“Yes I do. It doesn’t matter, of course. All the Death Bringer is, all it ever has been, is a Necromancer with a certain degree of power. No matter how she got there, Melancholia does seem to have reached that level.”

“She said something while she was kicking my ass. She said, if you’re not on my list, you don’t get saved.”

“I doubt she was making any sense at all. With that much power reverberating inside her head, I think we can expect her to babble every now and then.”

“What is the Passage?”

“I’m sorry, Valkyrie, there are things we don’t share with—”

“Solomon, for God’s sake. You never give a straight answer to that, yet it’s supposed to be a wonderful thing where the world is saved and made a better place. Why do you need to keep any of that a secret?”

“Because some people aren’t going to understand.”

“What people? People who like being miserable? I’m sure they’ll get over it. What’s she going to do? What happens in the Passage?”

“The walls are broken down—”

“Between life and death, yes, I know. That much you’ve told me. The energy of the dead will live alongside us, and we will evolve to meet it. That’s what you said. I haven’t a clue what that means, but that’s what you said. We’re going to evolve, are we?”

“In a manner of speaking.”

“Solomon, you have the Death Bringer. Whatever is going to happen is going to happen. So why not just tell me? Should I be worried? How much will the world change? Will everyone know about it? Will my family suddenly know that magic exists? Will people still have jobs? Will we still live in houses? Will people still be people?”

“It will be better, that’s all you need to know.”

“No, Solomon, it isn’t. The fact is it’s a pretty scary prospect. It’s made even scarier by the fact that not even your average Necromancer knows what’s going to happen. Only you guys. Only the High Priests and the High Clerics. Only the people who run the Temples. Why don’t you tell the others? What is so awful that you have to hide it from your own people?”

Wreath looked at her. “How much is a better world worth to you?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what would you sacrifice? Look at this world. Look at it. From the moment mankind took its first awkward step, it’s been a long road to disaster. We hate each other. We fear each other. We’re going to kill each other. One of these days, someone’s going to go too far, and every single one of us will die.”

“What do you care? You’re a Necromancer. Life flows into death and flows back into life, right? That’s what you believe.”