Waking the Dead (The Second Rising Series Book 1)

by Amber Garr

  In the center, a Conjurer roared like a banshee. Her bright blue hair flared up around her and the whites of her eyes blazed in the shadows. Although we didn’t see them at first, the spirits of at least a hundred people gathered around her in a swirling tornado of pent up energy, lights flickering on and off with the electrical interruption. On her command, the spirits rushed at us in a wall of angry ectoplasm. They tackled River to the ground first, smothering him like an ocean wave. Then the ball split and some of them darted toward Noah. He tried to use his telekinesis, but it was worthless on a bunch of beings without a solid body. Thrashing his arms around wildly, he tried to reduce whatever damage they were inflicting.

  An angry, semi-transparent face suddenly flashed in front of my own, making me stumble back into my mother. The spirit scrutinized me for several seconds, its form bobbing up and down. I honestly couldn’t tell if it was male or female and that freaked me out even more. In my peripheral vision, I saw River and Noah on the ground wailing uncontrollably.

  And then the spirit screamed and rushed into my body. Like insects had crawled under my skin, thousands of little legs with poisonous thorns raced through every nerve cell. They scratched, and clawed, and dug their way into my entire body, relentlessly mauling me from the inside out. I didn’t even know if it was my scream or the crazy spirit’s, but the deafening noise didn’t stop the maddening agony ripping at my soul.

  “Mortuous ut descedas!” My mother screamed her incantation over the tops of our heads. The spirit attacking me rushed out of my body and into the Conjurer, who now glared at my mother with nothing but death in her eyes. “Mortuous ut descedas!” my mom shouted again.

  Every spirit that had been commanded to assault us now dashed around the Conjurer’s head, howling and screeching in a horrible display. The woman’s mouth moved with incantations of her own, but my mother’s powerful magic couldn’t be outdone. In an instant, a blast of white light slammed into the group of guards, sending them flying backward in all directions. Their bodies twisted and snapped as they hit the vehicles and the concrete pillars holding up the building above.

  But the Conjurer appeared unfazed. Until her spirits disintegrated into thin air and disappeared from her control forever. She dropped to the ground, knees shattering on the concrete by the force of her fall. Her body trembled and her shoulders bounced with her sobs. She snapped her head up to look at my mom now standing in front of us all like a sentinel. With eyes as black as obsidian, the Conjurer’s skin began to sag, wrinkles digging deep into each crease. Right there, like she was decomposing at a rapid rate. And then the she screamed. A sound so gut-wrenching that I wanted to run over and save her from this torment. But it was hopeless, and as she fell to the ground in silence, I knew her pain was gone forever.

  I had no idea what my mother was capable of until right now.

  As I pushed myself up to standing and clasped Noah’s hand when he joined my side, I took note of the carnage. In one instant, my mother had killed again. At least ten Imperium guards lay in broken bits scattered along the pathway in front of us.

  “Holy shit,” Rome said when he blinked in beside my mother.

  She slowly turned, eyes searching for me and River. Tears streamed down her face, mixing with the blood already there from the earlier blast. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

  “Well, we weren’t supposed to kill anyone, but I guess this was a necessity.” Rome tried to ease the situation, despite no one buying it.

  “What have I done?” My mom looked down at her hands in utter disgust. “I killed them.” She bent forward and pressed her hands into her knees for balance. Through short breaths she kept whispering “I killed them” over and over.

  “We have to go,” Noah said to River, who simply nodded. He hadn’t torn his eyes away from our mother yet.

  Bright red alarms started flashing in the ceiling, a really delayed reaction to the influx of magic from my mom. In an instant, we were all soaked from the sprinkler system raining down on us. Blood streams snaked their way to the drain as the dead bodies were washed clean.

  River rushed forward to my mom and he and Rome started moving her ahead toward our exit. Noah wrapped his arm behind my back and pulled me closer to him as we followed behind. My thigh hurt like a bitch, but my injuries were nothing compared to the broken and contorted bodies lying all around us.

  “Where are they?” Rome shouted to River. I didn’t catch his response but was curious about whom he meant.

  Just as we were climbing over the last body, doors on both sides of us opened up and an army of Imperium guards rushed out.

  “Shit,” Rome swore, stopping our progress still.

  “River, are they part of the plan?” Noah asked. He’d clutched me tighter and I didn’t mind.

  “You’re surrounded. Give up now!” one of the men in a riot gear mask shouted. He lifted some kind of rifle and aimed it at Rome’s head. Whatever was in there, I had a feeling it was created especially for people like us.

  “No, they’re not.” River lifted his hands in surrender, slowly stepping in front of my mom. “Everyone, put your hands up. Slowly.”

  We all looked at each other, except for my mom who was staring at one of the dead bodies near her feet. One at a time, we raised our hands. I hoped that River was just being compliant and really had a plan that didn’t involve us being dragged back inside.

  “Mom,” River said, “Please put your hands up.”

  She slowly glanced up at him and shook her head. “I can’t. I’m sorry.” Then she faced me. “I love you, Cressa.”

  “Mom?” I screeched. “Mom, what are you doing?”

  But it was too late. She’d already pushed herself around River and started running for the light that marked our exit. The guards yelled. River and I screamed. Rome started to blink. And then my mom lifted her hand to cast a spell on the closest guards. Without finishing her incantation, they shot her three times and she slammed to the ground, sliding like freshly killed prey.

  Rome reached her side a split second later, and when he bent forward to check for her pulse, another shot splattered off the ground right by her head. He had a moment to look at the guards before disappearing again. They swarmed her body while I cried out for her to wake up. River held me tight, forcing me to walk away from my mother’s unmoving form.

  “Mom!” I screamed, throat raw with fear and overuse.

  “Cressa, use your necromancy!” Noah shouted from behind me.

  “I can’t get to her!”

  “No. Use it here.” He pointed to all of the dead guards around us. “They can help us escape.”

  Shaking my head, I tried to understand what he was asking. “How am I supposed to do that?”

  “He’s right,” River spoke into my ear. “You can give us protection.”

  “Sweet,” Rome agreed. He’d popped back over to us. “But we have to do this now. River, can you hold them off?”

  My brother let go of me and took a few steps toward where my mother had fallen. “Tindalio!” Another wall of fire surrounded us in an instant, giving me the time I needed to raise these bodies.

  I’d never done this before and I didn’t know how it could possibly work. “I don’t have enough knives,” I stated blankly. With only the one I still held in my hand, I could raise one corpse. But that was only part of the problem.

  “Rome, River, get their knives,” Noah commanded. The guys starting pulling the government issued knives out of the hidden pocket in the guard’s uniforms. “Cressa, get started!”

  “I don’t have my things!” I shouted.

  Noah jogged over to me and forced me to face him. “You don’t need them.”

  “Yes I do! They help me channel the magic!” I started to hyperventilate. Maybe it was from the heat of the flames or maybe it was because I would be the reason we would all be killed.

  “You’re strong enough without them,” he said. “Trust me.”

  My eyes sharpened on the word. Trust.
Trust him?

  “I know you can do this.” Noah kissed my forehead and lifted his brows in question. Waiting patiently for my answer as the world crumbled around us.

  I bit my lip and took a calming breath. With a quick nod, I agreed to at least try. The knife in my hand was already covered with my blood, so I simply said my words and jabbed the blade down into his chest. I didn’t have time to wait and see if it worked and instead moved to the next corpse. A tiny, redheaded woman. Oh no. Charlotte.

  “Cressa, please hurry.” River’s voice sounded strained, like the effort it took him to speak was too much.

  But my adrenaline pumped ferociously and after rubbing the blood from my thigh on her blade, I stuck it in her chest and demanded that she rise from the dead. Eight corpses later and I was ready to see if my zombie army would really work.

  As each of them writhed on the ground, I told them to stand. One by one, their injured bodies snapped and cracked while they tried to find their balance. Some had a harder time than others, especially those with two broken legs. My mom had really done a number on them.

  “This is so cool,” Rome whispered in my ear. His smile wasn’t contagious as I knew what I was doing would surely cost me dearly later on. Both physically and mentally and possibly legally.

  “What should I do?” I asked Noah.

  His eyes darted around, analyzing all of our options. I’d raised the zombies. My part was done. “We need to make a shield.”

  “A what?”

  “You see that entryway just past where they’ve surrounded your mom?”

  I squinted through the flames. “Yes…” The guards were collecting her body.

  “We just need coverage until we reach it. Then our ride will meet us. In fact, she’s probably already there.”

  She? I ignored that and tried to focus. “So, a human shield?”

  “Yes. Tell them to hold their weapons and shoot when shot at.”

  I blew out a breath and looked at my reanimated corpses. “Okay.” Giving the command, they surrounded us with bodies, riot gear shields, and powerful guns.

  “I feel like I’m a Spartan,” Rome joked as we shuffled forward one step at a time.

  “Shoot!” I yelled out when the bullets started to fly. River had dropped his wall of fire and was now huddled next to me behind our corpse screen. Foot by foot we edged closer toward the light. As I peeked out I noticed it was daylight—the symbol of our freedom.

  “Keep moving,” I demanded. Several of the bodies kept tripping over their feet, mostly because their bones were facing the wrong direction. At one point, a male guard fell, and another bullet slammed into Rome’s shoulder.

  “Mother fucker,” he spit out through gritted teeth. I think that made three hits now?

  When we just had a few more feet to go, tires screeched around the corner. Rome’s black SUV lurched to a stop, teetering on two tires for a moment.

  “Oh, holy hell,” he groaned, “she’s going to wreck it.” Then he blinked away.

  “Run!” I shouted at the zombie crew and we moved as fast as we could. More bullets zipped by us, but once my corpses started firing in rapid succession, we had our chance to dive into the vehicle. River went first, followed by Noah.

  “Cressa, come on!” Noah grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the car.

  Landing hard on his lap, I quickly turned my head toward the opening. I screamed at my zombies as the door closed on my face, “Shoot them!”

  We sped out of the underground parking lot entrance and darted into traffic. Rome was behind the wheel and I knew we’d quickly reach the perimeter where my reanimated corpses would all fall dead again very soon. My stomach twisted, sickness already brewing inside. Never had I done something like this before and never did I want to do it again.

  “Are you okay, Cressa?”

  “Brit?” I asked, focusing on the person in the front seat. She’d climbed to her knees and was leaning over the back to see us. “What are you doing here?”

  “She insisted,” Noah groaned.

  “She doesn’t listen,” Rome said at the same time.

  Brit shrugged and smiled. Her fingers gripped the back of the seat when Rome whipped the car to the side. “You all needed a getaway driver.”

  Amidst this entire ordeal, I thought that was the funniest thing anyone could have said at the moment. So I started to laugh. Uncontrollable giggles raced from my mouth like the bullets we’d been dodging. I blamed it on a complete and utter shut down of my system.

  So while Rome drove us to wherever, I lay in Noah’s lap and laughed until I cried.

  “Where are we going?” Brit asked once we’d cleared the downtown area. I noticed the way she looked at Rome—all puppy dog eyed and gooey—and knew this was going to be trouble soon.

  River leaned forward from the seat behind Noah and me. “To the Station Chief’s.”

  “What?” I blurted out. “We just escaped the Reformatory only to go back to the Imperium?”

  “Not exactly,” Rome said while looking at me through the mirror. “Did you notice that we broke you out of there?”

  “Did you notice that they tried to kill us?” I countered sarcastically.

  “Not all of them did,” River said. “There’s been a push for a change in leadership for quite some time, and this little escape is going to be the catalyst.”

  “I’m not following.” My gaze shifted to Noah who looked like this was news to him as well.

  “The simplest explanation is to say that we had help from the inside. And now those insiders have a reason to overthrow the current power-hungry leaders. I mean if they can’t even keep their own prisoners contained, then how can they run the organization?”

  “Here, here,” Rome agreed. Brit continued to stare at him.

  “But they killed mom.” The strangled words had to push through the bump in my throat.

  “She’s not dead,” Rome stated.

  “She’s not?” I twisted in my seat to look at River. “We have to go back and get her!”

  “Cressa,” he sighed. “We can’t risk it right now.”

  I climbed to my knees and pushed River in the chest as hard as I could. “You cold, heartless bastard! She saved us! How can you just discard her like a piece of trash?”

  River didn’t have a response. But Rome did. “I’ll jump back and grab her once we get you guys safe.”

  I swallowed all of the words that I wanted to say to my brother. “Thank you,” I whispered. Noah squeezed my hand, and I rested my head against his shoulder. Of all the people here right now, he was the one that I wanted to see the most. Despite the interrogation he was going to get later, I knew that if something would have happened to him too, I wouldn’t have been able to keep it together.

  Rome parked the SUV in front of a large office building, and when I looked out the window, I smiled. “The Pickle.” Noah pinched my waist in acknowledgment.

  We traveled to the fifth floor where the rebel faction of the Imperium had set up their temporary headquarters. As soon as we arrived, we were ushered to one of the large conference rooms that had been turned into a makeshift emergency station. Noah helped me limp inside while Rome sat on one of the hospital beds. A doctor rushed to my side but I pushed him away. “Please, fix him first.” I pointed to Rome who balked.

  “No, that’s okay. Take care of her.” The doctor took one look at the giant Imp and jogged back over to my side of the room.

  “No! Him first!” I focused on Rome. “I need to you to go check on my mother.”

  Understanding flashed over his face and he waved the doctor back. “Okay, Doc. You heard her. Come and pull these bullets out of me. They hurt like hell.” Rome winked at me and Noah.

  “Please be careful,” Brit said, standing a little too close to the Imp. By the smirk on his face, he knew exactly what Brit was doing. But she had no idea what he was, and that was going to warrant a conversation once we had some alone time.

  “I need to go to a debriefing
,” River said next to me. “Will you be okay here?” His eyes flashed to Noah, an unspoken question in them.

  “Yes.” River started to walk away but I reached out and snagged his arm. “And thank you.”

  He grinned and nodded his head. That was about the extent of our physical affection for each other, but I knew that after today we might be able to start over again.

  “How’s your leg?” Noah asked. He lifted me up onto a table and stayed there—in between my knees and way too close.

  “We have a lot to talk about,” I said by way of an answer.

  He rested his forehead against mine, hands still holding my waist. “Good.” Then he kissed me quickly before a nurse started poking and prodding with her machines and scanners.

  At some point I must have fallen asleep, because when I opened my eyes, the sky outside was glowing a fantastic orange and pink. Still in the hospital bed in the conference room, my clothes had been removed and bandages covered my thigh and my chest. But I quickly noticed that I didn’t feel any pain. The IV in my arm must have been the cause. Thank god for drugs.

  I heard River and Rome speaking in hushed voices from the other side of the room. When they saw me stir, their silence roused suspicion. “Any word on mom?” My voice barely came out, reminding me of my first morning with Noah. Where was he anyway?

  They both stepped forward, flanking my bed and wearing expressions that iced my blood. Rome spoke first. “I’m sorry, Cressa. But she didn’t make it.”

  I looked at Rome, who hung his head. “Did you get to see her?”

  “Yeah.” He glanced at River before continuing. “They tried to save her, but she died about an hour ago.”

  “Did they really try to save her?” I asked River.

  “I think so.” He sat on the bed and grabbed my hand—something he’d rarely done before. “They couldn’t afford to let her die. At least not on her terms.”

  Not sure if that actually comforted me, I squeezed my eyes shut. We were orphans now. And River was the only family I had left in this world.