Perish

Away from the warm lights, Callie collapsed against the trunk of a tree and covered her face in her hands. She tried to breathe, inhaling and exhaling the cold air into her lungs. She told herself she was in the dark with only the trees and the moon to see her. She could breathe better not having to play her charades and pretend she was somebody else.

Finnegan was pacing back and forth, agitated. "It was my fault."

"What was your fault, Finn?"

"My fault, my fault, my fault," he repeated. "I killed her. It was my fault."

She was getting concerned with her familiar’s distress. She stood and walked over to him. "Who did you kill?"

He stopped and went still as a blonde woman stepped out of the darkness and into the moonlight. She was impossibly pale and almost see-through, not quite corporeal.

With a voice like she was underwater, she called out, "Finnegan."

"Lucy," Finnegan cried. "I’m so sorry."

"I know."

Callie realized there