Page 15 of Haunted Hearts

“It doesn’t matter,” he says at last.

I can feel my eyebrows fly upwards, but it’s Viktor who says, “It doesn’t matter? Kwil, we wasted—”

“It wasn’t wasted if it led us to Willow,” Kwil interrupts. “All of this happened for a reason. I believe that. Anyway, we’re dead now, Viktor. We can’t do anything about it, so I’m not going to stress over it.”

Viktor’s shocked gasp is cut off by the sound of the front door shutting. Kwil yanks the blankets over Willow’s body protectively, just as Brock and Theo enter the room. With them comes an air of tension.

“Hey, everything good?” I ask, looking between the two men.

Brock nods, looking completely at ease. At first, Theo does too. But I’ve gotten to know Theo well enough over the past month to be able to read him. He’s so good at hiding his emotions that the only way to really figure out what he’s feeling is to stare into those eyes for a few long moments. Even then, the fury there is passing. When he blinks, he manages to cover it up.

“Yes,” Theo lies easily. “How’s Willow?”

“Still unconscious,” I wave my hand at her before turning my attention to Brock. He’s missing his shirt and robe, donning only his wet pants. He pads across the floor with bare feet over to his dresser and opens several drawers. “Will she wake up soon? Can you heal her anymore? Her soul is still all messed up.”

“I’ve done all I can do,” Brock declares softly, as he pulls out a shirt and some pants. He glances over at me while shoving the drawers closed, giving me an understanding smile. “But I have a feeling Death will find us when he’s done taking care of theUtikyie. He’ll take her to his home where, I’m sure, he has the finest healers around.”

He walks over to the bed and hands Kwil the articles of clothing.

“They’ll be big on her, but I’m sure Willow will appreciate clean clothes when she wakes up.”

I appreciate the assumption that she will wake up. I watch as Kwil takes the clothes with a nod, eyeing the reaper.

“Thanks.”

Brock returns the nod and looks around at the rest of us. “When spirits find their way to the Realm of the Dead, they get a short introduction by us reapers where we answer general questions. After, they’re handed off to the Ward and given the full rundown of the realm. I’ll wager that you four aren’t headed to the Ward, so how about I do what I can to answer all of your questions while Willow rests?”

I sigh dramatically, “Good luck trying to have us pick a question to start with. I think I have about a billion and I don’t know which one to ask first.”

The reaper smiles. It’s soft, full of understanding. Gone is the frantic man looking for his mate. In his place is a calm, easy going guy whose job is to keep spirits calm as they cross over.

“Let’s leave Willow be and I’ll give you a general overview, then if you have any questions after that, I’ll answer them.”

“I’d appreciate all the information I can get about this realm and its inhabitants, especially the ones you mentioned that may come to hunt Willow down,” Theodon agrees.

I look between the two men as Brock moves out of Kwil’s way as he climbs out of the bed, leaving Willow tucked in behind him. Though Theo’s words sound reasonable, I swear the tension grows thicker in the room. There’s something going on between them. I can feel it.

“Trust me when I say that the list would be too long to go through all at once,” the reaper grimaces. “How Death managed to keep her existence a secret for so long is beyond me, but he won’t be able to hide her now. Anytime she uses her power like she did earlier, creatures will sense her and come sniffing around.”

It sounds like Willow will need us to keep watching out for her. Or maybestartlooking out for her, I correct quickly. Since we’ve met, I feel like we’ve evolved and grown in our endeavors, but ultimately, our goal has never been to make Willow our full-time priority. It’s been to keep her safe while we do something else.

“Give me a minute to change into some dry clothes and I’ll join you guys in a second,” Brock says, already reaching for the string that holds his pants together.

* * *

My temples are throbbing.

Trying to wrap my head around all the information Brock has laid out for us is a monumental task. The simple things I understand. Like, there’s no electricity, or the modern comforts that our realm has. If it doesn’t run on Death Magic, which apparently isn’t very accessible, even in the Realm of the Dead, then it’s powered by nature or handmade. And that goes for every realm within the Realm of the Dead. But knowing that I’ll be living a more primitive lifestyle isn’t what’s tripping me up. It’s the abstract things. There’s just so much, and even though he’s answered a lot in his brief little rundown, I’m still full of questions.

“Ok, let me get this straight,” I huff, hoping I’m not making a fool out of myself. “I have a headache, I’m tired, hungry, and Viktor’s knuckles are bleeding all because this is just life…again? You called it a second-life, right? Our spirits are now our bodies and everything around us was once in a realm of its own before it came here after it died. So, like the trees around this house…?”

Brock nods patiently as he leans against the front door.

“They were once trees in some realm that were either burned, cut down, or naturally died,” he confirmed.

Huh, fascinating. Rather than think too hard about that, I continue before I get too distracted.

“And we can change our clothes and whatever because we’re still alive and in a current timeline. But what I don’t get is we’ve seen spirits still dressed in the clothes they died in. Like, Viktor still had his hood up when he was a cursed spirit. And at Willow’s house there’d been a spirit dressed in a huge ballgown that looked like something out of the eighteen hundreds. They’re stuck as they are, so why aren’t we?” Using my tail, I reach up and touch the collar around my neck. “And if my body is dead, why am I still cursed and Willow’s not?”

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