Chapter 174

~~Jack~~

Thick, dripping gold leaked from the tear, near the bottom, like someone had sliced a gash through a bag full of barely molten gold metal. Gold mist joined it, and gently flowed out over the black water until it nudged up against the crowd of people watching. It was warm.

The glow increased, but it didn’t burn his eye anymore. For just a split, wishful second, he thought maybe the soothing warmth would heal his injuries. Nope. It felt nice though, calming, and a glance back showed everyone relaxing. Danger over. Whatever these flying orbs were, it certainly didn’t seem like they were gonna hurt Jack and the gang. They were the reason Black Blood was now locked up below, or something. And whatever this gold water leaking out of the tear was, it was good.

Everyone came a little closer, except his mom. She stayed with Mary’s ghost, stroking the monster’s hair. A couple times she glanced toward the singed robe Jacob had worn, still half floating in the shallow water where he’d died, where she’d killed him, before she looked back down at the ghost and whispered soothing things to her. Jack wanted to go to his mom, to calm her, help her, something. But the gold light called to him, literally, with a voice.

“Jack,” the gold aura said. “Jack.”

“Antoinette,” Jack whispered, “am I—”

“I hear it, as well. It beckons you,” she said. Not a voice in his head, then, thank god.

“Jack.” Avery came up beside him and gave his shoulder a small tug. “I recognized some of the words those things spoke before. First Tongue.” She gestured to the glowing orbs. “Those things are old, Jack. Very old. They were talking about ... something about a great game. Or, machine. No clue what they meant.”

Black Blood had mentioned something about a machine. Jack had assumed the giant god was being metaphorical. Maybe not.

“Think we should, uh, run away or something?”

Avery snorted and shrugged. “None of us are in any condition to run.”

Jack gulped on a dry throat, and looked back up to Antoinette. Antoinette shrugged as she set her eyes back on the gold tear ahead, and the gentle flow of gold it released. The gold continued to spread out, pushing the black water aside. It was so beautiful, glittering and hypnotizing, Jack drifted closer toward it anyway. And so did the others, though they had the good sense to stay behind him. Like penguins waiting for one to fall off the cliff first, to know if it was safe to swim. He couldn’t blame them.

The flowing gold water came up to his feet, and Jack dipped his toe in it. No reaction. He put his foot down on it, until it sank up to his ankle. No reaction. It felt more than soothing though, it felt wonderful, like someone was caressing him. Like, drinking hot chocolate and sitting by the fire; not that he’d ever done that, but it’d certainly looked comfy in the movies and videos he’d seen.

He came closer. The tear’s crazy rainbow colors were gone, replaced with an endless gold that glowed in gentle waves. He came closer. The aura shifted and altered slightly, not changing in any major way, but responding to his presence. Well, he wasn’t on fire. It wasn’t vampire bane. So, he came closer.

A hand, a very human hand, reached out from the tear. And Jack took it. It was solid, and as warm as the gold water around him. He half expected the hand to pull on him, but they didn’t. Jack pulled on them.

Mary stepped out of the tear.

“I ... I...” Jack stepped back as he let go of her hand, and looked her up and down. Mary, looking very much alive, and very much naked. The gold glow didn’t just come from the tear, it came from her body as well, conveniently hiding her private parts, somehow without hiding any of her features. It was Mary, with her shoulder-length brown hair, soft face, and bright eyes, all gold tinted.

“Jack,” she said, smiling. “Wow, right?”

“Um, yeah ... wow. I, I uh ... I don’t understand, what’s—”

Mary pat him on the shoulder, her beautiful smile paralyzing, and she walked past him. He managed to force his head to turn enough to watch her, and see how everyone else was as frozen as he was, as Mary approached her mother.

Mary’s ghost and her mom stared at the oncoming figure of gold. If they noticed the audience of hypnotized onlookers, they didn’t show it. No one noticed anything or anyone else anymore, except for the gold figure walking toward her mom, and her own ghost. Even the giant seven glowing orbs had become an afterthought.

Where she walked, the gold water followed, staying just ahead of each step.

“Mom,” Mary said, once she got close, smile slowly changing from its usual playful shape, to something more serious. But still a smile.

“Mary?”

Mary giggled as she sat down, with absolutely zero grace. If she’d had grace, it wouldn’t have been Mary. She sat just across from her mom, with her ghost between them.

“She doesn’t have much time, I don’t think,” Mary said. “Let me talk to her.”

“She’s ... dying?” her mom asked.

Mary shook her head. “No, but she’ll keep changing. There won’t be much left of her soon. I can’t believe she’s lasted this long, after everything that’s happened to her.”

Jack dragged himself closer. No one else so much as moved a single finger, every one of them staring at Mary.

“It’s okay,” the ghost said. “It’s okay. Mom’s safe. Safe! That’s all that matters.”

“That’s not all that matters,” Mary said.

The ghost let out a little whimper, raspy high-pitched shrieks underneath it, loud enough to be heard but quiet enough they sounded more like distant screams in a forest. Echoes on the wind.

“Mom should go,” the ghost said. “Go. Don’t stay. I don’t want her to see me like this.”

“Mary,” Mary said, and she leaned in close to the ghost and her panicked, wide, empty black eyes, “it doesn’t have to be that way.”

“It ... It doesn’t?”

“No.” Mary smiled warmly down at her ghost, the same smile Jack had seen their mother use so many times, when she wanted to be soothing. The mom smile.

“I don’t understand.”

Mary set a hand on her ghost’s shoulder. “You can stay here, and change into something ... big, and scary. Or, you can come with me.”

Mary’s ghost tried to sit up. It didn’t work. She collapsed again on her mom’s lap, and her long centipede body splashed a few times as she tried again. She gave up, and relaxed on her mom’s lap, head tilted to keep looking up at her original.

“Go with you?”

“With me. Truly with me.” Mary put a hand on her chest.

The ghost looked up at her mom, but she was speechless, eyes slowly sliding between her two daughters.

“I ... I can feel ... weight, pulling me down. I don’t know how I can—”

“Ghosts can crossover, and join us, in there.” She pointed to the gold tear. “But, they ... they almost never do, when they come to the Great Below. And they never, ever do, when they get this deep, lose their lantern, and ... do this.” She gestured to the long, hideous body coming out of the ghost’s waist.

Mary’s ghost sniffed, as if she was crying. “What will happen to me?”

“You’ll join me. Together, here.” Again, Mary pat her own chest. “Together as one. I’ve seen it happen to others in the great river, when ghosts manage to cross over. It’s always so beautiful! It’s just, never happened like this.” She gestured to the tear. “But that just means it’ll be even more special.”

“I won’t disappear?”

“Nope! Your memories will join mine, and we’ll become one. And believe me, Mary, the great river is a much better place than this dirty, cold cave, filled with angry ghosts who’ll try and eat you.”

“But ... Mom...”

“Mom will be fine. I...” Mary sighed as she looked over at Jacob’s robe, then back to her mom, resummoning her smile. It was a sad smile. “You and I, we can talk with Mom after. But right now, you need to make a choice before things get any worse.”

Jack came closer. He knew what’d happen, once he got close enough. Much as Mary, and Mary’s ghost, looked to their mom for everyday, normal advice, Mary knew to ask Jack when it came to the heavy hitter problems. Sure enough, the ghost looked up at him as Jack got close enough to almost touch her.

“What should I do?”

Jack smiled down at her. “It’s not even a question, Mary. Go with her.” The craziness of the situation could wait. For now, logic mode. “You saw what those other ghosts were like. You saw the one in the hole.”

The real Mary nodded. “You lost your lantern, right? You’ll never get out of the Great Below without it.”

So that’s what the lanterns were for. Something ghosts needed if they wanted to get out of the Great Below. Something they lost, if they went deeper, and changed.

“Lantern?” the ghost asked. “I ... I never even ... tried to use it. It’s gone.”

Mary sighed. “You lost it, because of the resurrection, and ... Never mind, it doesn’t matter. All that matters, is I’m here, getting to make a special exception.”

“Go with her,” Jack said. “Special exception.” And he dug up the best smile he could find. This was really happening. Mary’s ghost was getting a chance at happiness. Finding a smile wasn’t all that hard.

Mary’s ghost looked up at him again, giant black eyes heavy with a sorrow and uncertainty only a ghost could show, before they looked back up, this time to their mom.

“Go with her,” their mom said, stroking her daughter’s ghost’s hair, and she sniffed. She couldn’t cry without Blushing, not really, but she sniffed like she was anyway. “Please, go with her. You deserve it.”

Mary’s ghost looked down, her long, slashed and broken centipede-like body wriggling a little, before she looked back up at the real Mary.

“Okay.”

Jack, their mom, and the real Mary, all sighed relief.

“Okay,” Mary said, and she set her other hand on her ghost’s shoulder. “Okay.”

Mary, already a gently glowing body of gold, glowed brighter. Jack’s vampire instincts told him to back off, or at least cover his eye, but he didn’t. He needed to see this. His mom did the same.

The giant, horrific creature that was Mary’s ghost, melted away. Her shark mouth settled into a soft smile, and her giant freaky eyes closed, as the white mist of her body changed color. More gold. It flowed slowly and gently up toward Mary, the ghost’s features disappearing, like an ancient statue getting worn down by a desert storm, but far more softly. Despite the almost blinding light, Mary’s ghost didn’t flinch or twitch or anything. She wasn’t in pain. She was calm. She was at peace.

It wasn’t long before her giant body was completely gone, now a cloud of gold dust that flowed onto Mary’s chest. It siphoned into her, slowly disappearing into her, every grain of sand following suit. No rush to it, no tornado or harsh siphon. The whole process was as gentle as someone tenderly pouring sand out of one palm into another.

And then there was one Mary. The bright light settled until it was only a soft glow again, and Mary opened her eyes with a small squeak, and set her eyes on her mom.

“Mom?”

Their mom blinked at her. “M-Mary?”

“Mom!” She threw herself at her, and almost knocked her over as she embraced her.

Their mom blinked down at her daughter, then up at Jack again. Jack could only shrug. Don’t ask him, he was just as confused. But with a few seconds to accept what just happened, their mom hugged Mary back, and let out a quiet whimper as her arms found something solid. And warm.

“It worked,” Mary said. “I ... oh god, I ... I didn’t know.”

“I don’t understand,” their mom said. “I thought—”

“It worked! Her memories are mine. Mine are hers. I ... oh my god.” She giggled, a lot, and squeezed her mom so hard she earned a squeak out of her, too. More than that, she helped her stand up, and resumed hugging her. A solid body, but not flesh or skin. Something their mom could hug, but Jack knew it was only going to make things sting even more, when Mary went back to wherever she came from.

It didn’t matter. This was perfect.

He came in a little closer, and Mary giggled and jumped and yanked him in for a hug, too. Which may have been a mistake, considering how much it hurt to get squeezed, fucked up as he was, but it didn’t matter. He got to hug his sister again.

“Jack, you asshole.” Mary eventually let him go, and punched him in the chest. She had no more strength than a regular human, but that was more than enough to make him grunt and stumble back. Only their mom holding Jack with an arm behind his back stopped him from falling over.

“Hey! What’d I do?”

“Don’t tell me you weren’t hoping to leave me—er, Mary’s ghost, behind here! I saw the looks you gave me.”

He winced as he looked down. Shit. Ghost Mary was unstable and not right in the head. This Mary very much was.

“I mean—”

“It’s okay it’s okay.” She groaned as she let go of their mom, and hugged him full on, putting her face in the crook of his neck. “I was ... I’d lost my lantern. There was no saving me.” She kissed his cheek, giggled some more, and before their mom could say anything, she hugged her again. “I was so jealous.”

“Jealous?” their mom asked.

“Yeah, of me, the um, the ghost Mary. She got to see you again!”

“You could see?”

“Yeap. You can watch the realms below, from the great river. Everything.” She giggled as she grinned at her mom, but the giggling died away as she glanced back to look over at Jacob’s singed robe. “I ... I’m sorry, Mom. I think you did the right thing, I do! But I can’t imagine—”

“It had to be done,” their mom said, and she hardened her expression a little before looking to Jack. “Right?”

“It did,” Antoinette said, filling in for Jack as she came closer. “He had to be stopped, permanently. I would not trust myself to stab his heart perfectly in such a circumstance, either. The only option was what you did, my childe. And we are all thankful.”

Mary nodded and hugged her mom again, before turning enough to look at the rest of the crowd. Everyone had drifted a bit closer, and we’re all looking at the gold figure, and her mother. Everyone took a quiet minute to just stand there, and stare at what was happening. It was a minute too long, and Samantha’s expression started to crumble.

“I killed—”

“Don’t!” Mary hugged her again, as if she could protect her mom from her own thoughts. “Don’t. Don’t think like that. You heard the Prince, it had to be done. Okay? Okay? I told you I didn’t want what Black Blood was trying to do, and you listened. You made the right choice.”

Their mom sighed as she hugged her daughter back, and stroked her hair as she kissed her forehead.

“Okay.”

“Agreed,” another voice said. “It had to be done. You can always trust a Terry to do what needs doing.”

Jack spun so fast he almost fell over, only his mom’s arm keeping him up.

A tall man stepped out of the tear, as naked as Mary, but again with a gold, glowing body conveniently hiding private parts with the gold glow. He had broad shoulders, a decent amount of muscle, and short-ish hair combed back. If everything hadn’t been tinted gold, his hair would have been blonde.

“Julias?”

The man winked at him as he walked up to join Jack, and set a hand on his shoulder.

“Kid, I have to admit, it looked pretty bad from where I was looking. Can’t believe it worked out. I—”

Jack threw his arms around him, and squeezed.

“You fucking ... you fucking asshole.” He squeezed harder. His body didn’t want to, muscles crying, and his jaw screamed at him for risking breaking it again, but he didn’t care. He pressed his forehead against Julias’s sternum, and held him.

“Not exactly Ventrue behavior, Jack.”

“I don’t fucking care.”

Julias laughed and pat him on the back. Of all the things Jack had expected, he hadn’t expected this. And even in his fantasies of getting to meet his sire again, he never expected to hug the man like this. The two of them were a lot of things, had been a lot of things, but the hugging bros type? Never.

But he was here, and no way in fucking hell was Jack not going to hug him.

“Fuck me, I’m sorry kid. I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t know.”

“No one knew what Jacob was doi—”

“Not that. The curse. The infection. I knew Viktor and I had something dark in our blood, but I didn’t know about the curse.”

Jack sighed as he stepped back. “Only one person knew.”

Slowly, with a little more malice than a gold being from the afterlife should probably have been able to muster, Julias set his gaze on Elaine.

“So I’ve gathered.”

Elaine winced as she came closer. Her face had managed to regenerate enough she could see again, but she was still a broken mess, worse than Jack. The only reason she was still standing, was all the damage was above the waist.

“I am sorry, grandchilde.” She looked down, before her eyes looked to the glowing tear. “Is ... is Maurice...”

Julias shook his head. “No, I’m sorry. His shadow is there, but the rest of him isn’t, not until...”

Elaine sucked in a quick breath, nodding. “Do you know if—”

“There’s no rush, grandsire. No rush.” Nodding, Julias stepped past Jack, up to Elaine, and pat her on the shoulder, too. “And after what you’ve done tonight, I think he’ll be okay with waiting. You’re not the woman you used to be, if the other souls I’ve talked to are any indication.”

It was like someone had lifted a ten-tonne weight off the elder’s shoulders.

“Other souls...”

Nodding, Julias pat her on the shoulder a second time, before he turned, and looked through the watching crowd, until his eyes settled on someone specific.

~~Beatrice~~

Oh god oh shit oh god.

She didn’t know what was happening. None of them had any fucking clue what was happening. Black Blood crossed a line, so now some giant glowy orbs showed up to do damage control? Sure, whatever. But then Mary, the real Mary, her soul walked out of the tear and saved her ghost from what would probably have been millennia of torture, down here as some sort of fucked up monster.

So, sure, Triss could accept that. Mary’s ghost deserved help. But Julias, her Julias, glowing all gold and naked and shit walked out of the tear, and was now walking toward her. Her Julias. The dude whose body she had ready in a cave!

She froze.

Superman smiled at her as he came in close, and closer, until he set his hands on her shoulders. Warm, warmer than vampires ever were unless they were Blushing Life.

“Triss,” he said. She forced herself to look up, and meet his eyes. “It won’t work.”

She sighed, finally finding the ability to move, at least a little, and she set her hands on his wrists.

“It won’t?”

“No.” He gestured beneath them, at the glowing gold water. She’d barely noticed it. “This is just a piece of the river, and I can’t leave it.”

“River? I don’t—”

“It’s all metaphorical crap for the afterlife and stuff. This, the gold body, all of it. I can’t leave the river. If you wanted your plan to work, you’d have to be a god, and bring the realm with you, maybe ruining everything for everyone, like Jacob and Black Blood nearly did.”

Shivers worked up through her body, and she lowered her head. She was crying. You didn’t need tears to cry.

“I ... I missed you, so much. I—”

He leaned down, and kissed her. Her eyes went wide, and she stared into his, but they were closed, doing one of those classic, big time romantic kisses that were always so over the top, they made her feel like she was on a stage. And god damn it, the memories grabbed her and grabbed her hard. She wrapped her arms around him, and kissed him back.

“Sorry,” he said eventually, pulling his head away a bit. “That was dumb. Couldn’t help myself.”

“Dumb? I—”

“You know why.” He nodded his head toward Sándor slightly.

“But, I ... you...”

“Triss, I spent every moment in that river, hoping to God you’d let me go and move on. It was fucking killing me — no pun intended — seeing you trying so hard to not let go. I want you to move on.”

“But we—”

“Triss.” He sighed as he hugged her, and kissed her forehead. “I’m dead, alright? I’m dead. And that’s okay.”

Fire shot up through her hands, and she punched the man in the chest. He stumbled back.

“It’s not okay! You shouldn’t be dead! That wasn’t fair! You got yourself killed trying to help Jack! You think that’s okay? You fucking shit! You asshole! You fucking—”

He hugged her again. She squirmed and fought against him, but he held her close, and god damn it, she gave in.

“I couldn’t let Jack die. And I couldn’t Samantha die, either.”

“I know,” she whispered.

“But you’re right to be angry with me.”

“I know.”

He laughed and stroked her hair. She relaxed against him, and sobbed a little longer.

Noises grabbed her attention, and she turned her head enough to see back to the tear. More gold shapes emerged from the glow, more and more, a whole bunch of people she didn’t recognize. And a few she did.

The gold souls stepped up to the group, each of them never leaving the gold water that leaked out of the tear. Each of them, sometimes a man, sometimes a woman, sometimes more than one, found someone in the crowd. And the crowd was, predictably, frozen with shock. None of them expected to this. How could they?

Laughter grew from the gold souls when they realized they had to be the ones to break the silence, and they ran up and joined whoever it was they came to see. Some dude ran up to Clara and hugged her. A woman Triss recognized ran up to the werewolves and hugged each of them: Stephanie, the one who’d died to an azlu a few years ago. The other werewolves came, too. Carter, Monica, and Caleb. Others Triss didn’t know, came up to Avery, and the old woman broke into tears. Old pack mates?

A woman came up to Eric, and hugged the stunned man.

“Mom?” Eric said, so quiet Triss had to read his lips to hear it over the growing sound of dozens of people talking.

The woman squeezed her son, and kissed his cheek, before hugging him some more. She gestured to Jessy, too, and gave the woman a quick hug before starting a conversation, which had Jessy squirming. Apparently, she was scolding the Gangrel, and she gestured to Jessy’s ... breasts, on a couple occasions, and mentioned Eric’s dad. Weird.

Two people came up to Natasha, a man and woman. The little vampire was reduced to sobs instantly, and she hugged them like they’d vanish any moment. Probably not far from the truth.

“Julias,” Antoinette said, “I ... I do not understand. Please, tell me what is happening?”

Julias shrugged as he stepped away from Triss. She was tempted, so damn tempted to hold on, but some piece of her, the wise part maybe, told her it’d be a mistake.

“Black Blood’s tear managed to reach across the chasm. Just a little, a tiny sliver. And the guardians”—he gestured up to the glowing orbs—”figured, after what you guys managed to do, you’d earned a quick visit from us.”

“The chasm?”

Julias put up his hands. “Sorry, can’t talk about it. But the guardians there gave us what we needed to cross it, and visit for a bit. Those of us that haven’t sailed on past the horizon yet.”

Sailed on? Past the horizon? Was the afterlife a pirate adventure?

“How long is a bit?” Triss asked.

Julias smiled down at her, but it was one of those somber smiles he used when he was about to give bad news.

“Enough time to say hello, goodbye, and maybe a few things in between.”

“Right.” She gulped down her guts that were trying to jump out through her throat, and forced herself to nod. “I—”

A squeal forced her to spin around, ready for whatever suddenly made someone scream. But, it wasn’t that kind of scream. It was a kid’s scream, the excited kind.

A woman stepped out of the tear, and a small kid ran ahead of her, a boy. Whoever the little boy was, he didn’t give a shit about anything else, except one thing: Sándor. And the poor guy was struck dumb, eyes wide, and mouth dropped. He did manage to at least get down on a knee, and catch his kid, before the little guy could tackle him.

“Theo?”

“Dad!” The kid squeezed, and Sándor’s eyes, still open wide and staring past the little guy, looked to the approaching woman. Tears were in his eyes. Sure, part of that was probably because his kid was crushing his fucked up arm and shoulder, but from the way he was looking at his wife, Triss knew the reason for most of them.

“Sándor,” the gold woman said, and she got down on a knee with him. Slowly, she leaned in, and set a kiss on his forehead, before running her fingers over his short hair, and giving him a proper kiss.

“Margaret, I—”

“Shhh.” She kissed him again, and shook her head.

The two adults went quiet, and rested their foreheads against each other, while their kid squealed with joy. It was so damn beautiful, Triss had to look away. Sándor was crying, same as her, same as everyone.

Damien wandered over, eyes drifting between everyone and the tear, before coming to Julias.

“I don’t suppose—”

“Sorry, Damien,” Julias said. “The older people are, the harder it is for them to get around, in the river. And elders vampires are very old.” He pointed at his own neck. “Carrying anchors, you know? Takes them a long time to let them go.”

“I see.”

“But, I did speak to him. He’s ... open to the idea, that he might have been wrong. And an asshole.”

Damien laughed. “Music to my ears.”

Julias laughed with him, and motioned for Damien to come in closer. Damien raised a brow, but came in anyway, and Julias leaned in to whisper a few things to him. Each word had Damien’s eyes widening, and eventually, a smile, the same sort of heavy, overwhelmed smile everyone else was wearing.

“Thanks,” the Mekhet said. “I will.”

Julias nodded as he winked at him.

Elaine and Antoinette chuckled as they looked at each other, before they both nodded, and stepped back. No one was coming to visit them. Why? Triss looked up at Julias and nodded toward the two elders.

He grinned, and nodded toward the tear.

Sure enough, a couple of new squeals joined the chorus of happy voices. Two women ran out of the tear, and went straight for Antoinette.

“Lana? Darlene?” the Prince said, staring.

Triss was seeing lots of firsts tonight. First time seeing Jacob get emotional, and now first time seeing Sándor get emotional, and Antoinette too. The Prince hadn’t seen it coming. They’d all been blindsided by the dead coming out to say hi, but Antoinette looked utterly confused, like there was no way a dead person would actually want to see her again. Vampire guilt, probably, over how the Vinculum bound ghouls. But considering how devoted Sabrina had been to Viktor, post death, it was nice to see a couple of more normal girls doing the same for the Prince. They hugged her, and she hugged them.

Triss glanced Athalia’s way. Daniel was with her, talking with a man Triss didn’t know, some ghost from Daniel’s past. Athalia was the third wheel in the conversation, and she inched away a bit to let the two talk as she glanced toward the tear a few times. Jesus christ, it hurt to watch. Go talk to her? Nah, not a good idea. Much as Triss and Athalia could actually talk to each other now, that was a far cry from—

“Mom!”

Another voice came out of the tear, and everyone shut up instantly, as a woman emerged. Even without the glass eye anymore, it was a face Beatrice would never forget. A face that shot heat up through her body until her Beast roared.

Her skin didn’t shine quite as bright as everyone else’s. No, that wasn’t it. It was glowing, but it wasn’t glowing the same color. Some different shade. Bronze? Whatever the strange color was, it also pulsed out of the thing hanging from her neck.

A stone, the size of her head, hanging from her neck by a black chain. A quick glance to Julias got the nod she was looking for. That was one of the anchors he’d been talking about.

With the rage in the woman’s eyes, Triss half expected the soul’s feet to taint or burn the gold water underneath her into the same black water the rest of the cave was covered in. But no, no change at all. She came closer, coughing a few times, and struggling with each step. She looked exhausted.

“Angela?” Athalia took a couple steps toward her daughter, but the look in Angela’s eyes stopped her.

“Mom.” Angela managed a few more steps before she fell to her knees. The anchor hit the gold water, and the splash that followed made it clear just how heavy the thing was.

Athalia didn’t hesitate. She was down on her knees beside her dead daughter in a second.

“Angela, I—”

“Jeremiah,” Angela said, grinding her teeth, “was ... an asshole.”

“What?”

“Jeremiah was an asshole!” She snapped her hands out, and grabbed her mother by the shoulders. “He took a little girl and twisted her. Made everything worse. Lied and used her. I didn’t deserve that! I didn’t ... deserve that...”

Athalia tried to keep back her tears, but there was no point. Everyone was already in full emotional breakdown mode, and even with the craziness happening, this was still a surprise.