by Cecy Robson
“I did,” I admit. I hunker down beside the zombie. Her short spiky white blonde hair, tattered jeans, and black Alice in Chains concert T-shirt give me a glimpse of what she must have been like in life, but not much more than that. Her skin is as pale as my affected arm and dark circles ring her soft brown eyes. But her stare is gentle, despite how her skull remains indented from Savana’s blows.
“Hi,” I say.
“Ergh,” she responds, surprising me by answering.
Bren returns to our side, crossing his arms as he examines her briefly. “She either overdosed on her own or Savana helped her,” he says, keeping his attention away from us. “I can scent some of the leftover meth.”
I take in the condition of her skin. It’s dried and shriveled, and in some sections peeling away in patches to reveal the layers beneath. Yet she seems more whole than the others. “She hasn’t been dead long,” I reason.
“No, which made her the strongest and probably hardest to control,” Bren adds. “I think that’s why Savana was beating on her, she was trying break her.”
Emme gasps. “But she seems so gentle,” she says. “It wouldn’t take more than an unkind word to break her.”
“I don’t think Savana was really into unkind words, Em,” Shayna points out. “She strikes me more as the torture first and ask questions later type.”
Without thinking, I stroke the zombie’s head. “Ergh,” she says in a way that totally breaks my heart.
“I think you should go into the fire,” I tell her gently. “It won’t be long before it goes out.” I straighten, hoping she does what I suggest. I don’t have it in me to kill her outright and hope she doesn’t make me.
She seems to understand, staring back at the smoldering flames yet making no effort to move.
“We need to get out of here,” Bren says gruffly, marching toward the boat when Emme tries to approach him.
Shayna holds out her hands in true “oh, well” fashion when I gape. “He’ll be fine once his wolf knows we’re safe and he gets something to eat,” she assures me.
“All right,” I say. I glance back at the zombie. “Bye, Alice,” I tell her.
That’s not her name of course. I choose it because of the band name on her T-shirt. She’s also very human in her own way and saying goodbye all on its own, after everything she’s suffered, doesn’t seem right.
I follow behind my sisters, fixated on the way the skeletal remains sink into the soil. Savana’s magic is quickly fading. It won’t be long before all traces of her darkness vanish.
I don’t initially notice “Alice” trailing me. I hold up my hand when I realize how close she is. “No, sweetie. You need to go into the fire.” I point back to the house. “The fire!” I say louder.
She blinks back at me like she doesn’t understand and takes another step toward me. “You can’t come with us,” I insist.
You know those pictures of dogs at the shelter that people post online and on T.V. when they’re raising awareness about animal cruelty? Alice reminds me of one of them. Hopelessness and fear encompass every inch of her pale face. But it’s not her fault.
I turn away from her, unable to stomach the sadness overwhelming her tall, emaciated frame.
Bren waits for me to climb into our rowboat before giving it a hard push and leaping inside.
“Ergh?” Alice says as Emme powers us through the water.
Even though I shouldn’t, I glance over my shoulder. Alice is waving her arms, calling to us. “Ergh!”
I focus on the opposite shore. “Don’t look at her,” I tell the others. “With luck, she’ll change her mind about leaping into the fire.”
“Ergh!”
“Ah, I don’t think she’s changing her mind,” Emme says.
Splashing has me veering back toward the small island. I don’t know anything about Alice aside from the fact she must have liked punk music. But based on the way her limbs smack erratically against the water, girlfriend wasn’t exactly an Olympic freestyle hopeful.
“Ergh!” she yells, swallowing water. She disappears below the surface. I’m not sure where she is or if she’s okay until her hands grip the boat on my side and she pulls herself up.
She grins, appearing quite proud of herself. “Ergh.”
Bren sighs and helps her on board.
“Bren!” I yell. “What are you doing?”
“Taran, she’s not going to free herself. We’ve got two choices here: take her with us or set her on fire.”
“I can’t set her on fire,” I tell him. “Look at her, she’s . . .” I was going to say “cute” but considering her skin is flaking away in pieces, it doesn’t seem like the best word.
“She’s innocent,” I say quietly.
Bren rubs his beard. “We can’t leave her here,” he says. “If Savana comes back, she’ll reclaim her and use her to raise more dead.”
Alice smiles at me, snatching the fly that lands on her nose and munching on it like a Skittle.
Emme gags, leaning over the side of the boat like she’s ready to puke. I can’t really blame her. It’s moments like this I’m convinced the universe hates me. What I don’t realize then is that the universe has more planned for me than a fly-chewing zombie.
Chapter Ten
Four days. That’s how long it took us to drive back to Lake Tahoe. We would have flown, that was the original plan. But considering poor Alice was breaking away in pieces, taking her on a commercial airline didn’t seem like the best plan.
Girlfriend wasn’t looking too good until she spotted a dead possum in Nebraska. Then she perked right up. Bren pulled over so she could have what I interpreted as a hearty breakfast. Oh, but it didn’t stop there. No, it did not.
Two thousand miles, a couple of raccoons, and part of a deer later, she was almost looking human. But still, not exactly well.
“Ergh,” she says, peering out a window.
Shayna smiles happily back at her. “I think she likes the woods. Don’t you, Alice?”
“Ergh-a.”
Emme, who’s been looking pretty green since she tried to wash Alice’s hair and part of Alice’s scalp peeled off, clears her throat. “Maybe we should call home. Let them know we’re almost there.”
Bren rolls to a stop at a light. “Good idea. We may need Celia’s help to sneak Alice in if the other wolves are there.”
I stop in the middle of rummaging through my purse to find my phone. “Sneak her in? Why would we sneak her in?” I glance back at her. “I know she’s not at her best, but since that dead crow, her scalp has healed up nicely.”
Bren does a one-shoulder shrug. “Oh, on account of all the illegal shit going on here.”
I can’t see my sisters, but I know that like me, we’re all gaping at Bren. “What do you mean, ‘illegal shit?’” I ask.
“We’re keeping a zombie. Well, technically a familiar—your familiar. I told you that it’s one of the deadliest supernatural sins.” He frowns like we’re the stupid ones. “Why are you looking at me like that? It’s the same damn thing I told you back in Kentucky.”
The bottom of my stomach drops. “That’s not what you said,” I practically screech. “And she’s not my familiar!”
“Taran, you saved her from Savana,” he says, pointing. “I saw you. Alice saw you, too. Why do you think she followed you in the water? She attached herself to you as your familiar when you were nice to her.”
“I wasn’t going to be mean! An-and you never said anything about her being my familiar. You said we had to take her with us or else Savana would come back and use her to raise more zombies.”
He thinks about it. “Same difference,” he offers, stepping on the gas when the light turns green.
“No. It’s not.” I turn around. Alice smiles back at me with what remains of her teeth. “Jesus,” I say, feeling my eye start to twitch. “How the hell are we going to keep her from the wolves—from Aric—from Koda? They live with us. You can’t tell me they won’t smell her. Son of
a bitch even I can smell her.”
“You shouldn’t say Jesus and son of a bitch in the same context, Taran,” Emme mentions quietly. Her face flushes when I glare at her. “It’s sacrilegious,” she presses.
“Taran, relax,” Bren says. “We’ll need to keep her at your place for a few hours, max. Just until my boy Danny figures out a way to lure her from you. It’s no big deal. She can stay in our bathroom until we can find Savana, kill her, and break the spell keeping her here.”
“Bren, Savana could be halfway to South America right now,” I remind him.
He shakes his head. “Not with a zombie at her side. My guess is she’s scouting out another out of the way locale, if she doesn’t already have one, and getting back to business.”
“To raise more Alices,” Shayna says, stating the obvious.
“Yup,” Bren says angling the car along a windy hill. “She’ll hunt down a few sacrifices, combine her magic and the zombie’s deadness or whatever you want to call it, and raise however many she needs to replace the ones she lost.” He huffs. “For a necromancer of her caliber, it’s not going to take her long. Especially if she can find strong enough beings to sacrifice.”
“But why does she need all these zombies?” Emme asks quietly. “They don’t eat human flesh, and they can’t convert them.”
“No,” he admits. “Except she can force them to kill.” He hooks his thumb behind him. “Alice may not look like much. But an angry zombie is dangerous and strong. All Savana has to do is feed them her hate and anger and she has an army of soldiers who aren’t easily destroyed.”
“What about Celia and the baby?” Emme asks, glancing at Alice. “We can’t have Alice around if she could hurt her.”
“She’s not going to hurt Celia, Emme. She’s Taran’s familiar, remember?” Bren reminds her. “And Taran isn’t going to order Alice to hurt anyone. Are you, T?”
“Of course not,” I say. “But that doesn’t change the fact that what we’re doing is considered illegal. We’re seriously screwed here.”
“Relax,” Bren says, turning onto the main highway that leads to Dollar Point. “It’ll be fine. Just call the house, see who’s there, and we’ll form a plan. Seriously, it’ no big deal.” He gives it another thought. “Unless we get caught. Then yeah, we’re seriously fucked.’
This time I swear in Spanish because I’m all out of swears in English. I tap my phone to dial the house. Celia answers on the first ring. “Hey. You guys okay? Are you almost home?”
“Um. Yeah. Can’t wait to see you, and everyone. Who’s home?” I ask.
Although I try to keep my voice casual, Celia picks up on the fact that not all is well in the weird world. “Aric, me, and Koda.” She pauses. “Why?”
“We’re stopping by the store. Could you check my bathroom to see if I need to pick up tampons?” Which is code for, “We’re in deep shit, again, and I need you to get some place where Aric and Koda can’t hear us.”
“Sure,” she says, through her teeth because she’s already pissed. “Let me go check. I’ll just be a minute, wolf,” she tells Aric.
Some quick paces and two door slams later, Celia whispers into the phone. “What did you do?”
“Nothing,” I respond.
“Taran, what did you do?” she repeats. “I thought you were okay and just needed time before you started training with Genevieve.”
That much is true. We didn’t tell her about Alice because, well, it’s kind of like finding a mange-ridden puppy on the side of the road. It’s best not to tell the family until you bring the critter home and you show them how badly it needs you and your love.
“Taran,” she says, growling.
“Look, we picked up a friend. She’s with us now,” I say.
“‘A friend?’” she asks. “What kind of friend?”
I sigh as I glance out of the window and toward the lake. We don’t have a lot of time until we’re home. “The kind of friend the wolves won’t like.”
“You picked up a vampire?” she asks. “Are you crazy? You know how they get if they don’t have a master. And you know how the wolves get around them.”
I glance back at Alice when she spits out what might be a molar out of the window.
She only has two left, Shayna mouths, holding out her fingers for emphasis and reinforcing that yes that was a molar.
“Taran,” Celia says sighing. “I don’t want to spend the afternoon scrubbing blood and fur off the floor!”
“It’s definitely not a vampire,” I say.
“Then what is it?” she asks.
“Trust me when I say you’re better off not knowing. Look,” I say when she starts to press. “She’s only going to be with us a few hours tops. But I don’t want to upset the wolves.” That much is true. “Can you get Aric out of the house, just for a little while? Shayna will take care of Koda since he won’t want to leave until he sees her.”
“Aric won’t leave either,” Celia insists. “He knows you’re almost home and wants to make sure you’re safe.”
Shit.
“Tell him you want to go thong shopping,” Bren offers.
“Thong shopping?” Celia asks, able to hear him loud and clear.
“Yeah. We’ll come in, he’ll see we’re fine, and then you can distract him by asking him to take you thong shopping,” Bren reasons. “There’s this really hot lingerie place is South Tahoe called Spank Me. You should definitely check it out. They usually have good specials on chocolate body fondue. Tell Jeanette I sent you, she might give you a discount . . . then again, don’t mention me. I think she’s still pissed I—”
“Bren, he’s not an idiot,” Celia says, cutting off his tangent. “He’s going to know something’s up.”
“I’m not saying Aric’s a dumbass, Ceel. But you’re his mate, he’s a dude, and you’re spilling hormones like a broken damn, making him that much hotter for you and easy to distract.”
“I don’t know about this,” she says.
The sign for Dollar Point comes into view. “Ceel, we’re home,” I say quickly. “We’ll be pulling into the driveway in another two minutes. Please, you have to help us out.”
There’s a brief moment with just silence. “Fine,” she says. “But don’t get us in trouble.”
I rub my face, knowing that’s likely a promise I won’t be able to keep. So instead of answering, I disconnect, hoping we can pull this off. “A few hours?” I ask.
“Three tops,” Bren answers, his tone growing soft. “You know Dan is into all that nerdy shit. He’ll figure out a way to loosen her attachment to you and we’ll keep her at my place.”
“Okay,” I say. I turn around, keeping my voice gentle. “Alice, we’re almost home. But I’m going to need you to stay in the car until we come back for you.”
She stops smiling, glancing from me to my sisters and then back to me again. “It’s all right,” I assure her. “We just need a moment to get settled. Can you stay quiet and in the car until we return?”
Alice doesn’t blink, ever. She also doesn’t sleep. But if she could blink, I think she would now. As it is, all she does is stare at us like we’re abandoning her. “I won’t be long,” I assure her. “Just a few minutes.”
She makes this odd gurgling noise like she’s close to crying. “Please, Alice,” I beg, my voice growing desperate as Bren pulls into our development and rolls up our tinted windows. “Please.”
She nods a little, but doesn’t appear any less sad. If she could talk, I know she’d tell me she’s had a rough life and very little kindness. I can tell by how attached she seems to us, and by the way even the small things we do for her appear to mean so much. If I had to guess, I’d say we’re the only real friends she’s ever had.
Bren hugs the curb away from our house, parking in front Mrs. Mancuso’s thick bush to give us cover. “Show time,” he mumbles.
Shayna and Emme hurry out. “Stay here,” I remind Alice. “I’ll be back shortly.”
It’s only w
hen she seems to understand that I slip out with Bren.
The front door flies open. Koda releases the wards protecting the house and jogs down the steps. “Puppy!” Shayna yells, skipping toward him and leaping into his arms in a straddle.
Koda clutches her to him, but then turns away grimacing and releasing a sneeze. “Do I smell bad?” Shayna asks crinkling her nose apologetically.
Koda doesn’t like to lie, especially to Shayna. But it’s clear he can catch traces of Alice even though we kept the windows down during the drive. That doesn’t stop his chuckle or the sweet kiss he gives her. “Damn, baby. What happened?”
“Got stuck behind a garbage truck,” Bren says.
That’s true, but that was back in Wyoming. “I’m sorry,” Shayna offers, tilting her head so her long ponytail swings to the side. “Want to help me clean up?” she asks with a grin.
Koda nuzzles Shayna’s neck, making her squeal as he carries her into the house and past Aric and Celia waiting by the door. “Welcome home,” Aric says.
Celia waits frozen by the door, trying to appear casual and doing a hideous job. Aric appears to notice. She notices him, noticing her, and hurries to Emme. “Hey, Emme,” she says, hugging her tightly to mask her nervousness. “I’ve missed you.”
The honesty behind her words are enough to placate Aric.
Well, at least for the moment.
She eases away from Emme, her nose wrinkling from taking in Emme’s scent. Whatever aroma she picks up on spikes her concern. Her narrowed stare bounces between me and Bren as Aric strokes Emme’s head affectionately.
“You okay?” he asks, honing in on Emme’s mounting panic.
And because Emme is even less smooth than Celia she yells, as in yells, “I’m just tired from being in the car!”
Her response wouldn’t be nearly as bad if she didn’t run into the house like her tiny ass was on fire.
I pull Celia to me, clutching her hard when Aric fixates on me. “How are you?” I ask. I don’t wait for her to respond, holding her at arm’s length. “You look fabulous.”