The House in the Woods

Chapter 22

It was a birght, cold September day when we buried Wei.

It was an especially gloomy affair, and not a lot of words were said. I felt like crying, watching Lei and Sergei. The delicate girl wore a pretty black dress that draped over her alabaster skin like the gassamer webs of a spider web, and she gripped Sergei's hand like a scared little girl. Her eyes were huge and mournful as Nigel and Eric lowered Wei's simple wooden coffin into the cold ground, and I could see her lower lip tremble. I couldn't even begin to imagine how hard this must be on her; its not everyday someone loses a twin.

As for Sergei, the usually bright and boistorous man was absolutely expressionless. The light was still there in his coal black eyes, but they were pained and sorrowful. He looked at the pale blue sky as the two boys began shovelling the dirt on top of his dead daughter's coffin.

Apollo squeezed my hand, and I looked at him. His face was somber, but his bright eyes were concerned as they looked back at me. He gave me a quick smile before looking away.

When Nigel and Eric finally set their shovels down, no one breathed a word. It was ssilent except for the rustling of the wind through the trees, and the lonely call of a bird somewere further in the words.

"Goodbye, Wei." Lei suddenly choked out.

I looked back at her to find her yellow eyes had begun to stream tears. I blinked rapidly to keep mine at bay. Everyone else murmured quiet goodbyes, eyes downcast. Even Astera was serious; her usually bored and languid features were keenly concentrated and sad. Beside her, Tether looked at the ground, his long hair tied back and his rich skin pale in he cold light.

Sergei raised a hand to his lips and blew a kiss to the simple marble cross Jannosh had made for Wei. He promptly took his crying daughter by the shoulders and steered her back in the direction of the house. Everyone began drifting away after they left. Apollo looked down at me, but I shook my head at him.

"I want to stay for a bit." I told him quietly.

He nodded. "I understand." He leaned down and quickly kissed my forehead, then he turned and walked after everyone else.

Soon, it was just me.

I let out a shuddering breath and went to crouch so I was right in front of her grave. The truth was, I didn't want to leave her. This girl had given her life up for me; wouldn't she be so alone among these silent trees? Wouldn't she pine for her sister, and her huge, laughing adoptive father? She wasn't supposed to have died so early, not this early.

"It's not your fault, love." A rumbly voice said behind me.

I jumped and looked over my shoulder. I hadn't even noticed that Jannosh had stayed behind. His hair looked white in the bright sunlight, and his skin looked almost transluscent. His violet eyes watched me quietly.

i looked away and straightened, my eyes still on the freshly overturned earth.

Jannosh barely made a sound as he walked to stand beside me. He offered me his huge, calloused hand, and I took it, noting as always how small and soft my hand was in his.

"She wasn't supposed to die, Jannosh." I said softly.

"No one is ever supposed to, Lilah." He answered just as quietly. "But the time always comes, and we have little say when it does."

"It's not fair though!" I pouted like a little girl, my eyes watering again.

Jannosh laughed his loud, rumbling laugh. I looked up to find him smiling sadly down at me.

"I wish  death was fair, like everyone else" He told me. "But if you consider how life works, life isn't fair either. It's judgmental, cruel and cold; in some ways death is infinitely more fair."