"I can do as I wish," Deidre snapped in response. She pushed herself to her feet, ignoring the death dealer's glare. "These souls. Are they all new? Or did they cross over from the underworld?"
Cora frowned. When she didn't answer, Deidre faced her.
"Look, I may not be Death, but I'm his mate. Tell me."
"Gods. We don't know," Cora responded. "Does it matter?"
"Of course it does."
"All we know is that they appeared in over fifty lakes across the world. Gabe had us gather them all and place them here near the Immortals."
"So they crossed over."
"Maybe. We haven't been able to collect souls for very long. We didn't have the ability to gather this many."
Deidre gritted her teeth, silently cursing everyone under the sun for not keeping better track of the souls. Maybe Gabe was right; maybe this was partially her fault for breaking too many Immortal Laws at once.
"I feel like I should know how to fix things," she muttered. "It's in here somewhere." She tapped her temple.
She remembered what caused the dome of her underworld to crack. If it happened before and she fixed it, she couldn't recall. Her eyes went to the sky instinctively.
The souls crossed over into mortal lakes, after the dome of her underworld cracked, and she resigned. How were the two connected?
"Gabriel said no more shoes," Cora said.
"Fine."
Deidre ignored the grunt the death dealer gave her in response. She moved once more to the edge of the lake and stared at the souls. Most of them rested in piles at the bottom of the lake while some floated in the water. They moved slowly to the bank on which she stood, bumped into the dirt wall and floated to nestle into piles at the bottom.
The deliberate dance was methodical. She watched it for a few seconds, entranced by the movement. The green gems were caught in some sort of invisible current that ended when it reached the bank. A few floated away until caught by another current while others settled nearby.
Her instinct wriggled. Deidre sought to figure out what it was about the currents and subtle movement that kept her in place when she wanted to return to the castle, where it was warm. She found herself walking along the bank, gaze on the souls that were moving. The panhandle fed into the roughly circular main body of the lake, and she paused. More gems swirled in the lake, seemingly at random.
But they weren't.
Lake of Souls bubbling.
That issue, she should understand how to fix. Maybe, at one time, she did. Mesmerized by the souls, Deidre stopped in place suddenly. She didn't understand what her instincts were trying to tell her, but right now, they wanted her to climb a tree to see the lake from above.