"We can't stay here all night, Beanie." The shadows in Fawn's face shifted as she moved her lantern from one hand to the other. "If they find out— Not to mention if we're late, we're screwed."

"We can't return empty handed either." Isabelline interrupted her low humming, gently stroking a hand along the brittle, frosty moss on the gravestone she'd knelt down in front of. "It's too late to try other methods. We'd be doomed either way so there's nothing to lose anymore."

"But you're gonna catch a cold. At least put your gloves back on."

"I need to embrace my surroundings," Isabelline dismissed her, tilting her head upwards to let the cold air bite her cheeks. "It's just more difficult when it's a graveyard."

She exhaled a puff of warm air, feeling her surroundings to make sure no grim was lurking in the shadows.

"Wexesis," she uttered softly, letting her hands run through the fresh dirt she'd placed on the frosty grave. "You have reclaimed the ephemeral being below a long time ago, but in its peaceful rest I ask of you, should the remains allow it, that you allow them to walk the mortal plane once more."

She dug into one of her pockets to strew a handful of seeds onto the dirt.

"In exchange, I will take these seeds and plant them to enrich your earthly body with flowers. The remains of what I borrow will be returned as they were before, and I will continue to honor your name."

She reached into her other pocket.

"Pretty please," she whispered, placing a cherry on top of the gravestone.

The graveyard stayed quiet. The crunching from the stiff grass and leaves underneath her being the only sound Isabelline could discern, and she chewed on her lip.

"This will be the fourth attempt from Isabelline Freysdóttir to resurrect a human being," Fawn said from behind her, and Isabelline gasped before looking over her shoulder.

"You're showing this to your ancestors?" She fought the urge to cover her face from the mirror of ancestry Fawn was holding up to reflect her in it. "I'm covered in dirt, and what if it doesn't— Shh."

She hushed herself, placing a finger against her lips as something crawled over her other hand. Small, stringy roots ripped their way from the ground to form a circle in front of her knees, and both girls flinched as a thump sounded from below.

"Holy sh—" Fawn managed to interrupt herself, but definitely finished the sentence in her head.

"Maurice De Meyer, if you can hear me..." Isabelline continued, leaning forward to feel the ground. "... we beg of you to lend us your aid. Abandon your slumber for just a sliver of eternity to honor us with your presence."

A rumble made her back away with haste, as if her stockings weren't dirty and grass stained enough, but she kept mumbling encouragements even as the ground trembled and began to split apart.

"Thank you, Wexesis." Isabelline removed her glasses before leaning down to nuzzle her face into the grass. "And thank you, Mr. De Meyer."

"Oh." Fawn's concern was evident in her voice. "No, Beanie. The cold."

"It's just frost." Isabelline was paying more attention to the cavity in front of her, ignoring the itching on her cheeks and nose that suggested Fawn had a point. "And it's important I pay my respects."

More roots stretched down into the grave to complete the process, and Isabelline couldn't wait to see what it would look like. She may have practised a lot on animals before but their build was so different and the roots often got tangled in the small joints, and the last time she raised a human hadn't gone perfectly enough for her to appreciate the beauty of it.

"All right." She clapped her hands together, crawling over to fetch the ceremonial crowbar from her bag as soon as the old casket emerged from the hole. "Let's see if it worked."

Fawn brought the lantern closer, letting a beam of light into the casket and Isabelline grinned while bending the lid up further.

"There you are," she stuck her hand down to interlock fingers with a skeletal hand held together by stringy roots and withered grass. "And so clean, too. The penumbras did a remarkable job."

Empty eye sockets turned in her direction, and she wanted to squee as the body of Maurice De Meyer sat up from its resting place, clinging to the side of the casket.

"What i...s..." Meyer's jaws opened to reveal a tongue made from wet autumn leaves, and his head tilted down. "... this?"

"You're dead, Mr. De Meyer." Isabelline gestured around them at the other gravestones. "Have been for eighteen years, almost at the age of becoming Unclaimed, but we've come to ask you something quite urgent.

"And... you are the one who has brought me back, young Miss?" the skeleton asked, seemingly undeterred by the grave he was sitting in, and Isabelline nodded.

"I did, and I'm so pleased that you were willing. You see, we have a lot of questions about what happened during some parts of your life."

"I see..." Meyer scanned his surroundings. "... The war, I suspect?"

"Yes!" Isabelline flapped her hands. "Exactly!"

"So after answering your questions, you will put me back to sleep?"

"Of course, I promise." Isabelline turned to grin at Fawn, who was still holding the chain to her mirror for a proper view of the scene. "See, I told you it would work!"

"Beanie—"

"And you said we had to go to the library for that dumb history essay. Everyone's gonna go to the library, but we have an actual source! We're gonna rule this class!"

"Beanie, he's running away."

"What!?" Isabelline's head snapped back to the now empty casket, and she looked up to see the skeleton dashing away across the graveyard. "No! Not again!"

Fawn rotated the mirror to address her ancestors directly as Isabelline stumbled up from the ground.

"For what it's worth, he's a quick runner so she did a good job with the joints."