It was surreal to think that each patch – and there were at least fifty of them – belonged to a body I burned. Zombies? That was a convenient word, but I wasn’t sure what we were dealing with. The things that came out of the woods were clearly mindless. Whether they were controlled by something or someone else, though, was anyone’s guess.
“You did what you had to do.”
Aric snuck up behind me and rested his hand on my shoulder. I usually feel his steady presence before he touches me, even though he can get close without my knowledge. But this morning my reactions were muted. I guess there are worse things than having a loving husband catch you off guard.
“I know,” I said, shifting my gaze over my shoulder. “Last night is kind of muddled in my head after a certain point. I’m not sure what’s real and what’s a dream.”
“You’re my dream.” Aric’s eyes sparkled as he offered me a lopsided grin.
“Very cute,” I said, squeezing his hand before moving toward one of the burned patches. “I kind of lost myself a bit last night. It was like when I first absorbed the book and couldn’t control anything.”
Aric hated it when I brought up absorbing The Archimage thirteen years ago. He’d been against the action when I suggested it, but I was out of options and desperately needed to save my parents at the time, so I took the mystical book inside of me and it increased my power exponentially. Unfortunately, right after the deed was done I almost went off the rails and committed mass murder before he talked me down. It was still something of a sore subject.
“You were in constant control, Zoe,” Aric said. “You never slipped. You never lost yourself.”
“Then why can’t I remember? Why is everything so ridiculously fuzzy?”
“Because you drained yourself,” Aric replied. “You expended so much power I thought you were going to kill yourself. You were pale when I got to you, barely on your feet. You refused to quit, though.”
“I just remember thinking about Sami and her friends.” I pressed the heel of my hand to my forehead, weariness momentarily draining me. “I’m already the least popular mom at the school. If a bunch of kids die on my watch, they’ll shun me.”
Aric snorted, genuinely amused. “I’ll never shun you.” He pulled me in for a hug. “I love you, Zoe. It’s going to be okay.”
“How many times do you think you’ll have to say that?” I challenged. “We always think it’s going to be okay, and then something else happens.”
“Yes, well, we’re getting ahead of this one,” Aric said. “My parents will be here in a few minutes. Dad has been on the phone with people all morning. He thinks he has some information.”
“Oh, well, I can’t wait to listen to your parents tell me how I screwed up burning zombies in the yard in front of Sami’s friends,” I muttered, leaning my face against Aric’s chest as he stroked the back of my head. “That should make my day complete.”
“If they do that, I’ll kick them out,” Aric said. “You did what you had to do last night. There were too many of them to take on any other way.”
“Yes, well, somehow I have a feeling that your mother will feel differently.”
“Let’s wait until she shows attitude before giving it back, huh?” Aric suggested, cupping my chin and forcing me to meet his gaze. “We’ll figure it out. I promise.”
I could only hope he was right.
SAMI pouted in her room until she heard her grandparents park in the driveway. Instead of acknowledging Aric and me in the living room, she bolted past us and threw open the door.
James Winters caught Sami as the girl threw her arms around his neck and immediately started complaining. He furrowed his brow as he listened to a long list of complaints. His wife, Helen, tried to remove Sami from her husband’s embrace so she could shower her with attention, but Sami was having none of it. She knew her grandfather would be the one to spoil her first.
“And then they said I can’t go to camp tomorrow, and that’s so unfair,” Sami said, winding up her story. “Mom killed everything in the yard. There was a ton of fire, and everyone thinks she’s a fireworks geek. It’s so annoying.”
James smiled at his only grandchild, the expression indulgent and worried at the same time. He enjoyed being her hero, but he also fancied himself the king of security. There was no way he would agree to putting Sami in danger.
“I’m sure your parents are merely trying to keep you safe,” James said, resting his hand on Sami’s head and taking a step back so Helen could embrace the girl. “They don’t mean to be the worst parents ever.” His eyes twinkled as they moved to Aric and me, although the smile faltered when his gaze landed on my face. I could tell that my appearance jarred him, but he was too much of a gentleman to comment.
Helen had no such problem.
“You look terrible, Zoe,” Helen clucked, moving to my side. “You’re completely white and you have huge circles under your eyes. Do you need help with your makeup?”
I opened my mouth to answer, a scathing retort on the tip of my tongue, but Aric did it for me.
“She doesn’t need makeup,” Aric snapped, slipping his arm around my waist. “She’s beautiful the way she is.”
Helen was taken aback by her son’s attitude. “I was merely suggesting that she would feel better if she looked better.”
Aric narrowed his eyes. “She looks perfect.”
“She looks like that stuff I find between my toes in the shower,” Sami corrected. “I think she should go back to bed and not wake up until she says I can go to summer camp.”
“So you want me to sleep forever?” I challenged.
“No. I … Grandpa!” Sami stomped her foot as James rolled his neck. He clearly didn’t like being caught in the middle, especially because I knew he would ultimately agree with Aric and me regarding Sami’s safety.
“Sami, let me talk to your parents for a bit,” James suggested, buying time. “I’m sure we can figure something out.”
“I agree,” I said, offering Sami a challenging look. “I think we’ll figure out that you’re not going to camp.”
“You suck!” Sami jerked away from James and stormed toward the house. “I can’t believe you’re ruining my summer.”
Aric pinched the bridge of his nose as James and Helen shuffled up the front walkway. “I think we should’ve given her away to the circus folk when she was a kid, like you wanted,” he said. “Life would be so much easier if we had.”
“Don’t even joke about things like that,” Helen complained, smacking her son’s arm. “That’s not funny.”
“Oh, it’s a little funny,” Aric said, offering his mother a hug and his father one of those lame man hugs with one arm and a hard pat on the back. “We have to get our laughs somewhere today.”
“I can see that,” James said, stopping in front of me. “Should you be up? You look … .”
“Terrible?” I suggested.
“I was going to say tired,” James countered. “Now that you mention it, though, you do look a little rough around the edges.”
“I think that’s your father’s way of saying I should put a bag over my head,” I said to Aric, forcing a rueful smile. “I have a feeling it’s going to be a long day.”
“I have a feeling you’re right,” James said, following us into the house.
I offered everyone drinks, but Helen insisted on getting them herself so I could rest. I moved to sit on the footstool in front of Aric’s regular recliner, but he tugged me down on his lap instead. He was insistent on keeping me close, which made me suspicious that he was as worried about my appearance as his mother was. That was a frightening thought.
“Here’s some juice,” Helen said, handing me a huge glass of tomato juice. “You need some nutrients, dear.”
“I had a huge breakfast,” I said, accepting the glass. “I’m fine. I’m sure I’ll look normal tomorrow.”
“You look fine.” Aric kissed my cheek. “But drink that juice. I’m going to feed you eight
times today if I have to. You really are pale.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize, Zoe,” Aric chided. “You saved the kid and all of her friends last night. You have nothing to apologize about.”
“Certainly not,” James said. “In fact, what you did was nothing short of extraordinary given what you were up against.”
“And what was that?” I asked, genuinely curious. “I couldn’t figure out what they were. I opted to burn first and ask questions later. Unfortunately for us, I burned everything, so there was no one to question.”
“They wouldn’t have been able to answer anyway.” James mindlessly rubbed his hands together. “Trust me on that point.”
“Why is that?” Aric asked. “What were they?”
“Well, I can’t be completely sure, but there was a news story on the radio this afternoon,” James said. “It seems fifty bodies went missing from a cemetery about three miles from here. Witnesses say it looked as if the bodies had crawled out of the graves themselves.”
My heart rolled and my stomach constricted.
“But … how is that possible?” Aric asked, dumbfounded. “That means they were … .” He darted a look in my direction.
“Say it,” I prodded. “I dare you.”
Aric made an annoyed face, but acquiesced. “That means they were zombies,” he admitted.
“I told you!” I extended my finger and waved it in his face. I suddenly felt so much better. “I told you they were zombies. And you said I was crazy and stupid for thinking that.”
“I’m fairly certain I didn’t use any of those words,” Aric argued. “Drink your juice.”
“You just don’t want me to do my ‘I’m right’ dance,” I grumbled.
“You can do that dance as many times as you want if you drink that juice and regain your strength,” Aric countered. “I will gladly watch it a hundred times. I happen to love that dance … especially when you’re naked.”
“All right, that’s enough of that,” James said, his forehead creasing. “Must you two always be so … free … with your love?”
“It’s better than charging for it,” I offered. “That would be illegal and kinky.”
“Drink your juice, Zoe,” James ordered, shaking his head. “I don’t understand why you must be so difficult all of the time.”
“I think I was born this way.”
“I guess that explains why Sami has your flair for the dramatic down to a science,” Helen said.
I pursed my lips. I couldn’t decide if that was an insult or a compliment. Given Helen’s expression, I was leaning toward insult. “Yes, Sami is a delight, isn’t she?” I said. “She’s going to make some man very happy one day … just like her father.”
Despite the tension rolling through the room, Aric chuckled. “Oh, I can’t wait to meet that poor schmuck,” he said. “But I don’t want to meet him until she’s thirty. That’s the rule.”
“Yeah, good luck with that,” I said. “My father said the same thing. Look what happened to me.”
“You got very lucky,” Helen sniffed, her eyes flashing. “My son loves you.”
“She was joking, Mom,” Aric said, huffing out an exaggerated sigh. “Do we have to turn this into an argument? Go back to the zombies, Dad. How could someone raise the dead like that?”
James shrugged. “I honestly have no idea,” he replied. “We could be dealing with a witch … or a necromancer … or something else entirely. I don’t know.”
“I had a feeling all day yesterday,” I admitted. “It was … dread.”
Aric’s eyes were keen when he shifted them to me. “You did say something about that before Sami’s friends arrived for the party,” he said. “I guess next time we’ll know to follow your instincts.”
“What do you feel now?” James asked. “Do you have the same feeling?”
“Unfortunately, I feel empty today,” I replied. “I don’t feel as if I’m on top of my game. I can generally sense Aric when he’s extremely close – or when I put some effort into it – and he managed to sneak up on me in the yard. I think that means I need to recharge and my trouble-detecting skills will be on the fritz until I do.”
“The cleanup crew said you burned the bodies so hot there was nothing left,” James said. “I think that’s good for us, because nothing can ever be tied back to you as the body search continues.”
“I think that might be wishful thinking,” I said. “I’m sure they’ve got dogs tracking those bodies. They’ll head straight in this direction.”
“We’ll deal with that if it comes to it,” Aric said. “It’s not a major worry for me. My biggest concern is Sami. We can’t let her out of this house to go to camp. We don’t know if she was the target.”
“I would assume Zoe was the target, but you’re right,” James said. “Sami was the target last time, and now that she’s reached the age of maturity … .”
“She’s still a child,” I countered, cutting him off. “I know that wolves believe children are essentially adults at twelve, but that’s not how it works in this house.”
“We don’t believe children are adults at the age of twelve,” James clarified. “It’s a symbolic birthday. In fact … .” He bit his lip and stared through the bay window that looked out upon the woods as he considered how to proceed.
“Just spit it out,” I suggested. “I don’t have the energy for you to manipulate me. I know you want something. It’s written all over your face.”
“It’s not that I want something,” James clarified. “All right, I do. It’s more that I think it would be good for everyone if you agreed to it.”
That sounded potentially awful. I could just tell I was going to hate his suggestion. “And what is it you want me to agree to?”
“I’m not sure I want to tell you, because you’re so tired,” James admitted. “You might be more receptive to the idea after a good night’s sleep.”
I stubbornly crossed my arms over my chest. “Probably not.”
“No, probably not,” James conceded, heaving a huge sigh. “All right, I might as well just say it and let you shoot me down.”
“Oh, don’t be passive aggressive,” I said. “Sami does that, and it drives me crazy.”
“Join the club,” Aric said, moving my hair away from the back of my neck so he could massage the kinks out of my tense muscles. “What do you want us to do?”
“It’s really something that will help you,” James said, changing tactics. “There might be people there who know what’s happening … or what kind of enemy you’re facing. We have a council of elders, and they’re very wise.”
I couldn’t grasp what he was babbling about, but Aric was ten steps ahead of me because he immediately started shaking his head.
“No way,” Aric said, his voice low. “I told you years ago that was never going to happen.”
“What is he talking about?” I asked, shifting on Aric’s lap.
“Drink your juice,” Aric ordered, his eyes never moving from his father’s face. “I can’t believe you’re even suggesting this, Dad.”
I made a big show about downing half of my juice – and refusing to wipe my mouth because I was feeling petulant – before asking the obvious question a second time. “What is he talking about?”
“Aric, it may be the best chance you have of keeping your family safe,” James argued. “You know that as well as I do. I don’t understand why you’re so opposed to this course of action.”
“Okay, I can’t take much more of this,” I said. “Either someone tell me what’s going on, or I’m going to blow up Helen’s suitcase and ruin whatever fancy clothes she has in there.”
“Zoe!” Helen was horrified. “Don’t you dare!”
“It’s the annual wolf gathering in the Upper Peninsula,” Aric supplied. “It’s a big deal, and my dad has been trying to get us to attend ever since we got married.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“That’s because
I always turned him down,” Aric said. “I knew it wouldn’t be your thing.”
How did he know that? I wasn’t even sure I knew what my thing was. “Well, I’m sure we could’ve gone at least once if it was important to you,” I suggested.
“Ha!” James crowed, puffing out his chest. “I knew she wouldn’t be nearly as opposed as you thought she’d be. She’s reasonable.”
That seemed like a gross exaggeration. I’m very rarely reasonable. “I don’t want to go,” I clarified. “If it’s important to Aric, though, I don’t see why we can’t go.”
“It’s not important to me,” Aric said. “It’s important to my father. I don’t care about the gathering. I’ve never cared about the gathering.”
“You used to love going there when you were a kid,” Helen argued. “It’s only after you married a mage that you refuse to go. Everyone assumed you would take your place on the leadership council one day, but that all ended when you decided to marry Zoe.”
Ah, there it was. I pursed my lips and tilted my head to the side as I considered the statement. “Oh.”
“No, that’s not what happened,” Aric argued, shifting me so I remained on the chair and he could stand. “I’m not dealing with this right now. We have other things to worry about. The wolf council is extremely low on my to-do list.”
“But they could help,” James pleaded. “Plus, Sami is twelve now. She should meet others of her kind. You’ve kept her isolated.”
“And she’s going to stay that way,” Aric growled. “I just … I know exactly what you’re doing, Dad. Knock it off. We have big problems in this house. I mean … freaking zombies attacked! Focus on that. Forget about the council.”
I rubbed my forehead as I watched Aric storm from the room. I had no idea where he was going, but he was agitated. I couldn’t exactly figure out why. Something about this wolf council irritated him – and I doubted it was for the same reasons it would probably irritate me.
“Zoe, you should talk to him,” James suggested, adopting a reasonable tone. “If anyone can make him see this is a good idea, it’s you. He always goes along with your suggestions.”
Dying Covenant: The Complete Series Page 30
