Chapter 79

Lola tilted her head to the side. “She was jealous of a flame? She wanted to be eternal, too? So she made a deal with the devil?”

VaVa put her hand on Lola’s shoulder. “I don’t think that’s it.”

“Then what?” I asked.

She pointed to the graves behind us. “Your friends, they meant a lot to you?”

I nodded. “In retrospect, the world.” Even Blondella meant that to me, at least the way she once had been.

VaVa nodded. “Same for all of us, Ginger included. And her sole job on the island is to tend to the flame, to commemorate your friends there, just as it was for her mother and her mother before that.”

“So what you’re saying is . . .”

She nodded. “It’s only a guess, but that job of hers means everything to her. It’s special. Meant for one person and one person only.”

Lola also nodded her head. “And if she was eternal, she’d have that job forever.”

“Or close to it,” I said. “And only one person can promise immortality around these parts.”