Bizenghast Volume 5 by Alice LeGrow

With Vincent dead, Dinah feels lost. She attempts several missions for the mausoleum, but barely escapes. In each one, she feels that the Mausoleum is taunting her by having Vincent, or his spirit, show up in each dream/vision.

Each of her missions also have to do with death, and possible means to contact the dead. At each one, Dinah throws herself into the possibility that she might somehow be able to contact Vincent's spirit or somehow bring her back to life. Her two guides, Edaniel and Edrear, soon despair of reaching her, and Edrear almost gives up on her. knowing that if she stays in one of these vision/missions for too long, she will be trapped in them forever.

But the Mausoleum doesn't want to lose Dinah, and with her own self-destructive behavior, problems will get worse before they can get better. With such a weakness, the spirits will take advantage of it to kill Dinah, or drag her into their own worlds, their little pieces of Hell, forever. But will it take a meeting with the creatures and spirits behind the Mausoleum before Dinah can be healed of her grief? Or will her story end with the death of her friend?

While this book has three missions, it's more of an interlude in the middle of the story. Dinah must deal with the death of her friend, knowing she can't tell her aunt or any of her friends because they believe that Vincent has merely gone away. And yet, she must deal with it and grow stronger if she is to keep doing the job that the mausoleum wants her... needs her... to do. She couldn't have kept relying on Vincent forever. She must learn to stand on her own.

A sad book, but a necessary one. I really enjoyed it, and can't wait to see more. I like seeing how Dinah is growing with each volume. She may end up learning to be strong and self-reliant yet.