Cemetery
/ˈseməˌterē/
Noun
1. A burial ground; a graveyard
“Our palate is a cemetery where all of our unspoken words rot.”

Keir’s stomach lurched as the world spun around him, clutching onto Nyx’s shirt as he tried to keep his dinner down. “Sorry.” He heard Nyx whisper, his strong arms steadying him as he tried to get his bearings. “Maybe shadow traveling wasn’t the best idea.”

Keir only groaned in response and dropped his head on Nyx’s chest. He had never experienced any form of magical travel in his life, and he decided it just wasn’t for him. Not only because the shadows were scary as hell, but also because he had felt as though his entire body had been compacted and moved in ways that it should never move. It felt like all of his atoms had been scrambled around then sloppily put back in place and now he was about to throw up on his crush’s shoes and lose any chances of being with the guy.

After a few minutes, the world finally righted itself, and Keir was able to pull away from Nyx. At least it was dark, and the Necromancer couldn’t see the blush on his cheeks. Hopefully. Did Necromancer’s have night vision? He hoped not. “I am never shadow traveling again! That was terrible. Where are we anyway?” Keir finally asked, taking a look around their surroundings. They were outside, the moonlight peeking through the clouds enough to reveal that they were in a graveyard. Unease crawled up his spine as his eyes roamed over the misty ground, tombstones peeking through as far as he could see. “What are we doing here?”

“Silas is here.” Nyx said simply, “Stay close.”

He had no issue obliging as they weaved through the seemingly endless graves. Keir found himself jumping at every little noise, even the hoots of an owl seemed creepier here, but Nyx seemed completely at ease. “Why would he come here?” Scott shivered, stepping even closer to Nyx. How they weren’t tipping over one another was a mystery.

“He wouldn’t. I just wanted to get you alone.” Nyx answered, and stopped abruptly. Keir blinked up at him stupidly for a few moments, trying to process what he’d just said. Normally, he would think it was Nyx flirting with him again, but they were in a fucking graveyard, and when the Necromancer turned around, his eyes were shining blue.

“Hahaha, what?” He laughed nervously, slowly backing away as the air grew impossibly cold. Nyx advanced toward him, and Keir began hearing those unintelligible whispers again, like the ones he heard earlier in the guest bedroom. Suddenly, he bumped into something behind him, a tombstone. Panic washed over him, because he was completely out of his element because everything was dead here, it was absolutely saturated with death. He’d be lucky to grow a shrub here, let alone fend off a Necromancer.

It was when Nyx was almost upon him and he was about to shit himself that the blond suddenly stopped. It was silent for a few moments, and they just looked at each other, then Nyx burst out in laughter. “Oh my god, you should have seen the look on your face! You looked like you were about to faint!”

“Nyx!” He screeched, punching the older boy in the chest. Would it be disrespectful to suplex someone over a tombstone? “That is NOT funny. Stop laughing!”

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry.” Nyx chuckled, pulling him into a hug and kissing his forehead. “I shouldn’t have done that. That was mean of me.”

Keir resisted the urge to melt into his arms, because holy shit did he make him soft, but he refused to give in. Instead he pushed him away, huffing a little. “Is Silas actually here? Or are you just wasting my time?”

“No, he’s here. In the mausoleum. Come on.” Nyx grabbed his hand, pulling him toward the building. It sat up on top of a small hill, and Keir supposed it would be pretty in the daytime. It was made of light stone, intricate columns held the roof up, dead ivy vines curling around them. Knowing that bodies sat inside made a shiver crawl up his spine. Did he really want to go in there?

Sure enough, when Nyx pushed open the wrought iron that protected the threshold, a figure inside jumped up. “Nyx?” Silas asked, “Why are you here?”

“A certain someone asked me to help find you.” Nyx stepped aside to reveal Keir in the doorway. Before Silas could decide to disappear again, Keir said, “I just want to talk, Silas.” Okay that was a lie, but he couldn’t exactly fight the kid here.

“Fine.” The freshman relented, situating himself on a stone box that Keir was pretty sure had a casket in it. That wasn’t any of his business though. “What were you doing in my house?”

“Baking cookies.” Silas answered sarcastically, and Keir glared at him. He huffed and looked away. “I was mad at your friend.”

“Why? I’m pretty sure you’ve never met Reid before.”

“You two looked so close… I was- I was…” Silas trailed off, but Keir could clearly see the bright blush on his cheeks. He was about to guess the rest of the boy’s sentence, but he suddenly felt a very frightening aura behind him.

“Boys? What are you doing here?” Keir turned around, and he was suddenly face to face with possibly the tallest person he’d ever met. The man towered over him, absolutely swamping Keir’s modest height of 5’6”, holding a lantern. He craned his neck to look at the man better, and his breath caught in his throat because he was pretty sure he was looking in the face of a death god. The man’s shimmering blond hair was close cropped, his pupils were large, almost completely covering his sclera. Deep purplish bags sat under his eyes, which were only accentuated by his impossibly pale skin. His features were angular, nearly perfect, like he was a marble sculpture.

Keir stood stock still as the man scrutinized him, his frown deepening as if displeased with what he saw. “Children,” He asked carefully, his nearly black eyes flitting upward, “What is a child of the forest doing in my cemetery?”