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“Go on. Make yourself a new story, Miss Addie,” she said as her hands filled with cleansing fire.
Miss Addie nodded. “Burn it down, my dear.”
Theta put her hand to the side of the crumbling church, and instead of fire, light poured in through the windows, filling the room. The trees vanished. No cage held Miss Addie any longer. Instead, she was in her bed at the Bennington, sleeping peacefully, Miss Lillian beside her. Miss Addie’s final dream and memory was of the lifelong bond she’d shared with her sister and the home where she had chosen to make her life. The light grew so bright that Evie and Theta had to shut their eyes, and when they opened them again, the church, the bed, and Miss Addie were gone. Only the light remained, and even it was fading until there was nothing but forest again.
Evie hugged Theta. “You did it, Theta. You did Miss Addie proud.”
Theta sniffled. “Yeah? Then why do I feel so lousy?” She wiped her eyes. “C’mon. Let’s get back to the others. I just wanna finish this and get outta here.”
But when they turned to flee, the woods were filled with the dead, and at the front of the feral pack was Mabel Rose. She stared straight ahead at Evie. And Evie realized how foolish she’d been to think that Sam’s power could shield her from this. Just as in life, her friend saw right through her.
Mabel sniffed. Her lips curled back from sharp teeth. “Evie.”
Theta readied her hands, but Evie waved her off. “Please, Theta.”
Atop thinning, red-gold hair, Mabel wore Evie’s rhinestone headband, its luster dulled by grave dirt. Worms had made a home in the beautiful yellow dress, which was now dotted with holes. This was Mabel. Not the illusion conjured in Gideon. And Evie understood: Mabel Rose was really gone. She was dead and deserved rest, and Evie had to let go.
“Yes, it’s me, Mabesie,” Evie called. She felt the ache in her side. Would always feel the ache.
“You brought me back,” Mabel snarled. “It’s your fault.”
“Yes, I did. It’s my fault. And I’m so, so sorry, Mabesie. Truly I am.”
“Why did you bring me back?” Mabel whimpered.
“I was wrong to do it. But you are not this person, Mabel Rose.” Evie walked toward Mabel. “Remember how selfish you thought I was?”
Mabel’s eyes were deep and dark. Evie could lose herself in them. She sensed Theta following behind her, those hands ready, if it came to it. Evie glanced back and shook her head, and Theta nodded.
“You were selfish. You are selfish,” Mabel said in her dead voice.
“Yes. I am selfish. I’m a selfish, attention-seeking, pigheaded, lonely girl. But not all the time. You were good. But not all the time. You were also jealous and secretive, and boy, could you hold a grudge. You expected people to notice you, and when they didn’t, you got mad. And you wanted to be important. Who doesn’t? I should have let you be all those things instead of just the ones I wanted you to be. The ones that made you fit more easily into my life.” We are so many stories, Evie thought.
Mabel’s nostrils flared. She was inhaling Evie’s scent. “I hunger, Evie.”
Evie stood right in front of her dead friend and willed herself not to run. “Everybody does, Mabesie. But did you, do you, know how much I love you?”
“I…” Mabel faltered. Her eyes shimmered from black to brown, back and forth. “I tried to stop Arthur from planting the bomb. I tried to stop it.”
“Of course you did.” Evie smiled through tears.
“I died trying.”
“I knew. Somehow, I knew. Mabel, you can still do good. Do you want to help us stop this explosion?”
Mabel’s struggle showed in her eyes, now brown but always on the verge of turning. “How?”
“We need to get through those trees and back to the others. To our friends. Your friends. Sam and Memphis and Ling and Henry and Jericho.”
“Jericho…” Mabel said. “He did not love me like I loved him.”
“Well, he never was terribly bright, was he?” Evie said, managing a laugh. She saw the faintest hint of a smile on Mabel’s lips, before it disappeared.
Mabel looked toward the trees. “I will go with you.”
“What does that mean?” Theta asked.
When Mabel turned, the dead did as well. One mind. All connected. She led Evie and Theta through the dark wood, past the snakes and lizards and two-headed frogs and diseased vines choking the life out of anything that tried to grow from the blighted land.
