by C. C. Wood
"Jesus, Zoe. Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
I sucked in a breath that shuddered in my chest. My lungs didn't want to function.
"Zoe? Talk to me, baby."
"I killed him," I whispered to Mal.
At first, I didn't think he heard me. Until he said, "You did what you had to do, Zoe. He kidnapped you and you had no way of knowing what he planned to do to you."
"It doesn't matter," I mumbled, letting my body collapse against his. "It doesn't matter. He's dead and I did it. I stole his life. His energy. Just like the cemetery."
Mal sat back and pulled me into his lap. He rocked me like a child, his hand rubbing soothing circles on my back. He didn't say anything else.
"Mal!" Blaine's voice cut through the trees. "Did you find her?"
"We're over here! She's safe!"
I knew I should get up, do something to help the man who'd grabbed me, but I was completely numb. I couldn't move, but maybe Mal could.
"You should give him CPR," I mumbled into his chest. "It may not be too late."
Mal stopped rocking me and leaned back so I could see his face. "It's too late, Zoe. I'm sorry."
Another shudder wracked my body. "Oh, God," I moaned.
"Hey, hey, hey," he murmured, cupping my cheek. "Look at him, Zoe. Really look at him."
"I can't," I croaked. "I can't."
"Look at his skin and his eyes. He's been dead for a long time, Zoe. Longer than the last five minutes." Mal touched the man's arm. "His skin is too cool and his color is wrong."
I lifted my head at his words and stared at the prone body of the giant on the ground. I'd seen enough dead bodies, both old and new, to recognize one. If I hadn't been so panicked when he grabbed me, I would have sensed it then. He had no soul. I could always feel them hovering nearby the recently deceased and there was nothing.
"He was already dead," I murmured to myself. "I didn't kill him." I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "I didn't kill him," I repeated, more for my benefit than anyone else's. I hadn't taken a life. Relief washed over me.
Blaine, Stony, and Jonelle crashed to a halt in front of us.
Jonelle ran over to me and crouched down, laying her hand on my shoulder. Magic engulfed me for a brief moment, making my skin tingle, then she released me and sighed.
"Thank God, you're okay," she said.
"I'm not hurt."
"I know. I just had to see for myself," she replied. That explained the warm embrace of magic.
Jezzy and Rafe appeared a few moments later, moving fast. While Jezzy was out of breath and damp with sweat, Rafe looked utterly composed, as though he'd been taking a leisurely stroll through the woods rather than running. I briefly wondered if he was actually an android and if Beatrix had created him the way Glenn Close had made Christopher Walken in the remake of The Stepford Wives.
It was official. I'd lost my mind. I sat three feet from a dead man and I was thinking about movies.
"Are you all right?" Jezzy asked.
"Fine." I gestured toward the motionless body of the huge man who'd grabbed me. "But he's dead."
Rafe and Jezzy approached the corpse. Her face paled when she saw him. "He's been dead for a while. How. . ." She turned to look at me and fell silent.
I shrugged. "I didn't do anything to him. I'm a medium, not a witch. Remember?"
"Of course," she murmured. "I've never seen anything like this before."
"Well, here's an important question," Jonelle interrupted. "What do we do with him? We can't just leave him here. We need to know what happened to him and why he grabbed Zoe."
"I don't think he's in any shape to tell us," I muttered. "Since he's dead."
Jonelle shook her head. "There are ways to find out. Reanimation spells, for one."
"That's a bad idea." Jezzy's reply was vehement and her pale face was stricken. "If he was under the influence of magic earlier, it's possible that he would be dangerous if reanimated. There's no telling what could happen if the spells intermingled."
"Then what would you suggest?" Jonelle asked, her tone biting. "We can't just leave him here."
"We need to burn the body," Jezzy answered.
"Absolutely not," Mal argued. "He may have family who will wonder what happened to him."
"If we don't burn the body, he could rise and come after Zoe again. Whoever controls him is strong, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to animate a dead body," she argued
I leaned against Mal, my mind drifting as he continued to argue with Jezzy. Now that the adrenaline rush was gone, my body felt sluggish and my brain was foggy. I wanted to lie down and sleep for a few hours.
"We can't risk it."
Rafe's voice was so unexpected and unfamiliar that it brought me out of my fugue. I looked up in time to see him lift a hand. He murmured a few words and a ball of flame formed in the palm of his hand, burning so hot that it was blue rather than red-orange. Then he flung it at the body.
Mal rolled to the side, putting his body between me and the inferno that suddenly consumed the corpse. Everyone else jumped back with a cry.
Before I could wrap my brain around the fact that there was a burning body just a few feet from me, Mal gently deposited me farther from the flames and leaped to his feet.
"What the hell are you doing?" he shouted at Rafe. "You could have killed one of us!"
Rafe stared at Mal, his eyes still covered by the dark glasses. His expression was utterly composed, as though setting fire to a dead body and being yelled at by an irate, muscular man was an ordinary part of his day.
"It was too dangerous to take him with us and he could hurt someone else if we left him here. He had to be destroyed," he replied. I could barely hear his voice over the crackle of flames. "It was our only choice."
"No, it wasn't," Mal argued.
"It was. When you calm down, you'll see that." Rafe turned his back on all of us and headed back toward Francesca and Selene's house without another word. Forget creepy. I was beginning to suspect he was an android. Except for the fact that he seemed to have a great deal of power.
Mal faced Jezzy. "Can you put out the fire?"
She shook her head. "Rafe is pyrokinetic. His power is off the charts. It's burning too hot and fast. There's no spell I could cast. It'll just have to burn itself out."
The scent of cooking meat filled the air and I nearly retched. "I can't stay here," I stated, backing away from the flames.
Mal put his hand on my back and lead me away from the site. Blaine, Stony, and Jonelle followed.
Blaine turned back. "Are you coming with us?" he asked Jezzy.
"I can't. I need to make sure the fire doesn't spread."
"I'm taking Zoe back to the hotel," Mal stated. "If you or your high priestess want to speak with us, you can meet us there. But keep Rafe away. He nearly burned Zoe."
Jezzy didn't say anything else, her white face rigid and frightened behind the wall of flames.
My legs were shaky as we walked through the trees. I hadn't realized how much ground we'd covered earlier. I knew the giant carrying me had preternatural speed, but it was disconcerting now that I finally understood exactly how far we'd gone. He could have killed me before anyone would have caught up to us.
I stiffened my legs when Mal looked at me more than once as though he intended to sweep me off my feet if I stumbled even a little bit. If I stopped walking, I would pass out and I needed to think first.
Though I had no evidence to prove it, I was almost certain that the giant who kidnapped me was somehow connected to Selene's kidnappers.
When we all reached the van, Mal didn't hesitate. He helped me into the front seat and turned to the others. "We're going back to the hotel. Load up."
No one argued but both guys and Jonelle looked thoroughly freaked out. They climbed inside the van and buckled up in silence.
It wasn't until we were on the road back to the hotel that I realized that Teri had disappeared earlier.
I opened my mouth t
o tell Mal to turn around and go back when she popped into existence next to me. Strangely, I hadn't felt her presence at all, not even peripherally.
And I wasn't the only person in the van who jumped in shock when she appeared. Blaine made a noise halfway between and shout and a yelp and Mal swerved over the centerline of the road.
"What the fuck?!" Stony yelled from the backseat.
It was official. Everyone could see Teri now.
What in the hell was going on?
"Thank the sweet baby Jesus," Teri gasped, leaning against the console between the front seats. "I didn't think I was going to be able to come back."
"Where were you?" I asked.
"I don't know. Someplace cold and dark. Someplace I never want to go back to. It was worse than being dead. It was like I no longer existed."
The shit had officially hit the fan.
Chapter Fifteen
Stony, Blaine, Mal, and Jonelle all stared at Teri as she paced the floor in Mal's suite. Her body was no longer opaque but appeared nearly three dimensional rather than flat like a ghost's usually did.
And everyone could see her.
Needless to say, my friends were in shock. While Mal and the guys had experienced paranormal phenomenon before, they'd never actually seen a ghost. They recorded voices, filmed ghosts moving things, and used me as an intermediary, but they had never witnessed a spirit with their own eyes. Combine that with the stress from running through the woods earlier and, well, they were having trouble processing.
So far, they were so focused on Teri that we hadn't discussed the strange man who'd grabbed me at the house or what his possible motives could have been.
I couldn't blame them. Especially Jonelle. For years, she knew of Teri's existence but she'd never been able to actually see her. After Teri's abrupt appearance in the van, Jonelle had barely spoken five words. I think it was the first time I'd seen her speechless in our decades-long friendship.
It would be funny if there wasn't so much crazy shit going on.
"Okay, guys. You can see me. I know my gorgeousness is a shock, but let's try to focus on the fact that someone tried to kidnap Zoe and managed to keep me locked in darkness for a good two hours!"
I propped my elbow on the arm of the sofa and rested my head in my hand. I didn't understand why I was so sleepy, even after the cup of tea that Mal had brewed for me. My eyelids lowered and my breathing deepened. Maybe if I just shut my eyes for a few minutes I'd feel better.
"Zoe!"
I sat upright and looked around. Everyone was staring at me expectantly, except Mal. He looked like he wanted to throw something. He didn't seem to be angry with me, so I assumed he was mad over the entire situation. What was going on with me? Why was I so tired?
"What?"
"Did the man say anything to you when he grabbed you?" Jonelle asked. I assumed she was repeating herself since she'd been the one to call my name.
"No. I don't think he could speak. In fact, I don't think he was inside his body at all. When Mal pointed it out, I realized that I didn't feel his soul nearby. He's been dead for a while, maybe a few days or even a week."
"So what does that mean?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. I don't understand enough about magic to figure it out. I'd try to call Angie, but I doubt she'll answer. She hasn't responded to the last few messages I left her." This was a hell of a time for her to vanish on us. And it was also a wake-up call. We were depending on Angie too much. Jonelle and I needed to do more research, study harder. I felt like we were fighting through this mess completely blind.
Jonelle shook her head. "I know of some reanimation spells but they only keep the deceased alive for a few minutes. Just long enough to ask them questions. But I've never heard of anything like this. I wouldn't know where to start."
"The magic inside him was foul. Soured like it had been tainted," I commented. "I pulled at it, trying to make him stop, and it didn't feel like the magic of a living creature."
"Wait, you could feel his magic?" Mal asked.
I'd said too much. I guess it didn't matter anymore. Mal saw me bring those plants back to life. He knew I'd been keeping secrets.
"A few days ago, when I was at the cemetery with Angie, something strange happened. I was trying to focus my power and it spiked. No, that's the wrong word. It grew so quickly and so big that I couldn't hold on to it. I nearly raised the entire cemetery. The power just exploded out of me. I managed to catch it and pull it back. When I finished, all the grass and plants around me were dead. It was like I sucked the life out of them. Then suddenly today, I could see auras around plants and people. Their magic, I guess. Or maybe their lifeforce"
"Why would you think it was their lifeforce? What does that even mean?" Jonelle asked.
I took a deep breath and blew it out. "Remember the visitor I had this morning?" I asked, looking at Mal. He nodded. "I think it has something to do with Adrian, with Death. I think my abilities to see these things and do what I did in the cemetery are tied to him."
"Wait, who's Adrian? How'd he die?" Jonelle asked.
Dammit. This was getting too deep, too quickly. I'd exposed all my secrets in one fell swoop.
"I had a dream. Or a vision." I waved a hand. "I'm not sure which, but apparently the reason I can see and control ghosts is because I'm a descendant of Death's human construct."
Jonelle gaped at me, once again speechless. Stony and Blaine looked just as dumbfounded. I knew they would have questions once the shock faded, but I honestly didn't have the energy to deal with them tonight.
"Why didn't you tell me about what happened at the cemetery?" Mal asked quietly.
"Because it's scary. I literally killed those plants. Drained them dry. That's what I was trying to do to that man earlier. It was the only way I could fight back." My throat felt tight and I cleared it. "I'm a monster, Mal."
He leaned closer to me and put his arms around me. "You aren't a monster. You never could be."
"I can kill things with my magic. That's the very definition of a monster."
"Having the ability to do something doesn't make you monstrous. What you choose to do with it, that's what matters. You would never hurt someone unless you had no other choice."
Mal released me and I looked at everyone else. Jonelle shook her head at me.
"You're my best friend. If you killed someone, I would help you hide the body, no question. You know that."
Stony was staring at me with an expression of awe on his face. "You're a badass, Zoe Thorne"
Blaine nodded.
None of them were looking at me in disgust or fear. They seemed completely unperturbed by this new information.
"But don't think that I'm letting go of this whole descendant of Death thing because I have a lot of questions," Jonelle said.
"I told you," Teri gloated. "They don't care. They love you."
"You knew?" Jonelle asked, turning toward Teri.
"Shit, I forgot they can see and hear me now." She looked at me. "Sorry."
I sighed. "Teri was at the cemetery when it happened. I told her I wanted to keep it quiet."
"So this is why you've been acting weird?" Mal asked.
I nodded.
"We need to focus," Blaine said. "What's the timeline here?"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"What happened first? Selene or the cemetery? When did Adrian contact you?"
"The cemetery," I answered. "Then Selene appeared to me for the first time that night. And again two days later. Then yesterday morning before we left for Austin. Adrian didn't show up until last night."
"But Selene and her mother disappeared at least two weeks ago, judging by what we found today at the house." Stony pointed out.
"True." Blaine leaned back in his chair. "So maybe the manifestation of Zoe's powers isn't connected to Selene."
"Were we assuming that there was a connection?" Mal asked.
"I thought there might have been," Blaine explained. "I mean, I didn'
t think it could be a coincidence that Selene appeared to Zoe on the exact same night she discovered new powers. But that means whoever kidnapped Selene would have known about Zoe's magic before she did and was waiting for it to manifest."
"Maybe they don't know about Zoe's new powers," Teri interrupted. "Maybe they know that she can raise zombies and talk to ghosts. Angie's always going on and on about how Zoe's the first necromancer in centuries, so maybe it has nothing to do with her new powers, but her previously established ones."
"Why are we assuming that this has something to do with me?" I asked.
Everyone turned and looked at me as one.
"Maybe it's completely unrelated," I continued. "Maybe I'm the only person that Selene could reach."
"Maybe," Mal agreed. "But an astral projection isn't like a spirit. You don't need special abilities to see one. But you are one of a kind and a frightened child would be the perfect bait to get you down here, away from friends and family."
"And I don't think it's a coincidence that there was a creature waiting for you at Francesca and Selene's house," Blaine stated.
"So what's our next move? How can we find Selene and her mother and protect Zoe?" Stony asked.
We all stared at each other in silence.
Then I remembered something.
"The bag," I said to Mal. "Do you still have the bag we found in Francesca's kitchen?"
Mal startled then reached into his pocket. "I'd completely forgotten about it."
When he pulled the bag free and put it on the coffee table, Jonelle made a pained noise and recoiled from it. Her face paled as she stared at it.
"Where did you get that?" she asked, her eyes wide and horrified, as though Mal had just tossed a severed hand onto the coffee table rather than an innocuous grey bag.
"Francesca's kitchen, in the back of her junk drawer," Mal answered.
"We need to burn it," Jonelle said. "As soon as possible."
"What is it?" Mal asked, his eyes moving from Jonelle back to the bag.
"A curse. A really nasty one." Jonelle jumped to her feet and walked as far away from the bag as she could get. "You didn't open it, did you?"
Mal shook his head.
