him, eyebrow raised.
“
You okay, Yuri?
”
she asked.
“
It was just, why did God choose me
for this
?
”
Yuri said.
“
You, I can definitely understand. There is something about you. Something special. But me? I
'
ve been a bad person for a long time. I was angry and hurt
â
still am. I am not good enough for this.
”
“
First off, you aren
'
t a bad person. Secondly, I ask the same thing about myself, Yuri,
”
she said.
“
But I think the honest truth is I don
'
t think He expected
perfect
. You don
'
t have to be perfect to lo
ve someone a lot. I wasn
'
t. I hurt my own mom badly, but I loved her and still do. The same thing must be true for you, right?
Your feelings for your mother are strong
and real, and that is all that matters.
”
He grew silent but picked up his pace. Since he was deep in thought, she allowed him his silence.
****
Outside of Asag
'
s prison a hill away, she saw a couple of glowing lanterns around what appeared to be some sort of cloth tent. Eden gasped
and knew exactly
who the lanterns belonged to
.
They belonged to
Adanna, Aaron, and
maybe
Jared
. They were probably making camp
. It didn
'
t surprise her they had moved positions. Asag had been storming in and out of his prison.
“
Think that
'
s
your friends
?
”
Yuri asked.
“
I know that
'
s them,
”
she said.
“
I can feel it.
”
With a grin, she started to sprint down the hill as fast as her legs could
carry her. Yuri ran beside her
and she saw he too
grinned
.
Imagine. Yuri smiling.
Feeling her heart glow with love and excitement, she faced the lights again and watched the cloth
tent loom closer and closer. A figure appeared, dark and tall, and then two others came too.
Eden
grew closer and closer, happier and happier, until she could see Adanna
'
s tall, thin frame as well as Aaron
'
s broad grin. At their side, Jared had his arms crossed over his chest and a worried frown appeared on his face. Eden reached the three of them, catapulted herself into Adanna, and the two of them rolled and sprawled on the ground in a pi
le. Behind them, Yuri chuckled.
“
Eden,
”
Aaron said.
“
We were
so
ce
rtain the demon got you.
”
Adanna nodded below her. With a laugh, Eden sat up, stood, and then grabbed Adanna
'
s arm and pulled her to her feet. She
whirled
around and beamed.
“
He did get us,
”
she said.
“
What happened?
”
Aaron asked. And then he tossed a sus
picious look at Yuri.
“
He
didn
'
t do something to you, did he?
”
“
It
'
s a long story,
”
Eden said.
“
You
can
'
t
do that to us, Eden,
”
Aaron said.
“
We have been waiting a long time to see you.
”
“
I
'
ve got an idea,
”
Eden said, smile broadening.
“
I have a good feeling my two remaining souls are back on Horace, and I think
somebody wants
to find her sister. Why don
'
t we walk and talk at the same time?
”
Adanna
'
s eyes glistened as she nodded.
“
But what are we going to do about the major and his idiot general friend?
”
Aaron pointed at
Major Jared and then Yuri
, and Jared whipped out his sword. It glistened in the light of the lamps. Instead of falling back, Aaron held up his fists as if expecting to best
a sword with a punch
.
“
That
'
s enough,
”
Yuri said.
“
I
'
m going with
Eden to help her
, Jared. Let
'
s not add casualties to the list.
”
“
What?
”
Aaron said dumbly.
“
Are you kidding?
”
Jared asked.
“
I thought you
loathed
her.
”
“
Well,
”
Yuri said, reaching for her arm,
“
I guess I just thought
I
'
d
see what following brings.
”
He
leaned over and kissed her on the lips
.
S
he heard Adanna gasp, Jared groan, and Aaron give a loud, strangled cry, but she didn
'
t care. She kissed him right back.
Stephanie Campbell
had her first book published at the age of seventeen. Now,
at twenty, she is still w
h
acking away at her computer, one day at a time. When she isn't reading or writing, she likes to dance, take karate lessons, and run. After all, you never know when you're about to be sucked into another world.
