Till Death do us Part

Sweet Innocent Thing

After showering and braiding my hair over my shoulder, and pulling on a dress mysteriously laid out on my bed, I finally ventured out of the room. I had thought the house smelled familiar, and my suspicions were confirmed when I walked into what appeared to be a living room and spotted the psychic who I’d scared shitless.

“Glad to see you are with us,” she said in her foreign accent.

“Thanks,” I muttered, seeing the only available seat was next to Kevin on the couch. With an inward sigh I walked over and lowered myself beside him. I fought the urge to elbow him in the side when I caught his smirk.

Prick.

“So she’s ready to listen,” Kevin stated, lacing his hands behind his hand as he sat back. “I would actually like to take a moment for it all to sink in. This is a landmark moment where Evie’s concerned.”

I scowled. “Can it, dead man.”

His brows shot up. “Ooh. Testy.”

“I swear—”

“Excuse me,” the psychic interrupted, snapping her fingers. The bangles jingled on her arms. “There are more important things than the issues between you two.”

I pressed my lips together, looking away.

“My name is Luna,” she told us, when silence reigned. “I am like you, Evangeline Walker.”

I bit my cheek. I still hated it when people felt the need to use my full name. “What, you can see dead people, too?”

“Yes.”

Her answer was quick and sure, more than I was ready for. “Good. So I’m not the only crazy one in this room.”

“Please explain this to her,” Kevin released on an exasperated breath. “She is adamant in believing I’m a hallucination some help at the mental hospital can cure.”

“You are not crazy,” Luna quipped, clearly having no patience for any nonsense or beating around the bush. “You have entered a dangerous world of a select few.”

I blinked. The way she put it was much less ridiculous, and yet more ominous. “What do you mean?”

“Death’s world,” she explained. “Mortem Mundi.”

I said nothing, watched her nimble fingers strike a match and light another candle. The woman was obsessed with candles.

“There are two ways to be a part of this world,” she continued. “Witnessing death and experiencing death. It leaves your soul black and prone to the darkness of this world. Death feeds off grief and sorrow. Once you are one of us, there is no leaving. You have developed that sixth sense people are so fond of labeling it as.”

“So, what? I can take up fortunetelling now?”

Luna sent me a dry look. She was a very condescending woman. “Don’t be foolish. Entering Mortem Mundi is very serious, because it is life-altering. Some cannot find balance, and therefore they fall apart, most finding permanent homes in mental institutions as schizophrenics, among others. But most, like me, discover a way to harmonize normal life with the ability to interact with the spiritual world.”

I nodded, letting her words sink in. They made more sense than the way Kevin phrased it, but still a bit . . . fantastical. I was willing to believe any explanation I got for those strange men following me around.

“Kevin is a Half-Way,” Luna added, absentmindedly passing her finger through the flame of the candle. I crooked an eyebrow at that. “Half-Ways, as I’m sure he attempted to explain, are beings that have died unjustly or prematurely. They have a chance at a second life, but it does not happen often. Most are stuck in the in-between. Their duty is to guide those new to Mortem Mundi as best they can.”