The Loveliest Dead Read Online Free PDF Page B

something odd about her and no longer even tried to hide their discomfort around her. They made no effort to understand her, and sometimes Lily even sensed they were a little afraid of her. Lily had a job at a bookstore. She had no idea what she wanted to do with her life, although she had a deep interest in writing, but she knew she did not want to go to college right after graduating—she needed a break, some time to herself. Before leaving Cottonwood, Mrs. Youngblood suggested Lily move up to Mt. Shasta and work at The Crystal Well for a while. She had already discussed it with the Reeders, and they offered to let Lily live in the apartment behind their bookstore, once occupied by their niece, who had married and moved out three years before. Lily eagerly accepted the opportunity to get out of Cottonwood and out of her smothering, uncomfortable house.  
    She settled into the apartment in back of the bookstore and approached her new job with great enthusiasm. The Reeders were not very organized, but after a few months, Lily had things running so efficiently that Mrs. Reeder expressed regret that she had not come to work there much sooner.  
    Fourteen months after moving to Mt. Shasta, Lily was on her knees putting some new books on a low shelf when she began to see flashes of electric blue in the periphery of her vision and was overwhelmed by the smell of bananas. She stood and looked around, expecting to see that someone had come in with a bag of groceries, including a bunch of ripe bananas, but no one had entered the store. The flashing grew worse, and Lily went to the register, where Mrs. Reeder was poring over that day’s edition of the Redding Record Searchlight. Mrs. Reeder said Lily didn’t look well and told her to sit down. But before Lily could get to a chair, she blacked out and fell to the floor.  
    She opened her eyes less than a minute later, frightened by what she had seen: an unusual bloodstained knife that had glowed with an odd light. She tried unsuccessfully to describe it to Mrs. Reeder, who gave her a pad and pen and told her to draw it. The knife appeared to have two handles—like a pair of scissors, but without the finger loops—and a single narrow blade. Mrs. Reeder said she’d never seen anything like it. The vision made no sense to Lily, and that evening, she called Mrs. Youngblood in Colorado and told her about it.  
    “The knife wasn’t at all familiar to you?” Mrs. Young-blood said.
    “No, I’ve never seen a knife like that before in my life.”
    “And you say you smelled bananas?”
    “Yes. Is that normal?”
    “There is no such thing as normal. Prior to a powerful vision, some people will smell roses, or burnt toast. My ears start ringing before it happens.”  
    “It’s happened to you?”
    “Only a few times. But enough for me to know it will happen to you again.”
    “Again? Why?”
    “Because you don’t understand what you’ve seen. It will keep happening until you understand its significance and can do something about it.”  
    “ Do something about it? But what am I supposed to do?”  
    “I don’t know. That’s what you’re going to have to figure out. Remember when I told you the gift comes with responsibility?”
    “Yes.”
    “Well, significant visions like this usually require something from you. Don’t worry, you’ll figure it out. When you do, you’ll know what to do. And even if you’re not sure, you’ll figure something out. I have faith in you. You should, too.”  
    The vision occurred again later that same week, even more vivid than before. This time, Lily saw a narrow, serpentlike dragon intricately carved into each of the handles. The third vision was the worst, because Lily saw the knife’s blade sink to the hilt between two bare female breasts, not once, but again and again, eighteen times, and each bloody stab was accompanied by a horrible scream. She also noticed three initials crudely carved near the very bottom of one of the