Page 85 of The Cursed Fae

I focused on the inane details to distract myself, like the black lacey dress the Derringers had selected for their daughter’s eternal slumber. It was just so not Missy.

Morgan clung tighter to my arm as we placed white roses in the coffin.

I hadn’t planned to go to the cemetery. The actual burial was supposed to be a private, small ceremony. But Morgan asked me to, and Nana said it would be okay. They had also invited Astrid to the gravesite, along with the entire Keene family. I stood in the back with my friends while my great-grandmother presided over the somber event alongside Missy’s parents.

“How’s she holding up today?”

The arm I had around Morgan’s shoulders stiffened when I heard the question from behind me. Had Missy really come to her own funeral? I turned my head slowly to find a much livelier version of the girl in the casket standing a few feet back.

I shrugged and made a face meant to convey that Morgan was sad, but okay.

“Afraid people will think you’re crazy if you talk to me here?” Missy asked, smiling like she was enjoying the extremely awkward situation.

Honestly, no. I worried that a certain person would realize I’d been talking to Missy specifically, and I wasn’t ready to tell Morgan just yet.

“I heard what happened at the cove last night,” Missy continued, walking forward until she stood shoulder to shoulder with me. “Sounds like you nearly depleted yourself trying to summon Ray. You seem better today.”

I shrugged again and concentrated on keeping my stare straight ahead.

“I’m glad. I was worried,” she admitted almost reluctantly.

I stared at her, my brow furrowed in a way that suggested I didn’t believe her.

Missy rolled her eyes. “You were only out there because of me. Because I asked you to look into my death. And because you were talking to Ray to see if he remembered anything.”

I gave yet another noncommittal shrug.

“So, yeah, I feel pretty bad about all this.” She grew quiet for long enough that I chanced a glance in her direction. “I’ll give you a name, someone living who can help you. But you have to do something for me first.”

I tipped my head to show I was listening.

Missy watched as her casket lowered into the ground, expression carefully composed. “I want to talk to Morgan. Not now. On Thursday. It’s her birthday. But you have to tell her that this is a one-time deal. It is only to say goodbye. She has to move on with her life. If she thinks she can still reach me... it’s better this way.”

Wow. I didn’t know how to reply, mostly because I didn’t know if I could do what she was asking. It wasn’t like I could make Missy visible to Morgan. It would just be me relaying messages back and forth.

“Get her alone. I’ll find you guys.”

I really didn’t want to do this, but I gave a subtle nod anyway. There was no way I would deny the request. My feelings and wants did not matter. A few minutes of weirdness wouldn’t kill me.

Missy put a hand on my shoulder. It carried a cold sensation but no weight. How was it possible no one saw her? Then, I realized my mistake. Someone else should’ve been able to see Missy, and she definitely could. Because when I faced forward again, Nana looked straight at me with the same face Mom wore when she caught Lena and me drinking in my bedroom.

Busted.

“How long, Winter?” Nana demanded once we found ourselves alone in her kitchen.

After the burial, there’d been a reception at the Temple of Gaia, which should’ve given me plenty of time to make up a story to tell my great-grandmother. Sadly, nothing I came up with sounded plausible or innocent.

Now the moment I’d been dreading since the cemetery had finally arrived, and I had no clue what to say. So I did what I often do when backed into a corner—played dumb.

“What do you mean?” I asked, feigning innocence.

“How long have you been talking to Melissa Derringer?” Nana clarified, leaving me no room to wiggle out of this one.

With no good lie handy, I came clean.

“About a week, or a little more,” I admitted.

The kettle whistled, and Nana rose from the table to fix us each a cup of tea. She might’ve been upset with me, but not so much that she eschewed etiquette. She used fancy china and everything.

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