Ghost Silk (Ghost Perfume, Book 2) | ✔

Epilogue

Soul Realm

Rose

I stepped through the portal to the sunflower fields, already resigned to seeing nothing.

But seven souls hovered over the fields, and the two happy souls who'd dragged them there twirled at my arrival.

"We brought Kiki," Vi said without preamble. "Ev'ryone listens to Kiki!"

They pointed at a faded soul, who said, rapidly shaking the shoulder of the woman beside him, "I'll be. I'll be. Do you see a priest too, Ursula?"

Ursula passed a hand over her mouth, speechless.

"Hello, Kiki. Ursula."

"Nobody lis'ened but then we though' of Kiki," Vi explained. "We couldn't find 'im but we found Urs'la. Moping again!" Vi and Di cackled. "But Urs'la knew where Kiki was! An' Kiki said if we were right then he'd help us tell ev'ryone."

"You did amazing."

As I threaded the seven old souls – Kiki and Ursula and five of their friends – Vi continued to tell me what a long hard time they'd had finding anyone who'd listen to them.

"Wha's that?" Di dared to interrupt her, looking at my bracelet. "It's got sumfing shiny."

I'd taken the bracelet back from Kimberly earlier today.

She had done exactly as I'd ordered.

Michael

The stairs to the dungeon had been scrubbed till they shined. There was a fresh scent in the air. Even the stones in the wall looked recently cleaned.

I couldn't hear a single snake or rat. Didn't see any evidence of animal droppings. It was strange, in this ancient desert dungeon.

The sconces in the walls weren't merely clean; they were new. I could tell by the scuffs around where they'd been installed.

Simon and I reached the bottom of the stairs and followed the guards down a long way.

Where more guards stood, the priests waited behind bars.

They must have been warned of our visit, because every one of them stood facing the bars with their hands clasped before them. Why, it was just the same position that Aidon used to greet me with when I visited him at his family estate. Rose, too, sometimes used an eerily similar pose.

Their heads were freshly shaved, but their skin was clean, their nails well cared for. I smelled a hint of lemongrass and mint, the balm we used in our own prisons for cold sores. Their robes were not merely clean but new.

And I understood why our visit had been so long delayed.

The prisoners must have been in such a bad state that the keepers of the Montadras prison had needed to fix them up first. Even to our corrupted eyes.

"Some privacy?" I said to the guards.

The warden bowed and left. The other guards stepped away.

We waited till we couldn't even hear their breathing.

Simon clasped his own hands behind his back. I was glad to let him lead the conversation, because Aidon was burning a hole in my forehead.

"Hello, Beatrice." Simon nodded at the head priest. "Aidon. Camille ..."