by Carey Corp
Jamie’s stricken eyes met mine. “She must be usin’ the souls of Doonians who pledged to her. Cannibalizin’ them to raise the skeletons.”
“What an evil witch!” Kenna spat, but she didn’t say witch.
I wholeheartedly agreed, but I had to force myself to think. The skeletons were immobile, but I had a feeling they wouldn’t stay that way. We needed to get everyone back to base camp quickly, then get a closer look at the zombies while they were still inactive.
CHAPTER 30
Mackenna
In rare instances, life was less like Broadway and more like a horror movie, unless you counted Evil Dead the Musical . . . or Carrie. Okay, so maybe the recent trend in scary musicals wasn’t helping my argument, but I would take the worlds of Rodgers and Hammerstein over Romero and Hitchcock any day.
I crouched with Vee in the brush behind the tree line, watching as one of Addie’s skeleton thingies clawed its way up from the field. My heart pounded as the undead pile of bones finally freed itself from the earth like a newborn cicada—minus the baby insect cuteness—and stood unmoving.
When I said as much to Vee, she frowned at me like I’d lost my mind. Considering the freak show in the clearing, maybe I had. “But you hate bugs.”
“Sarcasm, geez!”
“Oh. Sorry.” Her pale face mirrored the nausea I felt. Her brows knit together as she puzzled something out. “I don’t get it.”
She trailed off, and before I could ask her to clarify, a bony hand reached for the sky on the opposite end of the field. “Son of a Sondheim! There’s another one. How many is that?” I tried to do a little mental mathematics counting the skellies, but lost my place and had to start over, finally giving up.
Duncan, Jamie, and Alasdair knelt behind us, observing in silence. The MacPhees and Ewan had been charged with getting the rest of the people to base camp, while the five of us went on reconnaissance. Glancing in the princes’ general direction for a little help, I asked, “How many do you think are out there?”
In a voice not meant to carry, Jamie replied, “Seventy-five or eighty.”
At the same moment, Duncan and Alasdair whispered, “Eighty-three.”
I clutched Vee’s hand to ward off the chill that had nothing to do with the evening temperature. “Why aren’t they moving?”
“That’s what I don’t get,” Vee murmured. “What are they waiting for?”
Silence followed, because none of us had an inkling of how to answer the queen, until Duncan mused, “How many bodies do you reckon are buried in that field?”
“No clue,” Alasdair grunted. “I dinna know there were people buried here. All our kinsfolk are buried in the cemetery near the castle—all o’ the villagers in the kirkyard. This certainly predates the history I know about.”
Which raised a good question . . . “Do you think bodies are coming up there too?” Technically, the Doonians burned their dead on a pyre on the lake; I’d seen it once, but after the fire died, the remains were buried. I couldn’t imagine us facing what remained of King Angus, or Queen Lynnette—or Duncan and Jamie’s folks.
Duncan placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “Nay. The cemetery at Castle MacCrae and the kirkyard are consecrated ground. Their souls and bodies are at peace.”
“And these, uh, people? How are they different? Besides being skeletons that can dig themselves out of their graves.” Something had bitten my right knee. Letting go of my bestie’s hand, I scratched at it savagely, grateful to focus on something other than the raising of the undead army.
“They must be Celts,” Vee replied as she shifted positions to standing. She realigned herself behind a tree and bent one leg into a yoga pose. But I doubted that all the Zen in the world would help at this moment. “They would’ve preceded the Doonians. I’m guessing this is a mass grave of some sort.”
“Aye—”
Whatever Jamie had been about to say next faded away as the ground directly in front of where we were hiding began to shift. Small, bony fingers wormed their way out of the soil.
A skellie hand continued to dislodge the earth until a yellowed skull wriggled free. The creature continued to writhe back and forth as it squirmed its way up from the ground. Dislodging its hip bones, the thing began to pull itself forward by the hands until its lower body was free. When the monster finally stood, it was about Greta’s height.
Vee’s very much alive and trembling fingers threaded through mine so that our rings rested against one another. “Does that look like a child to anyone else?”
My “Yup” and the MacCraes’ “Ayes” confirmed the unthinkable. Addie’s undead army included kids. On a scale of one to ten, my terror ratcheted up to eleven. She was one sick witch!
Thoroughly creeped out, I stood to address my bestie. “How do we kill those things?”
“We use the rings.” Vee nodded toward our intertwined hands. “We’ll send out a pulse intended to disintegrate evil. That oughta work, right?”
I shrugged; she knew more about how the rings operated than I did. To me, they seemed to have an agenda all their own. But considering what we were up against, anything was worth a try.
When I nodded, Vee said, “Close your eyes and picture a burst of righteous power, like the Force, flowing from the Rings of Aontacht across the field like a tidal wave.”
Letting my lids drift shut, I pictured my ring like a lightsaber sending a burst of good energy from my hand and across the field. I imagined it rolling over the skellies, disintegrating their bones into dust. I willed it to happen.
Unsure whether I had felt the power of my uncle Cameron’s ring or just wishful thinking, I opened one eye. “Did it work?”
Nope. The skellies were still standing over their graves, waiting for their next order. Vee’s eyes blinked open, darted to the field and back to me. “Concentrate harder, Kenna.”
“I’m trying,” I growled.
“There is no try—”
“Cut the Yoda talk,” I hissed. “I’m not Obi-Wan Kenobi. I can’t just make the ring go when I feel like it.”
“You can,” Vee insisted. “Just do it.”
“Stop with the slogans, already.” I turned to where Jamie, Duncan, and Alasdair hovered. “Can you just step back, possibly? Give us some space?”
As a single entity the princes took several steps backward. Turning back to Vee, I grabbed her hands, squeezing them in mine. “Okay. I’m ready to try again.”
I closed my eyes as Vee spoke in a low, hypnotic voice. “Great Protector. We ask you to destroy our enemies. To use our rings to cut them down where they stand—right in this field. We beseech you.”
“And we wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t really important,” I added.
“We believe that it is your will to save Doon, and we humbly ask you to destroy these, uh, things—”
“These skellies,” I added.
“Yes.” Veronica agreed. “Please destroy these skellies.”
“Thank you,” I intoned. Opening my eyes, I locked my gaze onto Vee’s. “Did it work?”
She glanced at the field, where nearly ninety skeletons stood erect and motionless. “Not sure.”
A moment later we had our answer, as the tip of a finger bone burrowed its way up from the ground. Letting go of Vee’s hands, I grumbled, “That was a bust. What’s plan B?”
Alasdair gracefully strode forward, all five-and-a-half feet of him appearing deadly. “I’ve an idea, Yer Majesty.”
“Shoot.”
The old guy nodded toward the field. “I figure someone ought ta go out there and try ta engage one o’ those abominations, see what happens.”
“No,” Duncan interjected. He and Jamie stood right behind their ancestor with contradictory frowns. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Although mo bráthair, Alasdair does have a point,” Jamie countered. “We’ve no hope of defeating those skeletons without more information. One of us should go out there.”
I watched the shadows move across Duncan�
�s face as he grappled with his brother’s logic. The moment he made up his mind, I could read his decision in the set of his jaw.
“Fine.” In one fluid movement he unsheathed his sword and strode into the clearing. Slowly, he approached the nearest skellie, the kid. Duncan made a careful circle around it with no results. Moving on to the next one, he stopped directly in front of it. After a moment of hesitation, he reached forward and tentatively poked the thing in the center of its skull. Not even touch could provoke it into life.
“It feels like cold bone,” he explained.
Pitching his voice low and projecting so that it carried, Jamie replied, “If you can touch it, you can slay it.”
Duncan nodded, never taking his eyes off of the monster. “It’s worth a try.”
Gripping the hilt of his sword with both hands, he spun in a three-quarters circle, his weapon poised to cut the skellie in half just above the hips. But as the sword made contact, there was a flash of purple sparks and an ear-shattering clang. Duncan’s sword ricocheted back toward him as the pulse from Addie’s protective magic lifted him off his feet and propelled him across the field. He landed with a thud and rolled several times before coming to a stop against a large stone.
I watched in shock, not quite able to process what was happening or do anything about it. Holding my breath, I waited for him to move . . . but he didn’t. By the time my adrenaline kicked in and I felt able to react, Jamie had already scrambled halfway to his brother. When I started to follow, Alasdair grabbed me by the shoulders.
The old guy shook his head and whispered, “Stay tight. The lad’s got him.”
I held my breath until Jamie reached his brother and checked for a pulse. A few never-ending seconds later, he gave us a nod. My breath and Vee’s came out in a collective whoosh.
My best friend looked at me, her turquoise eyes mirroring my fear. She took my hands in hers and gripped tightly. “He’s alive, Ken.”
I shook my head, unable to speak over the tears lodged in my throat.
The skellies remained inanimate, but that didn’t stop Jamie from keeping a watchful eye in their direction as he eased Duncan onto his back. With another sweep of the field and a grim glance at Vee, he began checking his brother for injuries.
After another small eternity, Duncan groaned. That groan was followed by another as Duncan shook his head and opened his eyes. He blinked at the sky for a moment and then, with Jamie’s assistance, sat up. They exchanged a few words and then Duncan turned and gave me a little wave.
Alasdair patted me on the shoulder. “See there, lassie. Duncan’s a hearty lad. There’s no lasting harm.”
To underscore Alasdair’s words, Jamie hoisted Duncan to his feet and helped him make his way slowly across the clearing.
Who did that witch think she was? Anger pulsed through me, and I turned to my bestie. “Let’s try the rings again.” I reached for her hand, but she pulled back.
“No. It’s not working for some reason.” She stared at the ruby ring as if it had betrayed her and then, shaking it off, returned her determined gaze to mine. “We will try again, just not yet. Maybe after the skellies are animated, they’ll be more vulnerable. For now, we need to get back to camp and warn the others.”
She gave the skeletons one last glare, and then turned and stalked back toward the path.
Clearing his throat, Alasdair followed. “Yer Highness. I’m wondering if I might have a word with ye.” Keeping my eyes on the field, I sensed rather than saw Vee stop.
“Yer Highness,” Alasdair began. “I know how you can destroy Adelaide once and for all.”
“You do?” Vee’s tone pitched up in her interested-but-skeptical voice.
“Aye. You must first make her mortal.”
“How?” I could almost see her brow arching.
“Ye must strip her of her magic. In my figurin’, there’s a couple o’ different ways ta accomplish it.”
“Go on.”
“She’s usin’ up her magic with this army. If she spends it all, the only thing left will be her human form. And if that doesna do it, there’s a good chance that the elixir will strip what remains.”
“So what you’re saying is that you really don’t know the best way to make her mortal.” I was fairly sure I could hear Vee’s arms crossing in front of her chest.
“Nay, Yer Highness. I know of one surefire way ta accomplish the task. But the method is so extreme, I’m reluctant ta mention it.”
Before Alasdair could say more, Duncan and Jamie emerged through the tree line. Other than a little limp, my boyfriend seemed all right. And he was still clutching the hilt of his sword in his free hand. “Blasted magic broke my blade in two.”
Jamie chuckled. “He’s fine. That thick skull o’ his has saved him yet again.”
Vee returned and searched both princes. When she was satisfied they were truly okay, she said, “Any insight on how to kill those things?”
“We’re calling them skellies,” I interjected.
Duncan lifted his broken weapon for us to see. “Definitely not with swords.”
“And there’s no way to predict when the witch might activate them,” Vee clarified.
“Nay.”
She frowned. “How soon do you think the Destined army can be ready?”
“Soon as Mackenna and I are able to go get them.”
“You should go first thing in the morning. But talk to Oliver first. If we can’t cut the skellies down, maybe we can blow them up. See what type of explosives Oliver thinks we should use and what he’ll need from the modern world to make them. Let’s get back to the camp.” She turned on her heel, expecting us to follow. And we did. “I want eyes on this field twenty-four seven, and if one of these skellies so much as jiggles, I want to know about it.”
As I finished packing my duffle bag for the return to Alloway, Vee slipped into the tent. Holding a finger to her lips, she motioned for me to come outside without waking the other sleeping girls.
“Take a walk with me.” There were bags under her eyes and I suspected that she’d spent much of the night worrying about the skellies and how quickly we could return with the Destined army.
The pink and orange sky had already begun fading to blue in the growing dawn. As my bestie led me out of the camp, I noted the signs of spring bursting from the earth. Delicate buds poked up from the grass and the trees were beginning to flower.
Just beyond the camp, we stopped in a small clearing near a line of wilted black petunias. On the other side of the zombie fungus ravaged earth, stood the ruin of the witch’s cottage. Just as I remembered, the place stank of rotten meat and death—being near the place gave me the heebie jeebies.
Vee faced me, taking both my hands in hers. “All night long, I’ve been thinking about how we can protect the camp while you’re gone. I have an idea—it’s a longshot but I want to try anyway.”
“Okay . . .” I couldn’t keep the skepticism from coloring my voice. Yes, we’d used the rings to find the people in the mountains, but wielding them to defeat the skellies had been a bust.
Ignoring my tone, Vee explained, “When we entered the limbus, our rings united and formed a protective bubble around us. I want to try to create a force field like that around the camp. If my theory is correct, it will allow our people to pass through, but will keep evil out.”
“Including Addie’s minions?”
“Exactly.” She let go of one of my hands. Turning toward the decaying building, she took a deep breath. “If we enter the cursed grounds, the protection will form around us.”
Together, we took a step and then another and another, until our rings glowed fiery red and brilliant green. At the point of no return—the rusted gate—we paused. As one, we reached toward the gate, opened it, and stepped across evil’s threshold. Immediately, the light from our rings morphed into a dazzling white bubble that surrounded us, blocking out the worst of the stench.
“Now what?” I panted.
“Close y
our eyes and envision the protective bubble expanding from us to the camp—along the stream that flows from the River Doon, to the Murrays’ fields, to the livestock pen in the east pasture.” Her words were soft, almost hypnotic, and I could see everything she described in my mind’s eye. She went on, painting a picture of every aspect of camp, and as she did, I envisioned the bubble covering it.
After a few minutes, I couldn’t take it. I cracked an eye and then two, unable to believe what I was seeing. A shimmering dome arched over us as far as I could see. “Vee, look!”
She opened her eyes and her jaw dropped. “We did it.”
“We sure did.” As much I wanted to stand around crowing about her cleverness, I was more anxious to get back on uncursed ground. “Let’s get out of here.” I tugged her back across the witch’s garden and through the gate.
As soon as we hopped over the row of dead petunias, she stopped. “Hold on. There’s one more test. We need to make sure the protection will stay without us.”
She released my hand and I held my breath as the bubble around us faded from white to a red and green glow and then winked out completely.
As I stared at my ring, Vee muttered something very unqueenly followed by, “It’s gone!”
I gazed up at the treetops to where a faint glow shimmered, sparkling like dust moats floating in a sunbeam. “No, it’s still there. I can see it.”
“Really?” She stood on her toes and blinked, but the moment I’d released her hand, she could no longer see the enchantment. Clasping her hand in mine, I asked, “Can you see it now?”
“Yes.” Vee nodded toward the glittering dome and then turned to me with a watery smile. “See, stronger together. Which is why you need to hurry back.”
CHAPTER 31
Duncan
I loved my brother. But when it came to the MacCrae portion of obstinacy, Jamie had received a triple share. He was more pigheaded than the rest of my clan combined. While that trait lent itself to an irreproachable code of morality, it oft as naught led to masochism when my brother made up his mind to punish himself.
