“I have something,” Adelia said.

“Already?” Jeremy asked, staring out across the graveyard. Blue and red hues radiated above a few graves, like colored mist in the air. Adelia told him it was coming from objects buried with the dead, loved by the deceased in life, and now artifacts of power to the Moirai. It almost seemed wrong for the Moirai to covet such cherished objects. On the other hand, what use were material things to the dead? The living placed them in the grave to comfort themselves, not the departed.

He walked over and kneeled down beside her in front of a small headstone, trying not to scowl. After discussing her proposed trip across the world on the way over, he had nearly stomped away from Ardmore and left the gold bag on the side of the road. But, after promising that one could travel through magic doorways and not by ship or aircraft, he reluctantly stayed. But he didn’t agree to anything, and she seemed to accept that. She would be happy just to get all the pieces back, for now. Jeremy had to admit he was curious. Could he really travel across the world by stepping through some magical portal? After what he’d seen, maybe it was possible. Still, it felt like she was luring him deeper and deeper into a world he might not escape.

“I can feel something,” she said. “Now that I know his name.” She lifted her head and looked around. “This was definitely his grave, but he doesn’t seem to be here anymore.” Jeremy inspected the small, chipped headstone. Most of the letters were faded and unreadable. There were no colors floating over this grave. It seemed lonely and separate from the rest of the graveyard.

“You mean someone took his body? Dead people don’t walk away.”

“I mean, it’s obviously his grave. Knowing his name gives me the power to recognize that, but I should feel something more,” she said, placing her hand on the worn stone. “I know too much time has passed for there to be any residue of him, but if he had the gold pieces… I was hoping. Something. I don’t know. I thought I would at least sense the gold pieces, but I don’t. Of course, I can’t tell you if his body is down there, but don’t be too sure about what dead people can or can’t do.”

“Ha! I knew you’d come for it!”

Jeremy spun toward the new voice, tripped on his own feet, and landed on the small headstone, knocking it over. He sat in the grass, looking up at the incredibly pale figure standing in front of him. Adelia slowly rose and turned around. If she was surprised, he couldn’t tell.

“You can’t have it, it’s mine. Fair and square,” the man said. He wore overhauls and a filthy white shirt, and Jeremy thought that every single vein was visible under his pasty skin. His hair was gray, and his beard was long and matted. Jeremy thought his eyes were black but couldn’t tell for sure.

“Who are you?” Jeremy asked, pushing himself to his feet. Fear sent cramps through his stomach but he stood up straight, clenching his teeth against the pain.

“Abe, it has twisted you,” Adelia said in a soothing tone. She looked over at Jeremy and back at the old man. He thought she looked confused.

“You got the gold, don’t you, boy?” Abe growled, sniffing the air like a cartoon blood hound. “You got it.”

“Your time is past. It does you no good,” Adelia said.

“Shut up. You’s what brought the trouble down on me anyhow. I didn’t know where Ken got them pieces from, but I finally see you. I know what you are.”

Adelia glanced at Jeremy again and back to Abe. “Abe, you have—”

“You give me the rest of em, boy, or I’m eating your soul.” He smiled, showing jagged rows of brown and black teeth. “Ain’t dined on a living person in ages.”

Jeremy swallowed hard and took a step back. Abe looked confident, and unlike Adelia, very solid. The hair on his arms stood up and the back of his neck tingled, sending a chill down his spine. Adelia opened her hands and held them out in front of her. Tendrils of what looked like white smoke snaked its way out of Abe’s headstone behind her and into her fingers.

“I don’t want to banish you, Abe. You can still let go,” she said. “You still have a chance, even now.”

“You can’t hurt me, witch. I have the gold. I’m the real keeper.” Abe thumped his chest with a clenched fist and his eyes lit up. “And when I have the rest of them pieces, you’ll be mine, too. I ain’t had a woman for…” His eyes lost focus for a second and his lips curled up. Adelia squared her shoulders and lowered her chin, ready for a fight. Abe stepped toward Jeremy, but she laid her hands on his chest. His body convulsed, eyes rolling back into his skull, but he shook her off.

“I told you, girl, you can’t hurt me,” Abe said. Jeremy backed away as he took another step toward him.

“It’s the gold, Jeremy,” she said. He could hear a tinge of fear in her voice. “I can’t fight him while he has the gold.”

“Is he a ghost?” Jeremy asked, taking a step back. He tripped over another headstone but didn’t fall this time.

“He’s a—”

Abe lunged, grabbing Jeremy’s shirt, but a blinding blue light sent him tumbling backward. Jeremy smelled burned flesh and his new amulet felt like fire against his skin. Abe crouched several feet from him, cradling his hand. He hissed like an angry cat, baring his ruined teeth.

“What was that?” Jeremy said, grasping his chest. The amulet was already cooling.

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“The amulet’s protection,” Adelia said.

Abe howled and lunged toward Adelia, but Jeremy stepped in front of her, putting his hand out. He skidded to a halt, hissing like a cat again. “You ain’t taking what’s mine,” he spat before turning away. He ran between the headstones impossibly fast, falling down to all fours as he dodged a tree, disappearing through the cemetery gate.

“We have to get the coins from him!” Adelia said. Jeremy stood, staring after Abe. He didn’t want to see Adelia or anyone else hurt, but why had he stepped in front of her? Was it because he had the amulet for protection? Would he have done the same without it? He had never protected anyone in his life. He had never had a need to and had never had a protector himself.

“But you must find Abe, first,” a voice said from the tree line beside them. Jeremy’s heart leaped into his throat, and he spun, stumbling once again.

“You seem off balance, seer,” the voice said. Jeremy couldn’t find the owner.

“Come on!” Jeremy said. “Can’t any of you just walk up to somebody like a normal person?”

“We’re not normal, or people,” the voice said.

“It’s okay. We won’t hurt you,” Adelia said. She turned to the tree line and put her hands out, palms up. A figure stepped out from behind a tree. The top of his head was a bloody mass of hair, bone, and brain. His neck was swollen and bruised, and his eyes were brimming with blood.

“How do you know I won’t hurt you?” the man said. Jeremy thought he looked like a Native American in an old-fashioned gray suit and tie.

“If you wanted to, we would be fighting or you would be banished,” Adelia said.

“You’re a confident one.” The man studied her for a moment, tilting his head as if listening to something. “Rightly so. And the young seer is interesting.”

“Who are you?” Jeremy asked. The man walked up to him and inspected his chest, as if he could see the amulet through his shirt. Jeremy turned his head to avoid looking at his shattered skull and exposed brain. He managed to not pull away as the man looked up at him with those bloody eyes.

“It’s all right, you can stare. This happens when assimilation into the white man’s world doesn’t work. We are told to take the white man’s god, his dress, and his speech, but we must never take one of his women. Even if one of them seduces us.”

“When did, I mean, how long…” Jeremy’s mouth moved but words wouldn’t come.

“When did they kill me?” He squinted in thought and a bloody tear slid down his cheek. “Living time is a challenge for me, but I’m sure they hung me over 100 years ago. It was just after the war.”

“Which war?” Adelia asked.

“The Civil War,” the man said, casually wiping away the tear. “A curious thing, that. The white man conquered our land and then made war on each other. And from what I’ve learned of the world, it seems that the white man keeps making bigger wars.”

Adelia nodded. “There is always a new war. New ways for humans to slaughter each other.”

Jeremy stared at the man’s brain.

“They thought it would be funny to take my scalp. They thought that’s what we all did, but that wasn’t true. Scalping wasn’t the way of my people. But the white man learns one thing and applies it to all people, all things.”

“Oh my god,” Jeremy said.

“There was so much killing in the name of your god.” The man shook his head and whistled. “But your god didn’t get me, it was the woman. And the scalping wasn’t the end, I didn’t even feel anything when my brain met the air. It was the hanging.” He seemed to enjoy Jeremy’s discomfort. “I wish it would have broken my neck, but they didn’t do it right, or maybe they wanted a slower death. I’ve had years to ponder that.”

Even after growing up with the violence of his father’s hand, he couldn’t imagine the hatred that drove men to something like this. He never once wished for his father’s death, not that he could remember.

“The bear and the snake,” the man said, tapping Jeremy’s chest. “You are a seer of exceptional talent.”

“What?” Jeremy asked, tearing his eyes away from the man’s brain.

“The necklace called to you; I’ll wager. There is sophisticated power here,” he said.

“How did it stop, Abe?” Jeremy asked.

“We have to find him,” Adelia said, as if suddenly remembering her purpose. She strode off into the cemetery.

“Wait,” the man said and Adelia turned. “I will trade the seer’s sight for my tracking. The bear and snake are your protectors. And for a time, I will be your guide. I am called Frank.”

“Frank? Your name is Frank?” Jeremy said. He looked at Adelia, but she just shrugged.

“You were expecting Running Bull or Dances with Rabbits? I took the white man’s name and lost my mine. I was young and stupid and did not know the power of names. That is why I need you seer, I need you to find my name. When you do, I will find my place and finally rest. The ones who took my life are long dead and moved on. But I cannot without my name.”

“How do I find your name?” Jeremy said.

“Don’t know. You will figure it out,” Frank said. “But we must track the zombie before he digs. Harder to find them in the ground. Without me, you may never find him. Are we agreed?”

“Abe’s a zombie?” Jeremy nearly shouted.

“Not a brain eating, mindless zombie, but he never died,” Adelia said. “So, yeah, you could call him that, I guess. I’m sure there were all kinds of stories about Abe’s empty grave after he crawled out of it.”

“How do you know about brain eating zombies? Are they real?” Jeremy asked.

“Ardmore was abandoned in the 1990’s, Jeremy, they had television,” Adelia said. “I’ve seen plenty of late-night zombie flicks.”

“But the gold did this to Abe?” Jeremy asked.

“It took his greed and twisted it. He holds on so tight that he can’t die, the magic won’t let him go.”

Jeremy reached into his pocket and wrapped his hand around the bag. Again, he wanted to cast it down and get as far away from Ardmore as fast as his feet would carry him. Adelia grabbed his wrist.

“No!” she said.

“I’m not turning into a zombie,” Jeremy said. He pushed against her hand, but she was incredibly strong for an insubstantial woman.

“You won’t turn into a zombie. I’ve told you. You’re a seer, and I gave you the gold. As long as you abide by our accord, no harm will come to you.”

“What is our accord?” He took his hand from his pocket, watching her. She let go of his wrist. “I didn’t agree to anything.”

“You agreed to help me find the missing pieces, and I agreed to give you the gold bag.”

“That is a powerful accord seer,” Frank said. “You hold her fate in your hand.”

She looked at Frank sharply and Jeremy felt a stab of anger from her. Could he do more than just feel her emotions? Could she feel his? What else could he do with the gold?

“We need to move,” she said, glaring at Frank. “Do you agree to help him or not?”

She had told him that Moirai didn’t lie, it cost too much power, but he had a feeling she wasn’t telling him everything. Was that the same as lying?

Frank smiled. “Light is fading, seer. We don’t want to track a zombie at night. What do you say?”

“Fine,” Jeremy said. “I’ll help you, but how do we find a name?”

“We’ll figure that out after we find your missing gold pieces,” Frank said. He sounded confident as he turned, striding between the headstones. “This way.”

On the hook for two tasks, Jeremy thought. Find the missing gold pieces and find Frank’s name. It would take ages to get back on the road, back to his simple life. Would things ever be the same? Would Moirai watch him everywhere he went? Would he see them everywhere? Had they always known he was a seer, watching him from the shadows? He shivered and hurried to catch up with Adelia and Frank.