by K. F. Breene
“Ah crap,” I said as the soul latched on and started crawling up the link I’d just created. “Ew. Get off.”
I yanked back, my version of flinching away. Without meaning to, I dragged the soul with me.
A man materialized on the edge of the lawn, his eyes rounded and a surprised look on his face. Behind him, the body crashed down to the ground, lifeless without its pilot.
“Wow. That happened,” I said in a rush of breath, energy rippling through my body. “Do you…ah…” I looked at the man, feeling another soul flare into the world. The magical worker was a machine. That, or it was super easy to grab a soul waiting in the world of the living and stuff it into a ready body. It was certainly easy to pull one out. “Do you want me to put you across the Line…or…”
“Did you do it?” Bria asked, surprised. Smoke tendrils curled around her into the air.
The spirit man looked around, confused. The reanimated dead woman cracked her neck and stepped off of the curb. She was getting ready to charge me.
“Uh-oh.” I punched my theoretical fist through her middle, hitting that cavernous area with next to no effort and snatching the trespasser. Just like the first soul, this one tried to crawl along the connection.
The heebie-jeebies washed over me. It was like I’d swatted a spider, only for it to come sailing toward me on spider silk. I yanked away, super grossed out and not wanting that thing touching me. Energy pumped into my body and the spirit went flying, smacking the ground and rolling like a real person might’ve.
I cracked a smile. I couldn’t help it. That was kind of badass.
“Okay. That part’s easy,” I said to Bria, letting go of the woman. “What should I do with them now?”
“Are you serious?” Bria asked, crouched over her setup with her hands up and out. A strange, wide-brimmed yellow hat adorned her platinum blonde head. “Did you seriously just rip the souls out of those bodies? Just like that?”
More reanimated dead people staggered into a front yard down the street, learning their new bodies, and learning them quickly.
“Yeah,” I said, turning toward them. “When a person dies, clearly the vault holding the soul breaks open to let the soul free. I wonder if it can be put back in place…” My brain started to wander, thinking through how someone might Duct tape that sucker in there so it wasn’t so easy to yank out.
“Focus,” Bria said, not having risen. “Can you do it again? Should I put this stuff away?”
“Yes, yes.” I waved at her to hurry up. “Like I was saying, without that vault, the soul is just hanging out in there, desperate for a way to escape.”
Bria stared at me for a moment, hands still out to her sides. Like a dam bursting, she was suddenly all action, bending to her incense and snuffing them out.
“Great. Head off those others,” she said, grabbing the candle. Hot green wax spilled across her hand and she sucked a breath through her teeth. “I’ll be there in a minute.”
“But what about—”
“I do not care what you do with the souls, Alexis,” she said, throwing blunted incense into her pack. “Just do it fast. We have to get to that air elemental before he knows we’re coming. He’s the danger now.”
I nodded and turned, just in time to hear, “Watch out,” from one of the newly released souls.
A rotting body, the sex hard to tell, took a running leap, flinging itself at me. Discolored teeth gnashed in a face screwed up in rage.
I threw up my hands to protect myself as the body slammed into me, driving me back. My butt hit the ground first, but I was already moving, grappling with the reaching hands. I pushed the body off me as I grabbed the soul, easily ripping it out and throwing it to the side.
Two more souls, moving fast, caught my attention as a jagged point from the bone in a finger from the falling body scraped across my skin.
“You better not have the plague,” I said through gritted teeth, grabbing the souls from the other bodies as they reached me.
Once again, the spirits tried to crawl up my connection. My survival instinct kicked in, and I kept the souls put, knowing the enemy Necromancer was controlling them somehow. Could I take over? I probed around with my magic until I found a strange pulse of power, foreign to the souls and more alive than the bodies. Focusing hard, I tried to inject my own agenda into that spot while shoving my hand against a gnashing face. These things were acting like zombies. I didn’t want to go down that road.
The souls crawled along my connection again, trying to escape the bodies, and that weird spot of magic stayed strong, ignoring my advances. I pushed harder, trying to get the upper hand. Trying to take over.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Suddenly the body above me flew to the side. The soul came away in my grasp and a startled man in his thirties looked down on me. Bria jumped over me, running for the body she’d just kicked away, but slowed when she saw it was no longer moving.
“Stop screwing around,” she yelled.
“I was trying to control them.” I pulled out the souls and let them go immediately before sending out a shock wave of banishment, throwing everybody at the Line.
“Thank youuuuu,” someone yelled as they disappeared. Wind from the Line blew down over me, ruffling my soul.
“No, no, no, cut that out,” Bria said, clutching her chest.
“Sorry!” I hopped up and energy surged through me. “I think I get energy from taking those souls out,” I said as she slung her backpack over her shoulder.
“Probably. Who knows. You’re a damn freak of nature. Hurry, let’s go.”
She took off at a fast jog, running toward the house of horrors. I tried to keep up, but my shoes kept trying to slip off, hindering my progress. She dodged to the side and kicked open the aging gate. Wood splintered and a hinge broke. She kicked it again before battering her way through.
Hobbling now, I stepped over the curb and ran onto the weeds and dirt of the front yard, angling for that fence.
“There’s two of them,” John yelled from the house, confirming what Bria had already sensed. “They went around back.”
My shoe flipped off and my heel crashed down onto a rock. I cried out and staggered to the side, pain throbbing up through my ankle and into my calf.
“Mother trucker…” I slipped the shoe back on and hurried forward as a surge of debris flew through the air. I ducked down as I went through the fence, but the strange, shimmering debris flew high over the house, untroubled by gravity.
Another soul flared to life as I limped down the side yard, picking my footing a little more carefully.
“Alexis,” I heard, Bria’s call ending in a grunt.
More debris, transparent and sparkling, sailed up through the air at the end of the house. I followed the fence, which wrapped around the back, ending in some badly leaning tattered boards.
A vicious howl rent the air as I stepped around the side of the house. The man with the black hair sat cross-legged amid curling smoke and flickering candles, his face screwed up in intense focus and his hands resting on his knees. A body shook and trembled as it straightened up from the other two dead people, their faces slack and eyes staring at nothing. The animated dead body turned its head up to the sky and let out another howl.
On the other side of the yard Bria jabbed at the red-headed guy and clipped him on the chin. He lifted his hands and I could feel magic build before Bria struck flesh again, dragging a heavy boot across his thigh.
He staggered but didn’t fall and shook his head. She was after him again, but I had already shifted my focus back to the black-haired Necromancer. His eyes flickered open and his face, flush with fatigue, turned toward me slowly. The animated body shook next to him before facing me.
“You’ve left your materials behind,” the Necromancer said in a taunting voice. “Game over.”
“You got me all wrong, bub,” I said as the jacked up, reanimated body lurched toward me, a thick guy with a face that looked like it was melt
ing off.
For effect, I held out my hand with my fingers open as I reached into the chest of the (currently) slowly moving body. I squeezed my fingers into a fist, grabbing the soul. The body shook and the soul skittered up my connection.
“Ew,” I said, yanking my hand out and shaking it off. I hated that feeling.
The soul tumbled to the side, a look of shock replacing a disgruntled expression. The jacked-up body collapsed into a pile of gross.
“What—” The black-haired man’s eyes widened and he jolted backward. He looked down at the body in utter disbelief.
“Yeah. Game on.” I ran at him and planted one foot before pulling back the other. My shoe flew off, but I didn’t let that stop me. I kicked forward, my foot hitting his face like it was a soccer ball.
He grunted. Spit flew to the side. Lights out.
He collapsed like his previously animated bodies.
A blast of air pulled my focus.
Bria staggered back in the sudden gale, her arms windmilling to keep her balance. The red-haired man kicked out with perfect form. The bottom of his shoe sole hit Bria mid-chest. She grunted and bent as he seamlessly transitioned into a round-house kick.
“No!” I said, too far away to help.
His foot hit her square in the face.
Crack.
She didn’t even stagger backward. She just dropped, knocked unconscious.
I didn’t have time to call out. The red-haired guy shoved his fists through the air and a gale burst forth, slamming into me and picking me up off my feet. I flew, rotating ass-over-end again and again, and crashed into the ground. The dead bodies caught my fall, lifeless and weirdly squishy.
Spikes of air sparkled in a ray of sunlight as they gathered above me, lengthening like daggers. The ends gleamed and I knew they’d be as sharp as any knife. Air wrapped around me. Clumsy but effective, the hold trapped my arms to my sides.
“Good trick,” I said in grunts. “Very quick way to end a fight.”
I tried to fall into a trance to call the power of the Line, but the air bands around me squeezed, cutting short my breath. Panic crept in and I attempted to reach into his chest, my mind hazy, my mental efforts clumsy. He grunted as more of the strange debris rose into the air.
No, not debris. Air particles. Because of Kieran, I could see air magic now.
The lack of oxygen hazed my brain and slowed my thoughts. The air particles hovered, lengthening, turning into spikes. My heart raged. My chest struggled for air. Black blotches clouded my vision.
A dark chuckle drifted from the red-haired man. The air daggers trembled, before raining down.
38
Alexis
The ground rumbled. The spikes of air above me stopped dead, one foot away, before dissipating entirely. The bands around my body loosened and peeled back.
Kieran stalked into the yard, his magic terrible and humbling. The ground quaked now, and his power electrified the surroundings. Swirls of light danced through the air—a stark contrast to the rage masking his expression. Clouds crawled into the sky above us and heavy fog drifted in, swirling around the yard in angry black-gray swirls.
He was ready to unleash the full power of a Demigod.
He stopped by my side, his heavy boots trampling the ground. His stormy eyes dipped, his gaze meeting mine before drifting over my body.
“Are you okay?” he asked, and his rough voice sent a thrill through me, fear from a primal sense of his extreme danger, and intense relief because he was on my side.
“Yes,” I gushed, even though my lungs still burned from the near miss, I was lying in a pile of death, and was sore from head to toe. But now that he was here, yes, I was okay. More than okay.
He looked up and squared those muscular shoulders, facing the cowering redhead at the other end of the yard. Air whipped around us. Pressure shoved down from the sky, almost solid it was so powerful. Confidence and authority radiated out from his robust frame.
“You dare attack a woman under my protection?” His voice was liquid steel.
The redhead’s face paled, even his freckles losing color. He sank down to his knees and threw up his hands. “I’m sorry, sir,” he bleated before clasping his fingers together. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know. She attacked us. I was only—”
“Enough,” Kieran barked. A surge of power sliced through my chest, rattling my rib cage and jiggling my soul deep in my body.
That was my power! How the hell could he use my power when I couldn’t even properly use it?
The redhead clutched at his chest and gagged, sinking to the ground. “What…” He gulped, clearly drowning in fear. “What was…”
Without another word, Kieran turned and bent, scooping me up and hugging me close.
“Wait...Bria!” I twisted in his arms, trying to see her. My body screamed in protest, the lumps and bruises from being flung and rolled pounding pain.
“She’s alive. I can feel the strength of her magic. She’ll be taken care of,” Kieran said softly, leaving the redhead cowering in our wake as he carried me down the side of the house to the street. His warmth coated me and his strong arms held me tight.
I melted in his arms. I couldn’t help it. My head touched down on his shoulder and I breathed in his familiar smell, salty sea foam and chocolate. Power moved within me, and our magic twisted tighter together.
“Secure them,” Kieran said, and I lifted my head to see who he was talking to. Thane, Zorn, and Donovan stepped forward. “The air elemental is conscious but subdued. He won’t be a problem. Bria is down.”
Zorn stalked forward, his face expressionless but his eyes tight. He held out a phone as he went by, not glancing my way.
“Oh.” I reached for it gingerly, noticing a bad gash on my hand. I sure hoped that wasn’t from the exposed bone of that dead person. “I must’ve dropped it.”
Thane followed Zorn, and Donovan fell in behind them. The other three of the Six stood out near the cars, their feet planted and eyes hard.
“You must’ve,” Kieran said, slowing halfway through the yard but not turning, still facing the street. His body stiffened. “Do spirits normally look like that?”
I blinked stupidly for a moment. “You can see spirits now?”
“Yes. Do they normally look like the people in that house?” He turned a little, indicating what he was talking about.
I was still blinking stupidly, but he shifted me enough so I could see through the door. John still stood there, looking out. Probably wondering what was going on. His face was lanced and blackened, and new gashes marred his sides. He must’ve sensed the weakening of the walls and tried to break out of the house with everything he had. The air infused with spirit magic had kept him at bay.
Behind him, a woman wailed in agony. She sprinted away, before sprinting back, tearing at her hair. A man wandered past, walking awkwardly and missing half of his head.
“No, they don’t. Those spirits are being physically and mentally tortured. None of the other traps I’ve seen do this, though I might not have seen them all.”
He nodded and then turned to look at John in the doorway. “Valens is responsible for keeping you here. Alexis”—he hefted me a little—“will be responsible for your freedom. Should you be willing to stay, to help take Valens down, you’re welcome to.”
“One day of seeing spirits and already you’re enlisting them to your agenda,” I murmured, grinning and not sure why. “Except they can’t do much besides close a door or two, and cause a fright.”
“That’s why we have Bria to put them in bodies. More the merrier.” He shifted away from the door, but before he could take a step, John called out, “I’ll fight.”
Kieran paused.
“I’ll fight,” someone else screamed.
“Fight!” Someone yelled.
“But you won’t want everyone who applies,” John said in a dry voice. “I can weed them out for you.”
I huffed out a laugh as Kieran turned back to nod in
approval.
Zorn jogged from the side of the house with Bria’s limp body in his arms. Her head lolled against his shoulder with blood dripping down her face.
“Broken nose,” Zorn said as he passed. “Unconscious but vitals are stable.”
Kieran nodded, watching Zorn hurry her to a car and delicately tuck her inside.
“Do you want me to strip the spirit trap away now, or wait…” I let my voice trail away as Zorn sat into the driver’s seat.
Kieran looked down at me, his gaze focusing on my lips. “Do you have the energy?”
I laughed again. “I feel like shit, but energy is one thing I have in abundance. Every time I yank a spirit out of a body, I get a rush. If I thought about it a little harder, it would probably be gross, but…”
He nodded, giving me the go-ahead, as he said, “You’ve been ripping spirits out of bodies?”
I dropped my head again, feeling the buzz from the house, weaker now than just a couple days ago. The Line pulsed around me, offering limitless power for me to borrow. And then something amazing happened.
“Put me down,” I said, straining away from Kieran.
Now that I looked more closely, I could just barely make out the air magic draped over the house, running along the walls and collecting at the bottom. Within it, drifting through the air currents, was the power I recognized and could now easily see, swirling and throbbing through the air.
Kieran was using some of my magic, and he’d gifted me with some of his.
Or I’d gifted him and forced a trade. Either way…
“Wash away that air, Kieran,” I said. “You can see the air drape, I take it?”
“Yes,” he said, turning to it more firmly. “The one at the government building disappears the day after they bolster it, but they must’ve made this one ten times stronger. It’s still visible.”
With a flick of his hand, the magic covering the house peeled away in places. Parts disintegrated, but the spirit magic kept it mostly stuck together.
“Huh,” I said, eating through that spirit. With a rush, the air magic continued to disintegrate until it was gone.
