Emily Voss's Arc

Chapter 9 of 3

Emily climbed from the hollow with the portrait in her hands. The moth lifted from the frame and drifted toward the water. The weeping followed close behind her, patient and low. She could feel the bride waiting for the last step. But when Emily reached the edge of the dark water, she stopped. She did not know what to say. A soul could not cross alone, and she had never sent one over. The words a farewell needed were a mystery to her. Cordelia drifted from the reeds and stood beside her. The tall ghost looked out across the water, her black hair heavy and dripping. "You have brought her far," she said. "Now finish it." "I don't know how," Emily said. "I don't know the words. If I say the wrong thing, will she be stuck here forever?" Cordelia was quiet. Her dark eyes stayed on the water. "No one spoke words for me," she said at last. "I have watched a hundred years and learned only this. A soul does not need the right words. It needs to be told the wrong is over." Emily thought of the certificate, the drowning six days after the wedding. She thought of the ruined portrait in the east wing and the fifty years of crying. The bride had never been told anyone knew. She had wept alone with no one to answer. A hunched shape came through the reeds behind them. Petra, the old woman from the curiosity shop, leaned on a crooked stick. Her moth-eaten shawl dragged in the mud. Emily had not expected her here. Petra had given her the moth and sent her to this crossing. "You followed me," Emily said. "I followed the moth," Petra said. "It knows the path. I wanted to see if you would use it." She fixed Emily with her sharp eyes. "Speak to her like she is a person. Not a ghost. Name what happened. Then let her go." Emily turned to face the empty air where the weeping came from. Her hands shook, but she held the portrait up so the bride could see it. "I know your name," Emily said. "I know you married him. I know he let you drown six days after. It wasn't your fault. Nobody came for you, and I'm sorry. But I came. You don't have to wait anymore. You can go now." The weeping stopped. For a long moment the swamp held still. Then the moth flew low over the water, its ink-black wings steady. A cold weight lifted from the air beside Emily and moved out across the dark surface, following the moth. The presence thinned, faded, and was gone. Emily stood alone at the water's edge. The bride had crossed. She had done it. Beside her, Cordelia had not moved. Her dark eyes stayed fixed on the far shore, on the trail of the man who left her. "One of us is free," she said softly. "Now do the same for me."