Sisters of Salt and Iron

  Noah grinned and rose to his feet. I could breathe a little without him on me. “Of course, my dear,” he said, and stood back.

  Wren crouched beside me, her long crimson hair brushing my face. Those awful black veins crisscrossing her cheeks.

  “Do you know that when two ghosts merge, they can leave some of themselves behind?”

  I nodded.

  She smiled softly, her fingers stroking my cheek. “That’s what Noah did to me. And I did to him. Do you know what happens when you and I merge?”

  Blood trickled from my mouth. I stared up at her, through the haze of red that had pooled in my eyes. “We...become...one.”

  She leaned closer. “We become Melinoe. Let me in, Lark.”

  I did. I trusted her no matter what Noah had done to her, or how dark her eyes were. She was my sister. She was the other half of my soul. I knew that now. We were individual pieces of one powerful whole.

  I heard Noah’s shout as she sank into me, but I ignored it. My bones put themselves back together as Wren’s energy filled me. I pushed the darkness of Noah’s infection aside, cleansing and healing her as she healed me. My heart became her heart. My ribs became her ribs, whole and strong.

  This wasn’t possession. She wasn’t wearing my body. This was her body. And it was mine. There was no me and no her.

  There was only us.

  THE MELINOE

  I was two. Then became one.

  I rose, confused but steady and sure in this body. I looked down at my hands—they were long and pale, but strong. I wore a snug suit of leather, ancient armor from long ago. I knew what I was, and yet it was strange and new.

  I was Lark. I was Wren. I was Melinoe. And I was not afraid.

  Around me chaos reigned. I watched as earthbound spirits fought one another for reasons they didn’t understand. I watched as others tried to possess humans marked by Solomon’s protection. Some humans weren’t quite so protected, and their frightened souls allowed them to be used as vessels.

  This was not a fitting celebration for the night when the living and the dead walked together. This was not an honoring of those who had passed, nor a celebration of those who remained. This was chaos. And this place—so soaked in the tears of the living and the regrets of the dead—cried out in pain. So much pain.

  I crouched and put my hand to the ground. “Easy,” I whispered. “It will all be over soon.”

  I stood and turned my attention to the spirits gathered there—the ones who’d watched Noah beat on me. They stared at me, fear rendering them mute. They were no danger to me or to anyone else at the moment. They were sheep, just waiting to be led.

  I would deal with them later.

  “Where is he?” I asked.

  They knew who I meant. An old man lifted his arm and pointed behind me. I turned and looked into the throng.

  A scream rent the night, and I moved toward it, toward the stage where Gretchen stood speechless, staring at Joe as ghosts swept down upon the crowd. Joe’s head turned. His gaze locked with mine across the churning sea of fans who didn’t know what the hell was going on.

  I nodded at Joe. His eyes widened. I must have looked very different to him in this form. Look for Noah. The thought drifted from my mind to his. He raised his hand—he had heard me.

  Many of the living ran for the exit like frightened sheep, bunching up at the narrow exit, making themselves easy targets for predators. One such possessed ran by me, and I caught him by the collar, dragging him back until I could dangle him in front of me—a fish on a hook.

  “Release this person,” I commanded. The spirit slid free. He was shaggy and dirty and smelled of...patchouli.

  “Woodstock,” I murmured, setting the bewildered human aside. What was left of the spirit’s one eye turned toward me. The iron-burnt flesh widened.

  “What the hell are you?” he asked.

  I smiled, placing my hands on either side of his head. “I’m where you end, little one.”

  He opened his mouth, but all that came out was a squeak. I held him gently, as a mother might, shushing him as he struggled. His form shriveled in my hands, flaking like paper as I drained him of all his energy. I took his essence into myself like a long drink of cool water, until he was nothing but old dust caught up in a breeze and taken away.

  I dusted his remains from my hands and rose. Humans and spirits ran in all directions around me, but my stride never altered. They moved for me.

  A ghost with a badly burned face, her hair in patches, had her hands around the throat of a girl I recognized. Roxi. My friend. She had her up against the side of a building, slamming her against the rough brick. I recognized the ghost as the girl who had been on fire and I’d saved—the same girl whose skull I had lit on fire thinking it was Noah’s.

  I didn’t even think, I simply acted, driving my fist through the bodice of the ghost’s Victorian gown and out the other side of her. She crumbled away with a sigh, and I took in what was left. Where she went now was out of my control.

  “Peaceful rest,” I whispered. She deserved it.

  I offered Roxi my hand. She had fallen when the girl released her. Warm fingers closed around mine.

  “Lark?” Roxi said, as I helped her up. “Wren?”

  “Yes,” I said. I smiled. “It’s complicated.”

  She looked wary. “Uh, yeah. Okay.”

  “Please, don’t be afraid,” I told her. “I won’t hurt you. I couldn’t. You’re my friend.”

  Dark eyes met mine. “What color underwear am I wearing?”

  A test? We were in the middle of a battle, and she tested me? “Purple. You don’t own any other color.”

  She grinned. “Right. Okay, let’s go.”

  “Stay with me, and you’ll be safe.” Then, I started forward again. I found Gage and Mace, as well. Gage had lost his beard, and his sweet face was bruised, one eye swollen, but he was otherwise unharmed. Mace bled from a cut above his eye, and there was an angry red mark on his jaw.

  “Olgilvie,” he explained when he caught me looking. “He took a swing when I showed up with the cops.”

  “Did they find Laura?” I asked.

  He nodded, his expression turning grim. “He’d already uncovered part of her when we arrived.” And he had seen it. Poor thing.

  I reached out and touched his face. He gasped but didn’t pull away. The cut and welt disappeared. Then, I touched Gage and Roxi as well, healing their injuries.

  “Follow me,” I said. They fell into step behind me.

  Every step filled me with more energy. This ground was steeped in it. I could feel its suffering in the soles of my feet and in my heart. The injustice of it angered me. I wanted to weep from the pain. So many spirits had suffered so much here.

  A young woman ran in front of me, screaming as two laughing male ghosts chased after her. I cut them both down mid-stride. She didn’t notice and ran off still screaming.

  “The living can be such douche bags,” I murmured. “Where are Ben and Kevin?”

  “They went toward the stage,” Mace replied. “Ben stayed with Kevin in case Noah showed up.”

  Ben. So brave and good. If Noah harmed him I would make him suffer a long time for it.

  Finally, I stood before the stage. Security had come and ushered the singer and the rest of the band to safety, so the only other people on the stage were Joe, Noah and Kevin.

  Ben was on the ground in front of the stage. On his back. Unmoving.

  “Come any closer and I’ll kill him!” Noah shouted. He had his arm locked around Kevin’s neck, his hand curved into talons over his heart, ready to tear flesh and bone apart.

  “Be quiet,” I commanded. “I will deal with you in a moment.” I went to Ben and crouched beside him. He wasn’t one of mine. Not yet. And though he’d
have a nasty headache when he woke up, there was no permanent damage done. I picked him up and carried him to where Roxi, Gage and Mace stood; the boys took him from me, staring at me in awe and wonder. And all because I’d lifted Ben as though he weighed no more than a child.

  To me he didn’t even weigh that.

  I took one, two running steps and then leaped up to the stage, landing gracefully in front of Noah and Kevin.

  “Stay back!” Noah commanded. His claws scratched through the fabric of Kevin’s shirt and through his skin, drawing blood. Kevin hissed, but he didn’t cry out. He just kept his gaze locked on me. What did he see when he looked at me? Did he see a terrifying creature with red-and-white hair? A goddess? Or did he see the dead girl he loved with all his heart? The answer was as obvious as it was heartbreakingly sweet.

  But the other—the one who had lived long before Kevin—looked at me as though he thought he could bargain. As though he had any control over me. Stupid, stupid child. So desperate for power and worship. More broken and needy now than he had been in life, and he’d believed death would make him so much more.

  Death only gave preference to a few of us, and this pathetic, dandyish boy was not one. Haven Crest had been given a choice the moment I merged; did it want to give its power to Noah, or to me?

  It had been an easy decision. Noah would only rape this vulnerable place and exploit its pain. I offered peace.

  “Let him go, Noah.”

  “No!”

  I was tired of this. Tired of so much of my night being spent on this pathetic creature. He’d taken Emily, conspired against Alys, robbed Charlotte of her destiny and almost prevented me—Lark and Wren—from discovering what we were. What I was.

  “You can’t win, Noah. This is all of your own making.”

  The claws flexed deeper, and this time Kevin did cry out. It was a sound that echoed in my soul, because a part of me cared for him, deeply. And the other part of me hadn’t been able to see just how much until then. Wren knew her heart so much better than Lark, which didn’t surprise me, because Wren had no fear of having it broken.

  “I’ll kill him. I swear I will. Just like your predecessor killed my sister! Now back away, you filthy half-breed! Bow to me, or I’ll rip his throat out.”

  “Bow to you?” Shadows drew close to me as my anger rose, wrapping around me like a loving embrace. “You have no dominion over Death, child. You have no dominion over me!” The words tore from my throat like a thunderstorm, knocking Noah back so sharply that Kevin fell from his grip. That’s when I moved. In a blink I had Noah by the throat. He clawed at me, but I barely felt it.

  “Your plan probably would have worked if you’d left us out of it,” I said. “But you were so bent on revenge, so greedy for the power you thought Wren could give you. Did you not realize how much power you fed her at the same time?”

  His eyes widened and I laughed. “You didn’t even know, did you? You didn’t notice those red veins creeping around your form? If not for you, we still wouldn’t know what we truly are! Everything you did, every deceit and lie only worked against you. And it all started the day you killed your own sister.”

  Yes, that was Noah’s terrible secret. Wren had gotten a glimpse when she began leaving some of her own essence behind in Noah. And Lark had already figured out part of the story.

  “You killed her so, as a medium, you could have her all to yourself. But she became a vengeful spirit. You thought you could control her, but then along came Emily, who gave your sister release. Then you killed yourself because you thought you could be with your sister, but, no. She had moved on, and you couldn’t because you were too deranged. You swore revenge on Emily, and you tricked Alys into destroying Charlotte’s sister so the twin cycle would be interrupted. Emily couldn’t move on with Alys in the void, and you imprisoned her. And then you came after me, because you thought you could destroy me.”

  Noah squirmed in my hand. His power was waning as Haven Crest slowly rejected him. He was the one causing it pain, who had demanded it feed him in return. He was the one who had helped Josiah Bent, and then sat back and watched just to see how strong I was, pitting my two selves against each other. He’d brought so much darkness to this place.

  But his real mistake had been in thinking that he could turn me against myself.

  “I don’t regret any of it,” he rasped.

  “No. I don’t think you do. Which is why I’m not going to send you on.”

  His eyes lit up. “If you don’t send me on, you have to let me stay.”

  I smiled. “Oh, my dear Noah. You forgot the third option.” I didn’t need the spirit board or an infection-induced vision. For a few more hours I was Death—or at least the daughter of it—and imbued with all the power that brought with it.

  The shadows that surrounded me rose up, swirling and twining around us, like dark vines. Below and over they climbed, until there was nothing but dark. Nothing but the void.

  Noah realized where we were almost immediately. “No!” He clawed at my hand, but I held tight. Around us, the monsters in the dark circled. Waiting and hungry. But he wasn’t for them.

  I felt her approach. She was, after all, another part of me. Dear, mad Alys with her wild eyes and bloodstained mouth. She crept from the dark like a shadow herself.

  “I’ve brought you a gift,” I said.

  Noah’s wild gaze turned to me. “You can’t do this!”

  I shushed him and ran my hand down his cheek. “It was never the dark you were afraid of, was it, Noah? It was the things you knew dwelled in it.”

  Alys reached out her dark-stained hand, and I thrust Noah toward her. She grinned, pouncing on him like a cat on a mouse. His scream was the last thing I heard as I left.

  The shadows receded, wrapping close to me once more. I was left on the stage with Joe. Ghosts continued to cause mayhem on the grounds, possessing humans and fighting one another, but the living were leaving at a steady pace, giving them fewer to choose from, and ruining all their fun.

  I didn’t have much work left. I turned to Joe. “Look at you,” I said. “So young and alive.”

  “Well, I took that whole die-young-and-leave-a-gorgeous-corpse thing to heart.”

  I took his hand, feeling the energy that filled him. It was strong.

  “Better than drugs,” he joked.

  “You absorbed a lot of power. Are you all right?”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “I can take it,” I told him. “I can give you rest, if you want. Peace. They found your Laura. Olgilvie’s been arrested.”

  Dark-rimmed eyes narrowed. “If I stay here I can make sure he suffers.”

  Dear boy. He made me smile. I took his hand in mine, twining our fingers. “He will pay for what he did, Joe. I promise you. But now, I think there’s someone who has been waiting a long time for you to give up your anger.” I gazed beyond him, and nodded my head.

  Joe turned. When he saw her, warmth blossomed within me. It hadn’t taken much effort to call her. As one who had died a violent death, she would have felt the unearthing of her bones, and she would have hoped that Joe would finally come to her.

  “Laura,” he whispered. He ran to her.

  On the ground, I heard Roxi give a little sob. It was rather romantic to see the two of them finally reunited after all these years. Sometimes the dead held on to old grudges for too long. So long, that they forgot what it meant to be alive. They forgot the things that had been important to them, and that was really what it meant to be haunted.

  Joe and Laura, their arms around each other, broke apart into little glimmering shards of light that drifted away on the breeze.

  “They look like fireflies,” Roxi said with a sniff.

  I smiled. “Yes, they do.”

  When I descended from the stage, my friends were sta
ring at me. Kevin was hurt, and Ben was awake. I walked up to Kevin and inspected the wounds. They weren’t deep, but they looked painful.

  “You’ll be fine,” I told him. I could have healed him, but he wanted the pain. He felt he deserved it, dear thing.

  “What did you do with him?” he asked.

  I patted his shoulder. “I sent him somewhere unpleasant.”

  “Will he ever come back?”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  “What about Lark and Wren?” Ben asked. He touched the back of his head, and his fingers came away bloody. “Are they coming back?”

  Dear boy. So brave. So accepting of Lark and what she was. “Yes, but first I have work to do.” And the first of it was to heal him.

  They all followed me across the lawn toward the building where Noah had done his damage. No one paid much attention to us now that a news crew had arrived. It seemed a good time for me to move out of frame.

  “Stay out here,” I told the living before I walked into the residence.

  The spirits gathered as I walked inside. They watched me—a few even followed as I went down into the basement and collected the bones left there, wrapped in burlap. I brought them upstairs and set them on the floor of the entry hall.

  “Is this all of you?” I asked.

  They nodded, and I knew they were truthful.

  I held out my arms. “Come here.” And they did.

  They came from other houses, too, from all over the grounds. Hundreds of them of all ages, shapes and sizes and social class. One by one, I sent them home.

  Miss April was the last one. “I was mean to you,” she said.

  I nodded.

  Her chin quivered. “Are you going to send me to Hell?”

  Hell was a concept of the living. I didn’t know Hell, but I knew suffering, and that was the void. “No.”

  She stepped into my embrace. I felt her soul against mine—that joyful moment when she let go—and then she was gone. I was alone in the building with Noah’s remains. There was no energy left here, good or bad. It was just an empty place.