Iridescence

CHAPTER FOUR

EMILY

I had gone straight to the cemetery. It might seem like an odd choice for the girl Death liked to follow around, but I felt more at home there than among the living sometimes.

I sat beside a secluded grave and tried to calm down. All I wanted was to be alone, but that wasn't an option because Betty showed up.

Normally, I didn't mind Betty that much. She was a nosy old lady, but I knew she was just lonely. No one ever visited Betty, who'd died in 1974 of natural causes at the ripe old age of eighty-three. She was buried a few sections over, in a nicer part of the cemetery that was closer to the road, but she popped up all over the place because she tended to wander around.

"Emily, dear, it's so good to see you!" Betty cried in delight. "Did you come for another picnic?"

"Sorry, Betty, not today," I replied.

"What's the matter, sweetheart?"

"I just came by to clear my head."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Betty was always eager for a good bit of gossip.

"I'd rather not."

I spotted a boy watching me. He didn't look surprised to see me talking to myself, so I assumed he was a spirit, too. Sometimes it's hard to tell, but this kid radiated death.

"Who's that?" I asked Betty. She always knew everything about the residents of the cemetery.

"I'm not sure," she replied. "I've seen him lurking around lately, but he hasn't said much of anything to me."

Curiosity got the better of me. I approached him as Betty watched from a safe distance. "Quit staring," I said. "It's rude."

He smirked at me before saying, "I'm just doing my job, Princess."

"Call me that again and I'll destroy you," I replied sharply.

"Do you prefer Cupcake? Turtle dove? Sunshine? That would be an ironic one."

"You're looking to die again."

"Who said I've ever died before?"

"Aren't you a ghost?"

"Am I? Maybe. Maybe not." He winked at me. "A little bit of mystery never hurt anyone, Buttercup."

"It's Emily, and if you call me anything else, you'll regret it. What the hell do you mean it's your job to stare at me?"

"Hades asked me to watch over you until you come to your senses and join the others."

"Tell Hades I don't need a babysitter. Especially not such an annoying one."

"Do you think I like following you around? Because I have plenty of other things I'd rather be doing."

"So go do them."

"Can't. I have orders. I'm Jake, by the way."

"I don't care, Jake. Your orders are irrelevant. Get lost."

"You're a friendly one, huh?" He laughed. "I'm not going anywhere, Sweet Pea."

I punched him in the jaw. My eyes widened in surprise as I connected with his very solid face. "You're alive," I realized.

"Sometimes," he replied with a smirk.

"Leave me alone, and tell Hades and his friends I'm not interested." I stormed away.

"He's handsome," Betty said as she floated after me. "And he shares your love of black clothes."

"Betty, don't even start," I snapped.

"You have to meet a boy somehow, Emily. You don't want to end up an old spinster like me."

"I'm fifteen, Betty, and finding a boyfriend is the last thing on my to-do list. I'm not interested."

"Emily... Are you that sort of girl?" Betty asked in a loud, dramatic stage whisper, her eyes positively scandalized by the idea.

"I'm not a lesbian, Betty," I replied, rolling my eyes. "I just don't care about dating."

"Oh! Thank goodness! I want you to be happy, Emily. You'll settle down when you meet a nice young man."

"That's unlikely, but thanks for your concern. Excuse me. I need to go see someone."

"Of course," Betty replied before floating away.

I walked toward the last place I wanted to be. It seemed only right I pay my respects while I was there. I looked at the garden they'd been buried in and tried not to cry. The six families of the teenagers had decided to bury them together in a beautiful place, as if that somehow made it any better.

I touched each of their headstones and wished mine was amongst them. It should have been. Just over a year earlier, we'd all been together.

It was just supposed to be a joke... My sister, Eve, was hanging out with her boyfriend, Joey, and their friends. To my excitement, she'd let me join them. They were seniors, but Eve always tried to include me in their adventures when it was possible.

They had gathered in an abandoned house that was supposed to be haunted. I knew it was true. I've been able to see the dead since before I can remember. I think it's because I was stillborn. My mother once told me she held me and sobbed as she begged someone to save me and I just started crying in her arms. She called it a miracle, but I'm not so sure I agree.

Everywhere I go, Death seems to follow. If it's not spirits, it's tragedies. The people around me tend to die. My mom died in a freak accident when I was eight. My grandparents soon followed when their house burned down. My dad was still alive, but he actively avoided me because he didn't know what to do with me after my mom died. I think that's why Eve tried so hard to make me feel loved and appreciated.

I tensed as I flashed back on the sound of the six of them screaming. Joey had thought it'd be fun to hold a seance. I tried to talk them out of it, sensing danger, but they ignored my protests. Eve reassured me it was just a game and everything would be fine. It started off fairly harmless, but it soon became clear they hadn't summoned a ghost... They'd summoned a demon.

We were trapped in the house with something evil and there was no way to escape. Bizarre and terrifying things started to happen. Some of them died during the attack. The rest died when the house collapsed on top of us. I thought for sure I would die, too, but then he had appeared.

Hades...

He had removed some of the debris off of me before offering me his hand. I was severely injured, but it was like his energy kept me from dying. I hadn't understood who he was at the time, but he carried me out of the house. I barely made it out before I lost consciousness.

I was the only survivor, and that day, I lost the only person who understood me. I stopped speaking after that because what the hell was the point if no one was going to listen to me anyway? I mostly only talked to the dead now unless I had no choice but to speak to a living person. My father went back to ignoring me after the funeral, taking care of me financially but not bothering to say anything of substance to me. He worked late most nights so I barely saw him. We were strangers who happened to cohabitate. He did force me into therapy on the school's orders, but I didn't talk there either. I usually spent my sessions doodling or playing with my phone and ignoring my shrink.

"Hey, guys," I said softly. I didn't know what else to say. There really weren't words. I sighed before shaking my head and kissing Eve's tombstone.

I walked away quickly. I soon realized Jake was still following me, although he kept his distance. At least Betty was leaving me alone. I hurried out of the cemetery and cut through the Kissena Park woods to get home. I was pretty sure I'd lose my stalker that way.

The last thing I expected was to run into twelve men dressed as soldiers from Ancient Greece. The warriors turned toward me in unison and attacked.

I had absolutely no idea what to do. I can fight, but I'd never taken on twelve jerks at once. I did my best to defend myself, but I knew I was in trouble. I took three of them down before the others cornered me.

I guess this is how I die, I thought with a shrug. I didn't really care anymore. I shouldn't still be alive anyway.

Suddenly, a severed head landed at my feet. It was followed by two more. I watched in confusion as a sword came through one of their chests.

Jake stepped out from behind the warrior he'd just stabbed. He tossed a golden dagger at me. I caught it and didn't waste time asking questions before I slashed the throat of the warrior who was closest to me. I'd never murdered someone before, and I stared at his corpse in disbelief.

"They're just ghosts, Emily," Jake said. His use of my actual name surprised me enough to snap me out of my shocked state. "Someone gave them temporary physical forms, but they're already dead. The dagger is blessed to destroy their bodies and send them back to the Underworld."

I believed him because they felt dead. Knowing they weren't random living people in costumes, I started putting the rest of them down right along with Jake. I couldn't deny he was pretty impressive with a sword.

When the army had been defeated, Jake grinned at me. "See? That was fun! You and I are going to get along great," he decided.

"I doubt that," I replied. "Quit stalking me."

"I just saved your life. You're welcome."

"Great, thanks. Now go away and leave me alone."

"Man you're stubborn."

"You have no idea. Goodbye, Jake." I hurried home before he could say anything else. I kept the dagger. It felt right and I suspected I might need it again very soon. No matter how much I wanted to refuse to be part of whatever was coming, I had a feeling I didn't really have a choice.