With Gertrude's smoky finger pointing at me, I wasn’t entirely sure what to do. I certainly didn’t remember lurking through hallways and breaking into rooms, especially my own. I have a key – why would I need to break into my own room?

Unless, of course, I was some sort of Dr Jekyl and I was turning into Mr. Hyde and wasn’t remembering it, but I didn't think that was the case.

There was only one answer, but Liz said it before I even opened my mouth.

“We have an imposter roaming the mansion.”

Gertrude’s finger kept aiming at me until finally Liz blew on her and she disappeared in wisps. The last part of her to disintegrate was her eye and I swear it was looking at me.

“So what do we do now?” I asked.

Before Liz could answer, Miesha turned on us, her pigtails sailing through the air. “Wait a minute. You were later than the rest of us to come downstairs. How do we know you didn’t do it then, just before you met us?”

Her eyes were giving me a pretty harsh stare.

I don’t recall having a stuttering problem, but under that iron gaze it was hard not to. “I-I-I…I didn’t do it,” I said. “Ask Goliath?”

Goliath just cocked his head to the side before licking himself in places I won't mention. Then he ambled over to sniff the bookshelves. Miesha gave me a look like I was just plain dumb.

“Right," said somewhat sheepishly, "you can’t ask the dog.”

Liz was now pacing and Kenji was still watching the tinted ceiling as the sun started to inch across its glass surface. I winced for a second, but stopped when I realized that nothing was going to happen. It was refreshing to see its silhouette. I kind of missed the sun. The Afterlife was fairly dismal.

Liz reached into her bag and pulled out one of the bags of herbs. She marched over and slapped me with it.

"Ouch!" I said. "What was that for?"

"Just making sure you're not a demon. That would have burned you if you were a demon."

I rubbed my face. "Well, that's a relief. Does that mean I'm off the hook now?"

"Not yet," Liz said. "I need to check something else."

"Why doesn't the sun hurt us here?" Kenji asked, still eyeing the ceiling with suspicion.

Liz continued to pace, smoke rising from her hair. "Huh?" she said, seemingly yanked from whatever thought she was immersed in. "Oh, it was built by the Seraphim, or so it's said. No one really knows. Not even Gertrude."

"The Sera-what?" Miesha asked.

"Seraphim. They walk in the daylight, or so I've heard. No one's ever seen one. Never mind that now. Follow me," she said, and aimed for one of the distant bookshelves.

As the other two followed Liz's speedy steps I paused. It was the perfect chance to finally get this blasted thing out of my pocket. I struggled at first, but then remembered what the woman in the marketplace had told me. I reached in and felt for the base of the palm and ran my finger along it. The hand inched open and then stopped. It wasn't fully opened, but enough that I could wriggle it out of my pocket.

The thing was almost all bones with only a few bits of dried tendons. I placed it on the table that held the large cauldron. Clutched inside the curled fingers was a shimmering, wine-colored stone. I tickled the base of the palm again and this time the hand opened completely.

Liz approached the table cradling a heavy leather-bound book in her arms.

"Do you ever do what your tol— what is that?" she said.

The other two ran around her, Miesha shoving her way in. She reached over to snatch up the stone and Liz yelled out, "Don't touch it!"

Miesha didn't listen. She reached for it anyway, and as she did Liz pressed a symbol on the table. A white sphere enveloped the cauldron.

Less than a second later Miesha's fingers clasped the stone and a purple flash sparked from her hands and surrounded the four of us. We were all thrown to the floor.

A sour feeling sickened my stomach and I heaved. Nothing came up, but I felt like it should. All of us kept retching, like we were trying to empty our bodies of some kind of bad food.

Goliath ran over to me, whimpering. I couldn't pet him. I couldn't do anything. All I could do was try to rid myself of whatever was making my insides roil. All four of us just kept heaving until Liz managed to mutter something and point.

Between heaves I saw her pointing. "Dog," she managed to utter before another violent round of retching took her voice. Then she pointed to a distant table. On it sat something that vaguely resembled a bottle, but my vision was now a little blurry.

I swallowed and called out. "Golia—" I started to say but my words were cut off as I hurled again. I pointed to the table.

Goliath bolted and grabbed the bottle. I thought he'd bring it to me, but instead as I continued to hurl he ran over to Liz. She took a swig of whatever was in it.

I just kept on heaving, unable to stop myself.

Finally I felt Liz at my side. "Drink this!" she said.

I heaved again and then grabbed the bottle, gulping its contents down like I was told. It didn't feel like liquid – it was more like swallowing warm mist.

But the heaving stopped.

I dropped to the floor. "Thank you," I managed to utter.

I pulled my knees to my chest, my gut feeling like someone had not only kicked me from the inside, but then decided to bash, pummel, and drop-kick me as well. This was the Afterlife, I was supposed to be dead. Why was I feeling pain?

"What happened?" I asked, still lying there on the floor. Goliath curled up next to me.

"Deathstone," Liz said. She sat down on the floor beside me, knees to her chest. Miesha and Kenji were curled up next to her moaning.

"What is that?" I asked.

"It was meant for Gertrude. I managed to seal her off before the stone could cast the spell on her." She looked at Miesha. "Maybe next time you'll do like I say." She then turned that heated gaze upon me. "You three are proving to be more difficult than I thought. If we're going to figure this out, you need to do what I say."

I nodded my head.

"Now where did you get that hand?"

"Remember that guy that crashed into me? He left it in my pocket?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked. I think her voice had just started to rise at this point. "See this mark on the hand?" She was waving the thing around like it was a fan. When she stopped long enough for me to see, I noticed a tattoo in the shape of a sickle on it.

"This hand belongs to one of the Reaper's men, and he wants nothing more than to see Gertrude dead. Next time something like that happens, you need to tell me!" she said. "And that goes for all of you!"

Miesha and Kenji nodded their heads.

"So what's with the stone?" I asked.

"It's a Deathstone, meant to make you one of the Everdead. Luckily it didn't work on Gertrude, but we're all in trouble."

"What do you mean?"

"The spell hit us instead."

Now Miesha finally looked worried. She sat up. "What's going to happen to us?"

"Weren't you listening? We're going to become one of the Everdead."

I gulped what felt like sawdust in my throat. "How long do we have?"

"Seven days."