Graveminder

Sleep well, and stay where I put you.

Some mortals--like you--are already half in love with death. It is who you are, and I'll not make it harder on you by telling you things you don't need to know. Ask me again when you die. Then I'll tell you everything, anything, nothing.

Do you remember those days? Back porch, sunshine, mason jars" - she paused at remembered sweetness - "we were so foolish then...thinking there was a big ol' world out there to conquer.

He pulled something out of his pocket and tried to stick it in her arm. A needle. He'd offered her hope, but then he was trying to hurt her. Poison. She pushed him away. "That wasn't nice.

His face was pale, and he dropped to the floor so that he was half kneeling, half sitting before her. "Please. I can...help you." "No." She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Her mind felt clearer now. Everything made more sense when she wasn't so hungry. "I don't think I want the help you have." He cradled his bloody arm and tried to stand. "This isn't right. You aren't right. You aren't suppose to be here." "But I am.

The girl's arms jutted out at awkward angles, not quite hands on the hips belligerent but not relaxed either, as if they weren't all the way under the girl's control. "I came to find you." "I didn't know. If I'd known..." "It doesn't matter now." The girl's attention was unwavering. "This is where you are." "It is at that." The girl looked sad. Her soil-dark eyes were clouded over by tears she hadn't been able to shed. "I came here to find you." "I couldn't have known." Maylene reached out and plucked a leaf from the girl's hair. "Doesn't matter." She lifted a dirty hand, fingernails flashing chipped red polish, but she didn't seem to know what to do with her outstretched fingers. Little girl fears warred with teenage bravado. Bravado won. "I'm here now." "All right, then." Maylene walked down the path toward one of the gates. She pulled the key from her handbag, twisted it in the lock, and pushed open the gate.

It's okay. You're going to save me, Miss Maylene." The girl gave her a genuine look of happiness. "I know it. I knew if I found you everything would be okay.

We can end this before anyone gets hurt." William held his hands out to sides as if to show her he was unarmed. "You don't want to hurt people, do you? You will if you don't come away with me. You know that." "I'm not bad," Daisha whispered. "I believe you." He held out a hand to her. He curled his fingers toward him in a beckoning gesture. "You can do the right thing here. Just come with me. We'll go meet some people who can help us." "Her. The new Graveminder." "No, not her. You and I can fix this all on our own.

The girl's arms jutted out at awkward angles, not quite hands on the hips belligerent but not relaxed either, as if they weren't all the way under the girl's control. "I came to find you." "I didn't know. If I'd known..." "It doesn't matter now." The girl's attention was unwavering. "This is where you are.

Some people worked well with daily discipline, but she’d always been more of a need-a-deadline or consumed-by-vision artist.

Absently, she wondered if finding one’s place in the world always felt like this, as if an audible click could be heard