“Listen, you little pus bucket, I don’t care what you thought,” Galen hissed. “I know what you guys are doing. Everyone knows. More importantly, she knows.” He jerked his thumb toward me. “You’re playing games because you know she’s immune and you’ve all convinced yourself that you’ll be able to break her if you apply enough pressure. Well, I’m here to tell you that’s not going to happen. She’s stronger than you. All those plans you guys are making — the games you want to play — they’re not going to work.”
“They’re not,” Booker agreed, speaking for the first time in quite a while. “You can’t push her. She’s beyond us.”
Byron’s expression was smug. “No, you can’t push her, Booker. You’re not as strong as the rest of us. You chose to break from the confederation, so you’re not in practice. We’re beyond you.”
“Is that what you think?” Booker shook his head. “The only thing you’re beyond is help. I’m not telling you this to help her, though I would if I thought it mattered. I’m telling you this because she’s stronger than you.” He briefly flicked his eyes to an annoyed Galen. “He’s definitely stronger than you. He’ll rip your head off if you don’t stay away from her.”
“Gladly.” Galen slid his arm around my waist. He’d regained control of himself, and he seemed prepared to escape from the bar and enjoy the rest of our night. “Let’s get out of here, maybe go for a walk or something.”
The offer took me by surprise. “I thought you would demand we return to the lighthouse and lock ourselves inside.”
“I considered it. That was my first instinct.” His expression turned rueful. “The thing is, it’s not fair to you. This compromise thing only works if it benefits both of us.”
His smile was enough to melt my heart. “Can we go by the cemetery?”
The question didn’t surprise him. “Sure. I need to place a few calls anyway. You can have one hour to watch from your regular spot and I’ll make my calls from the other side.”
That sounded too good to be true. “Thank you.”
“No, thank you.” He leaned forward and kissed me, eliciting groans from Booker and Byron, although for completely different reasons. “Let’s get out of here. I’ve had enough of this place for one night. I’m now on Team Lilac. The sooner these cupids get out of here, the better.”
He wasn’t the only one who believed that.
THE CEMETERY WAS DARK AND quiet. Even though I could tell he wasn’t keen on allowing me to wander around by myself — Byron’s testosterone display at the bar only bolstered Galen’s argument that the cupids were crazy and I should stay away from them — he positioned himself on a bench at the front of the cemetery and offered up a wan smile.
“No more than one hour tonight,” he prodded. “I know you haven’t been here in a few weeks — that’s honestly what’s best for you — but I don’t want to be out in the open later than necessary.”
I stroked my hand over his arm. “An hour is plenty of time. They don’t do anything but walk around.”
“I know. Still ... it’s your mother. You want to spend time with her because ... well, just because.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead and hugged me. “I can’t pretend to know what you feel when you visit her. It’s obviously important to you, but I don’t think sitting here every night is healthy.”
“It settles me to see her. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like ... I’m not completely cut off from her. And, yes, I know that’s no longer her. But it still allows me to feel close.” I felt ridiculous as his eyes locked with mine. “I don’t think I’m explaining this well.”
“You don’t have to explain it.” He was firm. “You just have to do what you want to do.”
I pressed my head against his chest for a moment and squeezed him. “Thanks for this. I know it’s not how you want to spend your time.”
“It’s not that. It’s just ... I think there has to be a balance between watching the past and looking forward to the future. We need to look forward because constantly looking back is a good way to trip.”
Leave it to a law enforcement official to be pragmatic at a time like this. “Good point.” I kissed the corner of his mouth. “Come get me when you’re tired of waiting.”
“And you yell for me if a cupid shows up. I doubt they would be that stupid — and I’m guessing the cemetery isn’t a place where they’d assume we’d hang — but I don’t want to take any chances.”
“Fair enough.”
I wasn’t nervous as I pressed to the wall of the cemetery. They were high and made of cement — probably because the zombies inside might be able to escape if they were wrought iron fences with open fretwork — and even though they were painted a pleasing color, it was still a fancy cage.
Galen told me once that the first time the zombies rose they killed three people. They didn’t know it was going to happen. They had no idea who cursed the cemetery, or why, but they knew they had to round up the zombies and return them to their final resting places.
The initial inclination was to chop off their heads and be done with them. But because the bodies belonged to the loved ones of island natives, nobody had the stomach for that. Every day, the bodies crawled back into their graves, leaving an opening for maintenance of the grounds. At night, the zombies rose again.
Galen said the entire island worked together and erected the cemetery wall in three days. Nobody slept during that time. It was constant work. Because they were thinking ahead, they included a viewing window at the back of the property. This allowed residents to see their loved ones as often as possible without risk of limb or zombification.
Galen had brought me to the cemetery not long after I moved to the island. He seemed nervous at the time. I initially thought he was trying to romance me in an awkward way. When I saw the truth – that my mother was one of the undead – I felt sick to my stomach. Over time, I stopped feeling that way and grew grateful. I hadn’t known my mother in life. This little thing – seeing her walking around even though she was dead and gone – felt like a gift.
I sat on the bench and watched the beings inside shuffle around. Workers entered the cemetery during the day to make sure it stayed clean. During that time, solar lights were added to up the ambiance. That allowed me to see faces without direct light. Since some of those faces were decayed and falling apart, that wasn’t always welcome.
It took me a bit to find my mother. She was shuffling along one of the inner aisles when I caught sight of her. She didn’t look at me. She didn’t look at anything really. She just walked ... and walked and walked. There was nothing going on in her head. Instinctively, I knew that. I was also glad for it. The idea of her being trapped in her own head with some semblance of time passing while her body was forced to endlessly walk at night was almost too much to bear.
After that initial revelation, I visited the cemetery almost every night for two weeks. It took a toll on Galen. That’s when we were first dating, and he was fearful to push me too far. Once he got fed up, we sat down and had a long discussion. He laid out his concerns and I saw his point. I really was acting out of sorts. Sitting on a bench, wishing for things I could never have, definitely wasn’t healthy. I stopped going every day after that and instead made my visits rare. Galen reminded me that the occasional daydream was okay and never once gave me grief about visiting the cemetery.
I admired him for that.
I rubbed my sweaty palms on my knees as I watched the zombies shuffle. They were mindless, soulless and sometimes eyeless. They were husks that used to be people. Still, I felt privileged to be part of the contingent that was allowed to see them.
I was lost in thought as I watched my mother. I’d seen photographs, of course. She was a beautiful woman. Even though she was dead and walking around, the beauty was still obvious ... although tainted.
I let my mind wander to what might have been if she’d lived. It involved a fantasy about her bringing me to the island to make up with Wesley and May. My grandfather s
poiled me in the dream, which I made a mental note to tell him about later. He would get a kick out of it.
I was so lost in the reverie I almost didn’t notice the telltale scent until it was right on top of me. The sickeningly sweet smell of danger was different than that of the crusty death on the other side of the wall. I hopped to my feet when the rancid honey smell threatened to make me sick to my stomach. It was already too late. A set of strong hands were on my back and I was being pitched forward.
“You shouldn’t have done what you did,” he hissed, his blackened fingernails digging into the soft skin of my shoulder. “You should’ve just played the game. The outcome would’ve been better than this.”
I didn’t get long to think about what he was saying. Almost before I realized what was happening, I was floating upward — the incubus’s arm still pinning me to the wall and causing the cement to scrape against my shoulder and cheek. I couldn’t find my voice.
“Don’t bother trying to call for your little boyfriend,” he hissed, his voice oily and nasal. “I took care of him. He can’t help you.”
My heart thumped painfully. What did that mean? How did he take care of him? I didn’t get a chance to think about the possibilities, because I was quickly dragged to the top of the wall and dumped over the side. It was only when I reached the top that I understood what he was going to do, but it was too late to stop him. I was twenty feet in the air when he let me fly ... and I landed so hard on the other side of the wall that it knocked the wind out of me.
I remained flat on the ground, wondering if I was in shock because I didn’t immediately feel any broken bones. I did, however, hear moaning ... and that’s what brought me back to reality.
“Oh, geez.” Every muscle in my body screamed in agony when I rolled to a sitting position, my eyes going wide. The zombies, who had been following different walking patterns only seconds before, were fixated on me. They all shuffled in my direction.
“Oh, man!” I ignored the pain threatening to overwhelm me. Things would hurt a whole lot worse if I got eaten. I didn’t know much, but it was obvious I had to get out of my current predicament. I couldn’t let the zombies surround me. It would be all over then.
Because there was nothing else to do, I forced myself to hop on the nearest bench and then use the cement surface as leverage to haul myself to the top of one of the small mausoleums. I cringed when one of the taller zombies grabbed my foot, but he only managed to yank off my shoe before he lost his grip. I scrambled higher on the mausoleum, frowning when I couldn’t see over the fence.
Galen. That’s when my heart skipped a beat and I remembered what the incubus had said. Was he dead? I couldn’t believe that. The thought was too much.
My fingers were shaking when I dug into my pocket and retrieved my phone. I could only hope that it wasn’t broken. If it was, I would be stuck on the mausoleum with nothing to do but wait until dawn. Even then, the cemetery was locked from the outside. I had no idea how I would get out ... or more importantly, call Galen.
To my relief, the phone appeared to be working. I found Galen on my contact list and my stomach twisted when I heard faint ringing on the other side of the wall. Could he answer? Was it already too late?
He picked up on the second ring.
“What are you doing?” He sounded amused. “If you’re ready to leave, you can come back.”
I almost collapsed at the sound of his voice. “You’re okay.” I was breathless, while the zombies groaned and fruitlessly reached for me when they heard my voice.
“Of course I’m okay.” He chuckled. “Why wouldn’t I be okay? You just saw me.”
Hmm. How was I supposed to break the bad news without causing him to melt down? “So ... I need you to be calm.”
He was instantly alert. “What did you do? Do I need to come back there?”
“Yeah. It couldn’t hurt.” I rubbed my forehead as I pictured him racing around the side of the cemetery to find me. I watched the observation window with trepidation until he appeared in front of the window. “Be careful,” I warned through the phone. “The incubus was there a second ago.”
“Where are you?” he gritted out, his eyes wide as he scanned the area where I usually sat. He didn’t bother looking in the cemetery. I didn’t blame him. It seemed impossible that I would’ve ended up where I was.
“I’m not that far away,” I offered lamely. “Worry about the incubus, not me. He said he ... he said ... .” I fought off tears.
“Where are you?” Galen looked panicked as he looked behind the willow tree at the far side of the small clearing. “Does he have you?”
“No, but that doesn’t mean I’m not in trouble.”
“Hadley, I’m about to have a heart attack.” Galen’s tone told me he was at his limit. “Where are you?”
“Look through the window.”
“What?” His brow creased with puzzlement as he swiveled. Then, as if by magic, his eyes immediately went to where I sat on top of the mausoleum and his mouth dropped open. “How ... who ... what ... um ... ?”
“All excellent questions,” I muttered, rubbing my forehead. “I have an even better question: How am I going to get out of here?”
He didn’t immediately answer, which told me he didn’t know.
22
Twenty-Two
“I don’t want to stay here all night.”
That’s all I could think to say as I scrubbed at my cheeks. It took everything I had to ignore the zombies reaching for me … and not focus on the shoe they’d ripped off and thrown in the middle of the cemetery. It looked weird sitting there, alone and abandoned, as they tried to put their hands on something fresher. If I stayed in the center of the mausoleum roof they couldn’t reach me. That was about my only stroke of luck.
“You’re not staying there all night.” Galen sounded breathless as he moved closer to the observation window and gaped. “Oh, geez. How did this happen?”
“I don’t know.” That was the truth. “Can an incubus fly? I guess that would make sense because he’s been coming to my second-story window. I didn’t think much about it before. He kind of floated me up the wall and dumped me over the top.”
“Why didn’t you yell for me?”
“Because ... because ... hey!” I went from feeling helpless to irritated. “It’s not my fault. He took me by surprise. He insinuated he did something to you. It was over in a matter of seconds. Before I even realized what was happening he’d already dropped me. You need to watch your back.”
“I’m not worried about my back. I’m worried about your back.” He stared at the phone a minute and then pressed it to his ear again. “I am not abandoning you, but I need to disconnect this call so I can get help.”
I didn’t like the sound of that one bit. “I don’t want to be alone.”
He pressed his hand to the other side of the glass. He was close and yet so far away. “You’re not alone. I’m right here. I need my phone to get help.”
My eyes burned with unshed tears, but I nodded. “Okay.” I moved to hang up but he stopped me.
“Wait. You weren’t bitten, were you?”
I shook my head. “No. I acted fast ... but I hurt.”
“Do you have any broken bones?”
“I don’t think so. I can’t really stretch out to test them right now.”
“I guess not.” He pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead. “You need to stay right there. Don’t let them get hold of you.”
“Oh, really?” I offered him a pronounced eye roll. “I never would’ve thought of that.”
Instead of being offended, he chuckled. “There’s my girl.” He kept his hand pressed against the window. “I’ll have you out of there as soon as possible. Don’t panic.”
“I’m not panicking.” Yet. I wasn’t panicking yet. I had no idea how long that would last.
“I love you, Hadley.” He was earnest as he said the words and I knew, more than anything, he needed to hear them back.
“I’m working on it.” He sounded sure of himself. “It won’t be long. Trust me.”
“I trust you. Just ... hurry.”
“I’m on it.”
I WASN’T SURPRISED THAT “the help” Galen called in took the form of Lilac and Booker. They arrived within minutes and seemed equally as stumped when they saw my predicament. What did surprise me is that the fire department arrived five minutes later. Galen had at least ten people milling on the other side of the window, but they didn’t appear to be doing anything but talking.
Out of frustration, I called him again. He sounded tense when he answered.
“We’re working on it,” was all he said.
“Work faster. I’m starting to ache all over from the fall.”
His gaze was grave when it locked with mine. “Do you think you have internal injuries?”
“How should I know?” I barked. “They would be inside, not somewhere I could see.”
He remained calm, which I figured was due to his training. “Tell me what you feel.”
“I feel ... achy. I don’t think anything inside is broken. I just want to go home.” I managed to swallow a sob, but just barely. “You’re not going to leave me here all night, are you?”
He didn’t immediately answer, which told me that he’d been considering just that.
“Give me the phone,” Booker ordered. When Galen didn’t immediately relinquish it, the cupid wrestled it from him and pressed it to his ear. “We have to be careful sending in a team.”
“You must have a plan for this,” I complained. “You can’t tell me you didn’t consider what would happen if someone got into the cemetery after dark.”
To Spell With It Page 20
