For a long while, Bluma followed in silence, unsure if she wanted to continue, unsure how she could stop. From time to time, one of the Sisters of the Lileen would join Lilith—a gray cat alighting on her shoulder, a gray lady falling in beside her—and they would walk together briefly, talking quietly or not at all. It seemed to make no difference to Lilith if she was accompanied.

Or, rather, she seemed to be accompanied whether there was anyone beside her or not.

The path they took between the graves was long and winding. Soon Bluma began to wonder if it would lead them anywhere at all. It seemed totally capricious: back and forth, back and forth, as if they were following only Lilith’s whim.

But as soon as this thought had cut into her head, there, beside her, a gray lady spoke.

“It’s not like in the living world,” she said. “The direction matters less than you think.”

Bluma’s gut lurched. If this was not the living world, then what was it? She turned her head, and there was a skulking gray cat.

“But we are going somewhere, aren’t we?” said Bluma into the darkness.

“Oh yes,” said a voice from over her shoulder.

This was less than convincing to Bluma, and she muttered in a voice so small that she could barely hear it herself: “Well, then, where?”

Without looking over her shoulder, Lilith spoke, far ahead: “To Zubinsk. To receive the bride.”

But this didn’t make sense. Everyone in Tupik knew the quickest way to Zubinsk—through the forest—and this was surely not it.

And then, again, so soft that she could not say if it was in her ear or in her mind, a voice:

The direction matters less than you think.

On her other side, another gray lady was speaking.

“It must be hard to understand. Where you come from, the people move around the earth. Here, the earth moves and the people are still.”

Bluma shook her head to clear the sudden vision of her bubbe sunken in the cold dirt.

“But I know a faster way to Zubinsk,” she said.

A gray lady shook her head. “Not for us.”

“There are rules,” said another.

On her other side: “The Cemetery is a hall with many doors—one can enter from wherever the living die.”

“But to come back out again—that is a rarer trick.”

Ahead, Lilith paused to examine the passage between two tall obelisks.

“But there is a wedding in Zubinsk.”

“Have you heard?”

“All are invited.”

“Without exception.”

“Neither the living nor the dead shall be excluded.”

“Nor any other besides.”

“And for those of us normally barred from the living world…”

“A living invitation can bring us through.”

Bluma’s head was swimming.

“Watch.”

“And follow.”

“One can enter the Cemetery from wherever the living die.”

“But follow.”

“And watch.”

“And with the guidance of our Sister Lilith…”