Ethan Greywater's Arc

Chapter 6 of 10

The broken locket lay in two pieces at Ethan's feet. Sammy sat in the dirt, breathing hard, free at last of the cold. The yard was quiet. But Ethan felt no closer to crossing. Silas had led him to the curse, to the confession, to every door. And every door had been the wrong one. The way across still hid somewhere Silas had never named. The muck stirred. Silas rose again, slower now, worms drooping from his sockets. His grin was gone. "You stripped me," he said. "But you still don't know the way out. You never did." Ethan stepped toward him. "Then tell me now. You have nothing left to steal." Silas laughed, wet and thin. "Why would I? Let you rot here with me. That's the only comfort I have left." Ethan looked at the ruined locket. He thought of all the memories Silas had fed him. The woman. The killing. The reason. Each had been true. Each had also been a leash. Silas never lied with false facts. He lied by choosing which doors to open and which to hide. So Ethan stopped asking. He knelt instead and pressed his hand flat against the cold soil of his own grave. Beneath the swamp water, something hard sat in the dirt. His fingers found it. A ring. Thin gold, scratched and spotted with age. A wedding band. He pulled it free and held it up. The sight hit him like cold water. He had worn this. He had been married. He had forgotten even that. "No," Silas hissed. He lunged, but his hands passed through air. "Put it back. That is not for you." Ethan turned on him. "You buried this with the rest. You knew." The band warmed in his grip. A face surfaced in his mind, half-formed, a woman who was not the one he killed. Someone waiting. Someone on the far side of the glowing door. "The door never opened for my redemption," Ethan said slowly. "It waits for her. I can't cross alone. I have to cross to her." Silas shrank back into the muck. "You were never meant to find that," he spat. "I hid it deepest of all." He sank below the black water and did not rise. Sammy lifted his head. "Ethan?" he whispered. For the first time, his eyes found the spot where his brother stood. "I can almost see you." Ethan closed his fist around the ring. The curse was dead. Silas was beaten. And now he knew the truth Silas had worked hardest to bury. His crossing had never depended on guilt alone. Somewhere beyond the door, someone was waiting for him to remember her name. He did not have it yet. But he held the thread. And for the first time, he knew which way to pull.