When the Grave Calls

by B. L. Brunnemer

  I went to the window on our side of the bed and opened the curtains wide. The sunlight spilled through the window and across her pale body in the bed.

  Astral girl turned and backed away from the window and bed. “This one too. Please. She was in there so long.”

  I slowly moved around the bed, past Uma, and opened the other curtains. Sunlight spilled through the room unfiltered.

  Turning back, I moved out of her way as she walked towards the light, smiling. For a heartbeat she was a little girl again, whole and untraumatized.

  She nodded as she took in my hair. “Red hair … you were there. She saw you. Asked you to make it stop.”

  My heart ached at the utterly lost note in her voice. “I remember. I’m sorry we couldn’t find you sooner.”

  She shook her head. “She doesn’t want to come back. She wants to sleep.”

  “Then let her sleep for a while,” I said in a gentle voice. “Sit in the sun. Rest. You’re safe here.”

  The girl nodded before she turned to look back out the window. Jade stayed put as the rest of us slowly walked out of the room and closed the door behind us.

  “We need to talk,” Uma stated, her face hard.

  Uma led us down the long hall and into the study near the conservatory. She began to pace as Asher closed the door behind us.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “That girl is a bomb waiting to go off.” Uma turned and continued to pace.

  “What do you mean?” My stomach knotted. “She’s booby trapped?”

  Uma took a deep breath and shook her head. “She’s the most gifted person I’ve ever seen.”

  “You mean her powers?” Miles asked.

  Uma nodded. “The channels they blew open may have fractured her mind, but they also make her able to create destruction on a massive scale.”

  Dread settled all the way through me down to my toes. “How massive?”

  Isaac’s hand moved to my shoulder as he joined us.

  Uma ran her hand through her short hair. “She could decimate an area like a hydrogen bomb.”

  “Oh, shit,” Zeke breathed.

  Uma nodded. “She didn’t just make herself unconscious for her safety. She did it to keep us safe as well.”

  “So, she knows what they did?” I couldn’t imagine what the kid had been through.

  Uma nodded. “In some part of her mind, she knows she’s dangerous.”

  I wrung my hands together. “And we still don’t know where Jadis is.”

  Uma nodded. “If they come for her, they will come with everything they have.”

  I took a breath and focused. “Okay, what can we expect? Does she have any control?”

  “None.” She quickened her pacing.

  I nodded as I thought it out. “She has to leave.”

  Uma stopped and turned to me. “I was thinking the same thing.”

  I met her gaze. “We can send her to Evelyn. She’d be out of harm’s way and with someone who might be able to piece her back together.”

  Uma was silent as she thought it over. “I agree.”

  “But how do we get her there?” Asher turned to me. “She doesn’t exactly trust us right now.”

  “She trusts Jade,” Uma countered. “And Jade could transport her safely.”

  “Jade just got here,” Zeke pointed out. “She took out those witches easily, right? She could be the key to ending this.”

  I looked up at him. “Yeah, and this kid could kill us all. Jadis knows we have her.”

  The door to the study opened as Jade came in. “I can take her tonight, at dusk.”

  Uma’s eyes widened. “How did you know?”

  Jade’s brows drew together, and she looked at Uma as if she were dimwitted. “I can hear everything in the house.” She turned to me. “It’d probably be better if she were unconscious and bundled onto my back. I can create a proper harness. The big issue will be cold at altitude.”

  “I can do a warming spell,” Uma said. “We’ll make it work.”

  I raised my hand. “I hate to throw a wrench into this, but shouldn’t we find her parents? I mean, she’s been locked up for who knows how long.”

  Jade nodded. “Good point. Let’s ask her who they are.” Jade started for the door.

  “No! Jade!” I turned and hurried to block the door. “Let’s let her get comfortable with us first. At least give her a couple of hours.”

  Jade thought about it. “Okay. No need to scare the hell out of her.”

  Relieved, I moved out of the doorway.

  “I’ll be standing guard.” Jade left just as quickly as she came in.

  I shook my head. “She’s certainly an odd one.”

  Uma sighed. “We need to prepare defenses. We don’t know when they’ll decide to try to take her back.”

  “Or we could attack first,” Brody countered.

  Everyone turned to him.

  “We don’t know where they are,” Uma shot back.

  “They’ve been following my people all week,” Brody said. “It’s time we take advantage of it.”

  Uma raised an eyebrow. “How so?”

  “We grab one of our tails and make them talk.” Brody said it so casually it chilled me to the bone.

  “You mean torture them?” Was he seriously suggesting this?

  He sent me a look. “I was thinking more along the lines of Uma doing that mind reading trick of hers and getting us a location.”

  Uma nodded. “Good plan. Get going and I’ll get started on our defenses.”

  Brody gave a quick nod before he turned and left the room.

  “There’s something we need to discuss.” Uma turned to us with a serious face. “What might happen if any of you are taken hostage.”

  Hostage? “She’s coming to kill me and get Quinn back. I doubt she’ll try and take anyone alive.”

  “I assumed torture and death,” Isaac said with false cheerfulness.

  The others nodded.

  Uma’s face grew stern. “And if she gets her hands on one of you boys? What would Lexie be willing to do to save you from that?”

  Everyone turned to me.

  “If they get the upper hand, they won’t hesitate to use you,” Uma stated.

  I thought about it. What would I be willing to do to save the guys? A solid feeling filled my chest. I’d felt it before, when Jadis asked me the same question, but this time I knew the answer. “I’d burn the world myself.”

  “I think we need a moment,” Miles said politely.

  “I understand.” Uma nodded before quickly and quietly leaving.

  “Ally.” Asher moved beside me. “If we’re taken—”

  “I’ll save you.” I looked up at him, daring him to tell me different. “That’s a fact.”

  “We aren’t worth the price of the world,” Ethan stated.

  I scowled. “You are to me.”

  A big calloused hand wrapped around the back of my neck as Zeke moved to my side. “That’s not who you are, Baby.”

  I ground my teeth. “Are you really going to stand there and tell me you wouldn’t do the same.”

  “I’d do everything I could to save them,” Zeke confirmed.

  “So would I,” I said. “I just have more resources.”

  “You have a responsibility to use your abilities for the right reasons,” Ethan countered.

  I turned to him. “If you tell me to let you guys be tortured, I’ll tell you where to shove that idea.”

  Miles moved next to Zeke and the twins filled in our circle between Asher and Miles.

  “What he’s saying is …” Isaac hesitated then turned back to Ethan. “What are you saying?”

  “If we’re taken, don’t let them use us as a way to control you,” Miles said in a hard voice. “Even if it means we die.”

  The guys all nodded in agreement.

  I scowled at them. “And you think I could do that? Just let you be tortured. Killed.” I started for the door. “You guys are f
ucking insane.”

  “Lexie,” Miles called, “we just don’t want you to do anything rash if the worst comes.”

  I stopped with my hand on the doorknob. I took a deep breath. “Don’t tell me not to save you. Please.”

  “We just don’t want you to do anything that would put the world at risk,” Ethan said gently.

  Not able to take this anymore, I opened the door and left the study, not even willing to entertain the idea of not doing everything I could to save them. Yeah, I had a responsibility with my abilities, but that didn’t mean I could just let them die!

  Still seething, I went into the bathroom at the end of the hall. I looked down at the sink and took several deep breaths around the rock sitting in my chest. I can keep them safe. I can do this. Inhale. Exhale.

  But what if I can’t? What if I just don’t have what it takes to protect them? What if we lose someone? Fear bubbled inside me. Inhale. Exhale. I focused on breathing through the tightness in my chest. Focused on how the cold porcelain of the sink cooled my fingers. I focused on the now. I could protect them. I had to believe it in order to get through the next minute.

  We just needed to keep everyone together during any fight. Watch each other’s backs. We’re good on our own, but together we were better. We had this. We would get through this and move on with our lives. I nodded to myself and straightened to my full height. I could do this. I’m a fighter. I’m a necro with witch skills. I could protect them. I had this.

  I walked out of the bathroom hoping I wasn’t lying to myself.

  * * *

  I was helping Asher rig a harness for Quinn when Brody hauled someone through the front door. Bloody and bruised, the man’s hands were tied behind his back as he was forced through the foyer and down the long hallway.

  We watched from our spot on the living room floor as he was all but dragged into the study. Uma soon went through the same doors. Asher and I looked at each other. Obviously, they had caught one of Jadis’ lackeys. There was nothing we could do now but work and keep busy.

  The next few hours were a flurry of activity. Barricades were built along the front and back of the house for cover if we needed it.

  Dinner passed in tense silence, as most of us simply pushed food around on our plates. I doubt any of us actually ate anything. And we weren’t the only ones. Asher put out a large platter of sandwiches and sides and I doubt more than ten people grabbed anything. Eventually Isaac and I went off to bed.

  * * *

  It was sometime later when something cold touched my arm. The scent of wet dog filled the room. I knew who it was before I even opened my eyes. Hades looked up at me in his dog form and wagged his tail. I clutched my sheet to my naked chest and sent him a look.

  I lifted my head as he walked around the bed towards the door. Carefully, I untangled from Isaac and climbed out of bed.

  By the time I dressed and stepped into the hall, Hades was in his human form.

  I softly closed the door behind me. “Okay, first, if I’m in there with one of the boys, knock.”

  He pulled out a small notepad from his back pocket and wrote something down. “Knock. Got it.”

  “What are you doing?” I raised an eyebrow.

  He put the pad back into his back pocket and met my gaze. “Making notes. Zeke suggested it the other day, so I won’t forget what you want.”

  It was kinda sweet.

  He tilted his head down the hallway toward the stairs. “Someone wants to talk to you in the family room.”

  “Who?”

  “Your Reaper grandmother,” he whispered.

  My pulse jumped. My many-times great-grandmother? “Really?”

  “Yes. She's downstairs now.”

  When I didn’t move, he reached out and took my hand, giving me a small tug to get me moving. “Come on.”

  My feet seemed to turn to lead as he led me down the hallway and downstairs.

  “Go talk to your grandmother while I do a perimeter check.” Hades left me at the front door. He simply let go of my hand and slipped out through the door.

  My grandmother was here, and she was a Reaper. I was about to meet my grandmother. I wrung my fingers as I walked down the hall. Who was she? Did I know her? Louis once said Reapers like to keep an eye on their half-bloods. Had she been keeping an eye on me?

  I went into the family room not knowing who to expect.

  But the woman waiting for me … wasn’t it.

  “Mrs. Archer?” I gaped as my art teacher turned away from the dark television. Her image blurred. Her eyes turned green, her hair red. She grew taller and thicker, a different version of the woman appearing. A familiar jaw line, same nose. She looked enough like me that I couldn’t deny the relationship. She looked to be in her late twenties. In truth, she had to be much older.

  “Hi, Lexie,” she said.

  Stunned, I sat down on the arm of the sofa. “Huh?”

  She smiled, understanding warming her face. “I thought you’d like to have some questions answered.”

  I nodded, still gaping. “You’re … you’re my …”

  “I’m Mila. A Reaper.” She sat down on the sofa. “First of your line, yes.”

  I shook my head, my mind completely blank. “Uh … um … shit.”

  She smiled. “We don’t have much time.”

  I shook my head. “It’s just … you’re a Reaper.”

  She nodded. “But I’m still your many-times great grandmother. And I’m worried about you.”

  “You are?” I asked, still trying to grasp who she was.

  She moved a little closer. “Lexie, Jadis isn’t done. You know that, right?”

  “Well, considering we haven’t gotten her yet, yeah,” I muttered.

  She took my hand. “She’s going to come for you.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “How do you know?”

  “I’m watching,” she said.

  I shook my head and looked at her with my brows drawn. “Why? Why didn’t you come to me sooner? Why didn’t you tell me what I was?”

  The lines of her face softened. “I wasn’t allowed. As a Reaper, I’m not supposed to interfere with the living. I’m supposed to barely be a ripple in the surface of the world.”

  I narrowed my eyes at her. “All very poetic, but what changed? Why now? I’ve needed help so many times. Why now?”

  Her eyes grew shadowed. “You’re approaching a crossroads here, Lexie. Your aura is getting closer to the line that separates the living and the dead.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “You may have an important decision to make very soon. I want you to know all your options. So you can make an informed choice,” she said in a low voice.

  Stunned, I simply stared.

  “You’re running out of time, Lexie.”

  I tried not to focus on the crossroads thing but on what I wanted to know. “How strong of a necromancer am I? How dangerous is this going to be for me?”

  She pressed her lips together before answering. “Your bloodline is … a strong one. If you make it to twenty-five, you’ll be able to raise probably a hundred zombies at once if you pushed it.”

  I shook my head. Pushed it? Why would I push it that hard? “Why? What good is that for?”

  She tilted her head to the side as her eyes softened. “There’s a reason and a purpose for it to exist. You just need to find it.”

  I surged to my feet. “Oh, bullshit.” I walked across the family room and turned back to her. “There’s a reason for it? There isn’t a reason. Life is random. Fucked up and painful. People make their own lives, so don’t give me ‘it happens for a reason.’”

  “You don’t believe in fate?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “I don’t know. Ask someone who’s held up at gun point. Was it fate who put them there? Sometimes there just isn’t a reason for the shit that happens to someone. It’s just a product of other people’s choices.”

  She eyed me. “Good.”

  I grew still.
“Why do you say good?”

  “Fate doesn’t ease the fear of someone as they fight for others. They’re there by choice.”

  I shook my head, not quite grasping what she was saying. “Why aren’t the Reapers helping?”

  She sighed. “You know the answer to that. We’re the only truly neutral primal power left in this world. We’re the cogs that make the world work. We have to keep it going.”

  At least that part made sense. “So, we’re on our own? There’s no help from you guys?”

  She nodded slowly. “Afraid so.”

  Fear took hold of my heart. “Someone’s going to die. Right?”

  “It’s a possibility. But you have options others don’t.” She met my gaze. “You can continue as a Reaper.”

  I met her gaze as my promise to Ethan ran through my mind. I couldn’t leave him alone. “Tell me what it’s like.”

  “You’d have more powers. More responsibilities,” she began. “You’d be walking people to the Veil, at least those that can’t make it on their own.”

  “What about my off hours?” I asked. “Would I get to have a life?”

  She shook her head. “Not really. It’s a lot of work to keep the balance.”

  “Then what’s the benefit?” I snapped.

  “You’ll have the ability to pop in to see those you love in their afterlives. You’d be able to visit, talk, love …” Her smile grew teary. “You’d be able to see them.”

  That did sound nice. “What about Ethan? Is he going to grow old?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  I shook my head. “I’d want to have a life.”

  Her lips pressed together in a tight line. “You might be able to ask Death, but I’d doubt it. He’s cracked down on us since I, well, met your great-great-great-great-grandfather, Darren.”

  That was probably a no. So that’s it. Even if Ethan was to live forever, he might be alone. Oh, fuck that. “I couldn’t do that.” I met her eyes. “I would need to be there for Ethan. We’re family. I couldn’t leave him alone if I was alive.”

  “You wouldn’t be truly alive, Lexie. You’d just be … paused.” She tilted her head to the side. “But I could see what I can do.”

  Another question was nagging at me. “Why do you want me to be a Reaper?”