Friends.
Family.
School.
Community.
I was happier than I had ever been. But like all good things, it was a fleeting utopia. One that was chased away when a kid with a gun stormed the halls of North Star High… my high school. Why the gunman spared me, I can’t say. Maybe it was as simple as him not seeing me huddled and pissing myself behind the filing cabinet. Eight others weren’t as lucky. At the tender age of fourteen, I bore witness to a degree of hatred my young mind couldn’t fathom. Still can’t, if I’m being honest. Cowered in that corner, armed with abilities I didn’t understand, I knew I had to do something. Out of options, I did the only thing I could.
I brought each of the fallen kids back.
At the time, I had no way of knowing that the circumstances a person dies in greatly influences how they reanimate. Those teens died scared and angry, and came back consumed by enraged panic. Covered in their own blood and gore, they chased down their killer and tore him to pieces with their hands… and teeth.
Maybe they would have stopped there.
There’s a chance that one kill would have been enough to sate them.
I’ll never know.
The cops got to them before I did. When the men in blue stumbled onto that grisly scene, they screamed the Z word and opened fire. Those kids were gunned down a second time… because of me.
Wetting my suddenly arid lips, I wrestled my demons back into the past where they belonged. “Someone was trying to help, and made a huge fucking mess. What do we do with that bit of intel?”
Dina’s lips pursed in distaste. “You know I don’t approve of that kind of language, Octavia. Rise above such off-color comments, please.”
“And I don’t like getting dicked around, Dina.” Squaring my shoulders, I met her glare head on. “How about if we stop pussy footing around, and you tell me how to stop this thing?”
Something swirled across the elder Wiccan’s features that resembled respect. “You truly have changed. Very well, then. The wraith is summoned through its talisman, which must be buried in the earth beneath the vessel of its intended blessing.”
“What? Why underground?”
“Why do Catholics bury St. Joseph upside down in their yard when they want to sell their house? It’s a ritual; it’s what people do.” Dina clapped her hands on her knees to punctuate the point. “If you find the talisman, shatter it. The spell should be instantly broken.”
Shoving off the bed, I paced the length of the room. “Should be?”
Dina paused before answering, seemingly chewing on the words. “Nothing magic related is ever guaranteed. You know that. If it comes to it, you may have to fight this thing. Of course, you’ll need enchanted iron weapons to even stand a chance.”
Dragging my fingers through my knotted hair, I shook my head. “This is not uplifting.”
“That’s not even the worst part.”
“Oh, goodie.”
Hand drifting to the moonstone strung around her neck, the pad of Dina’s thumb traced over its glassy surface. “If the wraith catches wind you’re trying to stop it, it will multiply itself to stand a better chance of survival. Meaning it will embody as many beings as it can, and spread like a plague to help ensure its own survival. Best not to let that happen. You’d basically go from fighting a grease fire to fighting a blazing inferno.”
“You’re just full of good news. Thanks for stopping by to drop this load in my lap before scurrying back to the safety of your coven.” To counteract the brash statement, I offered her a crooked smile she didn’t return.
“You must realize there’s more to it than that.” Pulling herself up to her full, impressive height, Dina smoothed the creases out of the front of her sapphire skirt. “You brought a human back to life, without a clear-cut explanation of why, or to what end. I’m afraid I cannot leave in good conscience until that particular matter has been resolved. You have to know that whenever a necromancer is involved, there are fears of… an uprising.”
Turning on my heel, I dropped my arms to my sides as I faced her. “You’re a piece of work, you know that? All that I care for you and I always have stuff was very convincing. You’ve got that compassionate mother figure act down pat. Tell me, is it something you have to work to turn on and off, or are you just naturally full of shit?”
Folding her hands, her head tilted. “The power you have can’t go unchecked. No one’s can.”
Throwing my hands out wide, I let them fall to my sides with a slap. “What’s your plan, then? Hang around until I kill Nikki? Only return home after the status quo is returned, and hope to hell I don’t wake her back up out of spite?”
Dragging her tongue over her lower lip, Dina’s nostrils flared with a small glimmer of annoyance. “She was the first victim of the wraith, was she not?”
“Yeah, so? What does that matter?”
“It gained the strength to enter our realm through her death. A strength that would have faded, along with what remained of her essence. But you resurrected her, and basically tapped the wraith into a limitless energy supply. Congratulations, you made a super monster. The only way to weaken it now would be to return Nurse Nikki to Mother Earth’s eternal embrace.”
“No way!” I jabbed a finger of accusation in Dina’s direction. “If you’re going to imply that I have to commit such a heinous act, the least you can do is have the balls to say it for what it really is.”
“Fine.” The tendons of Dina’s jaw clenched tight. “Have it your way. With her death, the wraith will be weakened. If you want to save those children, Nikki must die.”
Neither of us heard her key slide into the door, or the hinges open. It was the pained slice of her voice that cut into the conversation, while the bag of popcorn she held tumbled to the well-trampled carpet. “I must… what?”
Chapter Eight
My footfalls clanged down the metal stairs as I chased after Nikki, who bolted the second Dina’s ominous threat registered with her. “Nikki, stop! Would you hold on a second? We need to talk about this!”
“There’s nothing to talk about!” The second her feet hit the pavement, she dashed across the parking lot toward the neighboring highway. “You’re trying to kill me! Do you all hear that? The weird girl with the pink hair is trying to kill me!” Her voice raised on that second statement, reaching the ears of a middle-aged couple dragging travel-tattered luggage out of the trunk of their Subaru.
“I am not! She drinks,” I added for the benefit of the perplexed couple. Hitting the pavement a beat behind Nikki, I quickly closed the distance between us. Catching her arm, I spun her to face me and dropped my voice to a hushed whisper. “Stop and think for a minute. I’m the one that brought you back. Why would I kill you?”
She started to open her mouth, only to have her lips clamped shut by a ripple of energy. Eyes bulging, she stumbled back with her arms stitched tight to her sides.
“I’ve already stated the reason the girl must die,” Dina injected herself into the conversation, fingers rolling to keep her magical influence holding Nikki firmly in place. “There is a natural order of things. One you tampered with. Two innocent lives are in jeopardy because you brought this girl back, allowing the wraith to feed off her like a fat leech. Order must be restored if you want to save those children, as you claim you do.”
Hands curling into fists at my sides, tendrils of emerald energy licked down the length of my arms and crackled over my knuckles. “I brought her back. That makes her my responsibility. I’m not going to take her life because you say that’s the easy choice.”
A snap of my fingers broke Dina’s hold, allowing Nikki to stumble back into her returned freedom. Jaw clenched, I tried not to outwardly marvel at how easy it was for me to sever the binding spell of the elder witch. There was a time she seemed an untouchable pinnacle of magical excellence. Today, a casual gesture was all it took to tarnish that image. Maybe her coven was right to be leery of me.
Unpha
sed by the shift in power, Dina strode straight for me with a purposeful gait. “Easy? None of this is easy. You don’t think I know how such a dark act can blacken the soul? I understand that more than you can possibly comprehend, you insolent child. But when beings are gifted—as we are— it often leads to the necessity of making hard choices; the likes of which mere mortals couldn’t begin to understand. If not stopped, that wraith will continue to kill. The entire Dews family will be added to its growing list of victims.” Chin jutting out, she shifted her narrow-eyed glare to Nikki. “You say that family suffered greatly after their son was born with horrible afflictions. How do you think they will feel when both of their children die? Layer by layer, that family will be torn apart, unless we take action to help them. You’re a nurse, Nikki. You’ve made it your life’s work to help others. Was that just a paycheck for you? Or is it a part of who you truly are?”
Holding up a hand, I halted Nikki before she uttered a word. “Don’t answer that. No one should have to justify basic survival instinct. If you don’t have anything helpful to offer, Dina, get the hell out of here. Whether you believe it or not, I don’t need you to babysit—”
A soft hand pressed to my shoulder.
“Octavia, wait.” Hearing the sorrow laced through Nikki’s tone, I glanced over my shoulder to find her expression clouded with defeat. “She has a point.”
“No, she doesn’t!” I threw my hands in the air, stifling the urge to throttle them both. “She said your death is the only alternative. In what universe is there ever only one option for anything? There’s always a gray area. I live my entire life in the gray area! We just have to find it. I’m going to save your life, damn it! Get on board!”
“Oh, I’m totally on board with all that. I would like very much to stay alive. I never even got to see Brittany in Vegas. A sure sign I haven’t begun to live.” Arms falling limply at her sides, Nikki’s head tilted. “But what she’s right about is my purpose. My life is a hot mess. I date unavailable men. I’m two months behind on my rent. Yet, somehow, I think eating out at every meal and a barrage of retail therapy will magically fix everything. The only thing I really gave a damn about in life was my job. Helping people felt like my greater purpose. It always has. The truth is, I already died, Octavia. I’m not supposed to be here. If going toes up for the second time is going to help that sweet baby, I think that’s what I have to do.”
“Finally, someone is seeing logic.” Striding forward, Dina rubbed hands of comfort up and down Nikki’s arms. “You’re doing the right—and noble—thing, child.”
“You’re both insane!” Pivoting on the ball of my foot, I started to march off, only to immediately swivel back. “Why are we even talking about this? You’re a health care worker, Nikki! Isn’t do no harm, like, job one?”
Shaking off Dina’s hold, Nikki caught my hand. The way clarity sharpened her features was a vast contrast to the scattered girl I spent most of the day with. “Just by being here, I’m hurting those kids. I watched that baby struggling to breathe with tubes and lines pumping life into him. I cried with his family every time he suffered a setback. I brought extra pillows and blankets each time they fell asleep in his room. If giving back the second chance I shouldn’t have been given is what I need to do to help them, I think I have to do it.”
Filling my lungs to capacity, I exhaled an exasperated breath. “So, I just have to bide my time for you to come to your senses?”
“And if I do, I’ll put a halt to this whole thing,” Nikki agreed, hair falling into her eyes with her exuberant nod. “In the meantime, can I make a request?”
“Name it,” Dina purred.
Unable to help myself, my nose crinkled in Dina’s direction.
Oblivious to my tangible disdain, Nikki anxiously chewed on her lower lip. “If this is really going to be it, if we’re really going to do this, I want to see Dr. Dowden one last time. I never told him how much he meant to me, and I need to. Believe it or not, I always kind of thought we would end up together.” Leaning in, Nikki bumped my arm with the back of her wrist. “You remember him? He’s the one I told you about with the gorgeous cock.”
Biting the inside of my cheek, I dipped my chin in a begrudging nod of confirmation. “You mean the guy I chased out of his own morgue so I could bring you back from the dead? Yeah, it rings a bell.”
Chapter Nine
I honestly can’t say what kind of car Nikki drove; it was dark and I didn’t care enough to notice. What I could say was that it was small, cluttered with garbage, and smelled like stale French fries and citrus scented body spray. Since Nikki died at the hospital, we found her car still parked there. While it wasn’t the safest practice for her to keep a key under her floor mat, it did help us out. It wouldn’t be long before someone would come and tow it. Luckily for us, that day had not yet come.
Parked outside of Dr. Tim Dowden’s apartment building, I crinkled my nose and watched Bacon root through the trash in Nikki’s back seat. It was truly grotesque how many treats he found to munch on.
Stifling a dry heave, I tried to distract myself from the ick with conversation. “I feel we need to come up with a plan of action here. You know, some idea of what you’re going to say to him before things go full Monty Python Bring Out Your Dead on your reunion. ‘I’m not dead. I’m feeling better. I think I’d like to go for a walk’.”
“Oh my God! There he is!” Despite the car being parked, Nikki’s hands curled into white-knuckled fists around the steering wheel. The second the burly medical examiner ducked out of his Jeep Cherokee, she threw open her door. It screeched on rusted hinges, as if even the car wanted her to reconsider before making a mad dash across the parking lot.
Unfortunately, she was gone in a blur before anyone or anything could slow her down.
Lips pressed in a tight line, I stared at the open door. “I said that out loud right? Could have sworn I did.”
Seated up front in the passenger seat, Dina kept her shoulders hunched like she was afraid of being contaminated by her surroundings. “Isn’t it a nuisance when people choose not to listen?”
Absentmindedly scratching Bacon’s back, my lips pursed in annoyance. “Really? You’re going to compare me not wanting her to emotionally traumatize this guy, to you suggesting I commit premeditated homicide? If you think those two things are even remotely similar, the inside of your mind must be a terrifying place.” Granted, it was my original plan to utter the spell to reverse her reanimation immediately, if not sooner. But, that was then. We had since bonded, which made the whole idea seem… wrong.
“It’s not homicide. It’s restoring the natural order of—”
“Shhh… shut up,” I raised one hand to halt whatever sorry excuse she was about to offer. “Here we go.”
Nikki’s shouts were muted by the distance between us. Still, we could make out her calling Tim’s name as she sprinted across the lot. Sucking air through my teeth, I braced for an explosion as he turned her way.
“Goddess, bless that sweet boy,” Dina muttered, one hand fluttering to her mouth.
Tim turned and his eyes bulged. As one would expect when witnessing a spontaneous resurrection, his bag of take-out from a Japanese steakhouse slipped from his fingers, her name formed on his paling lips. “Nikki?”
She pulled up short, maybe five strides away from him. For a beat, they simply stared.
“See? This is one of those moments when being spontaneous bites you in the ass.” Cringing at the awkwardness of it all, I covered my eyes and peered through my fingers. To my absolute astonishment, Tim threw his arms out wide in an open invitation to his recently deceased booty call. “No fucking way.”
Snorting a humorless laugh, Dina shook her head. “It would seem love truly needs no explanation.”
Nikki and Tim collided into one another. Their bodies molded together, their lips connecting with frantic need. Cradling Nikki’s face between his palms, Tim peppered her cheeks with kisses. The tenderness of their reunion lasted
for about two minutes. Then, his roaming hands found her ass. Squeezing a butt-cheek in each hand, he lifted her off the ground, allowing her to wrap her legs around his waist. Hands rubbing up and down each other’s backs, their breath came in ragged heaves.
“That… progressed quickly.” Averting her eyes, Dina fixated on the empty Dairy Queen cup by her shoe.
“Oh boy, it’s getting worse.” I had to cover Bacon’s eyes as Tim hoisted Nikki onto the hood of his Jeep, grinding his hips into her. “Wow, okay. We need to talk about literally anything else.”
Nikki fell back against the hood. Throwing one arm over her head in the throes of passion, she set off the car alarm. Tim refused to allow such an annoyance to tear his lips from hers. Weaving one hand into Nikki’s hair, he slapped at his back pocket with the other in the blind hope of hitting his key fob.
Blinking hard, as if such an act could erase all she witnessed, Dina curled one leg under her and turned to face me. “They might be a minute. Which means we have time to talk.”
Casting my stare out the side window, I noticed the streetlight overhead flickering. “If you’re going to make an argument for me to kill her, save it. I fully intend to find a way to stop the wraith and save her.”
“And if you can, you absolutely should,” Dina confirmed, dipping her head in a resolute nod. “That said, if you’re going to have any chance at taking down the wraith, you’ll need the proper tools.” Rolling her wrist in tiny circles, her eyes fluttered shut. “Great spirits hear my needed call, bestow the weapons to make our enemies fall.”
Energy rippled over my legs, swelling and roiling into the form of two beautifully crafted swords draped across my lap. “They’re beautiful, really. Stunning. However, I should point out that fencing wasn’t a pastime I took up as I was lobbed from foster home to foster home.”
Wake the Dead (The Journals of Octavia Hollows #1) Page 5