Title: drag me under
Author: pandastacia
Genre: Adventure/Mystery/Romance/Fantasy (It probably fits under more, but I'll stick with these.)
Type: Multi-chapter
Status: Incomplete
Rating: T (For occasional language)
Summary: Death is a part of life, but the death of Evanne's half-sister tore the lives of her and her family apart. After spending the past five years with her aunt, Evanne has taken charge of her life only to have it torn asunder as she moves back to her old town to take care of her mother, who hasn't been the same since Sarafina's death. But there's more to this than Evanne had originally thought. Was something supernatural involved in Sarafina's death? Who was Sarafina? It's all Evanne can do to not mix up this investigation with her life at her new-old school...

drag me under

prologue

Sarafina had always had perfect timing. Always had, always would.

Even in death.

When her will had been found, it had specified the first Monday in December. Why she had written a will when she was merely twenty-two was beyond her younger sister. But the fact she had died just one week before the specified date was still sort of creepy.

Evanne sighed, tensing her body as the white wind buffeted her. Every single breath she took was a pain, cold air burning down her throat and heading towards her lungs. As blood was sent around her body, she could almost feel the chill spreading through her body like poison. Shivering uncontrollably, she fell back, allowing other people to take their place right by the fresh grave even though she should have been standing there in her rightful place.

But they had already lowered the body into the earth, so she felt no reason to not turn away from the grave. Remaining in such a place reminded her of death with every breath she takes. Maybe it was because she knew that people were lying buried beneath the white-covered dirt and so she could smell what wasn’t really able to be smelt.

It was a gruesome reminder of humanity’s own frailty, the number of graves poking out of the snow and being there just to add one more.

Sliding through the large number of people, Evanne muttered a few “excuse me”s and “sorry”s as she bumped into a few more of the mourners, getting a few strange glances. She knew they all recognized her as Sarafina’s sister, even if they looked nothing alike, what with her bronze hair and dark green eyes. She didn’t bother correcting the people that mentioned them as sisters that they were half-sisters.

Whether they were half or whole, they still were sisters, which was the only thing that was important.

“Where are you going, dear?” She stiffened, knowing that, most unfortunately, she was the target of said question. It was too late to try and disappear into the woods and walk home, pretending to have not heard the creaking voice.

So all Evanne could do was give an inward sigh and plaster a smile on her face. Hopefully it didn’t look half as fake as it felt.

“Mrs. James, how nice to see you.” Lie.

“You look better than the last time I had seen you.” Yet another lie. Her white hair was perfectly coiffed, stiffly framing her face even as the black overcoat she was wearing was battered by the snow. Wrinkles weathered her face more than ever. Five years ago, Evanne would never have imagined the woman to have aged so much so quickly.

“Yes, yes it is, despite the unfortunate circumstances that brought us here.” Pale weathered hands clasped her own smooth ones firmly. “I haven’t seen your mother since Sarafina-well.”

She was pretty sure she knew what Mrs. James had meant to say, but she put a smile on her face anyway. Feeling slightly bad for the awkward moment the old woman had created, she shifted politely backwards slightly. “I’m afraid I have a prior engagement, Mrs. James, so I will take my leave.” I’ve developed such a habit of lying.

Of course, the calculating look of disbelief just had to appear on her face. “Dearie, I know you’re upset. You two were so close,” an unintentional lie, “, but you can’t hold your grief inside. It’s not healthy…”

“Unfortunately, my business can’t wait. The school wouldn’t let me register any later than today and I was too busy planning the funeral to do so earlier in the week.”

“Evanne, why didn’t your mother do it? She must have known how much work and things you need to do!”

Matching the look with a blinding smile, she turned away. “Mother was... slightly preoccupied. Good day, Mrs. James.”

And with that she walked away.