“Fallon?” I snapped my head to the sound, and Julian was looking down at me through light silvery eyes. “Would you like to say a few words before we set the fire?”
My throat clogged up, and my mouth went dry. “The fire?”
“Phoenix and I will guide his soul to The Summerland, where he will be at peace and awaiting his return. You will see him again. I promise,” he reassured.
I looked back to Gramps, wondering about my ability to slip between worlds—between life and death—and how my curse to see the dead couldn’t always be dependable. As I stood with my hand clutched in Julian’s, and Gramps and I existing on opposite sides of the divide, I wanted to believe Julian. I did believe Julian. I believed in his belief as he spoke about it with immeasurable credence.
I walked closer to Gramps and leaned over his body. Closing my eyes, I placed a kiss over the fabric where his forehead was, and a single tear slipped down my cheek.
“You’re free, Gramps, nothing can hold you down now.” The same prayer I’d said a hundred times before. “What was, will be again,” I added through the whisper. The same words Julian had told me back at the mortuary.
As I took a step back, Jonah spoke of a poem. The second time it was chanted, the Heathens joined in. Then the third time it was spoken, everyone in the Norse Woods said the same words of deep peace.
Julian left my side and stood across from Phoenix with Gramps between them as they lay their palms over his body, the muscles in their arms flexing as they pressed. The rest of the circle continued the prayer when Gramps ignited into flames, and I burst into tears.
The night played on as embers and sparks of the fire swam up toward the starry sky. I kept my eyes in the sky, watching the yellows and oranges and gray smoke against the black canvas. At one point, Julian had stood behind me. Together we watched for a long time without saying anything.
During the cremation, one by one, each person bid me peace and a kiss on the cheek before they departed. Jolie and Agatha hugged me. Mina Mae, too, stating she would be back to take me home once the cremation was finished.
So, I stayed for hours.
Past midnight.
The Hollow Heathens and Jonah stayed too.
It remained quiet.
And once the flames died, Julian pulled something from his pocket. A delicate silver chain hung from his palm as he stepped up to the altar. When he returned to me, he placed the necklace around my neck. It matched the one Julian and others in the coven wore against their chests. My eyes squeezed shut, and once the necklace was on, I gripped the pendant of Gramps’ ashes.
“Thank you,” I cried.
Before leaving, I watched in awe as Zephyr pumped his hands at his sides, creating a reverse tornado. The rest of Gramps’ ashes slipped into Zephyr’s winds and spiraled up into the stars.
I love you, Gramps.
Chapter 39
Fallon
Rain slappedagainst the balcony windows, and a scratching was coming from somewhere. It sounded like the pointed tips of tree branches dragging across the glass, like nails. It was the sermon of the storm, all wanting to come inside.
The windows and doors were closed, doing their best to trap the whistling wind outside. Still, the tempest caused the air in the house to swell. Lights in the house flickered on and off, and outside the balcony doors, waves grew louder, churning harder, whitecaps pounding against the sea cliffs.
The old house fell into utter darkness, and I grabbed hold of the railing, walked carefully down the stairs. In the hall toward the kitchen sat the vintage hutch. Inside, an assortment of candles. I grabbed candlestick holders in one hand and filled my arms with candles of all sizes. I opened the drawer and shuffled through the clutter, feeling my way for the match book’s square shape.
Each time lightning struck, navy-blue ripped across the gray skies, giving me little light to see my way to the living room. Thunder clapped behind every strike, and I unloaded the items in my arms onto the coffee table, lighted each candle, and scattered them throughout the house.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood straight, the feeling as if someone were watching me, but the house was empty. The only soul inside these walls was my own, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling.
I sat, curled in Gramps’ recliner, listening to the scratching, the rain, the thunder, when a dark shadow moved across the living room floor. I jerked my head toward the window, catching half a silhouette of a figure on the other side of the fogged glass. It was only for a split second before it disappeared.
“There’s no one there,” I convinced myself. “It’s not real.” How was it that I was more afraid of the living than the dead at the moment?
I pulled my grandmother’s thick quilt tighter around me, but the strange feeling never went away.
Then three loud and striking raps cracked against the front door. I got to my feet, grabbed a candle from the side table, my heart strumming like the door knocker’s stray echo. No one would come here, especially during this storm. And it couldn’t be Julian. He’d never knocked on the front door before. He’d always walked up the balcony steps, entered on his own. Who the hell was it?
When I opened the door, Kioni’s smile was tucked into a straight line as she stood, shivering in her purple raincoat.
