by Anna Abner
“Bossy, isn’t she?” Tony snorted. “Who’s the necromancer here? You or her?”
Dani continued, “Let’s practice a couple of basic spells before we go to the hospital.”
“Yeah, sure,” David agreed. “We’re on a roll, right?” Then why did his skin feel too tight to contain him? Because not only was magic real, he could control it. Well, sort of. “How does this work, Tony?”
“I have spirit power. I’ll let you borrow it so you can cast a spell.”
“You have the power?”
“Yes. And you’re one of the very few who can channel it. That’s your job. Or your gift, whatever you want to call it.”
Maybe a curse. “Does it hurt?” David had already felt enough magic to know it did, but if it got any worse, he wanted a heads up.
“I don’t know.” Tony squinted at David’s softball gear, distracted.
“Am I your first necromancer?”
“I’ve only been dead a few months,” Tony snarked. “What the hell did you think I was doing? Instantly whoring myself out to power junkies like you?”
David didn’t consider himself a power addict, but was that his fated path? Would casting spells become addictive? He snuck a glance at Dani. Was she addicted to magic? Is that why she was so motivated to get hers back?
Tony flickered in front of the closed garage door and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his belted khakis. Every move decried him human, but he definitely was not. For one thing, if the light was right, David could see through him.
“When did you die?” David asked.
“Four and a half months ago.”
God, he was so young. And so freshly passed. Five months ago he’d had a beating heart and solid flesh and a future. “Do you mind if I ask how?”
“I was talking on my phone at night. I crossed the street, but I wasn’t paying attention. I got hit by a truck.”
“No way.” He knew this kid. Well, knew of him. “You’re Anthony Pickett. The whole town grieved your death. It was so tragic. There was a memorial for you on Gum Branch for weeks and weeks. God, there might still be flowers in front of the bakery where you were hit.”
He’d heard about Tony’s death, and he’d ached at such a pointless loss. Now, the boy was trapped in some kind of purgatory. Voiceless. Probably scared and alone.
“David?” Dani’s voice broke through his reverie. “We need to stay on track here, please. We can reminisce later. Okay? Are you good with that?”
“Yeah.” With fresh eyes he studied Tony from his tousled black hair to his red-and-white skate shoes. God, he was just a boy. Not much older than Ryan. “All right. I’m focusing.”
“Here, I’ll draw—”
“Let me. I need to—”
David grabbed the chalk from Dani’s hand and their fingers brushed. Dani whipped away like she’d been scalded by a hot pan.
It stung. It really did. He was already raw from everything that had happened, and to be treated like filth both hurt his feelings and wounded his pride. It reminded him, again, of the way she’d held herself when he kissed her. The way she’d refused to hug his son. Now she couldn’t even bear the touch of his hand?
“Forget it.” He threw down the chalk, shattering it into splinters, and marched for the door. “I thought I could, but I can’t do this.”
“You said you’d help,” Tony called after him.
Dani blocked his exit, arms spread wide. “Please don’t give up. We’re so close.”
But David didn’t hear her. All he pictured was her stiff, cold body when Ryan hugged her. Her stiff, cold body when he’d kissed her. “Am I that disgusting to you?”
Her brow puckered as if he’d shocked her. “What?”
“Forget it.” He ducked around her, but she trailed him into the living room.
“No. Wait. What do you mean, disgusting?”
“You can’t bear the touch of my fingers?” he said, getting worked up despite his need to stay calm. “Like I have a disease? What, you can’t touch me unless we’re running for our lives?”
He had Anthony flipping Pickett’s ghost staring at him and the lingering charge of magic on his skin, and he didn’t know how to process all this and Dani’s rejection, too.
David spun on Dani. “Well. Am I?”
She skidded to a stop in the foyer near the front door. “I don’t think you’re disgusting.”
“Then is it my son?” His voice dropped. “Is he disgusting to you?”
“What?” She flinched.
But, tough. He’d seen their ‘hug’. He wasn’t letting her off the hook.
“Don’t be mean,” she said, her voice much softer than usual. “I love Ryan.”
“Then why can’t you touch him?” He almost added why can’t you touch me? But he still had some pride. “He hugged you, and you stood there like a statue.”
“It has nothing to do with Ryan. I don’t touch anyone.” Dani showed him the dark webs crawling up her arms, as if he could forget he’d forced her to leave with them still on. “Ever.”
Did it have something to do with what the Carver said? “Is it about blinding your high school boyfriend?” David asked.
She averted her eyes.
In the basement, she’d never cuddled up to him, even for warmth. Other women would have been in his lap, in his arms, and in his pallet in that situation. But she remained just out of reach. He would have said it was another example of her iciness. But now he wondered if that was true.
“You work in a day care. How do you not touch the children, even by accident?”
“I don’t allow myself to have accidents. I’m very careful. I work in the toddler room where they don’t have to be held like in the infant room. They hug me. They pull on my shirt to get my attention. Or they tap my leg. But I wear long sleeves, long pants, and I keep my hands up.”
His gaze swept her long pants, neon-pink sneakers, and the kind of blouse an Amish woman would wear. He thought back to their captivity. She’d worn scrubs with a long sleeved white shirt underneath, pretty much her daily day care uniform for as long as he’d known her.
What a lonely life to be denied basic human connection by her own body. “Diaper changes?”
“Latex gloves.”
“Meals, too?”
Dani nodded.
“My God, that’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.” David couldn’t imagine not being able to hug his child, or to lift him on his shoulders, or to cuddle him at bedtime.
“You don’t touch anyone,” he asserted. She certainly wouldn’t touch him.
“Not if I can help it.”
“Have you always been like that?”
“Not always.”
“Oh, wow, but I thought— Never mind what I thought. I’m an idiot.” Maybe it hadn’t been disgust or stunted emotions that prevented her from hugging Ryan. Maybe it was a maternal instinct.
“When Ryan grabbed you?”
“I was trying to protect him,” Dani answered.
“Our kiss?”
Her cell rang. “I didn’t want to hurt you.” She checked caller ID. “It’s the hospital. Let’s take five.”
“But—”
She held up a hand like David was an irritating customer at her lunch counter. “I need a minute.”
Nice diversion. He wanted to know more about her idiosyncrasies, but she’d closed down. He could tell by the lift of her chin and the shine in her eyes she would not be discussing her touch issues any further.
But it helped to know that her rejection wasn’t personal. Maybe she wasn’t such an ice princess after all.
“Sure.” He relented. “Five minutes.”
Tony wavered into sight near the kitchen island, hands on hips.
While Dani answered the call, David ducked into his bedroom for a few moments of privacy with his new spirit companion. He wasn’t done speaking to the boy, but he wasn’t comfortable talking out loud to himself.
“Tony?”
The t
een followed him, and David closed the bedroom door behind the spirit.
“Tell me more about your sister and what you want me to do.”
“She’s not well,” Tony hedged.
“Is she sick?” David asked.
“She needs help.”
“What kind of help?” Was it money? Was Tony’s family bankrupt from burial fees? Surely the community would come together to help cover the costs. The boy had become a symbol of lost hopes to a lot of people.
Tony let out an audible sigh. “She didn’t take losing me very well.”
Oh. Grief. David happened to be an expert on that topic. He could definitely talk to her, though a professional therapist would be the best bet. “What about your parents? Are they supportive?”
Tony hung his head. “Dad’s gone. And mom might as well be.”
“Tell me everything,” David prompted.
To the cream-colored carpet, Tony explained, “Emi’s the smartest person I know, but since I died she’s stopped studying or caring about school at all. She parties.” Tony raised his eyes. “Do you get what I mean?”
He wasn’t that old. “Drinking?” David guessed.
“Lots.”
“Drugs?”
It seemed to hurt him to admit it. “Yes.”
“What else?”
“I saw her shoplift.”
David nodded, his mind racing. The girl was acting out her grief in the worst possible ways. Tony was right. If she wasn’t lost already, she would be soon.
Four years ago Ryan had nearly been orphaned. What if he had? He was too young for partying, but what about in ten years? Or fifteen? Especially if his grandmother wasn’t there?
That settled it. “What can I do?”
“Just talk to her,” Tony said.
“Ok. But she doesn’t know me.”
“She’ll listen to you if you tell her it’s from me.”
David was skeptical. “Does she believe in ghosts?”
“It doesn’t matter. You have to do it. You promised.”
“I’ll do it.” David wouldn’t go back on his word to a troubled kid. After all the news reports in the paper and on the local TV channels, he felt like knew Tony, though they’d never met before.
“Give me her number.” He reached for his cell.
A high, girlish voice answered his call on the first ring. “Yeah?”
David should have taken the time to form an actual plan. He didn’t know what to say, and he’d stopped being comfy conversing with teenage girls a long time ago. He blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “I want to talk to you about your brother, Tony. Can you meet me—”
“My brother’s dead,” Emi intoned and hung up.
“What did she say?” Tony asked. “What happened?”
Crap. “She wouldn’t listen. She hung up.”
“No.” Tony’s image flickered like a desk lamp with bad wiring. “You have to make her listen.”
“She hung up on me.” Maybe a face-to-face meet in public was the best way to go.
“You promised.” The boy sobbed. “You have to.”
“I’ll try again.”
Tony disappeared.
* * *
So, David knew about her touch issues. Dani had only ever told Cole Burkov, and that had been during a weak moment with the first supernatural person she’d met in years. She’d never shared her curse with a civilian like David, who probably couldn’t fully comprehend the hows and whys.
She shouldn’t care what David thought of her. He seemed like a decent guy, and she’d gone on one dinner date with him, but they hadn’t clicked, and he’d never called her a second time. Let him think she was some heartless freak. She didn’t care.
She needed him to wake up Cole, and then, to be totally blunt, she needed him to go away.
David’s bedroom door clicked shut, and Dani turned away to answer the call from the Onslow County Memorial Hospital.
“Dani Ferraro?” It was Nurse Hannah.
Worst-case scenarios popped into her mind. Insanity. Abduction. Death. “Is Cole okay?”
“Uh. That’s why I’m calling. Someone left a message for you.”
No one except David and the police knew she’d even been at the hospital. “What is it?”
“Someone left you a message carved in Cole Burkov’s arm.”
Chapter Nine
Dani’s jaw went slack. “What?”
The nurse whimpered. “When I went in there a little while ago, I could see something written on his forearm. Then before the police arrived, it disappeared. They’re looking at me like I’m crazy.”
“What did it say?”
“I’ll never forget it as long as I live. ‘Dear Dani, no one has survived this nightmare for longer than twenty-four hours. Tick tock.’ Then it had a number like a clock. Fourteen hours and fifty-seven minutes.”
Nine hours and she’d lose her friend forever. Dani’s stomach clenched, and she fought back nausea. “You told the police?”
“Yeah, but the words are gone.”
“Is Cole okay? Did they hurt him?”
“I’m a wreck, but he’s fine. His condition is unchanged.”
“Call me if anything happens. Anything. I promise I won’t think you’re crazy.” Dani hung up and knocked on David’s closed bedroom door, trying to keep the panic out of her voice. “David? We have to hurry. There’s no time left.”
David emerged in the middle of a conversation with someone on his cell phone. “But you’ve been to the house? Uh-huh. Right. What about fingerprints? Tire tracks? Hair and fiber? C’mon, Roger, at least tell me you’re tracking down this Carver guy.” Silence. David’s face flushed. “I know you are. But it’s surprising to me you have no leads. Okay. Then, few leads. All right. I will. Keep in touch.”
“Was that the police?” Dani asked.
“The chief, Roger Bryce. He says they didn’t find anything helpful at the cabin. No prints at all, zero, not even ours.”
“It doesn’t surprise me.”
“Well, I’m shocked. Nothing? And then he tells me he can’t discuss an ongoing investigation with me.” David groaned. “I can’t believe they don’t have these two nuts in custody already.”
“They’re human police trying to battle magic without even knowing it,” Dani reminded him. “They’re powerless. Even if a cop found the Carver, all he has to do is cast a sleep spell or a memory spell or a paralyzing—”
“Okay, I get it. Don’t depend on the police to stop these psychos. But God, Dani, what am I supposed to do?”
“Learn to channel. Wake up Cole. Unbind my magic. The three of us can actually fight back.” She used her cell phone as a makeshift stress ball. “The Carver left us a note at the hospital.”
“What did it say?”
“We need to hurry.”
* * *
Dani’s bright idea was to be the sleep dummy for the second necromancy lesson. If David had a real person to cast on, his skills should improve exponentially. That was the theory, anyway.
“Have I expressed enough how much I hate this plan?” David situated himself in his sloppy spell circle that resembled a grade school project on astrology. “What if I kill you?”
“Highly unlikely.” She stretched flat on the cold concrete, so similar to the basement where they’d been held. She tried to wipe the memories away, but they persisted. For a moment she was there again, seeing the broken window, smelling the mold, feeling the thin mattress pad beneath her. She blinked rapidly to clear her mind.
“What if I put you to sleep forever?” David grouched. “Is that more likely?”
He was getting snippy and sarcastic, but it didn’t upset her. In fact, she smiled. He was cute when he was prissy. He kept messing his hair with rapid scalp rubs, and it stuck up in four different directions, reminding her of Ryan’s hair. She chuckled aloud.
“The thought of your murder is funny to you?” Shocked, he rested his hands on his hips.
“
No. Sorry.” She squeezed her lips together.
“Okay. If you’re done laughing at me, I’ll try it again.”
He took everything so personally. Things she thought meant nothing seemed to cut him to the quick.
“David,” she said, all humor gone. “I’m not laughing at you.”
“Okay.” He looked slightly appeased. “Just focus.”
“That’s what I’m supposed to say to you.”
He smiled for the first time all morning. “Hush.”
Dani stilled and closed her eyes, concentrating on her breathing. Bailey Haas popped into her mind, but she rushed him right back out. Instead, she went further back in her past. Her tween years. Her childhood. There was no single moment in time when she’d known she was a witch. She’d always known, from her first memories, that she was different from everyone else.
She missed her powers more than she’d ever anticipated she would. They’d been with her from the day she was born. To be without them now made her feel lighter, like after she’d cut her long hair short. Something was off. She’d never believed when the Carver bound her that she wouldn’t get them back. Now, they felt a long way off.
God, what would the rest of her life be like without magic? A long, dark, desolate wasteland. She’d be like everyone else—powerless. Normal.
David whispered to Tony, his bright new spirit companion. She caught only a few words. Promise. Don’t. Sister.
“Everything okay?” she asked, cracking one eye open.
He stared intensely at an empty space to his left. “I’m on your side,” he said, but not to her. “You can trust me.”
She had to admit it was super creepy watching him talk to empty air, but necromancers were typically, in her experience, a very disturbing group.
“We’re all set,” David said to her.
With Tony’s help, he cast his first sleep spell. Immediately she was pulled under, way under, to the very depths of the ocean and beyond. He was good at this.
Dani enjoyed the floating sensation of deep sleep, not struggling but embracing the spirit power keeping her under. Now David had to wake her up. If he could do that, then with a little luck, he’d break the nightmare spell on Cole and save her friend’s sanity.
Time stretched like taffy, growing thin and then refolding on top of itself. She lost count of her breaths. The dark seemed limitless and insurmountable. As if there was no light anywhere in the universe.
