“And then…” The spirit swallows, staring down at his hands. “Then it’s time to go?”
“Yes,” I reply, questions about Tom in my dream fading to the background. “Then it’ll be time to pass on.”
~~~
It takes a few hours for the family to come up in groups, say their goodbyes to Tom, and return downstairs to repeat the cycle. Odette appears toward the end, guiding Rapunzel, and peers between the three of us. With six bodies crammed into this little room, plus Tom’s spirit, it’s a bit suffocating. “I’m coming, too.”
“When we’re done moving Tom,” Zarev corrects. “You can’t move through the shadows. You’ll be in the way.”
“I know where the grave is,” Odette interrupts, lifting her chin. She’s a stubborn little thing when she’s pissed, and I like this side of her. “I’ll take you so the family doesn’t have to go until Tom is buried. They’re all outside with Lymara.”
Glancing at Lucius and Zarev, they don’t seem to have any complaints. It’s probably better than dragging Elsie into the mess. She was distraught enough when she came upstairs with the triplets to say goodbye. “Fine.”
“And Rapunzel’s coming, too,” Odette continues, wrapping her arm around the princess’s shoulders before glaring at us. “She needs closure. We’ll hurry ahead on foot. It’s not far when you aren’t choking on smoke.”
Thinning my lips, I can already see the gears turning in Odette’s head. She’s going to help us lay Tom to rest because he’s Ray’s brother, but she’s still determined to go find him. She’s doing a good job setting things up so there’s no way she’s left behind if one of us takes off to go looking for him.
“Where’s Neve?” I ask curiously.
“Distracting the family with Lymara,” Rapunzel says in that same, flat voice. Lucius twitches at her words, and I can’t imagine why he would care so much about what she’s saying. Maybe he’s mad at Lymara, as usual. “She never even came inside. Neve went out to talk to her; she pulled out that candelabra, and the family slowly funneled out to watch. They’re doing tricks with their magic. It’s a nice distraction.”
Lucius shifts uncomfortably, and if I didn’t know better, I would think he’s more interested in what Rapunzel is saying than Zarev is. But it’s Zarev who speaks. “I’ll take you two through the shadows ahead of them. That way there’s no wait time, and the family won’t see you running off. The grave should be nice and ready when they finally come to see him.”
Glancing toward Tom, it looks like the spirit agrees. As far as souls go, he’s pretty subdued.
“Fine,” Odette says, crossing her arms. “Good thing it’s close, or your little powers wouldn’t be able to bring two people along.”
Zarev winces at the dig, walking over to the two of them. He places one hand on Odette’s shoulder, the other wrapping around Rapunzel who tucks herself into his side. “It’s been such a pleasure traveling all over Mystica with you, Odette.”
They shadow hop away, out of sight. I turn to Tom. “Follow the pull of your body. Your death is fresh, so it’ll be easy for you to find us. We’re not going far. Once we’re away from the family… we can send you on.”
Tom nods, looking between us. “Thank you.”
He disappears, either to get a head start or to gaze at his family one last time. Sighing, I drop down beside Tom’s body, pressing a hand to his arm. Lucius is supposed to help me so we don’t jostle the corpse too much. “Well, are you coming?”
Lucius kneels, tucking his wings back. The sword clangs against the ground, and he looks toward me. “That girl… You said her name is Rapunzel?”
“Yes” I reply, brows furrowing. He’s oddly curious. Most of the time, he doesn’t have anything to say about new people. “You do realize she’s with Zarev?”
“No, it’s nothing like that,” he says, brows pinching. “She just… Her voice is familiar, but I don’t think I’ve met her before.”
“Zarev only recently met her, so I doubt it.”
Still looking perplexed, Lucius nods toward Tom. “Right. Let’s do this. I’ll follow you, and you find Zarev’s shadows.”
That’s the plan for navigating anytime we chase each other. Reapers give off a different type of shadow magic, so when we’re tucked into the darkness, it’s easy to sense where another Reaper is if they are close by. Theoretically, since Zarev should be close, we’ll be able to arrive at the grave site with one shadow hop.
After slipping into the darkness, I feel Lucius’s magic weighing mine down as he tags along, Tom’s body tucked between the two of us. It really does take just one hop, and then we’re sitting on new grass with the trio opposite us.
Zarev must be using some type of magic, because the grave is already halfway dug. I stand once we arrive, shoving ice into the space Zarev has already partially dug out, pushing the dirt from beneath with the block I’ve formed. In a matter of seconds, the grave is ready to go.
Without Neve present, everyone here is able to see spirits. Odette and Rapunzel laser in on Tom, who lingers behind us as we use the shadows to lift the body.
“You’re okay with this?” Odette asks, as we lay Tom in the dirt. It feels wrong, reminding me of preparing Jacob’s body long ago.
As he settles into the earth, Tom’s spirit replies, “Ray will hate you for a time for burying me without him, but he understands the power of a soul. I don’t want to become a wraith or splinter or anything scary like that. He told me about it, sometimes, but I never really understood.” He hesitates. “Until now.”
Stepping back from the grave, I share a solemn look with Zarev and Lucius. The two princesses step closer, Rapunzel leaning into Zarev and Odette standing tall on her own. Tom’s soul slips into the space between me and her.
