CHAPTER NINE

I MEET THE TWINS FROM HELL

Having successfully located all of my charges, I decided to get some rest. Following around the living takes a lot out of a dead girl.

I went back to the park. Gianna was sitting on the swings again. "Hey," I said as I passed her. "I came back. I wonder if Bob's going to have to write me up or something."

Gianna began swinging slightly faster, an act I decided to take as her acknowledgement of my company. "It's nice to see you again," I said. I sat down beside her and started swinging, too.

We sat in a comfortable silence for a while until I heard the sound of voices coming toward us. Two teenagers were walking into the playground. They were clearly twin sisters, sharing the same Asian features and long black hair. The one on the left was about half an inch taller than the one on the right, and the one on the right had two slightly curly strands of hair on either side of her face, but they were otherwise identical. Lefty wore a stunning white dress while Righty wore a floral one.

"This is lame," Righty complained. "We could be clubbing right now."

"Emanuel ordered us to patrol the park tonight," Lefty said.

I shuddered. So the twins knew the creepy guy from the woods. That probably wasn't a good sign.

"Oh look, Gianna made a friend! Good for you, sweetheart!" Righty said cheerfully. She hurried over to us and I realized that meant she could see us. Seeing as how she knew Gianna's name, she was probably a demon.

"You idiot!" Lefty said. She pulled Righty back. "That's one of the light ones. Who knows who's watching out for her?"

"Excuse my sister," Righty said. "She has no manners. I'm Jaimee, and this is Aimee. We're twins! It's great to meet you. Welcome to the afterlife."

"Jaimee and Aimee?" I repeated with a roll of my eyes. "Your parents were really creative, huh?"

"They're dead, so that hardly matters," Aimee replied. She studied me. "Ava Meyers. Well, won't Emanuel be pleased when we hand you off to him?"

"How do you know my name?" I asked sharply.

"You were sacrificed by Tyler and his followers," she said.

"Isn't Tyler hot? I would love to tie him up and torture him for eternity... Talk about bliss!" Jaimee added.

Aimee shot her a look and Jaimee shut up. "That event sealed Janyss's initiation and our release from the underworld."

"We got totally screwed over by the Gods when they realized what we did. I mean, sure, we traded our souls for a not guilty verdict on the murder charges, but so what? They were our souls to trade," Jaimee said. "They threatened to feed us to Ammit, the Devourer of the Dead, but they decided we would give the poor cutie indigestion."

"Jaimee, just stop talking, alright?" Aimee asked.

"Okay, I can do that. I'm totally not going to talk anymore."

"Starting now, Jaimee."

"Right! Oops."

Aimee shook her head. "How she managed to pull the same straight A's as I did is beyond me," she said. "Regardless, we've been looking for you, Ava. We wanted to thank you for ensuring our release. We also need to hand you over to Emanuel so he can properly dispose of you. We wondered where you'd disappeared to. I didn't expect to see you socializing with a demon, though."

"I like the swings," I replied nonchalantly. I couldn't really find these two threatening when they were essentially coming across as a flakey teenager and her bitchy twin sister. At least Gianna looked the part of a demon. These two looked like they were heading to the prom. I wondered if all demons had once been human.

"I'd better summon Emanuel," Aimee said.

"No thanks," I said. "I think I'd rather skip that meeting."

"Well too bad, because that is so not happening."

Aimee came toward me and grabbed my arm. I was startled to feel her touch. My entire soul burned. I wanted to scream. Instead, I closed my eyes and focused on one thing: Bob.

I know, it was an odd choice, but who else was I supposed to turn to in a crisis? He was the only one I knew on the other side.

Instead of Bob, however, a black cat appeared. She meowed at the twins and her hair stood up on end. A look of panic appeared on Aimee's face, but Jaimee excitedly proclaimed, "Oh, look, a kitty!"

Aimee grabbed Jaimee's arm and said to me, "We will meet again, Ava!" Then they vanished.

The cat brushed up against my leg and I could actually feel her. I bent down to pet her and scratched her behind the ears. She began purring. Then, to my great surprise, she morphed into a beautiful woman who radiated light. She still had cat eyes.

"Bob isn't really equipped for battle, sweetheart," she said kindly. "Next time you're in trouble, send me a message. I'm Bastet."

I knew her name from somewhere and struggled to remember it. "The Egyptian Cat Goddess?" I asked.

"One and the same," she replied pleasantly. "I'm sorry we haven't been introduced before now. Things are kind of chaotic around here." She laughed and I had no idea what was so funny. Maybe she'd sniffed too much catnip. "I'll gladly keep an eye on you and your group. I'll ask Bes to help, too. He's a great protector. Oh, and if the twins pop up again, call out to Anubis. He's looking for them."

"So the Egyptians were right? That's the true afterlife?"

"Don't be silly, Ava. Who says there's only one version of the afterlife? Everyone's right. Well, except for the Scientologists, but if they gain enough support, who knows?"

"How is that possible?" I asked. "All of the religions contradict each other."

"It's not about dogma and religion. It's about belief. We're real because someone believes in us, but everyone divided us up into groups. We used to all be from one pantheon, but then deities started becoming attention whores and some wanted to be monotheistic and the rest of us were just too many entities for one group to believe in, so we were divided into Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Celtic, Norse, Hindu, and other groups, and then the prophets wrote the mythology to help mortals understand us. Don't believe everything you read, though. They were terrible liars sometimes."

"Hold on, aren't the Greeks and Romans the same Gods?"

"Bite your tongue! Jupiter and Zeus can't stand being compared to one another. That's why they're always trying to prove one of them is better than the other. It's true of most of them, except Gods like Apollo, who is so adored that he managed to get into both pantheons. Each of us is a unique entity."

"This is sort of fascinating."

"I wish we could focus more on it, but you don't have much time. Emanuel knows you're here. I'll hold him off while you leave. Go somewhere safe, Ava. I would suggest Sophia's house."

"Thank you," I said. I didn't question the Goddess's advice. I closed my eyes and suddenly, I was in Sophia's bedroom.

Sophia spun around and glared at me. "You could have at least knocked first," she said.

"Sorry," I replied. "I was sort of in a hurry."

She must have seen something in my eyes because she softened and asked, "Are you alright?"

"An Egyptian Goddess in the form of a black cat just saved me from my doom, I think," I said.

"Bastet? She's quite powerful. I'm surprised she manifested for you. They must feel you're very important."

"I'm so tired all of a sudden..."

"You've done too much too soon," Sophia replied. "Stay here tonight. My room is safe. Nothing can harm you here." She pointed to the crystals dangling from the windows and over her bedroom and closet doors.

"Thank you," I said. "I think it might be nice to rest for a little while."

"I know you can't really feel much, but here's a pillow," she said as she tossed it at me. I placed my head on it and was pleased to say I could feel it if I focused on it hard enough.

"You're awesome," I told her. "So, do dead people sleep?"

"From what I've seen, you don't exactly sleep, but you go into a peaceful state where you can rest and regain some of your strength."

"Sounds good. See you in the morning." I closed my eyes and hoped I would feel better soon.