The Death Seer (Skeleton Key) (13 page)

We left. This time it was me grabbing Kord’s hand and pulling him along. I was going to get home. I was going to find the fields and find my door. I would make Father Death set things right. Then Kord and I would go through the door and live another life together.

Hope filled me. I walked so fast I pulled away from Kord’s hand, and that’s when I stepped into the soft, tall grass of the field. My whole body trembled with the excitement of possibility. I was elated, on the verge of laughing for joy.
 

“This is the best place ever!” I shouted, as I turned to Kord.
 

He wasn’t right behind me. He was a few feet away, his feet planted on the dirt of the forest path, his lips turned up in a sad smile. “You’re there,” he said. “I knew it wouldn’t take you long.”

I ran to him, or tried to. But no matter what I did, the distance between us stayed the same. “Kord, what’s happening?”

“You’re going to put things right and go home, that’s what’s happening.”

I shook my head. “Come with me. Let’s hurry before night comes.”

“I don’t know what will happen to me if I cross over. What if I do to you what he did to her? And how can I leave her here?”

“Maybe we can take her with us. Maybe she can be saved.”

“No one leaves the swamp and the swamp leaves no one. It’s always there. I wish I could go with you, I really do. But I’m in this place for a reason, and that reason will never let us be happy together.”

“This is utterly ridiculous. Come on, Kord. Believe in us. We’re meant to be together. We can do this.”

He was getting further from me, and my heart was sinking. I looked around me. The field was fading. My feet were now on the dirt forest path. Kord’s expression twisted in grief. “No. No, don’t give up, Brenna.”

“I don’t think I have a choice. I can’t go without you.”

He came to me and brought me into his arms, kissing me on the head. “You don’t belong here.”
 

“Neither do you.”

He held me tightly for a moment, but then started to let go. I didn’t, though. I held on. A surge of hope began coursing through me again. “You’re coming with me,” I said. “Or I’m not going.”

He wouldn’t keep me here. If he could get me back to the Overworld, he would. I had no doubt about that.
 

“What if I hurt you?”

“The only way you’ll hurt me is if you don’t at least try. What harm could come from trying? Maybe it will work. Maybe we’ll cross over and the world will go back to normal and you and I will live a long, fruitful life together. Maybe we’ll die in each other’s arms. Or maybe I’ll die and you’ll carry me back through. Maybe we’ll get to be here together again. Or maybe some place even better. You don’t know, Kord. Maybe Death’s actions won’t change our cycle. Or maybe they’ll change it for the better. We have to try.”

My eyes were squeezed shut, and he didn’t say anything, but I knew the minute he finally believed in us because I felt the grass brushing against my legs. I waited a moment to be sure, then I let go and stepped back. “Let’s go,” I said.

He nodded, his smile brighter this time. We walked, and then we ran through the field, somehow sensing the direction we should go, fueled by the pure joy and excitement this place infused in us.
 

The door appeared ahead of us. At first, I thought Father Death had gone. But as we approached, we saw he was only sitting in the grass next to Kord’s mother. Her body twitched. Occasionally she cried out.
 

Death’s back was to us, but it stiffened as we approached. He stood and turned to us. Sith was right. Kord looked very much like him.
 

“Son,” Death said in greeting.

Kord didn’t answer. He walked past the tall, dark figure, and knelt next to his mother.
 

Death stared at me. I suppose on the surface, he looked like any other man. A shaggy, unkempt man, but handsome nonetheless. But because of the nature of who he was—what he was—I felt a terror deep in my soul. It’s perfectly normal to be afraid of Death, everyone is at some point in their lives.

“I hope you have the key,” he said to me.

I nodded, but didn’t produce it.
 

“Will you take her with you?” Death asked.

“Are you sure that I can?”

He nodded. “I got special permission. Since it’s my fault she’s here. It’s my fault he’s here.”

“And me?”

“That’s my fault, too. Please, take them both back over and set this all right.”

I swallowed and looked over at Kord cradling his mother’s head in his lap, shushing her and whispering to her like he must have done a thousand times before over the past ten years. “Of course,” I said. “But when I do, will you go back to the reapers and send them out to take the souls of those who are asleep? They’re all lying about, waiting, unable to cross over.”
 

Death nodded. “I’m sorry for it. I got lost in the swamp. Lost for ten years. But I’m out now. And she’ll be safe. So I’ll go back to my place, back where I belong, and do my job.”

I let go of a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. “There are two candles on the floor of your cave. They weren’t meant to go out, just yet. Can you relight them?”

“I will have to ask. But yes, I think I will be able to get permission for that, since it was my negligence that caused it.”

“Good,” I said. “And what of Kord? He’s your son. How will that affect him?”

“He won’t die. Not like you will. He can come back here when he chooses. It’s easy to get back here. Not so easy to get back there. I recommend he stay there until he’s very certain that he wishes to cross over. I have a feeling that will be on the day that you die.”

A breeze blew through the field toward the door. It was as though it was nudging us into action. I broke my gaze away from Death’s. “Lift her up, Kord. I’ll unlock the door.”
 

While he gathered his mother into his arms, I dug the key out of my bag. I went to the door, but glanced back at Death, who looked so sad, and was yet so full of hope.

I didn’t ask a question, but he answered anyway. “You want to know why I’m still standing in this field even though I’m losing everything? It’s because I know I will see her again one day. Tell her to live her life. Tell her to love freely, and that when she awakens here in this world, I will be waiting, and I will make her my wife. Tell her that, please.”

I stared, heartbroken for him.

“Unlock it, Brenna,” Kord said softly.
 

I turned my attention back to the door, inserted the key, and pushed open the door.
 

The first thing we did upon stepping inside was carry Kord’s mother back to her bedroom. It was on the other side of the stairs and was, according to Kord, just how she’d left it. He lay her down on the bed and then stepped back. Her body wasn’t twitching. Her face was relaxed. And her chest rose and fell.
 

I put the skeleton key in my pocket and reached out to feel her forehead. She was warm to the touch.
 

I looked back at Kord. His sunglasses were on top of his head again. He was somehow smiling and looking pained at the same time. “I remember that about this world,” he said.

“What?”

“All the things I can see that I don’t want to.”

“Like what?”

“Like how everyone is going to die. I can see the entire road map of your life right there on your skin. Including the end. I hate knowing everyone’s ending.”

“You mean, like right now? Looking at me right now you can see how I’m going to die?”

His eyes sparkled with unshed tears. “I won’t tell you. So don’t ask me, Brenna. Not ever.”

I swallowed down a lump in my throat. I nodded. “What about her, then? How’s she going to die?”

“I won’t tell you that, either. But at least I can say that she’s going to have plenty of life before it happens.”

That was consolation enough.
 

“I can do something more with my gift, too. Something that I discovered as a child and nearly drove me insane.”

“What?”

“I can comfort the dying. I can remove the fear for them. I take their fear and feel it for them so they can pass peacefully into the next world. That’s what I did for the dead in the underworld. Just removed death, for a little while. Freed them to feel alive again.”

“You don’t have to take that burden on. You couldn’t possibly.”

“I think I do have to. I can’t help everyone, but I’ll do what I can. As a child, it’s terrifying. But I understand it all a little better, now.”

I went to him and kissed him on the cheek.

“Come on. Let’s let her sleep.”

I was surprised he wouldn’t want to see her wake up. But then, if he knew how she was going to die, he didn’t really have to worry about her just then. I followed him through the house, to the other side where his room was located. I stood in the doorway and watched as he wandered around touching things, reacquainting himself with everything. I couldn’t blame him. I’d only been gone a few days, and yet it seemed almost impossible that I was back.

“You’ll have to teach me how to live here, Brenna,” he murmured.

“I can do that.”

Just then I heard a voice. Someone yelling. Yelling my name.
 

I ran to Kord’s window and saw my brother sticking his head out the window, searching for me.

I turned and ran as fast as I could out the front door, across the way, into my brother’s house, and into his arms. “You’re alive,” I cried into his shoulder.

Annie was hovering just behind him. “Of course we’re alive. We just took a little nap.”

I stepped back and looked at Todd. For a moment, understanding flashed between us. Annie might have felt she’d just fallen asleep. But Todd could remember those few seconds when he realized she’d died.
 

He let me go and turned back to her, taking her into his arms. “I’m so happy you’re…awake,” he said.
 

She laughed, put her arms around him, and wore an expression of delighted awe. “I’m glad. You never seemed to care that much before.”

“I love you, Annie. No doubt about it.”

I felt Kord’s hand at my back. I stepped back toward him, giving my brother and Annie some space.
 

That night, Kord and I lay in a hammock in the back yard staring up at the black night sky speckled with stars. I checked my pocket for the key, but couldn’t find it. I figured it had fallen out, but I was too tired to go looking for it. I never did find it again.

Kord held me in that hammock and shared memories from past lives with me. We made out and made love. We did a lot of that over the next few weeks as stories played on television about the dead finally dying again. A mixture of grief and relief blanketed the world. I think it was a comfort to people knowing they would die in the normal way again. They were happy going back to not knowing what happened after death, but knowing for sure their bodies would be put to rest.
 

I felt a little bit sorry for the rest of the world. Like them, I didn’t get to know how my life would end. But unlike them, I had a guide close at hand. I wouldn’t have to crossover alone. I wouldn’t ever have to be alone.
 

About The Author

Tanis Kaige is the paranormal pen name of Carter Ashby. While Carter writes contemporary romance and women’s fiction, Tanis explores her darker side with paranormal and urban fantasy stories. She is a city girl at heart, but a country girl by birth. Her two great passions are motherhood and writing. When not involved in these things, you might find her reading, baking bread, or meditating over a pot of tea. Connecting with readers is one of the primary joys of authorship. You can reach her through one of these outlets:

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Skeleton Key
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