by Blythe Baker
“I realize it’s a long shot, but we should try, shouldn’t we?” I asked.
She sighed, staring out the windshield. “Yes, I guess we should at least try.”
“Okay, good,” I said with relief. “I appreciate you being on my side with this.”
“I’m not going in that cemetery with you, though,” she said, suppressing a shiver. “It gives me the creeps in there.”
“Whatever,” I said. “I just need you to get me there. You can leave my bike and I’ll get home after I meet with him.”
“If you meet with him,” Bliss said.
“I will,” I said.
She dropped me off near the entrance.
“Now I’m regretting just leaving you,” she said to me as she rolled down her window.
“Don’t,” I said. “I’ve got Athena. We’ll be alright.”
“But what about the ghost?” she asked.
“We’ll be fine,” I said.
Bliss frowned up at me. “Maybe I should go home and get my wand, and then I’ll just come back and protect you – ”
“I’m fine, really,” I said. “If I see the ghost, I’ll lay low. It’s fine.”
Bliss groaned. “Alright, fine. But if you need me, you call me. Okay? No more of this hiding stuff from me. Maybe from Mom, to spare her sanity. But not me. You got it?”
“Yeah, I get it,” I said with a smile. “Thanks for helping me today.”
Bliss did smile at that. “No problem. It was kinda fun, wasn’t it?”
“I guess it kinda was,” I said. Dangerous was probably the word I would’ve chosen instead, but I hadn’t completely hated it. There was definitely something exciting about it all.
I waved goodbye to her as she drove off.
You probably should’ve let her stay…Athena said, her tail flicking nervously as she glanced into the cemetery. Your magical protection isn’t up to par, yet.
“I think it’ll be fine,” I said, noting my drop in confidence. “We just need to…wait, my magical protection?” I asked.
Certainly, Athena said. As a faery grows in her knowledge of her power, she also acquires the natural protection of the world around her. Faeries are the most in commune with nature, and the magic imbedded in natural things is often where they pull their power from.
“I didn’t know any of that,” I said. I gave her a confused look. “How did you?”
A fox hears a thing or two while living in these forests, she said. I suppose I’ve always had a little magic in me, which was probably why you were drawn to me in the first place.
I shook my head. I really needed to spend some time getting to know more about where I came from. I had no idea if that was even possible, but I needed to try.
We wandered through the cemetery together.
“This is starting to feel too familiar,” I said, looking around at gravestones that I recognized. Names, dates, whole families that I’d noticed the last time I was here. It sent a chill down my spine.
I understand…Athena said.
My phone vibrated in my pocket, and my heart jumped. “Oh, I hope it’s the sheriff – ” I said, pulling it out of my pocket.
My heart sank as I saw the name on the screen. It wasn’t him.
“Yes, Bliss?” I asked.
“Is everything okay?” she asked. “I just got home and I was worrying.”
I smiled. “You just left two minutes ago.”
“I know, I know,” she said. “Alright, I’ll let you go. But if something happens – ”
“I’ll call, I know,” I said.
“Okay. Good. Bye,” Bliss said.
I checked the clock every few minutes, but the sheriff wasn’t calling me back. Even after we reached Isabella Delvin’s grave, my phone remained silent.
“Should I try calling the police station again?” I asked aloud.
Perhaps not, Athena said. It might come across as too demanding, and they might send someone else out here. That, or they won’t take you seriously and ignore your wishes all together.
It was times like these that I wished I had Sheriff Garland’s personal cell phone number. It wasn’t like I deserved it or anything, or had even earned his trust enough for him to give it to me, but it would’ve been really nice in that moment to have it.
Regardless, I was going to wait. The note that Evan had written Olivia was tucked in my pocket, almost burning a hole through it as I waited.
What was keeping the sheriff? Why wouldn’t he get back to me? “The guy at the police station said he was going on his lunch break. How long does that need to be? At this point, it’s more like a dinner break.”
The sun was starting to set, and I was getting anxious.
You know, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea for us to go home…Athena said. You can always try calling him tomorrow. Maybe even schedule a time to meet with him here.
I tried not to shiver as I looked around. “Are you nervous about the ghost, too?”
Yes, and quite frankly, I see no reason for us to put ourselves in harm’s way like this, she said. If the sheriff were truly coming to meet you, I’d think nothing of it. But as he doesn’t seem to be, then I think it’s best if we go.
I stared around the empty graveyard. Just like always, everything was eerily still. It was chilling to think that Athena and I were the only living things in this cemetery, yet we were surrounded by bodies.
“You know what?” I said. “I think you’re right, Athena. This is dumb. It’s getting dark, I’ve been standing out here for almost two hours waiting, and he hasn’t called me back.”
Right, she said. Let’s head home, please?
I pulled out my phone and turned on the screen once more. Still no missed calls.
“Yeah,” I said, shutting it off and sliding it back into my pocket. “Let’s go.”
Just as we were turning to leave, a flicker of something glowing blue-ish grey caught my attention out of the corner of my eye.
My stomach clenched as I turned to look.
My heartbeat thundered in my ears.
The ghost of Isabella Delvin had returned.
Instinctively, I knelt down and scooped Athena up into my arms, and bolted away.
There was a horrible screech that echoed across the graveyard as I ran, my head pounding, the blood pumping through my veins.
I jumped over a shovel lying beside a freshly churned patch of dirt, and headed for the street, where my bike was, and hopefully, our salvation.
But my foot caught on an uneven patch of grass, and I stumbled forward. I rolled sideways, landing on my back so I could protect Athena.
The howling followed after me, making my blood turn to ice.
“Come on, get up, come on,” I told myself, tears starting to well up in my eyes. Pain shot through my right foot, which had twisted in the grass.
The ghost cackled, and I blanched when I realized it sounded a lot closer than it had just seconds before. She was gaining on me.
Panting, I sat up as quickly as I could, rolling over. I clutched Athena, who was growling low in her throat, against my chest.
And when I looked up, I was staring into the ghostly face of the late Isabella Delvin.
13
This was it. It wasn’t the first time I’d faced death here in Faerywood Falls. I’d hoped that I wouldn’t be in this kind of situation again, yet here I was.
And I’d willingly put myself here, too. That was the kicker in all this.
Isabella, even with her face contorted in rage and despair, was still rather pretty. Her face dripped with fat water droplets and her overalls were soaked through. Her long, light hair, which must have been a gorgeous shade of blonde when she was living, hovered in the air around her.
She snapped her neck to the side so quickly it was like she was a bird. Her eyes, wide and haunting, never blinked. Not once.
She opened her mouth and it stretched wide, much wider than any human mouth should. Pointed teeth were nestled together inside her
jaw like a piranha. And she laughed. She laughed so hard her whole body shook. She grabbed onto her stomach like a child unable to control themselves before her nails began to dig into the fabric of her overalls and her laughter turned to sobbing.
She’s incoherent, Athena said.
“So she’s not gonna kill us?” I asked, trying to crawl backward, slipping in the dewy grass.
Maybe not…Athena said.
“If only I could get through to her,” I said.
Mrs. Bickford had talked with her husband as easily as if he was still living. As far as I knew, her gift allowed her to do that. It wasn’t like I could speak to ghosts, and I had no idea if ghosts could hear me regularly anyways.
I stopped trying to scurry backward, and stared up into Isabella’s face.
“Maybe…” I whispered, setting Athena gently down on the ground beside me.
What’re you doing? she asked. I detected a note of panic in her mind. What are you going to do?
If Mrs. Bickford spoke with her husband because of her gift…and I had her gift now…
I stood in front of the twitching, howling ghost.
Her hands reached out to me as she cackled again, her tongue lolling from the side of her mouth.
“Isabella Delvin?” I asked her.
Isabella stopped completely. It was as if speaking her name out loud had frozen her in place.
Her whole body seemed to relax and her head bowed momentarily before lifting up again.
She blinked her eyes, her lids heavy as she slowly looked around.
“Where…” came a voice from what sounded like the bottom of a well. “Where am…I?”
“Isabella, that’s your name, right?” I asked.
The ghost’s brow furrowed and she looked as if she were in pain. She doubled over, holding her middle, her hair still fluttering in the air behind her with a life of its own.
“Where…am I?” she asked again.
I looked down at Athena, my heart racing, my hands balled into nervous fists. “I don’t think it’s working.”
Keep trying, Athena said. Something’s obviously different.
I wasn’t sure that different meant better.
“Isabella, my name is Marianne,” I said. “I…I want to help you.”
Did I? Well, if help actually meant get rid of, then yes, I supposed I did want to help.
She lifted her head, and stared at me as if I’d woken her up. It was as if she was ill and had been sleeping for days.
“Isa…bella…” she said, touching her face with her palm. “Why do I…feel so strange…”
“Can you hear me?” I asked her.
She looked up at me again and nodded feebly. “Yes…I can hear you.”
My stomach did a summersault. “Okay. You’re Isabella Delvin, right?”
She looked away and a distant expression passed over her face. Her brow knit itself together in one straight line of concentration.
It was a moment before her gaze returned to mine, and she nodded again. “Delvin…I haven’t thought of that name in so long…” she said.
“Do you remember anything about the last few weeks?” I asked her.
She tilted her head to the side. “What happened?”
“You’ve been tracking back and forth between the forest near the lake and the cemetery here,” I said. I wanted to add that she’d been frightening people, but didn’t see how that was helpful to the situation at all.
“I…have?” she asked. She looked down at her hands, and gasped. “What…what’s wrong with me?”
I looked down at Athena, whose eyes were glued to the ghost, her claws extended, her limbs taut and ready to flee if needed.
“Why do I look like a – like a – ” Her mouth wouldn’t form the words, so she just gaped wordlessly at me.
“It’s okay,” I said. “You’re…you passed away thirty years ago.”
It was like all the air escaped her. Her shoulders sagged, her eyes were rimmed with tears, and her gaze frantically searched around, the look distant as she thought back to what was happening.
“I don’t remember…I don’t remember…” she said, her head falling into her hands.
“It’s okay,” I said, wishing I could reach out and touch her. “Can I help you remember?”
She looked up at me and I was surprised to see ghostly tears running down her face, tangling with her eyelashes. But she nodded.
“I…I read the article that talked about the night you died,” I said. I couldn’t shake the strange feeling that it wasn’t my place to be telling her all this. How tragic it was going to be for her to remember something so horrible… “You were at the lake here in Faerywood Falls with your family, enjoying a happy time with them all on the fourth of July.”
Isabella’s forehead creased as she concentrated. “Go on…” she said.
“Everyone was having a great time. You all watched the fireworks together that night. But after everyone else had gone to sleep, you must’ve snuck out to the lake for a midnight swim, because…” I said, my voice fading.
“What?” she asked, her voice echoing and distant.
“They found you the next morning. You…you had drowned,” I said sadly, my heart in my throat.
Isabella looked back down at her hands. Her tears had stopped. She lifted one of her hands in front of her face. I could see her staring at me through it, the flesh of her hand as transparent as the rest of her body.
“I see…” she said sadly. “So now, I…am dead?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I’m really sorry.”
Isabella turned and looked out over the cemetery. “It’s…starting to come back. Images, faces…a life.” She sighed, shaking her head. “It’s like…I’ve been sleeping…for so long. I’d…almost forgotten it all.”
She looked over at me.
“I…didn’t want to come back here,” she said, her voice growing in strength. “My life…I chose to end it myself.”
I nearly swallowed my tongue. “You what?”
A small, sad smile turned the corner of her lips upward. “Yes…I was ill. Very ill. No one knew, but I…didn’t have long. I was so young, so heartbroken…I wanted to marry, to have a family…but no matter what I did, I never would’ve had that…”
She died in despair…Athena said.
“I would have gladly stayed sleeping…” Isabella said, touching the place where her heart would’ve once beat. “While I have no body, I am tired. And this world holds nothing for me. So…may I return to my rest? May I be free once more from the bondage of this place…and take my step into the next part of my life?”
My heart ached as I looked at her.
“Can I ask one more question?” I asked.
She blinked slowly at me and nodded.
“Do you remember being woken up here at all? In the cemetery?”
She shook her head back and forth. “No…” she said.
I sighed. It was too much to hope for, I guessed. “Alright. You’re not going to give the town anymore trouble then?”
She shook her head again. “I suppose my sorrow is what kept me tied to this place…” she said. “When I woke, it was all I knew. All I could feel. The pain, replayed over and over…it was the water filling my lungs, and I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t…breathe…”
Her hands went to her throat and closed around it, and her eyes began to bulge from her head.
“Isabella!” I cried. “Hey, Isabella! It’s okay…it’s okay.”
Her eyes focused and she looked at me, loosening the grip around her neck.
“Yes…I suppose it’s what I wanted, wasn’t it?”
“I’m really sorry,” I said. “I wish life hadn’t been so hard for you. I hope you can find peace now.”
“I have,” she said with a small smile. “I truly have. I made a mistake in ending things like I did, but I know the truth now. And I can rest. At last…I can rest.”
“I’m glad for that,” I said.
The
ghost’s eyes narrowed as she looked at me more intently. “You…remind me of someone. Yes…how old are you?”
“I’m twenty-seven,” I said. “Why – ”
“Then she could’ve been your mother…” the ghost said. “With silver eyes like you have.”
“My mother?” I asked, thinking back to my childhood. “But my mother has brown – ”
She meant my biological mother. The mother I possibly inherited my gifts from.
“Wait, you knew my mother?” I asked.
The ghost’s face split into a small, mischievous smile, and then she began to fade from existence.
My heart was thundering in my ears. She knew my mother. This ghost. She had answers. The answers I desperately needed.
“Wait. Hang on,” I said, fear flooding through me as my first glimpse of truth was getting away. “I have to ask you something – please, wait just a second.”
“Goodbye, Marianne…” the ghost’s voice said, and she had completely disappeared.
“Wait!” I cried into the dark sky. “Don’t leave yet! I – I need to know – ”
“You know, someone might think you’re crazy…” said a voice from behind me. “Screaming out here all alone in the middle of a cemetery like a lunatic.”
I whirled around and saw a man standing there between the headstones as casually as if this were a café or a restaurant. The lights along the dirt road in the cemetery were flickering into life but did nothing to reveal who it was that was starting to walk toward me in the darkness.
I squinted but the man didn’t have the right build to be Sheriff Garland. Not only that but the sheriff wouldn’t have addressed me like that, would he? The voice had sounded so sarcastic…
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I’m a bit offended that you don’t recognize me…” he said. “Especially since you’ve been snooping around in my private life, trying to dig up things that were better left buried.”
My heart constricted. Evan Foster.
His shoes ruffled the grass as he took slow, deliberate steps toward me. “I’ve gotta admit, you definitely played the fool when I first met you. Seemed innocent and naïve. Even when I saw you at the funeral, I had no idea that you were capable of such devious behavior.”
