The sky rumbled viciously as another car pulled in front of graveyard, this time a younger woman pulling herself out of the driver's side. She was dressed in loose clothes that the wind took the opportunity to whip about. She reached into the back seat and pulled out a brown leather bag, slinging it over her shoulder. She slammed the door and hurried into the cemetery, weaving amongst the tombstones. Near the back wall, she tripped over a granite plate that announced a grave. She swore, lightning crashing as she pushed herself up onto the palms of her hands. She looked up through her short black bangs at the tombstone she had landed in front of.
"Alexander William Fevans," she reads from the marker. "You're just the guy I was looking for.' She sits up, pulling her bag over next to her.
"You don't know me," she continues, opening the bag and rummaging through it. "But I knew your friends. They were helping me." She stops, staring at the chain of the pentagram. Suddenly, she stands up.
"I'm sorry, for what happened to you guys. I wish I could have helped." She pulls places another pendant next to the Wicca symbol.
"So you all can be connected," she explained, draping the chain of the Celtic knot. She moved to the far left.
"Aileen Rebecca Stavar," she announced, brow furrowing as she fumbled for the item she had brought. "I thought hard, but nothing really seemed right for you. So I just brought these." She drew a deck of cards from the bag, shuffling them in front of the tombstone.
"Goddess, give me strength to choose," she whispered. She cut the deck, staring at the picture presented before her. The ace of swords, a fitting card for the girl known as Air. She set the card at the base of the stone, reshuffling the deck and repeating the prayer. She cut the deck, staring at the angel representing Temperance. She nodded, placing that card next to the ace.
She stepped to the right, atop the next grave. "Nirvana Ramona Hekayr," she read, shuffling the deck as she scanned the stone. "Beloved friend, sister, daughter of the world." She cut the deck, face to face with the maiden comforting a lion. She set it at the base, smiling as she remembered the kindness Fire had bestowed on her. Cutting the deck, she pulled out the ace of wands.
"I feel a pattern coming on," she said to no one, skipping over the middle grave to where Water was resting.
"Helen Rebecca Felinda," she said to comfort herself, the name so stodgy it barely fit the girl trapped under six feet of dirt.
"You must be so uncomfortable," she cracked, bending to primp the petals of the water lily. Standing straight, she drew another ace from the tarot deck.
"Definitely a pattern," she said, setting the ace of cups next to the flower. Cutting the deck, she smiled at the serene face of the moon on the card. Setting it down, she moved to the farthest grave. The Wiccans had stacked small stones about the base, each polished and well cared for.
"I love your name," she admitted, shuffling the deck nervously. "So much better than my own." She paused, drawing the ace of pentacles from the deck. 'A deck without aces. How sad,' she thought, wedging it among the stones in a similar position as the others.
"Anna Olivia Donovan," she admitted, reading it from the stone as she drew the second card from the deck. Turning it over, she saw the Sun and blinked hard. 'Way too fitting,' she thought, setting the card with its partner. She backed up, staring at the five graves, each a small shrine for the person who had left this world.
Moving back to the center grave, she stared at the deck. "You don't even believe in this, do you? Well, I promised them. More me than them, but it's hard to just go back on a promise to a dead person, let alone four." She stopped, looking startled.
"I'm talking to myself, in a graveyard in the middle of the night. Great, Terry, you're going crazy." She cut the deck hurriedly, gasping, her eyes going wide. In disbelief, she dropped the card. It fell, landing face up on the fresh green grass. The hanged man. The card wasn't usually a bad omen, but in this case it wasn't exactly a hunky-dory situation.
She stumbled backwards a step, another card slipping out of her grasp of the deck. It too landed face up, this time Terry dropping the rest of the deck to stifle a scream. Justice.
"Something isn't right here," she declared. "Is that why they asked me to do this?? Did they know??!!" She screamed hoarsely up at the sky. "Did they know this was going to happen?!?!"
She fell backwards, landing on the same slab of granite that had tripped her before. The sky rumbled in response, rain falling now, lightning cracking in the distance. Suddenly the earth quaked beneath her, Terry skittering backwards as the cards on the middle grave shook and twitched.
The earth suddenly caved and moved, pale hands clawing their way towards the solid sides of the plot. Terry watched in horror as a thin, exhausted man pulled his way towards the air. He was covered in dirt, his black suit torn, his long chestnut hair tousled and covering his face. She moved back further, her back colliding roughly with a small cherub statue. The man pulled himself over onto Fire's grave, knocking over several of the extinguished candles. He panted heavily as Terry watched in horror.
"Wh-wher- Where am I?" he asked hoarsely, looking around wildly, his brown eyes meeting with Terry's for the first time. "Where am I?" he queried weakly.
"Andiron Cemetary," she sputtered, her eyes still wide. "You were buried almost two days ago."
"No, I couldn't have been," he protested, his voice still hoarse. "I couldn't have. The girls... Where are they? Did it really happen?"
Terry nodded weakly, clutching her hands. "Yeah, you guys all died. I was here-"
"They made you promise, didn't they? Earth and Fire made you promise to come here if something happened." He was looking sullenly, at his surroundings. "Those bastards." He stared at the grass covering Fire's grave.
"You- you know who did this to you?!" She inched forward, part of her wanting to grab her bag and run. She was definitely going crazy.
"It's kinda hard to forget the people who ripped out your heart four times and then put a bullet in your skull." He pushed himself to his knees, his hair draping over his face. "Why isn't there an angel here?? They should have an angel."
Terry sat up straighter, inching forward. "Nobody knew. Your sister took care of the group funeral plans."
"My sisters are dead," his voice seemed now lined with lead. He stood, Terry looking up at the thin form of a man who had escaped hell. He was thin and slightly bony for a 20 year old, but he was very tall, his brown hair reaching his shoulders. She scrambled to stand as he limped to back to the first grave. Terry found her bag and hugged it to her as the man leaned over Air's grave, sobbing. He kissed the marble and moved over doing the same to Fire's. He stared for a minute at the cavernous hole he had climbed out of.
"Justice," he whispered, staring at the card at the bottom of the pit. He moved around, his face still dirty and now streaked with tears. He kissed the top of Water's grave, fingering the sand dollar. He stood, moving in front of Earth's grave, this time collapsing entirely against the stone.
"They'll pay, I swear. I won't let them get away, they don't deserve it. They'll pay. I won't let you be forgotten. I won't let you be a shadow." He leaned against the stone, pressing his cheek to the letters of her name. Terry watched as he stood again, his eyes determined but still leaking tears. He stalked off, his movements jerky and erratic from stiffness and neglect. He brushed past her, picking his way through the tombstones towards the gate.
"Where are you going??" She called, her voice frantic as she began to soak through from the rain. He stopped, turning to meet her brown eyes with his.
From out of the rain, a large crow fluttered to land on his left shoulder. "To talk with the man who stole heaven from me."
He exited the graveyard as Terry felt like a bolt had gone through her heart. "At the right sits the man most trusted but at the left, sits God," she recited, staring in horror after the man and the crow.