Requiem for the Living (The Reanimation Files Book 2)

by A. J. Locke

  I stood still and stared at him. He looked angry, sad, and scared all at once, and my anger waned.

  “I’m being a selfish asshole,” I said.

  Micah’s lip twitched in a smile, and he came forward and held my hands.

  “It’s OK to be selfish. You’re dealing with far more than is fair for you to have to shoulder. All I’m asking is that you remember that you are not alone in this. As much as I am thinking about you, think about me too. This isn’t easy, watching you slowly…watching the Rot…” He stopped speaking, sighed, and pressed his forehead against mine. When he closed his eyes a tear slid down his cheek.

  “I’m sorry,” I said softly. “My emotions got the best of me. Everything that you are doing for me is more than good enough. I’m just angry that any of this is happening. I didn’t mean to take it out on you.”

  “I know.” He moved back and raised his hands to cup my face before kissing me. My body tingled at the touch of his lips, and I pressed myself against him, feeling as though I couldn’t get close enough. This time I had trouble breathing for all the good reasons.

  “I do desire you, I always do, you have to know that.”

  “I do,” I said.

  “Good.” He kissed me again, then just held me tightly. “Never forget it.”

  “I won’t.”

  * * *

  Having made up from the fight, Micah and I were acting all googly-eyed as we ate the French toast Ethan made. Our hands and legs touched not so accidentally every now and then, and we kept giving enough other little smiles or making cutesy faces. Ethan said we were making him want to barf. I just smacked him with a newspaper. How Micah and I acted was normal. And normal was all I wanted right now.

  I also caught Micah up on everything that happened with trying to track down the Ryes. And I told him what Tielle and I had talked about. I could tell from his expression that he wasn’t thrilled at the idea of me playing up to Andrew, but he also knew the bigger picture was more important. We ended that part of the conversation with agreeing that I would not go overboard with it.

  “I want to check out the guy Ethan told me about to see if he can hack into the hospital’s surveillance,” I said to Micah. “Want to come with me?”

  “Sure. Hopefully we’ll be able to see how the Ryes got Isabelle out, or who helped them get her out.” His phone buzzed then, and he looked at it for a few moments, then looked up at me. “That was the office. Andrew has temporarily moved us to the building across the street while the twelfth floor is being repaired and they need as many hands on deck as we make the move. Think we can put it off until lunch?”

  I was immediately annoyed that Micah was once again acting dodgy, but tried to tell myself to be reasonable.

  “I’ll just go without you,” I said. “It’s not a big deal. I’ll let you know what I find.”

  “Are you sure you should go alone?”

  “He’s a nerd who likes to break the law. I’m hardly walking in to a crack den.”

  “OK,” Micah said. Just then my body thought it’d be a good time for a coughing fit, which made Ethan and Micah rush over to me. I stopped them from smothering me and just let the fit pass, although when it was over there was blood on my palm and my blouse, which happened to be white. I didn’t bother to look at the expressions on Micah and Ethan’s faces as I headed to the bathroom, but I warned them not to start in on their worrying once I came out. After washing up, I changed the stained blouse for a red one with a chevron pattern, and headed back to the living room.

  “Selene, are you sure you’re up for anything today? We can check this guy out later.”

  “I am not an invalid, Micah. Don’t treat me like my grave has already been dug.”

  “I’m not. I’m just worried about you. It’s OK if you want to rest.”

  “I’m not going to sit around and wait for this thing to take me. Now quit arguing with me, I’m not changing my plans.”

  His jaw got tight and clenchy, but he didn’t push me.

  “Fine,” he said. “Just be careful. I guess this means you will also attend my uncle’s conference later.”

  “Conference?”

  “Remember when you first met him, and he mentioned that he was holding a conference to unveil new developments with runes?”

  “Oh right, I forgot. Been sidetracked with the whole dead girl in my backyard thing. What time is it?”

  “Two-thirty. You can come by after you find Carlos. It’s being held at the Paranormal Library.”

  “Here’s hoping another beastie doesn’t decide conference crashing is its thing.”

  “He also wants us to join him for lunch at Maison afterwards.”

  “Maison? Yum. I’m in.”

  “He would like you to come along as well,” Micah said, turning to Ethan. “He’s interested in meeting you.”

  “He wants to meet me? Why?” Ethan eyebrows rose.

  “Oh I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe it’s because you’re a bound, tangible ghost? Or have you been feeling so solid lately you’ve forgotten?”

  “I don’t particularly want to be fawned over,” Ethan muttered.

  I laughed. “Fawned? Don’t we think highly of ourselves?”

  “My uncle is fascinated by your bind to Selene. He’s always been deeply interested in things like this.”

  “And this is his chance to see it up close and in person,” I added.

  Micah shrugged. “Can you blame him for being curious?”

  “Nope.” I nudged Ethan. “I’ve met Renton, he doesn’t seem like the fawning type. I’m sure you will be able to walk away with your dignity.”

  “Fine,” Ethan said, rolling his eyes. “But I’m not coming to the conference, just Maison’s. I have a raid in half an hour and it’s going to take some time. Plus they’re coming today to install the security alarm.”

  “That’s as good a reason as any to miss the conference,” I said. “The security camera part, not the nerdy raid part.”

  Ethan made a face at me.

  “No one is going to have time to pick you up so take the subway,” I continued.

  “Fine, just leave me some money for a Metrocard.”

  I shook my head as I pulled out my wallet and handed him a twenty. “Why do I feel like I’m your mother? I buy you video games and Metrocards and do your laundry.”

  “Actually, I do the laundry, and I cook. And clean. So who’s the mom now?”

  “I think we need to put quotations marks around the word cook. But you can be the mom if you want. Would you like me to get you a frilly apron and a pretty shade of red lipstick?”

  “Shut up.”

  “You two kids,” Micah said.

  “Whatever, dad!” Ethan and I said at the same time. Then we all laughed.

  “All right.” I clapped my hands together. “We all have our plans for the day. Micah work, Selene investigate, Ethan raid. Then we rendezvous at Maison. Don’t fill up at home, Ethan, this place is nice, and I assume Renton is picking up the tab.”

  Micah smiled and shook his head, then we said good-bye to Ethan and Luna, who was very unhappy that she wasn’t coming with us. Outside, Micah and I kissed and parted ways.

  An hour later I was driving through Jamaica, Queens, specifically to a part that belonged to the Underground. The guy I was going to see, Carlos, worked on the outskirts of the Queens Underground, which made sense because he could reel in some of the shady types who sought services in the Underground. I parked my car and spent a good twenty minutes trying to ferret out exactly where Carlos was set up. Ethan’s directions hadn’t been an exact address; it was a list of rights and lefts to take down certain roads, and at one point I was almost sure I was just going in circles.

  Finally, I found myself walking down a deserted street that had ramshackle shops here and there, all of which were boarded up. I walked about halfway down until I came to a tiny store with a broken down door that had a few rickety boards of wood nailed over it. I doubled checked the
directions, or should I say descriptions, to confirm I was in the right spot, then moved the boards aside and entered. It was dark, so I let my eyes adjust for a few moments. I was in a small room with a counter in front of me, behind which were dusty mirrors. There were a few broken down tables and chairs, and I even saw rusted appliances like blenders, so I figured this had once been some kind of juice bar.

  I headed behind the counter and inspected the mirrors for a moment before I started feeling around the edges with my fingers. One of them swung open at my prying and revealed a crawl space that contained a ladder that led up. I headed in to the less than spacious hole and climbed the ladder, really hoping this was all worth it.

  Once at the top, I was greeted by the sound of machines whirring, tiny lights flashing, screens blinking, wires crisscrossing almost every perceivable surface, and in the middle of the room Carlos sat behind a large desk that was almost completely taken up by huge monitors and elaborate keyboards. It was flanked by two other desks that also held computers. He was dressed in what I typically saw Ethan wearing, graphic T-shirt and jeans, had black hair that needed both a wash and cut, facial hair he didn’t keep neat, and were those Cheeto stains near his mouth? Good grief. He was hunched over typing furiously, then swung around in his chair and started typing at another computer, before leaping over to a third. I don’t think nerd was quite the right word for this guy. They’d have to come up with an entirely new category for him.

  I didn’t have time to wait for him to acknowledge that someone was standing in front of him so I cleared my throat loudly, which made him jump and almost fall out of his chair.

  “Hey, Carlos, I’m in need of your services. I’ll tell you what I want, you can quote me your price, and we can get down to business. Sound good?” The room was large but there was only the tiniest crack in one of the windows, so overall it was extremely warm on account of all the machines, and dusty. I wanted to get out of here before another cough attack came on.

  “Uh, yeah, sure, what can I do for you?” He rose up in his seat and looked past me. Making sure I came alone I guess.

  “I need you to hack into the security cameras of North Shore LIJ, specifically the pediatrics wing, and I want to see the footage from last week Tuesday.”

  “Hospital security hacking,” he said, smiling. “Can’t say I’ve done that one yet.”

  “Not too much for you, is it?” I said, to which he made a sound of disgust.

  “You obviously don’t know who you’re talking to.”

  “I obviously do, since I came to you for help.” It was fun flirting with his ego. He gave me a grin and motioned for me to come around the desk as he brushed empty wrappers to the ground and wiped at his cheeks.

  “Five hundred for the job, non negotiable,” he said. I pulled out half that and lay it down, thankful I had gotten paid last week.

  “Half now, half when I get what I want.”

  He smiled. “Doesn’t seem like this is your first time at the rodeo.”

  “I just know how to handle these kinds of negotiations.”

  He turned back to his plethora of computers and started typing and clicking. I didn’t bother to pay attention to what he was doing. I didn’t care about the process, only the end result. The pleased sounds he was making made me feel like he was getting through, so I was happy with that.

  About ten minutes later he leaned back and laced his hands behind his head with a smile on his face. “Ta-da,” he said. “Footage from North Shore’s cameras in the kids wing from last Tuesday.”

  I leaned closer to have a better look. The camera’s quality wasn’t stellar but was usable, so I instructed Carlos on when to rewind or fast forward as I scanned the footage from all of the cameras that were set up in the kids’ wing. Almost an hour later, when my eyes were starting to protest all the squinting and straining, I told Carlos to back up the footage because something interesting had caught my eye.

  A male orderly was wheeling a patient’s bed out of her room, and even though the footage was grainy, I recognized the girl’s face as Isabelle’s. She was sleeping, and clutching a teddy bear, and the orderly was carefully maneuvering her to the elevators. I couldn’t see his face because he was wearing a hat and kept his head down, but something told me that he was not really an orderly. This was the first time I had seen him show up on the camera while I had seen many other orderlies and nurses pass back and forth. Secondly, he was wearing a hat low on his face as though to hide it, and none of the other orderlies had worn a hat. He also wore a long sleeved shirt under his T-shirt, which none of the other orderlies had worn, so I got the feeling he wanted to cover himself as much as possible for the purposes of being incognito. I couldn’t pick up on any distinguishing features that would help me figure out who this was.

  “Can you follow the cameras to show where this person went after leaving the floor?” I pointed to the guy wheeling Isabelle. Carlos said nothing, just clicked and typed some more, and the footage switched to the elevator cameras. I could see Isabelle’s face more clearly now, but the man had his face turned away from the camera so I still couldn’t see him. Plus, it didn’t help that the bright light in the elevator reflected off the metal on Isabelle’s bed, making it harder to scrutinize the footage.

  Once they got off the elevator, Carlos jumped from camera to camera and showed me the man taking Isabelle out of the hospital, but when he switched to the cameras outside, we lost track of them since there was a lot of activity going on. My best guess was the man had gotten hold of an ambulance and taken off with Isabelle. I frowned as I thought everything over. So I had confirmation that it hadn’t been the Ryes who’d gotten Isabelle out, but the fact that I couldn’t get a glimpse of this guy’s face was extremely frustrating.

  “Seen all you want to see?” Carlos asked.

  “I think so.” I sighed and wiped my damp forehead. “Can you burn a copy of everything you just showed me?”

  “Sure can.”

  I’d go home and watch it again in a more ventilated environment that wasn’t making me feel lightheaded. Maybe I’d pick up a clue. A few minutes later Carlos produced a DVD for me. I paid him the rest of his fee, thanked him, and left. I stuck the DVD at the bottom of my handbag. When I got outside, I called Micah and told him about the results of my visit, and he agreed that we would watch it again later to see if there was anything that could point us in the right direction. I was not happy that I was no closer to tracking down who was behind stashing Isabelle’s body in my backyard, but I had to put my unhappiness on hold and head to Renton’s press conference. Here’s hoping this one went a lot better than the last.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  I don’t think I’d been inside a library since it was a school requirement to go there for some book or research project. I used to enjoy trashy romance novels as a teenager, but nowadays I didn’t have much time for reading. The Paranormal Library had been renovated since the last time I’d been here, although it was more of a restoration since the building was very old and the city was all about preserving it. I entered into an enormous space with a domed ceiling high above, and columns and statues mounted on the walls that gave a good idea of how long the building had been around. There were staircases leading to the upper floors which wrapped around the main atrium so everything was in a circular pattern. The walls of all the upper floors were glass so you could look down at the floors below or up at the ceiling.

  I waited close to the entrance for Micah because I was not about to attempt to find out where the press conference was by myself. I was sure I could find out at the information desk, but that was all the way on the other side of the atrium. What if I needed to take the stairs I was standing a few feet away from? That was a lot of walking I could avoid.

  Micah arrived a few minutes later, and we did in fact use the nearby stairs to go up to the mezzanine level where there was an elevator to take us further up.

  “I figured Ilyse would come with you,” I said. “I knew this would int
erest her way more than it’d interest me. Is she driving herself?”

  “She can’t make it; she was on schedule to work at the Leech House today and couldn’t switch her shift. She said she can meet us at Maison’s though.”

  “Guess she can hear about it straight from Renton then.” We emerged from the elevator onto the tenth floor and followed the flow of people who headed into a large room at the end of the hall. It was already half full and there were no seats at the front. Micah and I made our way to the middle row and sat near the end. I hated sitting in the center of a row, it was a pain in the ass whether it was you or someone else who had to get up. Although playing gatekeeper at the end of the row wasn’t much fun either.

  Renton was already here, as were members of his team; two men and one woman, all of whom I’d seen at the office though I couldn’t recall their names. Tielle and other dead witches and necromancers who’d come to hole up at Affairs of the Dead sat in the first few rows. This must be a proud day for Tielle since Renton worked under her. If whatever he showcased here was indeed ooh- and aah-worthy, she was sure to bask in some of the glory. There were also news cameras and reporters at the front of the room. I got a slight feeling of déjà vu from the conference a few days ago.

  It took about fifteen minutes before the room was full and everyone settled. Micah and I whiled away the time by playing thumb war. It appeared as though he won every round, but I think he cheated. Finally, Renton stepped up to the podium and blazed a smile out at the crowd. We gave a polite round of applause even though he hadn’t done anything yet.

  “Good afternoon everyone, as you may or not may not know, my name is Renton Morse, and I work with the Paranormal Sector’s Rune Development division. I have with me my colleagues Winston, Colin, and Indira. Throughout the course of my tenure with the department, we have worked extensively with various runes in order to test their capabilities, as well as try to develop new advancements. We hope these advancements would prove helpful not just for the necromancers and dead witches who use them, but for the non-paranormal members of the public as well. Today I am excited to announce that there have been new breakthroughs, which I hope you will find as useful and fascinating as I do.” He beckoned to Colin, who brought forward a small black box. Renton opened it and held up a rune. Even though I wasn’t sitting that close to the front, I could see that the roundish rune was multifaceted like a rough cut diamond. It was a light blue color, but it was clear. I could see right through it.