4

Dominic’s Hourglass

0 Minutes

Eva reached out a hand and when he didn’t take it, sighed and grabbed his hand from the ground, pulling him, with surprising strength, into a hunched standing position.

‘It’s getting dark and, believe me, you don’t want to be caught outside the City at night. There are things here that have never been imagined down there.’ She gestured with her head to the lake. She saw his face and softened again.

‘Sorry. I know it’s hard. We’ve all been where you are. You’ll get used to the idea. You have to.’ She pulled him by his hand and when she found this wasn’t effective, stood behind him and pushed him towards the wall. As they got closer he could see that the wall extended so far up into the misty, dark sky that he couldn’t see the top. Where he had been sitting was no longer wall but an empty gateway the size of a large house. It was a strange space, no hinges, no bolts – just a space where the wall had been. The frame around it was made of the same smooth stone as the wall, no lines or joins were visible, but carved into the stone above the space, still black and almost indistinct were the words, The Dead Know Nothing.

‘What does that mean?’ Dom pointed at the words.

She almost smiled. ‘I think it means everything you thought you knew about death is wrong. You’ll see.’ Her eyes scanned one last time around the darkening silver of the lake and into the murk of the trees beyond it. ‘We are supposed to wait for your Guardian, but I’ve been here for hours and no one has showed up so we’ll just have to go. I have a bad feeling we’ll find him at Giraldo’s.’ She pushed him again, this time impatiently. ‘Snap out of it. There is a lot to explain and I need you to listen to me carefully. We don’t have any more time to stand out here. The gate will close any minute.’ As they reached the threshold, a tall pale-skinned man gestured them through. He was dressed in the same style of clothing as Eva. Dom looked at his own jeans and shirt in a daze. This had to be a dream. It could still be a dream. He had a strong feeling that if he walked through the gateway it would all become real, and he hesitated.

‘You think I’m joking about what’s out here?’ Eva snapped. ‘Look!’ She gestured back towards the mist and Dominic saw glowing eyes, reddish ones that somehow managed to shine through the growing darkness. There was a low and menacing chuckle, like a hyena, and without another thought he followed Eva. There was a soft sound and when he turned the gate had shut and the wall was again a piece of smooth stone. He had the vaguest feeling of his ears popping, like a change in pressure. The laughter from the red eyes was cut silent.

‘Here. These are for you.’ She pulled a brown satchel from over her shoulder and placed it across one of his shoulders. He stared at it. The fabric was thick and new and beautifully stitched. Pressed into the front of the bag was his name, embroidered in bold, old-fashioned letters. He ran his hand over it and realised there was something inside. Opening the flap, he pulled out a heavy object made of wood and glass, a bottle of some sort. It was as though the bottle had been pinched in the middle, forming two smaller sections.

‘An hourglass,’ he murmured.

‘Exactly.’ Eva was all business. ‘It’s to keep your minutes in. Those two things are the only things nobody can steal from you.’

‘Really? Why?’

She reached for his hourglass and tried to grab it, her hand slipping in the air around it. She shrugged. ‘It’s just the way it is.’

‘But why would anyone want to steal it?’

‘To get your minutes. They are the most valuable thing in Necropolis. The only thing of any real value. Kind of like money. Only they actually have a function.’

‘Necropolis?’ Dominic felt as though he were coming in on a story halfway through.

She gestured with her hand. ‘This. This is Necropolis. City of the Dead. More accurately, City of the Preparation of the Dead. I’ll explain as we walk. Let’s head to Giraldo’s and get something to eat and drink. You’ll be getting hungry.’

They walked silently for a few minutes until Dominic’s head started to feel less numb and a rush of questions filled it. Eva seemed to be waiting for them.

‘Why do I need to eat if I’m dead?’

‘Everything is pretty similar here. We eat, we sleep. We do it for energy and strength the same as in old life. The only real difference is we can’t die. Obviously.’

‘So we just live here forever? This is it? Heaven?’ He was hit by a horrible thought. ‘It’s not hell, is it?’

She laughed and Dominic found himself comforted by the sound. She might have a tough personality, but at least he wasn’t alone and that laugh sounded as though there was someone nice somewhere inside the cloak.

‘No. At least not yet. This is only the first level of the Afterworld. You can’t bring anything in, but you can take whatever you can carry out. This is where you prepare for the next.’

‘Next what?’

‘Part of the Afterworld. The Maze.’ She said it as though he should already understand what she was talking about.

‘What about my sister? She was in the accident. If I’m dead, she must be too. Where is she? Shouldn’t we wait?’

Eva looked at him and he could feel her measuring him, choosing her words.

‘Just tell me the truth. Please.’

She sighed gently. ‘She may have died with you, but she may not come here at all or she may come here at another time – in the future. Or the past.’

He felt a small panic bite at him and tried to swallow it. ‘Can you,’ he tried to be polite, ‘give me a second to think?’

She didn’t reply. Instead, she walked a little more quickly. He hoped he hadn’t insulted her, especially if being a Guide was something important, but he needed to think. Maybe if he could look into the lake again, he could see what happened to Kaide.

He peered around again, trying to get his mind to take in the new place. The streets were not very wide and there weren’t any vehicles or proper roads. Just a footpath width of cobbled black stone, the same hard, matte stone that everything seemed to be made from. He wondered how people lived with so much black stone. Everything was so dark, and as the daylight faded and the light grew even murkier it became impossible to see where the path finished and the houses began. A building to his right suddenly lit up. The building didn’t have windows, but rather the walls were the lights, the stone glowing suddenly from within and expressing a soft grey-blue light that filled the street with a gentle glow. Houses all up the street followed suit and Dom was stunned to notice that each one, while all made of the same black stone, threw its own soft colour; muted orange, brown or even red light. The street was far from the gothic city he had imagined, it seemed more like a subdued theme park.

They walked through a town square with a beautifully wrought fountain and an odd rendition of a horse prancing above it. The water was not the thick liquid from the lake outside, but regular water, fresh and cold as it sprayed fine mist into the air. There were people sitting in the square talking and eating and Dom noticed immediately that there were no children. The place was clean and simple to the point of being ascetic, but the people seemed happy enough.

He almost had to run to keep up with Eva, who had picked up her stride even more as they walked through a narrow section of buildings that were more like small high-rises than houses. Everything was an odd mix of ancient and modern. Some of the buildings were small apartment buildings, square and slick, the black stone almost seamless, while others were medieval-style buildings with wooden beams and painted plaster walls. Some were almost gothic with buttresses holding them in place. Even the older ones had the softly lit stone instead of glass windows.

They had a soft sheen and while he had a feeling whoever was inside could see him perfectly, he couldn’t see in. It wasn’t reflective either. He stared at a muted yellow wall and it was like standing in front of a mirror and seeing only light; soft and empty light.

Everything was very clean in the City; there was no smell of trash. He supposed nothing could decay when you were already dead. His brain spun for a moment. What happened to leftover food? Did it just vanish? A few people walked past. They glanced at him, then took a second look, but kept walking. One was wearing similar clothes to his own, a T-shirt and a pair of jeans, while the other was in a cape and outfit similar in style to Eva’s. He turned towards her and started to ask her something. ‘Why—’

She interrupted him. ‘I’m allowed to talk now?’ She sounded a little antagonistic. ‘You want to know about your clothes?’

He nodded.

‘People come here in whatever they die in. Your clothes won’t break down like they do in life, but they might get torn or dirty so you can change into whatever you want. There are plenty of places that sell clothes. Some people die in their underwear. Or nothing at all. They usually want something fresh.’ She grinned wryly. Dom tried to smile a little, but found his face stiff.

Eva took her cue to keep talking.

‘As I was saying, the City is supposed to be a place where you prepare and save time. Time is the currency here. You will be paid for work in minutes.’ She pulled a small silver sphere from her bag and showed it to him. ‘This is one minute.’ She pushed it into the top of her own hourglass and it turned liquid, pooling in the bottom segment. The hourglass seemed to grow a little in size to accommodate it. ‘You can collect as many as you want, but an hourglass will only hold 10,080. That’s one week. That’s the most you can take with you out of the City. Some people try with less, but my advice is to take every second you can fit. You’ll need them.’

‘For what?’

Eva grinned. ‘First, here is Giraldo’s. I don’t recommend this place. It’s a horrible dive for drunkards to waste their minutes, but we may find someone we are looking for in here, so stay close and don’t let anyone know you are new.’

Dom imagined the dazed expression on his face might alert them to that, but tried to do as he was told. They walked up to a door, which vanished into a puff of mist as they approached and materialised again behind them. Dom almost broke his neck trying to watch it work. From the inside it seemed to be a wrought iron door, though of course it was black stone. He turned and peered into the gloom.

The place was like an average gloomy dive back in life. Or back on Earth. Dom didn’t know quite how to think of the past yet. He still had a strong feeling he was about to wake up back in the car with Kaide laughing at him. The place didn’t seem to have any light source and yet each table had a faint ring of light around it. Almost enough to see the faces, but not quite. People were eating and drinking and there was plenty of low noise: music, chatter and the occasional drunken laugh. There didn’t seem to be any laws about underage drinking in Necropolis as no one had yet thrown him out. Eva was weaving her way through the tables bending to check under people’s hoods and slowly making her way past the bar – which only stocked one sort of drink, something in opaque ceramic bottles – and into the back corner. There was a man sitting at a table covered in bottles, his head flung back and his mouth open, asleep or unconscious.

Eva walked calmly up to the table, slapped both sides of the man’s face hard and then sat down. She gestured for Dom to sit beside her and he sank onto a bench that, finally, seemed to be made of wood rather than stone. If this was his Guardian and a Guardian had any sort of protective role, Dom knew he was in trouble. The man swung his head forward and held a long curved knife unsteadily at Eva’s chin. His eyes were dark and bloodshot. A face full of angled features. He looked like a medieval knight.

‘You again? Why are you here again? He came back? I told you, it’s not our problem. You know better than to interrupt me when I’m busy thinking.’ His thick accent was Spanish, or South American, Dom wasn’t sure. ‘I mean drinking!’ He laughed, but kept the knife at her throat.

‘You and I are together again. I don’t know why, some cruel cosmic joke, I imagine. But this isn’t Roberto. This is a new one, Dominic Mathers.’ She pushed the knife away from her throat and watched with disdain as he wobbled back into an upright position and belched loudly.

‘Oh for blood’s sake, I haven’t finished drinking off the last one. How do they come so thick and fast?’ He gazed deeply into Dom’s eyes and frowned in surprise. ‘You’re a boy.’ He glanced at Eva who said nothing, but Dom knew he had missed something. The man reached out and grasped Dom’s arm, the heat of his hand warming the skin. He tilted his head as though he were trying to figure something out. ‘You can’t be more than sixteen years old.’

‘I’m fifteen.’ Dom tried to hold his gaze, despite the angry, drunken eyes. He had a very handsome face, in an old fashioned kind of way. His moustache and goatee were overgrown with stubble. His hair was black with no trace of grey in it and Dom guessed that he might be forty years old, maybe younger.

‘I am your Guardian, boy.’ He sighed. He lifted several bottles trying to find one that wasn’t empty. He succeeded and took a deep swig, emptying the last drops. ‘I don’t want to be, but there doesn’t seem to be any free will left in the bottle does there?’ He laughed and turned the bottle upside down. A drop hit the table. The liquid glowed a gentle red and then evaporated. The man threw it against the wall, watching it shatter and clatter on the floor. A few people turned their heads, but most ignored the noise.

‘You going to make an attempt at getting out of here or am I wasting more of my eternal life on you?’ He sounded tired this time. He shook his head like a dog shaking itself of water, and a sudden smile lit his face. The glow of it made him completely different, almost surreal, and Dominic sat back in his seat. The change was so complete he was too surprised to answer.

‘I haven’t explained anything much, we were trying to find you.’ Eva made it sound like a reprimand.

The Guardian raised an eyebrow and winked at Dom. ‘She knows everything, this girl. You just ask her.’

Dominic couldn’t help but smile and it earned him a dirty glance from his Guide and a slap on the shoulder from the man beside him.

‘I apologise of course for my bad behaviour, I occasionally drink too much.’ He looked at Eva. ‘Okay, I often drink too much, but centuries of this job will do that to you. I am Eduardo.’ He rose and executed a flourishing, if somewhat unstable, bow before tumbling back into his seat. It was then that Dom noticed his hair. It was pulled back in a low braid so he had not seen its length before. Eduardo’s hair reached the floor. He swung it back over his shoulder and out of the way as he steadied himself in his seat.

‘I’ll summarise.’ He grinned at Dom, leaning forward and gripping his forearm again. His eyes, though slightly dulled by the liquor, were bright and intense. Dom liked him completely, though he wondered how Eduardo would be able to protect him against anything.

‘You are dead. This is the Necropolis. You have to earn enough minutes to find your way through the Maze. You will also have to cross the River. You will have your heart weighed against the feather of truth. If you are not devoured, you will meet the Awe and then it will decide your future. If you fail at any of it, you come back here and stay here for all eternity drinking and waiting. And drinking some more.’ He sat back, the grin gone from his face for a moment, a deep sadness etching it with lines.

Dom was stunned. ‘Sorry. I got just about none of that.’

Eduardo watched him for a moment and burst into more of his infectious laughter. Dom joined him softly, feeling that laughing might be the only way to avoid bursting into tears. He wanted to go home. So desperately his heart beat faster at the thought. A deep panic coursed through him. He wanted his sister and the horrible smell of India and his mother’s fake smile. He tried to wake himself up, to think himself back to reality. It couldn’t really be like this. This couldn’t be death. Death was heaven or hell or nothing. Nothing would be better than this. This was, this was . . . he caught his breath. This was too much.

Eduardo saw his face and tightened his grip on Dom’s arm. It was a gentle touch, but it pulled him back to the moment, the smell of the bar, the noise.

‘It’s not what any of us want. But it’s where we are. You are here and you must accept it. There is no other choice. This is death.’

Eva watched impassively. ‘We need to get back to the room soon so let me explain a couple of things. Like I said, the currency here is time. Everything costs minutes and that is what you will earn. I will help you find a job and you can earn enough time to go on to the Maze if you want to. Once you have enough time you have to choose. You move on or you stay and we take on a new death.’

Eduardo gestured to a barmaid who brought over a plate of steaming stew for Dom. He looked at it wondering if he would ever want to eat again, but then the steam hit his nose and the smell forced a spoon into his hand. He stuffed the thick brown mixture into his mouth and was surprised to find he had no frame of reference for the taste. It was like nothing he had ever tried. It was good, maybe even delicious, he wasn’t sure. He pulled a face, concentrating on the mouthful.

He saw suddenly that Eva and Eduardo were smiling.

‘What?’ he asked. They just smiled. ‘What is this stuff? It’s weird.’

‘Not a vegetarian back in life were you?’ Eva asked.

‘No. Not at all. I think we were the only beef eaters in India!’ He was confused.

‘Animals don’t come to the Afterworld. They go straight back I think. Or straight on. Anyway, there are no animals here. So no meat.’ She shrugged.

‘So there are not even dogs or cats or . . .’ he thought about it, ‘mosquitoes?’

‘Nothing.’ Eduardo grinned. ‘Get used to that lentil mush, it’s about as good as it gets.’

Dominic had another wave of horror that this might not be a dream. The food was not bad, but surely not even a dream could be this weird. No animals, no family, no life. He thought he might write a story about this when he regained consciousness in the hospital. That had to be it. He was in a coma after the accident and he would eventually come out of it. Eduardo’s eyes narrowed as he watched the look of relief come over Dom’s face.

‘You need to believe this, Dom. People who don’t believe it wander around for decades. There are people who have been here for hundreds of years because they will not accept that life was just the beginning.’

Dom was more interested in this idea than thinking about truth or belief. ‘You mean there are famous people here? Like . . . Julius Caesar.’

‘Do you really think someone like Julius Caesar would still be here?’ Eduardo frowned. ‘He moved on with only a few thousand minutes. He is long gone. Of course – he had no trouble believing he was dead. It’s only the more modern generations who are surprised by it.’ He laughed again. ‘You people who never think about death, who fear it, who do not talk about it. You are the people who wander aimlessly through it the same way you did through life. I never minded being a Guardian until the 1900s.’

‘Now that’s a load of shit,’ Eva snapped. ‘You complained about every job you’ve done with me, I think you’ve probably been complaining since the beginning. We need to get going. Get you a bed and then a job. Can you pay for all this?’ She gestured to the empty pots. Eduardo pulled out an ornate hourglass and tipped a handful of silver minutes from the top. He laid them on the table and they rolled towards the middle where they were immediately sucked into a small hole in the wood. He smiled at her with drunken charm.

‘I always pay my debts.’

‘Except last time. And the time before. And then, the time before that. All of which I paid for.’ She stood and left in one swift movement and Dom almost upset the bench trying to follow her. Eduardo stumbled to his feet, his cape and hair swinging wildly around. Dom wondered if he would be able to make it out of the building, but he wove his way between tables and everyone seemed wholly unsurprised to have a drunk bumping their elbows and backs. Perhaps it just went with the territory. They exited the door the same way they had entered. It vanished as they approached and reformed behind them.

The streets were completely lit now and Dom could see the shape of the City. It was so strange. The architecture seemed to have evolved over time, yet the same stone was used in every house. Some glowed with coloured light, some were dark. It would have been beautiful if it wasn’t so completely strange. There was nothing to compare it all to in his mind so he felt a constant sense of being lost and confused. He had always imagined death would be relaxing – eternal sleep or at most a heaven with nothing to do but sit around and be quietly happy about everything. He realised Eduardo was right; he had not given much thought to what happened after death. Just the actual event itself. Nobody on Earth really wanted to die, but what they were talking about was the actual event of dying, not what came afterwards.

Before he could think any more about it he was pulled and pushed flat against a dark wall in a dark alcove between two narrow buildings. Eva had pulled him from behind, his T-shirt stretching so tight against his neck he could barely breathe, and across his chest was Eduardo’s thick, muscled arm. Eduardo was standing in front of him, the curved knife in hand. Protecting him. From something.

Dom started to speak, but before he could muster the breath Eva’s hand was over his mouth. He tried to see what was going on out in the street they had just left. There was muffled noise, some yelling and running, but no specific words or sounds. Then there was silence. Eduardo’s stance became even more tense and Eva’s grip on his shirt became unbearable; he tried to twist her off without moving too much, but they held him completely still. He knew he was supposed to be scared, a throbbing muscle in Eduardo’s temple told him that. But he could feel Eva’s warm breath on his neck. She smelled alive, there was warmth and energy there that made it hard to concentrate.

Then he saw something in the narrow gap between Eduardo’s body and the end of the alleyway. A tall man was walking slowly past, taller than any man he had ever seen. This man had a faint glow to his pale skin, his hair was almost white and hung as long as Eduardo’s. Behind him was an equally tall, heavily muscled black man. They were both dressed completely in white. The pale man passed out of his line of sight and he heard a clear voice. It was soft and gentle, but terrifyingly clear, as though it was beside his own ear.

‘There is no leaving, Rubric. You made a decision and you must honour it. You will run for me. If you fail you will be held. If you make it – I may hold you anyway, for trying to cheat me.’ Dom heard a wail of fear and then a sickening crunch. It was a sound he barely recognised, but felt he should know. The scream that followed a moment later reminded him. It was a bone breaking. He remembered the sound from the ski trip when a girl in his class had fallen down a small embankment right in front of him, breaking her femur cleanly. A crunch, a silent moment and then the scream. He took a sudden breath. It wasn’t loud, but Eva re-clamped her hand over his mouth. It was too late.

The pale man appeared at the end of the alleyway in an instant and smiled, trying to see around Eduardo’s body to Dominic. He walked towards them, his bodyguard flanking him. As he got closer Dom could see just how huge he was. Not just tall, but everything about him was a few sizes larger than the biggest person he had ever seen and the faint glow on his skin was strange. Like an aura, maybe. It reached only a few inches from his skin and didn’t light the darkness at all, but it shimmered in a strange way, as though it was breathing.

Eduardo stood waiting, his muscles taut. ‘Satarial.’

The tall man did not even turn. He tilted his head gracefully and watched Dominic’s face.

‘Welcome.’ He seemed to look Dom up and down and yet maintain eye contact. He spoke with friendly affection. ‘You have a young face. African. Some Celt I think. Perhaps a little Hun?’ He leaned down a little and reached for Dom’s arm. Eduardo stepped in front of him. There was a very small flash of anger in Satarial’s eyes, vicious, but brief.

‘You’ll have to excuse these two, my friend. They are over-cautious. Very good at what they do, very good. But we have crossed paths before in unfortunate circumstances and they are not very forgiving. And you, what was your name?’ He spoke over Dom’s shoulder and he felt Eva hiss behind him in disgust.

‘I am Eva.’

With one soft movement, Satarial pushed Eduardo aside. He exerted almost no effort, but Eduardo had to fight to regain his balance. He swung his knife between them but the pale man made no further move towards Dom. He simply held out his hand. Dom wasn’t sure whether he was supposed to shake it or hold it. It was a strange gesture, palm up. The man’s icy blue eyes were boring into him but there was an air of impatience or anticipation or something he couldn’t quite define. Satarial wanted something of him. He knew he shouldn’t do it, his Guide and Guardian made it abundantly clear that this was not a man they trusted. But he had another sinking remembrance that he was dead. That he could not die again. That it didn’t matter what he did anymore and in the only way he could, Dom rebelled and put his hand on Satarial’s larger, refined and smooth one.

It was like dry ice. Freezing and burning at the same time. An intense pain that travelled throughout his arm and skull. He could barely hear the soft voice for the screaming nerves in his brain, but he saw without confusion the surprise and sudden interest on the man’s face.

‘You are fifteen?’ He pulled his hand away quickly. He repeated thoughtfully and quietly, almost excitedly. ‘Fifteen.’ He looked at his servant, whose face had remained completely impassive throughout the entire exchange and who had not even moved when Eduardo had swung his knife. Obviously there was no concern about his master’s wellbeing.

Satarial leaned forward, ignoring the knife, and spoke close to Dom’s ear.

‘Who is the girl? The one that laughs? With the dark hair.’ He waited for Dom to answer, but Dom’s mind was still dull from the pain. The girl? What girl? He stared in confusion. Satarial stepped back quickly.

‘I have a place for you, Dominic. I’ve been waiting for someone . . . interesting, like you.’ He turned and walked down the alley, tossing over his shoulder, ‘Good evening, my friends.’

He took his time gliding smoothly out of the alley, his feet touching the ground only in the lightest way possible. Dominic couldn’t help admiring him a little, despite the moaning of the injured man out on the road, and the pain when they touched. When he had completely vanished and the sound of his bodyguard’s footprints had faded, Eduardo finally relaxed and looked Dominic deeply in the face.

‘Are you all right?’ He lifted Dom’s face upwards and held it in his strong hand.

‘I’m fine.’ He shook his head free.

‘You shouldn’t be.’ Eduardo was still staring into his eyes.

‘Are you stupid?’ Eva let go of his shirt with a last jerk, causing him to cough. ‘Do you think we know nothing?’

Dom was suddenly angry. He didn’t usually lose his cool, he didn’t believe he even had any cool, but Eva’s green eyes were trained on him with such disgust that he couldn’t help himself.

‘How should I know? I don’t know you any better than I knew him. And at least he was nice. Polite. I appreciate you trying to . . . rescue me, or whatever you think you are doing. But that guy didn’t try to hurt me. You didn’t have to choke me.’

Eva leaned forward and it seemed as though she might yell at him, but Eduardo stepped in between, his muscular body forming a solid wall. He was facing Dom and seemed completely sober for a moment. ‘We apologise if we seemed over-cautious, Dominic, but that was one of the most dangerous beings in Necropolis and you are, well, as he said, you are . . .’ Eduardo paused for a second, ‘of interest to him.’

Dom wasn’t even sure which question to ask first. ‘Being? What does that mean? He’s not human?’

‘Obviously not.’ Eva was still angry.

Eduardo stepped away and sheathed his knife. ‘You know, Dom, I think she might have a little bit of love left in her heart. Deep down there somewhere. Some of it might even be for you. I’ve never seen her react like this.’

Eva was startled into stuttering, ‘No. No. No.’

Dom blushed, but smirked. Eduardo at least had the talent of shutting Eva up. Dom finally allowed himself to relax enough to follow Eduardo out of the alleyway and back onto the street. The man who had been attacked by Satarial’s bodyguard was no longer whimpering, just sitting patiently on the edge of the street, waiting. He glanced up at them with an expression of hopeless disinterest. His leg didn’t appear to be broken, but there was thick, red blood on the torn thigh of his pants.

After they had passed by, Dom questioned Eduardo on it.

‘He is almost healed,’ the Guardian replied. ‘We still feel pain here, but we can’t truly be injured or permanently maimed. He is waiting for it to be completely healed and then he will be able to walk. Satarial would never actually incapacitate one of his competitors.’

‘Competitors? What does he do?’ Dom struggled to understand anything about this man. ‘Wait – first, tell me what he is or who he is.’

‘He’s Nephilim.’ Eva finally spoke. It seemed her interest in Satarial made it impossible for her to keep up the silent treatment.

‘Nephilim? I’ve never heard of that. Is it a different race or something? Or a wizard?’ Dom thought vaguely of the fantasy novels his roommate had always been reading. ‘Are there other worlds of people here, too?’

‘No. Just Earth. But some people have been here a very long time. There are races of people that are long extinct on Earth.’ Eduardo spoke carefully, looking down each side street as they passed into a section of the City that was full of tight alleys and blind corners. The buildings were not as brightly lit here, less warmth in the walls, more smoky yellow light. There was the occasional body slumped against the edge of the street. Dom assumed since they were already dead, they were just drunk or overwhelmed. A few minutes ago he had felt like lying down exactly where he was and covering his head with his hands. Now, though, he was too interested in the conversation. He stepped over a fat middle-aged man in a business suit and kept talking.

‘How long ago are we talking? Like Ancient Egypt or China or before that?’

‘So far before that, you couldn’t even put them on the same timeline. Think – the very beginning.’

‘As in – out of the slime?’ Dom was incredulous.

Eva sniffed. ‘Okay – you’re gonna have to let go of all that stuff you learned in science. Growing legs and crawling up on land? It’s rubbish.’

Dom had never considered the alternative. ‘Really? So it was like Adam and Eve and all that? And the tree?’

Eduardo smiled gently. ‘Well, you might have to let go of that too. The creation story that you know is so deeply mythical and simplified that it is unlikely you have gleaned any truth from it. Let’s just say people did not come from monkeys any more than they were built out of dirt. Both stories are allegories that humans have taken as literal truth.’

‘And Nephilim?’

‘Have you read any of the Bible?’ Eva asked him.

‘Not a lot. Some at school. My parents were atheists so we never had one at home.’

‘Well, it’s one of the only books that refers to Nephilim. There are also other old scrolls. Anyway, Nephilim are what was created when humans bred with Angels.’ She shot him a half-smile as she waited for his reaction.

Dom almost tripped over his own feet, but not for the reason she thought. When she smiled Eva became so suddenly beautiful that his breath was taken away. He blushed and was thankful it was dark enough to hide it. Then his brain took over and he realised what she had said.

‘Angels?’ He actually grinned. ‘Like the ones with wings? Singing songs and watching over children?’

Eduardo frowned. ‘Is that what you believe down there now? You’d better keep that to yourself.’ He glanced around a little furtively. ‘They do not come here often, but they are a very proud race. And more powerful than even the Nephilim. I wouldn’t insult them. I could not protect you from an angry Angel.’

‘An angry Angel?’ Dom smirked again. It was hard to parallel the thought with the types of pictures and statues he had seen around his Aunt Milly’s house. Millicent was a New Age addict and had been, across the years, a psychic, fortune-teller, chakra therapist and, more recently, Angel Intuitive. Last time he had been in Washington, she had told him that his Guardian Angel was very concerned about his sadness of spirit. She had pictures and carvings of fat baby angels with pouting lips all around her home.

‘Anyway, Satarial is the oldest being here. He is half-Angel and so has much of their size and strength, as well as a few of their powers – like reaching into your mind. But unlike them he was mortal. That’s why he’s here. There aren’t many Nephilim left. Most moved on immediately.’ She slowed down and Dom almost ran into her. She glanced at him in mild annoyance, took an ancient key from her satchel and inserted it in an equally anachronistic lock on a door close to the street. It was a narrow doorway and there were dozens of identical ones on this street. After she unlocked it, the door vanished the same way as the one in the bar had, and Eduardo ushered Dom through it, peering up and down the street as he did. If he had to stay here too long Dom thought he might become paranoid with all these furtive looks and worried glances. He climbed a narrow set of stairs; they were old and the stone was chipped and dull. The railing was missing in places and as he climbed there was a faint cracking sound as though he were walking on thin ice. Eva led the way to the fourth level of the narrow building, unlocked one of two un-numbered doors and opened it. The door vanished again, re-materialising behind them and leaving them alone together in a room about the size of his mother’s closet, perhaps smaller. Eva reached out and touched one of the walls and a light glow appeared in the room. It was a soft orange colour and it flickered on his Guide’s and Guardian’s faces like a campfire.

Just about everything in the room felt like a camping trip; the beds were stretcher-style cots and there was only one table and chair. Both were made of heavy wood and Dom liked the feeling that there were a few things in this place that weren’t made of the cold stone. Eva placed her satchel against the wall, lay down on one of the beds and pulled a thick, rough blanket over herself. She turned her face to the wall and while he was absolutely sure she wasn’t immediately asleep, he had the feeling she would pretend to be anyway. Eduardo pulled off his knee-high boots and sat on the chair, put his feet up on the table and pulled a flask from within his tattered satchel.

‘Goodnight, Eva, such a pleasure to be working with you again. Always good conversation. A world of laughs.’ There was no response, but they both knew that she had heard and Dom and Eduardo shared a wry smile. Dom sat on the spare bed. It was just comfortable enough. The cover was a rough, but soft, brown fabric. The blanket felt the same only heavier. A bit like hemp. He ran his hand over it absentmindedly. Everything was similar to home, but different enough to make him feel constantly out of place.

‘So, Dominic.’ Eduardo took a long drink from his flask. It appeared to be bottomless. ‘Since we are to be together for a while, and I will be risking my body to protect you, tell me everything about yourself.’ He leaned back, slightly bored.

Dom sighed. ‘Would you mind if we didn’t talk? I just want to sit. I don’t want to sleep, but I don’t want to talk either. Why do we need to sleep by the way?’

‘We don’t really. You won’t die from not sleeping.’ He chuckled and took another drink. ‘But you will feel very, very tired. We sleep so we have energy. Simple. So you are not going to tell me who you are? I’m very curious.’

Dom smiled. Eduardo sounded anything but curious, more sarcastic.

‘Why don’t you tell me who you are? Since you’re supposed to be my Guardian, protecting me from giants and Angels and devils and who knows what else.’

He waved a drunken hand. ‘Oh, there is no devil. Do you know that I have had this job for hundreds of years and none of my wards have ever asked me about myself? Maybe a question or two about my skills as a swordsman or my language, but never my past. You are the first. You are more different than I thought.’

Dom couldn’t help himself. ‘Why does everyone speak English? Wouldn’t someone like Satarial speak his own language?’

‘He does. We just understand all the human languages here.’ He shrugged.

‘Then why do you speak with an accent?’ Dom asked dubiously.

Eduardo roared with laughter. ‘Because you expect me to! Where are you from anyway? You are African?’

‘I’m American. My mum is white and my dad is black.’

‘Oh yes, American.’ Eduardo sniggered. ‘I’ve met a couple. Always so astonished that they are dead. How could this happen to me? What did I do to deserve this? Cry, cry.’ He leaned forward and pointed his finger at Dom. ‘Did you know that I was one of the first men to set foot in the Americas? We landed in a place that had never before been discovered, except by the savages. We found your country.’ He smiled.

‘I think that’s South America. And you’re not supposed to call them savages.’ Dom didn’t know why he bothered explaining, he was sure the Incas could defend themselves now they were dead.

Eduardo wasn’t listening anyway. He was in some deep memory, his eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed. He pulled his braid of hair over his shoulder and held it in his hand. It was a thick rope, dark and shining, and Dom was once again amazed at how long it was. It was almost like the fairytale his mother used to tell Kaide whenever she had wanted to cut her hair short – Rapunzel.

‘We travelled for months. I didn’t even like the sea, everything was sticky, wet and rotten. And the rum ran out much earlier than we expected.’ He grinned wryly. ‘We were searching for gold, not land. My role was leading the army against the savages, subduing them and protecting the gold for the queen of Spain. We won our first confrontation, it was a massacre – thousands of them died. They had no swords, just spears and darts and knives. It was not a fair fight.’

Dom watched his face. There was regret, but also a smile.

‘They defeated me in the end, despite my sword. Maybe it was fairer than I thought. I was hit by a dart – about the size of a needle. I saw the boy who fired it, maybe twelve, thirteen years old. It hit me in the shoulder and barely hurt. I pulled it out and kept fighting. By the end of the battle I couldn’t raise my arm, it was numb. Then it became harder and harder to breathe and eventually my heart stopped beating. And that was that. I died for a pile of gold. For someone else.’

Dom couldn’t help himself. ‘There wasn’t any gold you know. It was a myth.’

Eduardo laughed loudly, though a little harshly. Eva still didn’t stir. ‘So I’ve heard.’

‘So why haven’t you gone on to – wherever we’re supposed to be going to?’

The smile left the older man’s face and he took another drink. ‘I have my reasons, Dominic. But I know how to protect and that is all that should matter to you. Even you.’

‘What do you mean “even me”? What’s different about me?’ Dom hoped it would be nothing. He didn’t want to stand out in this strange place. But the bemused face of his Guardian and his encounter with Satarial had already suggested that he was . . . special.

‘What is it?’

‘You are fifteen, are you not?’

‘Yes. I’ll be sixteen in about eight months.’

‘Maybe.’ Eduardo leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. He seemed completely relaxed, but his eyes were sharp and Dom felt them piercing him. ‘As far as I, and apparently Satarial, can recall, you are the youngest person to ever enter Necropolis.’ He waited for a response and got none. Dom was too confused. That was it? He was young. He wasn’t different. Just young?

‘There have been a few seventeen-year-olds – Eva for example. And I think perhaps there may once have been a boy of sixteen. But you are the youngest I have ever heard of. People will notice you. And that is not a good thing.’

‘Why will they notice me? I’m not trying to be modest or anything, but I am pretty average.’

Eduardo smiled at him. ‘You are young. That is enough. I could feel it in you when I touched you. There is an energy in the young – in you – that is gone here. It fades with age and it fades further with death. The energy of hope and the potential for action. It’s potent. People here miss it and they will feel it around you. It is even stronger in boys. Girls learn to control their emotions earlier. Boys? It is a powerful force.’

‘Potential?’ Dom laughed. ‘You sound like my mother. And Satarial wants it? How can he possibly take it?’

‘He can’t. But he wishes that he could. The longer we are here the more we have to force ourselves to continue. We all struggle to find the energy to go on. We were never meant to stay in the City long. It is like mud.’

‘So what is the point of the City anyway?’

‘The Maze is a place of physical and emotional rigour. This is the training ground. A place to face who you were and discover who you need to become to prepare for what is next. It was . . . a good place once. Now it is just a waiting place.’ He rubbed his eyes.

‘But where do all the kids go? Lots of kids die every day – supposedly some kid starves to death every three seconds.’ Dom remembered the statistic that had encouraged him to give his entire savings to charity when he was six years old. ‘What happens to them?’

‘I am not the Awe. I don’t have all the answers for you. But I believe they may go straight back – to life.’ Eduardo still looked relaxed, but Dom felt overwhelmed by all of the information that was confounding everything he had ever believed in.

‘Reincarnation? That’s real? That’s what the Indians believe. I thought it was ridiculous. Wow.’ Dom lay back on his bed. Eduardo closed his eyes and appeared to drift off to sleep. Dom wasn’t ready to let him. ‘Wait – I have, well, can I have two more questions?’

‘Of course you can ask them – but I may not be able to answer them. I have been here a long time and there are still many things I do not understand.’

‘The Awe. Is that like God?’ The idea of God had always terrified Dom.

Eduardo smiled, this time with a softer face. ‘That depends. If you mean Buddha or Allah or Ganesh or an old man throwing thunderbolts then your answer is no. If you mean the God in the Bible who killed people and made threats and favoured some over others,’ he said sarcastically, ‘then – no. But if you mean, is it the place we belong and came from and is it a thing worth reaching, then yes – the Awe could be a god.’

‘Oh. This is breaking my brain, man.’ Dom put a hand to his forehead. He heard Eduardo laugh heartily.

‘I like that – breaking my brain. I understand that. My brain is very broken.’

‘Last question okay?’ Dom tried to think of the one that he wanted to ask the most. There were so many. ‘Will my family come here eventually? My sister is seventeen.’

Eduardo’s face immobilised. The laughter stopped and the last part of his smile melted. He looked into Dominic’s eyes, seeing through him into somewhere else. Then he looked away.

‘If they die young, before their time – they should come here, yes. It doesn’t mean you will find them. This place is huge, an entire world of death.’ He sounded tired and his voice was dropping to a soft rasping whisper. ‘And time is different here. Things take a long time. A very long time.’ He pulled his feet off the table, took a last swig from his flask and stumbled to the bed against the far wall. ‘I am more tired than I thought, Dominic. We will talk again in the morning.’

‘Are you waiting for someone?’ Dom knew the answer already.

‘You said two questions. That would make three.’ He lay down and turned away, a mirror of Eva.

Dom sighed. Being dead certainly didn’t make people any happier. Or maybe only unhappy people came here. Perhaps the happy ones went back to life or on to something else. There seemed to be all sorts of weird rules. No young people, no animals, no old people. Pain, but no death. He had to find work. He had to watch out for Angels and half-Angels and who knew what else would turn up. He wondered how Kaide was. What if she had died too? She would be here somewhere. And his parents? They had lost a son and maybe a daughter as well. How would his mother manage to drown those sorrows? He lay down on the bed, trying to stop thinking. Satarial kept coming to the front of his mind, staring at him intensely, burning his hand with that terrifying touch. What did he want?

And even though he had died, had met the Nephilim and discovered that there was actually some sort of God, he was surprised to realise that the image he truly couldn’t push from his mind was the one of Eva smiling at him.