Requiem for the Living (The Reanimation Files Book 2)

by A. J. Locke

  “I have no desire to go digging up his body,” I said.

  “And you won’t have to,” Micah said. “Ethan and I will take care of it.”

  “That’s a plan I can get on board with. You two know where the shovels are.”

  Ethan looked unhappy but followed Micah to the backyard. I got another energy rune for Marcus and put it on him so he could sit down on the couch.

  “Sounds like a lot of bad things are going on around you,” he commented.

  “That’s putting it lightly. I wish I could just run away from all of it and sleep for about a year.”

  “Do you think there are more?” he asked. “Like me and that girl who turned into a ghost monster today?”

  “I hope not. And if someone plans for there to be more I hope that I can stop them before it happens again.”

  “Who would want to do this though? And why did they choose me?”

  “My assumption is that your family couldn’t bear the thought of losing you so they decided having your ghost anchored in this world was what they should do. Obviously they did not realize the whole thing is a little more complicated than that. What I wish I could figure out is who the hell is doing this. Have you ever heard of Isabelle or her parents, John and Maria Rye?”

  “No,” Marcus said. Damn, it would have been great if I could have made a connection there.

  “If I don’t stop this I may soon have an army of anchored ghosts on my hands.”

  “That doesn’t sound like a good thing.”

  “It isn’t.” I was so tired. I closed my eyes and tried to calm my thoughts. I felt anxious and unsettled, and really wanted something to go right for a change. Plus, as much as I tried to act like I felt OK, I could not deny that every day I was getting weaker and weaker. Even activating an energy rune for Marcus was more difficult than it should be. I didn’t know how much longer I could hide how much blood I was coughing up. In the back of my head was the conversation I’d had with Micah where he told me about his mother’s death and how he had resisted getting close to someone over the fear of losing them. The last thing I wanted was to hurt Micah, but it appeared that I would not have a choice.

  My phone vibrated, and I saw a text from Andrew asking if I was running late. Crap, I was supposed to have dinner with him tonight. Finding Marcus and dealing with Isabelle’s anchored beastie was an award winning excuse for why I could not make dinner, but it wasn’t an excuse I could give Andrew. I texted back that I was feeling particularly fatigued tonight because of the Rot and asked if we could reschedule. Andrew immediately replied that he wouldn’t mind brining dinner to me but I told him I really wasn’t up to it and it would be better to let me get some rest. I glossed over his flowery, concerned filled responses, only reading enough to confirm that he wasn’t going to pop up. It wouldn’t sit well with Tielle that I hadn’t gone on this date with Andrew, but he was a problem for tomorrow. I had enough going on today.

  “We got it.” Micah and Ethan came back into the living room looking disheveled and smudged with dirt. Micah placed a ring in Marcus’ hand, who looked at it with a sad smile.

  “Pretty,” I said, leaning over to look at it. The slim white gold band was set with a white diamond nested in between two blue diamonds.

  “Yeah,” Marcus said. He looked at me. “So, I guess we should get going?”

  “Right.” I stood up and wobbled, almost falling back onto the couch. Marcus saw and raised an eyebrow, but thankfully Micah and Ethan hadn’t been looking at me else they would have made a big deal out of it. I was tired but I could still do this.

  “Just give me a minute,” I said. I headed into the kitchen and drank some water, then found a bag of cookies and shoved several into my mouth. I needed some energy, that was all. Denial was a wonderful thing. I also found a bag of trail mix and grabbed a handful. After a quick bathroom trip where I splashed cold water on my face, I headed back to the living room.

  “Are you sure you’re up to this?” Micah asked. “I can go instead.”

  “No, I’ll do it,” I said. “I’ll be fine Micah, I’m just taking an anchored ghost to give a ring to his unsuspecting exgirlfriend.” He didn’t look convinced that I was OK, especially since I knew I didn’t look it, but he didn’t argue with me.

  “You stay here with Ethan, and remember to feed Luna and take her for a walk. But for the love of God you both must take showers before you do anything else. And clean up the dirt you’ve trudged into the house. Come on Marcus.” I gave Micah a quick kiss, which showed how much I loved him even though he was just rummaging through the pockets of a corpse, then headed out the door with Marcus.

  “All right, where am I taking you?” I asked once we were seated.

  “She lives in Williamsburg,” Marcus said.

  “Hipsterville here we come.”

  * * *

  The deed had been done. Lucky for us, Marcus’ ex, Lila, had been home, and after her initial freak out of seeing Marcus and me on her doorstep, she tearfully accepted the ring, and she and Marcus talked for a while. I couldn’t imagine how that girl felt taking a ring that Marcus had meant to propose to her with before she broke his heart. Now it was to be a memento. She had indicated wanting to see him fade but I quickly interjected and lied, saying this wasn’t Marcus’ only unfinished business so he wasn’t going to fade yet. The two said their goodbyes and we left.

  We had spent three hours there because Lila and Marcus had been reluctant to part. I understood the complex emotions they felt, but while they were expressing sorrows and contemplating what ifs, I was feeling worse and worse. I had gone outside onto the small porch to see if some fresh air would help, but it didn’t. My body trembled, and I was glad I had brought a handkerchief with me because when I coughed, there was blood.

  I just wanted to get home and crawl into bed with Micah and Luna. I wanted a few blissful hours away from all of this and sleep was the only way I was going to get it. Once we were driving home, Marcus sat silently in the passenger seat, probably lost in thoughts of his lost love. That was fine with me. Conversation would have been too distracting right now, and I needed all my concentration as I drove.

  “Learn to drive, jerk, get off my ass.” For the past few blocks the car behind me had seemed more like it was on top of me. The driver clearly did not know how to give someone some space. I kept glancing through the rearview mirror, waiting for them to turn down another street or finally back off, but the vehicle stayed with me. After taking the same turns I did for five minutes straight, I started to get a strange feeling. Was I being paranoid or were we being tailed? The fact that the windows were tinted so I couldn’t see who was behind the wheel didn’t make me feel any better.

  “Are you OK?” Only when Marcus asked did I realize how tightly I was gripping the steering wheel and how much I kept looking at the rearview mirror. Marcus glanced over his shoulder. “That car has been following us for a while, do you think something’s up?”

  “I don’t—” Before I could finish my sentence we got the answer. The car suddenly rammed into us, and I barely managed to keep the car from fishtailing. Luckily, we were the only two cars driving down this residential block so I didn’t hit anything, but having a mysterious driver suddenly have it out for me was extremely alarming. The impact of the slam threw me forward, and I would have slammed into the steering wheel if it hadn’t been for my seat belt.

  “Fuck!” I stepped on the gas. Speeding up didn’t help though; the car sped up too and would have slammed us again if I hadn’t made a sharp right turn down another street. I ended up on a busy double lane street so I was able to put a few cars between us. My heart felt like it was in my throat, and I tried my best to stay focused, but my strength had been waning as the hours passed. I hadn’t expected to be out this long with Marcus. I just prayed I could get us out of this situation in one piece. Well, I was more concerned about myself staying in one piece. Marcus was already dead.

  “Selene, what’s happening?” Marcus’ ey
es were wide, and he kept looking behind us.

  “Marcus I’m right here with you, therefore I know about as much as you do,” I said through gritted teeth. The other car’s aggressive driving wasn’t sitting well with the other drivers and soon there were many horns blaring. The car was trying to catch up with us.

  I turned down another street, a one-way with only a few cars, sped up, and passed the other cars as carefully as I could. Last thing I wanted was to take someone else down while someone was trying to take me down. After a few blocks I thought we had lost him and was about to relax when the car suddenly turned down the two-way I was now on. The bright headlights were blinding and aggravated my headache.

  “What the hell does this son of a bitch want?” Maybe whoever was stashing bodies in my yard was tired of doing it the sneaky way and planned to just kidnap me, lock me up, and let people die around me so I could anchor their ghosts? I did not like that scenario at all.

  The black car was coming at us full speed. I put the car in reverse and tried to back up but there were other cars coming up behind me, and I was moments away from causing a wreck. I switched back to drive, did a very dangerous U-turn, clipped a parked car while a few other drivers had to quickly maneuver out of my way, and ended up in the lane going in the other direction.

  I was breaking so many traffic laws and clipping so many cars I should have my license suspended forever, but this was life or death here. I was uncomfortably reminded of the car ride Micah and I had as we pursued the ghost beastie that had snatched up Ethan and taken him to Michael. I really hoped this wasn’t becoming my thing.

  I finally got my car back into the right lane. Five blocks later I was hesitant to say we were finally in the clear but so far the other car had not shown up again.

  “Selene, watch out!” The car had turned onto the street I was on and sped up. I sped up as well but wasn’t fast enough. We were hit at almost full speed, and I lost control of my car. The car spun in circles before slamming into a tree, then the next thing I knew the airbag was slamming into me, and I was falling into darkness.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  I opened my eyes to a feeling of déjà vu. I felt like shit, my head throbbed, and Micah was sitting next to me. It took a few seconds to recognize that I was not in a hospital bed though. I was in my bedroom. But the way I felt, it seemed like I should be in a hospital.

  “You’re awake.” To say Micah looked relieved was an understatement. He squeezed my hand, which he’d been holding. He looked disheveled and sleep deprived.

  “Hey.” I had that deep, croaky voice going on. “Guess I’m not dead yet. I feel about halfway there though.”

  “I know.” And now the relief was replaced by worry. “Selene…”

  “What happened? Where’s Marcus?”

  “Marcus is gone.” Micah’s face was grim.

  “What? Where?”

  “You were gone for so long I got worried so I tracked you using your phone’s GPS. When I arrived you were being pulled from your car by paramedics. They treated you at the hospital. Luckily your injuries were minor. They discharged you after two days but the medication has had you in and out of sleep. You don’t remember the past few days?”

  “Not at all,” I said. “Last thing I remember is my car about to crash. I have no memory of being in the hospital. Are there any leads on who crashed into me? Someone had been following me for a while and it culminated in me being driven off the road and Marcus disappears? What the hell is going on?”

  “Did you see the driver or know what kind of car it was?”

  “The windows were tinted, and I don’t know enough about cars to tell you much other than it was black.” I pounded my fist on the bed. “Whoever did it wanted Marcus very badly.”

  “The question is why.”

  “Well, me finding Marcus was clearly not part of the equation. Whoever stashed him probably didn’t think his ghost would had risen when it did. That’s why I was able to get to him first. Maybe they came to take him back.”

  “If they did it wasn’t so they could give him to his family. I checked.”

  “Well no, they wouldn’t take him home because they’d know we’d look into that. So maybe they’re just holding him somewhere.” I sighed and stared up at the ceiling. “It feels like everything is just going in circles. There’s bad shit all around and no way to get out of it. Especially this damn Rot.” I looked at Micah. He tried to change his expression but I caught it.

  “What is it?”

  “The Rot. It…it’s much worse now. Ilyse has been here almost twenty-four-seven because she had to draw ghost energy off you every two hours. But at this point she said there’s no relief to be had from drawing off the ghost energy. The Rot has…”

  “I get it,” I said. “Ilyse already told me it was a matter of weeks. Guess it’s almost time.” I was weirdly calm when this was a moment where I should be anything but calm. I doubted I was mature enough to just accept this and let the wave of death wash over me. Maybe I was too numb to scream and cry about it right now.

  “No, Selene, you aren’t going to die.” The ghost of a smile tugged at his lips as I frowned.

  “What are you talking about?” Instead of answering, he planted a soft kiss on my lips then left the bedroom, leaving me staring at the door in confusion. He came back a few moments later with Ilyse and Renton. Ilyse came over to the left side of the bed and sat down, gently touching my clammy cheek with her palm. Renton and Micah stayed on the right side.

  “Remember what we told you about Renton trying to find a way to save you?”

  “You said you were on the cusp.” I was afraid to let hope rise.

  “Now we are beyond the cusp,” Renton said. “I have formulated a treatment that will save you.”

  I never thought I would hear those words. “So…what is this cure? How does it work?”

  “Through my experiments with Alchemy I came up with a way to use rune magic to block the Rot from continuing to attack your body. Right now the Rot is attacking your reanimation and necromancer power, as well as your organs. The magic I will infuse into you will provide…” He paused as he tried to think of the right word. “A distraction,” he continued. “To the Rot. It will switch focus to consuming the new energy while your body starts to heal.”

  “I think I’m following,” I said, still slightly frowning. “I certainly never heard of something like this before.”

  “It’s something you will need to keep doing,” Renton said. “About once a month. But I’ve taught Micah how to do it so you will be in good hands when I am not around.”

  “OK,” I said, nodding. “And needless to say, this is risky?”

  “Yes,” Renton said, face serious. “It’s the first time I have attempted something like this, and while it looks good on paper, there’s no telling how it will be in execution. It’s up to you if you want to try this.”

  I took a moment to think, which was so unlike me. Guess my newfound levelheadedness was here to stay.

  “What do you think?” I asked Micah. “I mean it sounds like a no-brainer…”

  “I believe it can work.” Micah had so much hope in his voice and on his face it almost brought tears to my eyes.

  “Ilyse?” She had been quiet all this time and not very expressive. Her hand was on top of mine.

  “I would try just about anything to save your life,” she said softly. There was a tight look to her expression that I could not figure out though.

  “OK,” I said, taking a deep breath. “I’ll let you do it. If it goes wrong, and I die…well I’m going to die anyway, right?”

  “No, you’re not.” Micah kissed my forehead then moved back so Renton could come closer to me. Ilyse, who was holding a bag of runes, took out the one used to draw off ghost energy.

  “Ilyse will work alongside me,” Renton said. “She will draw ghost energy off you to ensure the levels are as low as possible while I infuse the new magic into your body.”

  “Soun
ds simple enough,” I said.

  “The hard part has already been done,” Renton said smiling. “Now, just lie back and be still.”

  “I’ll be as still as a corpse.” No one laughed at my joke. Ilyse placed her rune on my palm and soon the sharp coldness that always came whenever ghost energy was drawn out invaded my body. The more ghost energy there was, the more painful this process was, so needless to say the pain level had been high ever since my Rot diagnosis. While that was happening, Renton took out three square shaped runes. One was a vibrant blue, one a dull purple, and the third white with streaks of green. I had never seen runes like these before.

  Renton placed the white and green rune on my forehead, the blue one on my chest, and the purple one on my stomach.

  “The magic will seep into your body from these three locations,” Renton said. “It probably won’t feel pleasant.”

  “A lot of things haven’t felt pleasant lately,” I said. “I can handle it.” I prayed I would. Renton pulled out what looked like a red stick of chalk but was really compressed rune power. It was easier to draw runes this way. He then proceeded to draw all over my body. It seemed as though everywhere there was exposed skin he drew. And there was a lot of skin since I was only wearing a tank top and shorts. His face was serious as he worked, as was Micah’s as he looked over Renton’s shoulder. Ilyse remained silent on my other side as she continued drawing ghost energy out of me.

  “All right,” Renton finally said. He sat back and put the rune chalk away. He then placed his fingertips on the rune that was on my forehead. “I’m going to activate the runes now.”

  “OK,” I said. I felt a lot of things: hopeful, nervous, scared, tense, but I kept my eyes focused on Micah and told myself that whatever was going to happen would work. Micah tried to give me an encouraging smile but I knew he felt exactly as I did.

  Renton’s necromancer power sparked and flowed into the rune, and I felt the stone grow warm. He did the same with the one on my chest and stomach, and warmth rushed through me, replacing the coldness from Ilyse’s rune. I gasped at the sudden change in body temperature and the electric feeling that accompanied it. It felt like someone had taken jumper cables to every organ and blood vessel in my body. It fucking hurt.