Page 1 of Veil of Death and Shadow

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MAREENA

Six Years Ago: The Day of The Undoing

Death began haunting me long before I took my first breath.

And he’s been nothing but enduring ever since.

First, he ripped my father from me when I was nothing more than a bundle of cells nestled deep in my mother’s womb. I was told it was a trucking accident, an unexpected snowstorm, that sent him barreling over the curve of a mountain a few hours east of our home.

Then, the day I entered this world, Death took my mother for himself, too.

There’d been others over the years—my mother’s sister, who I’d stayed with until just before my first birthday, my father’s aunt, who I’d lived with for a decade after that, friends, lovers, neighbors—more than I liked to think about or linger on. Death never let me forget his presence, caging someone else in his dark embrace whenever I got too comfortable, whenever I let my defenses down even a little.

But today, I felt him more acutely than most; his breath trembled deep in my bones, carving anticipation and promise into every twitch of every muscle.

My phone vibrated in my back pocket.

I flinched, then plucked it out and put it to my ear, not even bothering to check the name. I knew who it was. I was late.

“Where are you?” Sora’s voice crackled in my ear, deep and whispered, but layered with her barely contained excitement and the soft bustle of a busy room.

I froze, focusing on my surroundings for the first time since I’d left our apartment.

Fuck. WherewasI?

I’d taken a wrong turn. Several wrong turns, in fact.

This wasn’t a totally uncommon occurrence. I often got lost in my thoughts and meandered through the streets, only half paying attention to what I was doing, but this wasparticularlybad timing.

“We said we were getting started at the diner today,” she continued, as I quickly searched for an intersection so that I could mentally recalibrate my directions. “Early. You promised. I had a few errands to run this morning, and Istillsomehow beat you here. Frank even agreed to let me spike the coffee. Do you have any idea how much convincing that took? You know he’s extra crabby in the morning.”

I winced, nodding even though she obviously couldn’t see me. “I know, I know. I’m sorry. It’s just . . .” I exhaled, relief flooding me as I recognized a burger stop down the road. I wasn’ttoofar from where I needed to be at least. “My alarm—I was up late and then this morning, I—” I sped up, boosted by the slight chill in the air. This June felt more like a belated January. “Lost track of time. Good work on Frank though, that’s impressive. Truly.”

Still, as impressive as it was, part of me wished that Frank stood stronger in his resolve. For both of our sakes. If anyone could win a battle of wills with Sora, it was him.

My stomach churned at the thought of starting the party this early. I had a late shift last night and hadn’t been able to turn my brain off until nearly dawn.

Something told me that if I started drinking this early, I wouldn’t make it past noon.

Sora was silent for a moment, and I could picture her expression in my head as if she was standing right in front of me, frustration curling into something softer and so much worse—concern.

She sighed. “You mean it’s been happening again.”

“No,” I lied, the word getting half-stuck in my throat, a rock coated in molasses. “Not like before, at least.” I winced, pinching the bridge of my nose. “I mean, I have a handle on it.”

And I did, more or less.

At the very least, I refused to tell her that I’d spent the last twenty minutes trying to convince myself that the stovetop was off even though I knew damn well that neither of us had cooked something in our stingy apartment in over two weeks.

Or that I’d had a live-action video broadcasting in my mind of Mrs. Odette, our shy, elderly neighbor, being violently burned alive for the last hour.

“We can find someone, another therapist?—”

“No.”

Therapy helped, but only so much.

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