“She should’ve,” I whispered. So many times, I’d had the thought it was wrong Monica was gone and that I was still here. I figured it should be the other way around.
“She knows you have a great destiny ahead of you, and a prophecy to fulfill. I guess it was in her soul contract to help you fulfill it, but…” Marcus paused. “Things changed when she died, and someone else had to step in. But she really wants to press that it was important for you to stay on Earth, because you’re going to do some great things… like helping Charlie save the Elves.”
I snorted. “Yeah, we’re making great progress on that.”
Marcus let out a nervous chuckle. “She said,If you stopped paying attention to the voices in your head and listened every once in a while, you might get somewhere.”
“That bitch!” I yelled, giving a choked laugh. I thought this was going to be a tender, emotional reunion, not a snarkfest.
I shouldn’t be surprised. This was Monica, after all.
Marcus smiled, before his grin faltered. Oberi let out a gentle nicker, and Marcus added, “Monica’s showing me something. Lessons that she’s learned about her life while living in the Ancestral Lands, lessons that she wishes she could’ve had more time to learn on Earth. She doesn’t want you to make the same mistake. She’s not… upset that she died, and she doesn’t necessarily want to come back, but she thinks your life could be so much better if you took the time to listen to what the world is trying to tell you. Because she spent her whole life running from it, instead of facing it.”
“Well, sorry I’m screwing up.” I crossed my arms, feeling bitter. This wasn’t how I wanted our conversation to go.
“She’s not angry at you, Ava.”
“If you tell me she’sdisappointed in me, I’m gonna find a way back into the spiritual realm so I can rip her hair out,” I threatened.
“No. She’s… sad.”
My heart fell out of my chest, and Oberi rested her nose on my shoulder. “Why is she sad?”
“You aren’t honoring her life. You’re so upset about her being gone you’ve forgotten all the great times you two had together,” Marcus continued. “It hurts her to see you so lost in grief. She wants you to keep the memory of your friendship alive by doing the things you two loved. She’s really excited you and Charlie started making music again, and that you started up your vlogging channel. She wants you to continue that.”
I bunched my hands in my skirt. We’d put off making more music videos because we’d been so wrapped up in investigating the mystery of the merfolk key. I’d missed it, but in the face of everything else, it seemed… unimportant.
It is important, Oberi insisted.Doing the things you and Monica loved will give you inspiration to solve the problems in your life.
“She’s saying to keep telling the jokes she always liked to make. Do the things she enjoyed, and advocate for the causes she cared about,” Marcus said. “She’s frustrated because everyone has made her memory all about her murder, and the tragedy of dying young. No one remembers the life she lived, and that’s what’s really important. How she died is a footnote compared to how she lived her life. So because she can’t, she wants you to continue that work— to be young, wild, and free.”
An overwhelming sensation of grief welled around me, and I tried to hold it in as I said, “I’m doing my best every day to make her proud.”
“Sheisproud of you, Ava. She knows you do everything you can to fulfill the dreams the two of you had together. She said she was at your wedding, sitting in one of the pews— you just couldn’t see her. Oh, goddess, shelovesCharlie. He’s one of her favorite people,” Marcus said.
Then Marcus’ eyes widened, and he said, “But Monica wants you to know that since she can’t be there, she sent someone along to you to take her place.”
My lip wobbled, and I whispered, “Kallie.” Across the room, Kallie pushed herself off the wall and approached the alchemy circle curiously.
Marcus stuttered, then added, “I guess she hand-picked Kallie. She says she knew you needed someone by your side who was as big a bitch as she’d been.”
Kallie laughed out loud, and tears welled in my eyes. I was so honored Monica cared so much about me that she’d done her part from the Ancestral Lands to make sure I still had friends…bestfriends.
“Kallie took over Monica’s part of the soul contract,” Marcus said in astonishment. “Kallie was always supposed to help us with the prophecy, because she was a demigod and it was in her life plan, but after Monica died, Kallie offered to take on Monica’s role.”
“I don’t have any memories of this,” Kallie said.
“You wouldn’t. It would be your highest self, the piece of you that always remains in the spiritual realm, who’d take on the negotiation,” Marcus explained. “Monica knows that Kallie had the ability to love you just as much as she did. Maybe… even more.”
I hugged myself as I looked at Kallie. Our friendship was special, but now it felt even more sacred, because I knew my best friend who’d passed on had set this connection up for me.
Marcus blushed even harder, and he shouted, “Okay, this isn’t about me!”
“What’d she say?” I asked Oberi.
She told Marcus to stop being a pussy and make Kallie his girlfriend, Oberi gushed.
Marcus huffed. “She…ugh… she wants you to know that the guys in the Ancestral Lands are easy on the eyes. Her words, not mine. She wanted me to say it exactly like that.”
