She Lies Twisted by C.M. Stunich

her there?” I asked, hoping I wasn't giving too much away. Nethel answered, her voice like a summer rain against the pavement.
    “ She was wronged in this life and finds herself unable to move forward. It does happen occasionally but rest assured, no harm will come to her.” It wasn't really an answer, just a roundabout way of pretending they'd satisfied my question. I frowned.
    “ What am I supposed to do with this harp?” I lifted the instrument up again. “I've never been particularly gifted when it comes to music.” Nethel smiled with her yellow lips and stepped closer to me. I watched her move slowly, fluid and graceful. If she wanted to hurt me, she could, no matter what I did. I stayed where I was and let her guide my fingers to the strings.
    “ It's quite simple, really,” she whispered against my ear, pulling first my index and then my middle finger across a string. “It was made for you, after all.”
    I felt myself being swept up in music while a beautiful voice tolled the lines of the poem like an old church bell. Wrong'd and ruin'd, broken down, our twist'd gatekeep, we have found. I opened my mouth and I sang a song I didn't know. Pretty words spilled from my lips and swelled in the air before coming to rest on my soul. The melody swirled around me as my fingers moved from string to string, strumming along with the words.
    When the song was over, the harp tumbled from my hands and crashed to the grass, creating a divot and resting propped there, like the sword in the stone, just waiting to be picked back up.

    I had crawled back upstairs and fallen asleep next to my twin. When I woke up, she was gone and there was a note.
    Errands, Tattle. See you tonight for popcorn and a movie?
    -Jessica.
    The weirdness of the situation wasn't lost on me. I was aching for her, still shaking from the shock of seeing her again, and she, she was prancing around town in a sundress she was never supposed to wear again and kissing notes with lipstick that hadn't been touched since I'd found her with her wrists slit open and her head hanging in the toilet. She wasn't acting like someone that had just committed suicide. Then again, she'd been dead for two years. I guess she'd had time to get used to the idea.
    I crumpled up the note and tried not to panic.
    The harpies had assigned James and I to find her. What was the chance that they would also employ another summoner? I mean, she was my sister. There seemed to be some sick, fucked up thing with these people and watching me suffer. They'd want me to do it, wouldn't they? I realized I was pacing and paused when I heard footsteps outside my door. They were far too robust to be Grandma Willa.
    “ Are you dressed, Neil?” It was James. I rushed to the door and flipped the lock before he could reach the landing at the top of the stairs. Some part of me was ashamed, at my collection, at the book covers on the wall, at the pictures of Boyd strewn across the floor like a second area rug. Jessica had reinforced my insecurities with her looks of disapproval and the way she pinched her lips in displeasure. She'd done that before but now that she was back and my heart was in her hand, it hurt more than ever. I couldn't handle anymore rejection. Besides, it smelt like decay in my room. I was going to have to find the crow in my backpack and get rid of it.
    “ Uh, no,” I lied, bending down and retrieving a red hoodie from the floor. “But I'll be out in a minute.” I threw on a pair of black jeans and Abe's old combats boots before drumming up some courage and unzipping my bag. I grimaced as I removed the plastic bag. The book with my brother's notes fell out of the front pocket and crashed to the floor with a fluttering of pages.
    “ Life is what you make of it.”
    I stared at the page for a long while before snapping it shut and tucking it into the purse where I'd stored the harp. It hadn't been much of a good luck charm so far but I felt like nothing of Abe's could ever be