Chapter 122

• We stood in the clearing under the moonlight, the bodies laid out in front of us. Richard went through the ceremonial questions and each family stepped up to perform their incisions and set the spirits of their loved ones free.
• Malachi had stepped up to perform the ceremony for the families that had nobody else and I shared all our pain with him. The children were the worst. The tears were rolling down his cheeks freely and he didn’t care who saw him crying. It was an emotional night for all of us.
• Malachi took over the ceremony when it was Richard’s turn to set his wife free. I had started crying with Malachi, I couldn’t control my emotions as I looked at him and saw the pain he was in. Richard was also crying as he took her heart from her chest and let the moonlight envelope it.