Page 155 of Cast in Atonement

Mrs. Erickson shook her head firmly. “You freed him from Azoria’s binding. But I think the ghosts you brought here should come to meet him.”

They didn’t want to leave, but Kaylin had deflected for long enough. “You want me to give you my blessing to break the promise you made to Jamal.”

“Yes, dear. I’m sorry. I would make the decision myself, but I know there was a reason Jamal made me make that promise—and I don’t think it was just because of Azoria. I think he understood—being dead—just how terrible a power it is. It’s worse than a sword at a neck, because there might be an end to that.”

“You would never do anything like that!”

“Kaylin, I would never do anything like that now. But as a child? Would it have occurred to me? The reason I stopped is because I used that power. On Jamal. On my older brother, my best friend, my eventual child. Did I mean to enslave him forever? No. I just wanted him to do what I wanted. I wanted my parents to do what I wanted, too—which child doesn’t? But my parents couldn’t be forced into obedience.

“If I had continued, would I even see the dead as people? I had a fight with Jamal. He wouldn’t speak to me, and that made me realize I’d really hurt his feelings, and he was really angry. Those silly fights that children have? That was all of mine.

“I’m not a child anymore. I try to live mindfully, especially with the dead. But it’s just too easy to believe that I’m always doing the right thing, that I’m a good person. Good people can do bad things. They can lose their way. They can be broken by grief or loss. Maybe it’s why most people don’t have powers like this. They can lose their tempers, and do things that they can’t take back, they can’t change—and that’s heartbreaking, too.

“But I can do much worse than that. The dead are helpless in their attachment to the world. They would be helpless in the face of this power. Even a dead god—that’s what the Ancients were, weren’t they? This is what Azoria wanted from me.” She closed her eyes. Opened them again. “But I think this is what I have to do here. I don’t want what Azoria wanted—but I’ll be doing what she intended: I have to command the dead.”

The wind of the green moved far more gently as it touched Mrs. Erickson; Mrs. Erickson, who wore the crown of flowers, the rings, the bracelets. Kaylin thought she should have the dress, too—but the dress remained wrapped around Kaylin.

“What will you command the dead to do?”

Mrs. Erickson’s smile was gentle. “I am about to attempt to give the dead a purpose. A direction.”

Evanton’s eyes widened. “I am not at all certain that is a wise idea.”

Mrs. Erickson nodded. “I know. But the turmoil you sensed, the reason you sought us out, is the turmoil of the dead Ancient: he is without purpose. If left alone, I am uncertain that the purpose he finds or creates will be good for anyone, himself included.

“I’ve spoken with Helen at length—she likes to talk while I bake, and I love the company—and Helen cannot exist without purpose. She can elect not to rent her house out, but the lack of a tenant causes difficulty for her; she cannot do so indefinitely. If Helen breaks down, the damage is done to Helen alone.

“It’s clear to me that the consequences here would be far worse—but I think the dissolution might be similar. If death is, to the Ancients, the end of purpose, some part of this one yearns for purpose with whatever is left of him. He cannot find it on his own.”

“And the ghosts Kaylin carried with her?” Evanton asked, his tone sharper than it had ever been with Mrs. Erickson.

“I think they’re like him,” Mrs. Erickson replied. “They have similar struggles, similar losses; I believe they were trapped in similar ways. But...it’s hard to put into words. The Ancient and the ghosts from the palace are isolated existences, but to me, they each have things the other lacks. If they were together, they would possibly become close to whole.”

“Can you do that?” Kaylin felt her jaw drop.

“If I can’t introduce them to each other, I don’t know who can. I think they could be friends. But they won’t leave your arms unless I command them. And, Kaylin, the dead won’t rest easily unless and until I command them to adopt a purpose, a purpose that is within their ability to achieve.

“And I believe I can. But it won’t be their choice because they can’t make that choice. It isn’t in them. I think, in that regard, they’re like Helen. Helen injured herself so that she could make a choice—but it was a small choice. She couldn’t choose to become something other than she was: a building. A physical space. The choice she did so much damage to herself to make was choosing the person she wished to serve. The service itself was so fundamental to her creation she could not change it.

“She said it would have been very much as if she were human and attempted to cut out her own heart.”

“I don’t think the Ancients are the same as sentient buildings.”

“I know. But Ancients created those buildings. I believe they built them based on their own existences as models. Do you believe it’s possible to kill Helen?”

The question had never occurred to Kaylin.

“If you destroy the words at her heart, she will die. She will not be Helen. But how do you destroy words? How do you destroy language?” Mrs. Erickson shook her head. “You forbid the speaking of it. You wait until no one alive can ever remember the use of the words.”

“I’m not sure True Words work that way. The point of True Language is that the words have inherent meaning. Any two people who speak that language can understand each other perfectly.”

“I believe that’s exactly how it works,” Mrs. Erickson said, voice soft. “Shorn of purpose, the words die.”

But... “The words can’t be living beings in and of themselves, surely? I mean—it would be like the word the being alive; it’s spoken so often we don’t even think about it. Does every time we utter the word create a new life? It—I can’t wrap my head around it.”

“You’ve no doubt had cause to light candles; to light stoves. People light bonfires, often during festivals. Are those fires alive?”

Kaylin shook her head.

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