Magic and Decay

by Rachel Higginson

  I ignored the few floating bodies that broke the surface and focused on the morning sun that promised a new day, a new beginning and new Feeders to kill.

  Kiran drove the boat right up the beach so that we could jump out of it onto the sandy shore and not deal with the waves.

  We walked silently to the wreckage of the sedan. It seemed this would be our crossroads.

  “Which way are you guys going?” Eden asked.

  Hendrix pointed to the left. “We came to town in a truck. We parked it about three miles that way.”

  Kiran nodded. “We’re that way.” The opposite way.

  “Thank you-”

  “You’re welcome to come with us!” Eden blurted suddenly. “And the rest of your group. We’re safe where we stay. We have plenty of food and water. Our people would treat you well. There are other humans that live with us. Gypsies even!”

  I felt irrational excitement at the prospect of living with gypsies. That could be fun. Plus, there was the whole safety thing. And the food and clean water.

  I really liked Eden. And Haley and Tyler would too. We could have a lot of fun hanging out. The offer was too good to pass up.

  Until I looked at Hendrix and saw something in him that I had never noticed before. I saw this world. I saw that we were a part of something that we belonged in.

  I saw me.

  I saw that without this world, without these Zombies and our incredibly hard way of life, I never would have found Hendrix and his family. The end of the world brought us together, but for us it was just the beginning.

  We could go with Eden and Kiran, but that would be a different story. That wouldn’t be the story we were meant to have.

  “Thanks for the offer,” I told her. I shared a look with Hendrix and knew he felt the same way. “But we should really finish what we started.”

  Eden nodded in understanding. “Yeah, I figured you would say that.”

  “It does sound awesome though.”

  “It is awesome.” Eden grinned at me. “I’m sure your thing is awesome too. I mean… killing Zombies… hooray!”

  “I’m glad I met you, Witch.”

  “I’m glad I met you, Reagan the Zombie slayer.”

  We stepped into a hug and squeezed tightly.

  “Think we’ll do this again?”

  “No way,” Eden laughed. “This time was way too hard. We’d have to be crazy to try this again.”

  “Have a safe trip.”

  She stepped back and looked at me seriously. “Have a safe life.”

  “Bye, Kiran.”

  He smirked at me again, because what else would he do, and shook Hendrix’s hand. “Careful with this one, Mate. It’s not looking like you’ll escape her.”

  Hendrix avoided looking at me. “You might be right about that. Take care, Kiran.”

  We turned away from each other and both started our long, but separate, journeys home. They had a Kingdom to look after and we had a family. Both tasks seemed impossible in our distinct circumstances, but neither of us would give up or stop trying.

  We had that much in common at least.

  “What a night,” Hendrix sighed.

  “But it’s over.” I sounded as exhausted as I felt.

  Hendrix looked at me, causing me to look back at him. “It’s not all over.”

  I smiled at him and kept walking. He was right. It wasn’t all over.

  Not for any of us.

  Chapter Seven

  Ellie

  “This isn’t right.”

  Fin jerked awake and made a grumbly noise that made me want to kiss him. He looked around at the town in front of us and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

  “Did you take a wrong turn?”

  Possibly. “I don’t think so! I followed the map!”

  “You followed the map to a war zone?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  I threw the car into park, uncertain about what to do. My gut reaction was to reverse the car, burn rubber and get the hell out of here. But morbid curiosity insisted that I stay and check this out.

  “Are those dead bodies?” Fin asked with a low voice.

  I peered through the windshield that had been smudged with dust and dead bugs. “No,” I told him quickly. “There wouldn’t just be dead bodies all over the streets. Maybe we’re on a movie set.”

  Fin raised one eyebrow and dared me to continue pushing that theory.

  I pressed my lips together. He was probably right. This was definitely not a movie set.

  His hand had played with the door handle for a minute before he decided firmly on his course of action. “Stay in the car,” he ordered me.

  Well, I probably wasn’t going to do that.

  His head swung in my direction. “Ellie, I’m serious. Stay in the car.”

  I nodded slowly. “Fine, be bossy.”

  He leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Just trying to keep you safe.”

  I rolled my eyes, but he didn’t care. He just wanted to get his way. His hand played with the handle for thirty more seconds before he made his decision. He pushed the door open and had one foot on the ground before the noxious smell hit me.

  “What is that?” I gasped.

  “Oh, that’s bad.” He pulled his t-shirt up and covered half his face with it. “That’s really bad.”

  “They have to be dead people, Fin! That is the smell of death!”

  His nose and mouth were covered by his gray shirt, but his dark eyes glittered at me with a depth of understanding I didn’t want him to feel.

  He took a step out of the car and shut the door behind him. I gasped for better oxygen than what had infiltrated the car but didn’t succeed. Whatever that smell was seemed to coat every single thing I touched. I had a feeling I would never stop smelling it.

  Never.

  It would stay with me for the rest of my life.

  Fin moved around on the quiet street in front of us. There were no cars or foot traffic in this town. But to be fair, it looked like someone had dropped a bomb in the center of it.

  There were no people, no open businesses and then there were all those bodies lying around everywhere.

  Something had happened here.

  And I was pretty sure I didn’t want to find out what it was.

  Suddenly, a light brighter than I had ever seen before lit up the entire sky. Dawn was just breaking. The sun hovered low in the still sky and burned with that hazy orange that represented most mornings. White clouds dotted the gray sky and a bird could be heard in the distance, squawking its morning roll call.

  But then that light came and invaded every single piece of darkness.

  I stumbled from my car so I could get a better look. I tried to peer through it. I squinted my eyes and tried desperately to keep them open.

  It was no use.

  This light was pure and bright and brilliant.

  Only one explanation for something this incredible confirmed my theory when the light moved from the sky up above to the street right in front of me.

  I didn’t feel the least bit surprised when the light suddenly disappeared. It was all consuming, hot and powerful one second and then it collapsed in on itself and the next second it was gone.

  I blinked against the spots dancing in my vision and tried to make out the human forms walking toward me.

  Again I wasn’t surprised.

  I told you, I knew what this was about.

  Aliens.

  Obviously.

  “We come in peace,” I told the boy and girl that emerged from that brilliant light.

  They shared a look and a half smile. “I think that’s our line,” the guy said.

  Fin had rushed back to my side when he saw the light move toward us. He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into him.

  “We’re not aliens,” the girl told us patiently.

  “Mmm, pretty sure you are.”

  “We’re not!”

  “Then what are you?”

&n
bsp; “I’m a Star.” Her words were soft and gentle. It was like a tactic she used to get people to not freak out. “My name is Stella.”

  It wasn’t working on me.

  “And what’s he?”

  She glanced over her shoulder and took in the most beautiful species of male I had ever seen. Sure, there was Fin. But then… there was this guy.

  Not that I had a thing for aliens. And also, I thought Fin was by far the most gorgeous creature God ever created.

  But this guy… I mean… it wasn’t natural how perfectly hot he was.

  Stella cleared her throat. “He’s, a, uh, um, Angel. This is Seth.”

  “Of course, he is.” Fin’s grip on my arm tightened. “Did you drive us to the afterlife, Els? This is getting seriously weird.

  I eyed Seth carefully. “I read somewhere that Angels don’t have souls. Is that true?”

  He pouted. “That’s only temporary.”

  I looked at Fin and gave him my best get-me-the-hell-out-of-here look.

  “Oh, no.”

  The slightly panicked voice came from behind us. I whirled around to find two very bloody, very tired looking people walking toward us. It was hard to say what they looked like exactly because they were covered head to toe in blood, guts and dirt.

  “Who are you?” Fin asked angrily.

  “Who are you?” the girl shot back. “What are you?” She squinted her eyes at us and seemed to reconsider her questions. “Wait! Never mind. Don’t tell me. I can’t get invested in you guys today. I’m spent. You’ll have to go back to where you came from all on your own.”

  “We’d love to!” I said at the exact time Seth said, “We can’t.”

  “Why can’t you?” The new guy’s eyes narrowed and he looked down the corpse-covered street with an exhaustion I didn’t understand.

  “We’re here to help you,” Stella told us gravely.

  “Wait, don’t tell me. You’re an Oracle? You had a premonition.”

  The two aliens looked at each other and shared a confused look. “We’re not Oracles,” Stella said. “And we didn’t have a premonition.”

  “Then what are you doing here?” This newcomer seemed very cranky. I wondered if she had killed all the poor people in the street.

  I scooted closer to Fin.

  “We’re Stars,” she told the new people. “We’ve been sent by divine intervention.”

  “This day is just not going to go back to normal is it?”

  “Apparently not,” the new guy sympathized.

  “I hope you brought lots of weapons then,” the new girl told the alien girl.

  “Why?” I was the one that asked the question. I needed to know. Why did we need weapons? Why why why?

  Every eye turned to look at me, but it was the new girl’s voice that answered. “To kill all the Zombies I’m sure are planning to show up at any second.”

  “Zombies?” my voice was a harsh whisper.

  The new girl smiled widely at me. “Zombies,” she confirmed. “Welcome to the Apocalypse.”

  Hope you enjoyed Magic and Decay! If you’re interested in more from any of these characters, check out Reckless Magic to find Eden and Kiran’s complete story, The Rush to read more about Ivy and Ryder and Love and Decay to get the full account of Reagan and Hendrix.

  Keep reading for a sneak preview of Rachel’s new contemporary adult romance, The Five Stages of Falling in Love, coming January 27th, 2015

  Acknowledgments

  To my God, thank you for patience and perseverance. Thank you for teaching me to need both.

  All of the credit and inspiration for this book has to go to my husband, Zach. Thank you Zach for coming up with this unique idea and then threatening to post about it until I agreed to write it! In all seriousness, you continue to encourage and inspire me. You are patient when I get frustrated and the right kind of pushy when I get obnoxiously whiny. You feed the kids when I forget. You take care of the house when I don’t have time. And you remind me when I should probably shower. I love you more than life. You are my perfect idea of a hero. And you’ve given me my once upon a time and our very happily ever after.

  To Carolyn, thank you for all your hard work! I am always late and have no concept of time, but you work your magic around my craziness. Thank you so very much.

  Thank you Caedus Design Co for the fantastic cover. It matches the concept and story perfectly. As always you have a kind of creative genius that I can only write about.

  To The Reckless Rebels and The Rebel Panel, THANK YOU. I could not do this without you! I am a complete spaz and scatterbrain and I prefer to spend my time typing words rather than deal with all those other internet responsibilities. You make my life easier and give me your invaluable opinion whenever I ask. You are a true blessing in my life. Thank you.

  To my readers, thank you for reading this story. I hoped it was the exact kind of adventure you were looking for. I love these characters like the pieces of my soul they represent and I had so much fun throwing them together just to make them fight their way out of the Zombie Apocalypse. Thank you for indulging me. And thank you for loving these characters as much as I do.

  About the Author

  Rachel Higginson was born and raised in Nebraska, but spent her college years traveling the world. She married her high school sweetheart and spends her days raising their growing family. She is obsessed with bad reality TV and any and all Young Adult Fiction.

  Look for more from Rachel coming soon.

  Other books by Rachel to be released in 2014 are The Redeemable Prince, the seventh book in The Star-Crossed Series, The Heart, the third book in The Siren Series and in early 2015, The Five Stages of Falling in Love, an adult contemporary romance about second-chance love.

  Other Books Out Now by Rachel Higginson:

  Love and Decay, Season One

  Love and Decay, Volume One (Episodes One-Six, Season One)

  Love and Decay, Volume Two (Episodes Seven-Twelve, Season One)

  Love and Decay, Season Two

  Love and Decay, Volume Three (Episodes One-Four, Season Two)

  Love and Decay, Volume Four (Episodes Five-Eight, Season Two)

  Love and Decay, Volume Five (Episodes Nine-Twelve, Season Two)

  Reckless Magic (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 1)

  Hopeless Magic (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 2)

  Fearless Magic (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 3)

  Endless Magic (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 4)

  The Reluctant King (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 5)

  The Relentless Warrior (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 6)

  Breathless Magic (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 6.5)

  Fateful Magic (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 6.75)

  The Redeemable Prince (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 7) coming November, 2014

  Heir of Skies (The Starbright Series, Book 1)

  Heir of Darkness (The Starbright Series, Book 2)

  Heir of Secrets (The Starbright Series, Book 3)

  The Rush (The Siren Series, Book 1)

  The Fall (The Siren Series, Book 2)

  The Heart (The Siren Series, Book 3) coming soon

  Bet on Us (An NA Contemporary Romance)

  Bet on Me (An NA Contemporary Romance) coming Spring, 2015

  Striking (The Forged in Fire Series) This is a co-authored Contemporary NA.

  Brazing (The Forged in Fire Series) This is a co-authored Contemporary NA.

  Follow Rachel on her blog at:

  www.rachelhigginson.com

  Or on Twitter:

  @mywritesdntbite

  Or on her Facebook page:

  Rachel Higginson

  Keep reading for a sneak peek of Rachel’s contemporary adult romance, The Five Stages of Falling in Love, coming January 27th, 2015.

  Available for pre-order through select retailers.

  Prologue

  “Hey, there she is,” Grady looked up at me from his bed, his eyes smiling even while his mouth barely
mimicked the emotion.

  “Hey, you,” I called back. The lights had been dimmed after the last nurse checked his vitals and the TV was on, but muted. “Where are the kiddos? I was only in the cafeteria for ten minutes.”

  Grady winked at me playfully, “My mother took them.” I melted a little at his roguish expression. It was the same look that made me agree to a date with him our junior year of college, it was the same look that made me fall in love with him- the same one that made me agree to have our second baby boy when I would have been just fine to stop after Blake, Abby and Lucy.

  “Oh, yeah?” I walked over to the hospital bed and sat down next to him. He immediately reached for me, pulling me against him with weak arms. I snuggled back into him, so that my head rested on his thin shoulder and our bodies fit side by side on the narrow bed. One of my legs didn’t make it and hung off awkwardly. But I didn’t mind. It was just perfect to lie next to the love of my life, my husband.

  “Oh, yeah,” he growled suggestively. “You know what that means?” He walked his free hand up my arm and gave my breast a wicked squeeze. “When the kids are away, the grownups get to play…”

  “You are so bad,” I swatted him- or at least made the motion of swatting at him, since I was too afraid to hurt him.

  “God, I don’t remember the last time I got laid,” he groaned next to me and I felt the rumble of his words against my side.

  “Tell me about it, sport,” I sighed. “I could use a nice, hard-“

  “Elizabeth Carlson,” he cut in on a surprised laugh. “When did you get such a dirty mouth?”

  “I think you’ve known about my dirty mouth for quite some time, Grady,” I flirted back. We’d been serious for so long it was nice to flirt with him, to remember that we didn’t just love each other, but we liked each other too.