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“Are you ready to take what's yours?” He asks, looking down at me with a raised eyebrow.

“I am.”

“Good. Now let’s go. Everyone is waiting and Joanie is already bitching about being out there so late. She still has no idea. She won’t until you make it known.” Merrick explains while opening the gate in front of us.

“Stay with me?”

Turning around again with a sinister smile displayed brightly on his face, “I wouldn’t miss this for the fucking world. So let’s get moving. The clock is ticking. Your people—your spirits—are waiting, m’lady.”

He opens the gate, and I begin to walk through the archway. My bare feet guide me down the candle lit pathway to the cemetery. The earth and stone beneath my bare feet feels more natural as the train to my dress slides behind me with each step. When the gate closes, the latch clicks, and I can hear Merrick’s footsteps behind me.

Looking around, there crows are sitting on the branches above me, a couple caw as I pass.

As we approach the cemetery opening, I can faintly hear Joanie, “I’m done playing your fucking games. Next time you need something, I won’t come running. Then who will help your asses?”

There will never be a next time, old lady.

“Hey, look behind you,” Merrick whispers softly in my ear. Turning my head slightly to either side, I see spirits and the elders behind me, including Harper and her dad. She gives me a quick reassuring smile before I refocus on what is ahead of me.

Emotion builds in my chest and the moment feels more real than it did even minutes ago. This is more significant than I think I had realized.

Fog rises in the cemetery, and a gust of wind blows in, rustling the leaves on the trees. A hand clasps mine, bringing me back to the moment.

“Stay here for a minute, stupid little girl.” Merrick instructs.

I don’t argue it.

Holding my dad tighter. Pulling from his strength to help me through this.

As we wait, I can feel my heart beating inside my chest. The anticipation is half the battle. The other is actually following through with what they have asked of me.

To kill. To murder, Joanie.

My eyes shift around, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever is happening within the fog in front of us. The surrounding silence is eerie, and the visibility is zero. No matter how hard I focus, I see and hear nothing.

“Merrick. What’s happening?” I question just loud enough so he can hear me.

His lips brush against my hair. “Shh, just wait.”

He doesn’t add a smartass comment at the end. It’s the most serious he has ever been around me. Which makes me uncomfortable. We aren’t serious. We are sarcastic and stubborn.

Never serious.

I’m in my own head now. The waiting makes it harder to stay in the present. My mind wants to wander, to make up stories of what might be happening beyond cemetery entrance.

Before I can get too lost in my own thoughts, the fog begins to lift.

The Angel of Mercy is the first thing I see. Ready to receive a blessing on behalf of the deceased with her hands open on bent knees.

“It’s time,” Merrick whispers, breaking me from my spell. I nod, not saying a word. Instead, I put one foot in front of the other.

As more of the fog lifts, and the space is empty where Joanie once stood.

“Where is she?”

“Stupid little girl, go to the mausoleum. Everything is how it is meant to be,” Merrick reassures me.

Turning my head slightly, I am comforted when I find the elders and their families behind me.