But I had a feeling they had all just found a permanent home in her closet. Back on the ferry, we followed the sun as it set below the horizon and cast warm colors across the sky.
“Did you guys hear that girl Nadia went back to California?” Carmen asked us.
“She did?” My breath caught in my throat at her name. She hadn’t been in class for a week, but I definitely wasn’t losing any sleep over it.
“I guess she didn’t like it here,” Phoebe shrugged her shoulders, but I knew there had to much more to her disappearance than that. As much as I didn’t like seeing her evil smokiness and being in her chilling presence, not knowing where she was or what she was doing was even worse. They always say to keep your enemies close, right?
“I’m glad she’s gone. She just gave off bad vibes,” Willow scowled, visibly shivering.
Maybe she could feel a hint of Nadia’s evil nature without realizing it.
“Same here. Something about her just didn’t add up,” I agreed as my phone vibrated in my pocket. Finn.
Ur goin to be the most beautiful dead bride ever How in the world did he know what costume I bought? I looked around the ferry to see if he was spying on me. Then I remembered.
Either ur stalking me or u had a vision bout me Yes Yes ur stalking me or yes u had a vision bout me?
Stalked u in a vision Ur impossible Thank you That wasn’t a compliment Then why r u smiling?
Good night, Finn So I was right Good night, Finn Night Pasha - luv u Luv u 2
*** Later, as I crawled under my cool covers and closed my eyes, I made an effort to stop the rush of thoughts that were splashing around in my head. November second was now only a week away and I still didn’t feel ready. I doubted I ever would. How do you prepare yourself to die and travel to another realm?
“I like your room.”
I sat up so fast I got whiplash. As soon as the world had stopped spinning, I noticed her standing in the corner of my room in that same blue dress. Her blonde hair flowed down her shoulders and a shy smile danced on her colorless lips.
“Bianca?” I squinted at her, trying to make sure it was actually Bianca and not Nadia dressed up in ghost clothing. She walked out of the shadows and towards my bed, stalling on the soft rug.
“You remember me!” The surprise in her wispy voice was unmistakable.
“Who could forget their first ghost sighting?” I joked, attempting to make light of the situation. Unfortunately it had the opposite effect on Bianca.
“I haven’t always been a ghost.” She drifted closer and actually sat down on my bed. The bedspread didn’t give under her weight. But then again, she must weigh next to nothing. I wasn’t sure if the jitters in my throat were from the whiplash or from the actual ghost sitting next to me. I just chalked it up to a combination of the two. “I had a good life…or so I thought.” She smoothed her bloody dress and hung her head as sadness pulled down her beautiful features.
“I thought my mother loved me,” she looked up at me with desperation, “but I guess in the end, she…didn’t.”
“What…happened to you?” I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know the answer to that, but I couldn’t help but ask. It just seemed so tragic. Her life had been cut short before it could even truly begin. And now she was left to wander the earth until the end of time? That couldn’t be the way her story ended.
“I’m…I’m not real sure. I mean, I remember mother getting real mad at me and me crying, pleading with her that I hadn’t done it.” She looked down at her transparent hands, “But she didn’t believe me. She wouldn’t listen. And then everything went black and all of the sudden I was floating above my body. I was only fifteen.”
Fear splintered in her eyes, “That’s when I met her.”
“Who?”
“The Reaper,” she whispered, and a shower of shivers cascaded over my skin.
“Nadia?”
“Yes. She took me to Persephone. And then she brought me back here after I was…rejected.
Now I really am cursed. I’ll always have to answer to her.”
“But why? Why did Persephone reject you from entering the Underworld? I mean you don’t seem, well, broken.” I wasn’t sure how to say it, so I stole Finn’s description of the rejected souls.
“If The Reaper finds a soul she wants to have, she will stop at nothing to obtain it - even if that means influencing the living. Persephone grants her daughter any wish she may have.”
“You mean…” I was having trouble speaking as Bianca was unknowingly confirming my fears about Nadia’s true intentions.
“I believe The Reaper coerced my mother into killing me.” Her bright green eyes flitted up to mine, hesitant, “She wanted my soul.”
I was completely speechless for several minutes as I accepted what I didn’t necessarily want to believe. Nadia had taken Bianca’s soul. Another piece of the puzzle clicked into place. At the séance, she had ripped my soul from my own body; so she obviously had the ability to play with people’s souls like her own personal play toys. She knew exactly what she was doing. And she appeared to be incapable of feeling any remorse.
“Does that happen…often?” I asked gingerly. What I really wanted to know was if some version of Nadia had coerced the infamous Drake doctor and probably many more unfortunate people across the centuries.
“I don’t know,” she shrugged, “I don’t know why she’d want my soul. I’m nothing special.”
The wheels in my head started turning.
“What happened to your mother? Where is she?” I asked quietly.
“I’m not sure. She never came back to the island we lived on…the island you and your friends visited.”
“So you did live there,” I surmised.
“Yes, but that was nearly twenty years ago. After my death, my mother insisted that the island was cursed. She told everyone a story about me becoming possessed by evil and attacking her.
She told them it was self defense. She said she was scared of what I might do to my sister. I would never hurt anyone! Especially not my sister!” she shook her head, “Mother knew that. She would never accuse me of something that cruel. That’s why I believe it was The Reaper all along.” A stray tear ran down her cheek as sadness took hold of her again. “My sister would talk to me at night. I think it made her feel better. I tried to talk to her but she didn’t hear me. And then they left.”
“You had a sister?”
“A twin sister. I called her Cissy. I don’t know what’s become of her.”
“I’m so sorry Bianca. And even though you may not believe me, I understand what you’re going through a lot better than most. I know how it feels to be alone.”
“But I don’t feel so alone now. I…I followed you here. I didn’t want to be by myself anymore.”
“As far as I’m concerned you are always welcome here,”
“Thank you,” she grinned and then became solemn, “but it’s not safe for me to be around you. Nadia will find me. And then she will find you.”
“Nadia already knows where I am. And besides, I’m not scared of her,” I lied.
“But that’s the thing - you should be. You have no idea what she’s capable of. As you witnessed with me, she can possess ghosts. She can control us; use us.”
“She can’t control me. She can’t use me. And I’ll do everything I can to protect you from her.”
“But you can’t fight her! She’s immortal! She’s strong! That’s why you have to hurry and make the journey before she finds a way to ruin it for you!”