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Putting both the jewelry box and the book in my tote, I rush to the back to find Sara. She’s crouched over a pile of new arrivals on the floor, sorting them by genre. When she hears me, she raises her head and pushes her reading glasses back with the heel of her hand.
“Everything ok, kiddo? You look awfully pale.”
I feel like I could throw up a storm, but given I didn’t pack lunch and my stomach is empty, the feelings is nerves. “Any chance I can head out a couple hours earlier today? I forgot I had some estate papers to submit to the lawyer by tonight.”
The lie stings on my lips. Even though concealing the truth is what I’ve done all my life, using my grandmother’s death as an excuse, especially with Sara, makes me feel grimy.
The way her lips curl into a frown makes my stomach twist into a tighter knot. “Of course, love.”
I reach toward her to plant a soft kiss to her cheek before heading out the store. My legs are on autopilot as they take me through the old town, toward Teizel’s mansion. By the time I knock at the door, my breath comes in short, huffy puffs, and a sheen of sweat covers my forehead.
From his end, Teizel looks as beautiful and put together as always, wearing a silk black shirt with the sleeve rolled to his elbows and three top buttons undone. He takes inventory of my appearance and lifts a brow. “I know you can’t manage to stay away from me, Esmeralda, but it’s hardly been a few hours. You didn’t need to run.”
I shoulder my way past him into the foyer, and dig the book out of my tote. “You knew what I would find, did you not?” I ask, waving the leather-bound in his face like an accusation.
Teizel shrugs. “I wouldn’t have left it if I thought it useless, would I?”
“Do not answer my question with a question.” Holding the book in the crook of my elbow, I flip the pages until I find the drawing of the eggs and turn it to face him. “You knew I would find this. Something tells me you know what it depicts. It follows, you know what the egg trinket means.”
His lips pucker and curl, as if he’s ruminating for an answer.
“It’s fine, that wasn’t a question, so you don’t need to answer it. And even if it were, you couldn’t tell me, right? The game has rules. This is one of them.”
Teizel doesn’t say anything, but the way his lips thin into a scowl tells me what I need to know.
“How do I get the answer from you without having to ask the question?”
He leans against the closed door. “Nothing stops me from talking about my people, our lives, our customs.” His expression sours after he says that. “Nothing except the rules of my people, but given the situation, I’m sure they’d make an exception.”
So the firefly pond is a depiction of the afterlife. Is the world beyond really a land of flowering cliffs and bright, moon-filled skies? It looks less threatening and gloomy than I would’ve imagined, given it’s home to monsters.
“Tell me about the pond with the eggs. Is that a piece of your home?”
Teizel runs a hand through his hair, then motions down the corridor, guiding me into a massive library. The grand arched window covering the South wall peeps into the garden, and with the sun low, rays stream into the room, catching on the glass chandelier and reflecting kaleidoscopes of rainbow across the space. Teizel waits for me to sit on one of the two velvet wingback chairs before following. The soft fabric hugs me like an embrace, the scent of smoke from the fireplace in front of us impregnated in the textile like a distant remnant of Christmases past.
When we’re both comfortable, Teizel motions for the book. I hesitate before passing it off to him. His long, black-tipped finger runs across the page as delicately as it would my cheek. “My people aren’t born. Not like yours, anyway, birthed from another of your kind. We’re created by the Void itself and spit into the Beyond in a… capsule of sorts.”
“The egg,” I venture to guess.
Teizel nods. “The others who hatch alongside us are our brethren, and the people in the Kingdom come to witness a new laying. One by one, in order of rank, they get to choose a child to take home and raise as their own.”
I try to picture what that must look like, and though I can paint an image, thanks to the illustration on the book, I can’t begin to imagine what the ordeal would feel like. Pulling the egg trinket out of the jewelry box, I pass it from hand to hand, running my fingers over the silver inlays. Despite being fresh out of a box, the egg is warm to the touch, not unlike Teizel’s skin.
“So the egg trinket represents your birth. I guess your creation? Birth isn’t even the right term. Regardless, the way you come into the world is a good mean to represent your nature.”
The grin on Teizel’s lips tells me I hit the jackpot, and my chest puffs, making room for the way my heart feels like taking flight. I figured one out. Three trinkets, and the connection between them, remain a mystery, but progress is progress no matter how small.
“See? I told you my faith in you wasn’t misplaced.” He reaches across the table between our chairs to cover one of my hands with his and squeezes. “Your success is mine. I would love nothing more than to be able to grant your wish at the end of this.”
I smile at him despite myself, but before I can rebut anything, a sudden chill makes me shiver. It has nothing to do with drafts of an old house — I’m good at recognizing the telltale sign of death. A sickly sweet scent of rot follows. I whip my head around, looking for the source of the change, until my eyes land on the door.
The ghost standing there is a familiar one. Short, small, with a sharp black bob and void-filled eyes. She’s the same spirit that grabbed and burned my arm. My skin tingles at the mere memory.
I should move my eyes, pretend I don’t see her. I should hide until she chooses to leave. I shouldn’t give the ghost power by acknowledging it. And yet, I do none of those things.
With my gaze on the spirit I do the one thing I’ve been taught all my life to shy away from. I speak up.
“There’s a ghost in your library.”
