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In a strange sort of way, Annie Device was actually starting to feel warmer. Not that trick that your brain plays on you when you’re dying of hypothermia, but actually warmer. She had, over her years, been informed that death was a cold embrace. But what a load of shit that was. Any oracle who claimed to see past the veil of death was almost certainly trying to sell you something. Her life had had no time for that kind of naive fool. Knowing when you’d die, ah-ha now that was a different story. Every oracle she’d ever known had, without fail, learned at least the general date or manner of her own death. It was a rite of passage. Up there with predicting next Tuesday's weather, and subsequently getting it wrong.
It would have at least been nice to have some of the cats around, but they’d all fled to whatever warmer corners they could find. Clever creatures. She found herself waiting… Now that was a curious thought. What was it to be then? An afterlife? She knew that she would be faithfully returned to Gaia when she was discovered, but what happened until then? Could she sleep? She certainly didn't want to hang around until they put her under - although it wasn't as if she had anywhere to be.
She reached out, like testing the temperature of the water of the bath, but her oracular visions felt so far away. They remained, but through frosted glass, and in another room. Normally they were vague, but now it was like peeking through a key-hole. A future even more in flux than before. She heard the final crunches of Helena retreating down the lane. Well that was her own fault wasn’t it, she should have seen that coming.
Perhaps the strangest thing that changed with dying was her sight. Again, it was like looking through the bottom of a glass bottle, but she could see her surroundings with more clarity than when she lived. Comparing only to when her abilities had robbed her of her vision.
‘Eey,’ she said. ‘I really do wish they stayed.’ A new sound followed. Hooves, on the gravel outside her window. It wasn't as if they had approached, they hadn't moved from quiet to loud, passing Helena in the other direction. No, they’d just shuffled back and forth, finding their footing in the way that even the most tame horse had want to do. Then there was the sound of someone dismounting, and then the metallic rustle of collecting something from the saddle.
Annie Device sat back in her chair, it wasn't as if she could get up and answer the door. The one saving grace was that it unlocked, and perhaps that she wouldn't have to be sat all night.
SORRY. I BELIEVE THAT I AM LATE.
A hooded figure walked through the door. Hang on, her mind rewound itself. The figure hadn’t opened the door and stepped through the door-frame. The figure had passed through the solid, three inch thick, ancient, wooden door to her cottage.
THE ROAD LIGHTING ON SOME OF THESE COUNTRY LANES IS RATHER INADEQUATE. The voice was male in tone, deep and old - like talking to a mountain or a river. And who was he talking to? The figure reached into its cloak and withdrew an hourglass, before bringing it up to the light of the moon through the window, and examining the base. Oh gods, his fingers. The dull tarnished white of a skeleton gripped the hourglass with invisible tendons. ANNIE DEVICE? Death asked.
‘Well now that you come to mention it, you are a tad late.’ Annie replied. ‘I weren’t expecting you.’ Death seemed to hover in the middle of the room. ‘Oh do sit down!’ The gargantuan frame of Death moved delicately around the room before sitting down in the other chair, in front of the fire. ‘I suppose I have seen you before, ain’t i?’
WE HAVE BEEN AT THE SAME FUNCTIONS. AS I HAVE READ, YOU HAVE HAD A RATHER STORIED LIFE. I THOUGHT YOU MAY WANT TO HOLD ON FOR A BIT LONGER.
Annie grimaced, she had said that she wasn’t ready to go, hadn't she. ‘Oh what a nuisance. One minute you look into a child's future and she's the greatest thing to happen to witch-kind, and then the next she’s at your door ready to do you in.’
YOU WOULD BE SURPRISED AT HOW OFTEN THESE THINGS HAPPEN, Said Death. MY DAUGHTER AND I ONCE HAD A FRIENDLY WAGER. Despite the subject matter, Annie could hear a hint of a smile on Death’s face, if such a thing was possible. I MUST SAY, YOU ARE TAKING THIS ALL WITHIN STRIDE.
‘When you’ve been around as long as i have you tend to be able to. Before I go… do you mind i pick your brains.’ There was silence from Death, so she continued. ‘You see all this is new, I wasn't expecting to go today. What happens to Theo? Is she, you know?’
THE END OF WITCH-KIND? Death asked. MORTALS ARE ALWAYS SO CONCERNED WITH ENDS. Death reached down and plucked the mug of earl grey in his grip, there was a crunch as a boney finger lanced through the surface crust of ice. EARL GREY WITH LEMON - MY FAVORITE.
‘Hang on love, you didn't answer!’
SHE COULD BE THE BEGINNING OF SOMETHING NEW, IF THEY LET HER.
Fuck!
How was Niamh supposed to see that coming? The ruby, the spell bound within, getting murdered?! No matter how hard she tried, tears kept falling. Not that she should have been able to cry - she was a fucking ghost!
Regrets came in waves. First thinking she should have visited more often, then thinking that she should have seen something like this coming. Maybe she could have retraced Helena’s steps? Or, or? Would anything have stopped this happening? Of course there was, but the thought sickened her. If only Leonie hadn’t stopped her eight years ago. If the severing had worked - fully. She folded in on herself even more. What would her sister even do with her body? Oh gods, Theo! Sobs came in waves.
A hand appeared in her periphery, a black handkerchief outstretched. She took it without even thinking. It was made of the softest silk she’d ever felt.
I HAVE KNOWN THE SOUL TO NOT MATCH THE BODY. A voice arrived in her head. BUT YOUR SITUATION IS MOST IRREGULAR.
Niamh turned her head toward a presence that had appeared next to her. A robe, blacker than she’d ever seen, stretching up all the way to the ceiling, almost. Under the hood, the soft white pallour of old bones. The empty eye sockets peered back at her inhabited only by minuscule pinpricks of blue.
I CONFESS, Death said. I AM NOT SURE HOW TO EXPLAIN IT. She laughed.
‘It’s ok,’ she said. ‘I already think I know. And you’re-’
DEATH. Said Death. CAPITAL D.
‘I wasn’t-’
EXPECTING ME TO LOOK LIKE THIS? YOU ARE THE SECOND PERSON TO TELL ME SO.
‘No what I meant was- I suppose I was expecting you to look a little more magical.’ Niamh said. ‘Are you a demon of some sort? A part of the bargain my sister made?’
AHH, said Death. A SISTER. THAT GOES A LONG WAY TO EXPLAINING IT. Death walked around until he was in front of her. AND NO, I AM NOT A DEMON. I SINCERELY DOUBT A DEMON WOULD HAVE OFFERED YOU A HANKY. A tinge of embarrassment would have brushed across Niamh’s face, if she’d still been alive.
‘What's going to happen to Theo?’ Against all odds her throat seemed to close up at the thought.
SHE WILL BE FINE, said Death. IN THE LONG TERM, AT LEAST
‘For something as old and powerful as you clearly are.’ She gestured vaguely toward Death. ‘You don’t sound too sure.’
Death paused for a moment, tilting his head.
IN TRUTH, I AM NOT AS POWERFUL AS YOU THINK I AM. said Death. I MERELY TIDY UP, TURN OFF THE LIGHTS, LOCK THE DOOR. THAT SORT OF THING.
‘For everyone?’
EVERYONE
‘Would you mind if I looked at her a bit longer. If that's ok with you.’ Even she could tell how small her voice sounded. Death walked next to her and sat down on the end of the bed.
TAKE ALL THE TIME YOU NEED.