Lily Whitmore's Arc

Chapter 14 of 17

Selene tilted her head toward the trees at the edge of the little cemetery. The lanterns along the small graves flickered once and went still. Marrow followed her look. Meridian did too. Something was walking between the pines. It was tall and thin and its dress hung wet against its legs. Lily saw the pale face last. The woman had no color in her at all. Her eyes found Lily across the hollow and did not move. "She felt the digging," Selene said. "And the naming. Too much light in one place." Meridian pressed her hand flat against her jaw. "Back teeth are ringing. She's close." Mr. Echo let Orin slump against the flat rock and stepped between Lily and the trees. He pulled a round metal shield from his coat. Runes ran around its rim. "Ward," he said. "It slows her. It doesn't stop her." The pale woman came forward one slow step. Lily felt a pull under her ribs, like a hook set in a place she could not touch. Her feet dragged an inch toward the trees. Marrow grabbed for her wrist and her hand passed through. "She's taking her," Marrow said. Selene's black dress lifted at the hem though there was no wind. "She wants a loose one. Lily counts as loose until the grave takes her." Meridian looked at the closed headstone and then at Lily still standing above it. "The grave is sealed. Body and name. She should be inside it." She turned to Selene. "What's still open." Selene did not answer her. Selene looked at Lily. "What did you not say back to him." Lily understood. She had heard Orin's confession and let the anger go, but she had not spoken to him after. She had not answered him at all. She turned to where Mr. Echo held her brother. Orin's head hung. The pale woman took another step and the pull tightened. Lily bent close to Orin's ear. "I heard you," she said. "I am not taking you with me." The words left her cleanly. The hook under her ribs let go. The hollow warmed under her feet and pulled again, this time all the way. Lily sank to her knees on the packed earth. The lanterns along the small stones brightened. Mr. Echo raised the shield toward the trees. The pale woman stopped at the edge of the pines. Her mouth opened once. No sound came out. She stepped back into the dark and was gone. Lily was still there. Not gone into the grave. Not taken. Selene crouched beside her at the edge of the hollow. "Sealed but standing," she said. "You're not finished." Meridian looked past the lanterns toward the village road. "Something else you owe, or something owed to you." The sun cleared the pines. Lily did not scatter. She stayed in the light and waited to learn what was left.