I opened my mouth to shout, but no noise came out. My father's shape turned fuzzy, then blurred out into white non-existence.

Send me back!

Something jolted me, like if a carriage had suddenly stopped. Wind whipped past me, blowing at my face, but not moving anything. A blinding white light seared into my eyes.

Then, I was shoved into darkness. The burning light vanished, replaced by utter black. I couldn't scream, couldn't cry out. There was no noise or air.

There was nothing.

Fear gripped me. There couldn't be nothing, there had to be something. There had to be. Even after death, there is something, not nothing.

And just like that, the nothingness turned to darkness.

I blew a shaky breath, trying to calm down. My insides twisted into a giant knot, then unraveled.

"Hello?" I spoke the word in the softest breath I could, half hoping to not get a reply. If there was no reply, then it could be chalked up to a dream.

A woman's voice tore through the black. "Clair?"

Mom. That's Mom.

My chest rose and fell quickly, faster with each passing second. "Mom? Mom, where are you?" I started to push forward against the black but went nowhere.

"A place you don't need to be, Clair. Stay still. Don't fight."

Her calm words bounced off the walls of my prison and went through me like a pulse. My heartbeats went from a million miles a second to matching the beat of my mother's voice.

"They're hurting Dad," I whimpered. "Before I was here, I was with him. They're hurting him."

A spark of rage boiled up in my stomach. It swirled around for a moment, then vanished.

"I know." I swear Mom's teeth ground against each other. "I've heard."

She's heard. Either that means that she's heard muraes talking, or she's heard...

I didn't allow myself to finish the thought.

"They're going to Luschon next." My mother's voice faded slightly. "I heard one of them say something about a--a cavalier. I'm assuming you know what that is because I've no idea."

Luschon. Luschon's next.

The most heavily guarded of the countries was next, and Nutcracker and I had to beat an army of used-to-be-dead magical creatures there and steal a stone.

I bounced my arms off my legs. "Awesome," I muttered under my breath. "This'll go really well."

VYECHERS, REMEBER? SEE IF SHE KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT THEM.

Shut up.

Something pulled me back, back away from my mother.

"Mom! I need to know about vyechers!"

Because muraes have their blood.

A muffled noise clogged my ears. I heard a shout, but it banged against a wall and didn't completely reach me.

Something crammed itself into my palm and twisted, sending daggers of pain through my hand. My arms snapped back and yanked me out from the darkness. It threw me into the morning light of my bedroom and snapped me back to reality.

A scream tore its way out of my throat. The air around me suddenly went frigid. Icicles formed from nothing in the air and dangled for a moment before hitting the floor. One of them hit a desk across the room, splintering the wood like it was glass.

The old man held his hand in front of him, either to protect himself against me or to stop me, I don't know what. His dark eyes pleaded with me--begged for me to stop.

He was afraid.

LOOK AT THAT. HE'S AFRAID OF YOU. NOW YOU'VE TURNED INTO THE MONSTER EVERYONE WANTS TO KILL.

"No," I whispered. "No, shut up."

Iron hands clamped down on my chest and squeezed. The air from my lungs stuck in my chest like it'd been blocked.

OH, NOW DON'T GO GETTING TOO WORRIED. HE HASN'T HAD A HEART ATTACK YET.

"Shut up!"

I threw my arms out to the side without thinking. Icy cold shot down my shoulder to my fingertips. Small flecks of ice formed on my skin and expanded, making a long, hollow tube with an end that pointed to a dagger. Whatever was in my palm stick to it and was yanked free. The icicle shot away from my fingers, hurtling straight toward the old man.

It hit him, going straight through his chest and embedding itself in the mirror behind him, which shattered into a million pieces.

I couldn't look away, horrified. My hands flew to my lips.

Oh stars, I killed him.

GOOD JO--

Crazy-person-inside-my-head stopped talking. I could almost hear her shock.

Because I felt the same thing.

The man hadn't fallen over. There was no hole where the dagger-cicle had gone through him. No blood ran down his dark blue shirt.

"Well, good thing I'm already dead."

A hysterical laugh burst out of my mouth. It was past the point of ridiculous. "Great. I've been talking to a dead person this entire time. Let me guess, you're up here too?" I pointed at my temple.

My knees buckled under me. I hit the ground hard, placing my hands in front so I wouldn't dive face first to the floor. My hair fell around my head like a curtain hiding me from the world.

Too bad it couldn't.

I heard him shuffle up to me. Heard. How could a dead man make noise?

"How do you make noise?" I muttered. "You're dead."

The man's shoes bent slightly as he bent in front of me. "You just found out that you've been talking to a dead man, and that's the first question you ask?"

I sat up and pushed some of my hair away. "I think I've already accepted the fact that I've gone completely bonkers."

The skin around his eyes crinkled in a smile. "Only the best people are."

I halfway laughed. "You sound like my Dad. He says stuff like that all the time. My brother picked up on most of his bad jokes and throws them at me and my Mom all the time."

He sat down. "Sounds fun."

He's easy to talk to.

I smiled. "If I'm not crazy, how can I see you?"

He waggled his fingers. "Magic."

"Yeah right."

"No, really. Somehow, you're picking up on the last pieces of my magic that stuck in the castle when I died."

I bit my lip. "So you aren't real. You're in my head."

The man wrinkled his eyebrows together. "Of course I'm in your head, but why does that mean I'm not real?"

"Good point."

He reached out a hand as if to touch my shoulder, then pulled back, remembering he was nothing more than a ghost. "I knew someone like you once."

"You did?"

He nodded. "He was like my son. I raised him after his parents died, and I watched him change after his wife and son were killed. He had what you have."

"Really?" Maybe he lived. Maybe he could tell me what to do.

"Did he..." I trailed off, not wanting to ask if the guy was still alive or not, but not knowing how to finish.

"I do not know. I died, remember?"

"What was his name?"

The man's eyes softened. "Brennen."

"Brennen Aindreas?"

Old guy just looked shocked. "Yes, why?"

"I've been looking for him. Or, at least, something about him. There's a connection between vyechers and muraes, and he may know about it."

"He certainly would," he whispered.
The man's body flickered away momentarily, then came back fainter than before.

I jumped to my feet. "What just happened?"

"I'm a fragment of magic, Clair. Magic eventually runs out."

"You're dying."

He shook his head. "I've been dead for a long, long time. I'm just vanishing for the time being. Another piece of magic that's probably embedded itself in a wall will eventually get enough power to it to wake up again, then I'll be back."

I didn't want him to go. Even though I didn't really know him, he felt like a grandfather I'd never had.

He caught the look on my face. "Death is a part of life. The people you love never truly leave you. They are always here." He pointed to my chest right where my heart was. "As long as one person remembers them, they will never die."

I sighed. "If I'm not going to see you again anytime soon, could I please have your name? I need to remember you, and telling my family about the 'old guy' I met won't really leave a mark."

His body had faded to where I could make out the glass shards sparkling at the ceiling. He bowed his head slightly. "Raul."

Raul.

"That's like my brother's name," I mumbled. "We spell it weird so it can be pronounced semi-correctly, but it's still the same."

Raul beamed. His dark eyes sparkled. "So it is. It was good to meet you, Clair."

"Thank you, Raul."

He nodded once more. "Clair, if you do find Brennen, tell him hello for me."

I smiled. "Will do."

________________________________________________________________________________

There will be a fun chapter next, I promise.

So, who guessed it before I said it? I know for sure one of y'all did. It should also tell you where she is now.

It's an Easter Egg for my old readers, I guess. 😄