Page 61 of Vanquished Gods
Still and quiet as a grave.
CHAPTER 28
I’m in my father’s garden. His voice carries on the breeze as he lifts a flower with pale blue petals—a forget-me-not.
“Knights give them to their most favored ladies before they go into battle, a promise to return.”
I glance at a patch of bright yellow flowers. “Are these buttercups?” I ask.
“That’s celandine. They bring joy, but sorrow, too.”
“Because someday we all die?”
My father goes still, staring at me. I’m sure that sometimes the things I say bother him, but I don’t know why. Mum died. Someday, we’ll all die, and it makes everyone sad, but it’s just the truth. People don’t like to be reminded of it, I think…and that’s why they don’t like to be told they look old, that they’re closer to the end of it all.
I point to a ghostly white flower that blooms farther in the garden. “And what’s that one? What does it mean?”
“A white poppy—forgetfulness and sleep. That one pulls you under and makes the pain go away. A balm for hurt minds…”
I like that one the best.
He turns, walks a few paces, and plucks a lavender flower from the ground, handing it to me. “The violet—sweetness, mournfulness, and a broken heart…” His voice trails off, and I wonder if he’s thinking about Mum, so far away from him in the afterworld.
I twirl the little violet stem between my fingertips.
He points across the garden. “The marigolds bloom like the sun, but sometimes, the sun is too hot, and they wilt under its fiery rays.”
I look up to see the sky the sky painted with lurid shades of twilight, streaks of periwinkle and coral.
From behind me, Lydia calls my name.
I turn to see her and Anselm marching closer, smiling. I know they’ll say that night is falling and they’re going to sleep, but I don’t want to go yet. It’s too pretty out here in the light.
I woke in the dark,and I knew Father was gone.
We’re all waiting for everyone to go, one by one.
My father…
Who was he? I couldn’t remember anymore.
I didn’t have a clue where I was.
My name…
Was I somewhere with flowers? It was far too dark here for that, and I’d just been in the sun.
Pain shot through my temples, and I gasped. A headache exploded in my skull, sending jagged pulses through my jaw, shattering my thoughts.
Darkness pressed in around me, thick and suffocating, and the sharp scent of mahogany flooded my senses. My head felthollow, as if pieces of myself had been scooped out and scattered in the dark.
I reached out, and my hands brushed against smooth, cold wood just six inches above me. Panic wended its way into my thoughts.
I needed to get out of here.
I pressed on the wood, then started to bang on it.
Fear fully clouded my mind, my breath coming in ragged bursts as I tried to move in the small, tight space.