Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
{ 🔮 } · she would never kneel . ݁ ٬٬ ࣪
NICO WAS STANDINGin a graveyard under a starry sky. Giant willow trees loomed all around him. He was watching some gravediggers at work. Endora heard shovels around her and turned her head towards the sound. There was dirt flying out of a hole, landing on the ground beside it. Nico was dressed in a black cloak, a one the girl had in her trunk. The night was foggy. It was warm and humid, and frogs were croaking. A large Walmart bag sat next to Nico's feet.
"Is it deep enough yet?" Nico asked. He sounded irritated.
"Nearly, my lord." it was the same ghost the girl'd seen Nico with before, the faint shimmering image of a man. "But, my lord, I tell you, this is unnecessary. You already have me for advice."
"I want a second opinion!" Nico snapped his fingers, and the digging stopped.
Two figures climbed out of the hole. They weren't people. They were skeletons in ragged clothes.
"You are dismissed," Nico said. "Thank you."
The skeletons collapsed into piles of bones.
"You might as well thank the shovels," the ghost complained. "They have as much sense."
Nico ignored him. He reached into his Walmart bag and pulled out a twelve-pack of Coke. He popped open a can. Instead of drinking it, he poured it into the grave.
"Let the dead taste again," he murmured. "Let them rise and take this offering. Let them remember."
He dropped the rest of the Cokes into the grave and pulled out a whitepaper bag decorated with cartoons. Endora hadn't seen one in years, but she recognized it ─ a McDonald's Happy Meal. He turned it upside down and shook the fries and hamburger into the grave.
"In my day, we used animal blood," the ghost mumbled. "It's perfectly good enough. They can't taste the difference."
"I will treat them with respect," Nico said.
"At least let me keep the toy," the ghost said.
"Be quiet!" Nico ordered. He emptied another twelve-pack of soda and three more Happy Meals into the grave, then began chanting in Ancient Greek. Endora felt shivers running down her spine, even in her dream, as she listened to the familiar words fall out of Nico's lips. The grave started to bubble. Frothy brown liquid rose to the top like the whole thing was filling with soda. The fog thickened. The frogs stopped croaking. Dozens of figures began to appear among the gravestones: bluish, vaguely human shapes.
Nico had summoned the dead with Coke and cheeseburgers. Not a way Endora would do it, but it looked to be affectionate.
"There are too many," the ghost said nervously. "You don't know your own powers."
