by Erin Johnson
He pointed and shouted, “Stop! Stop right there!”
I looked at Maple, then at Riga. I cupped my hands and shouted to Bon, “We’re going to the Belle Temple Graveyard! You can question Riga’s spirit if you hurry!”
We shoved past the spluttering officer, magically pulling Riga’s corpse along behind us. Understandably, the late-night carnival crowd gave us plenty of leeway, parting and gasping as we dashed down the pier. I glanced back. Bon and a few officers chased after us.
I willed my shaky legs to work, and as we left the carnival grounds and hit the cobblestoned streets, that grew even more challenging. Luckily, Maple kept her arm under me and helped me run along. Almost there—almost there. We had to arrive before Bon.
We ducked down a dark alley and dodged some overturned crates. Riga’s glow and Iggy in the lantern lit our way. I choked on a scream as we ran headfirst into Horace—his half-closed eyes and jutting cheekbones eerie in the dark. Maple groaned. Not Horace—just another life-sized wanted poster. Did they need to make them life-sized? Once my heart resumed beating, we ran on.
“Remind me why we’re disobeying police orders again?” Maple gasped.
“Because… if we hurry and bury Riga, hopefully her spirit will appear and testify as to what happened to her.” We reached the quiet temple and dashed down the path lit with stone lanterns, the trees still bowing and waving in the wind. We rounded the corner of the border wall and found ourselves in the graveyard. I spotted Nan and Iggy, and headed toward them, but stopped when I spotted Madame Zerna’s grave.
Frennie knelt beside the fresh-turned earth on the sea cliff side of the cemetery, surrounded by candles. She held her black-handled athame. Above her, Madame Zerna’s plump ghost hovered, wrapped in scarves and shawls.
I pointed with the hand that held Iggy in the lantern. “There.”
A few others speaking with the spirits of their loved ones looked our way. Madame Zerna’s glowing green ghost, slowly turned her head. When she spotted Riga’s corpse beside us, her mouth slackened and she gasped. As Frennie turned and leapt to her feet, Madame Zerna opened her arms wide and beckoned to us. Maple and I hobbled over. It took everything I had in me, but I pulled Riga along. The other mourners stared, wide-eyed at our strange group.
“My baby,” Zerna groaned. “What has he done to you?”
Frennie blinked at me, her long hair blowing about her shoulders. “What is this?”
“Long story—Scullivan’s been animating Riga’s corpse. I guess I took control of her when I tried to release her, and I thought if we buried her, we could give her spirit peace.”
Frennie nodded. “I can help.”
I bent over to dig with my hands. My legs gave out and I ended up sitting on the grass.
Maple squeezed my shoulder, then turned to Frennie. “I can help.”
They used magic to lift the earth and scoop out a grave next to Madame Zerna’s out of a narrow strip of land by the edge of the cliff. With what little strength I had left, I willed Riga to walk into the hole and lay herself down. I sighed with relief as Maple and Frennie poured the earth on top of her.
I’d been worried I’d walk her right off the cliff. That would’ve been awkward. If I had better control of my powers, I could’ve pulled more energy from almost anything around me, but I was still too inexperienced and fried from my terrifying experience earlier.
Inspector Bon and his officers barreled around the mossy stone wall, wands raised. Mourners gasped as they advanced on us. Maple and Frennie lifted their arms, while I contented myself with sitting slumped on the ground. I doubted they viewed me as a threat—I was basically a lump at that point.
Bon reached us, pointing his wand at each one of us in turn, including Madame Zerna’s ghost. “Where is she? What have you done with her?”
Zerna puffed up her chest. “If you’re referring to my daughter, she is deceased and her body is lying beside mine in the earth.”
Bon frowned.
A moment later, a glowing green orb appeared in the air above Riga’s body. It expanded and morphed into Riga herself. She hovered and glowed green, no longer skeletal, but instead looking like her beautiful, long-ponytailed self.
She looked around, then saw Zerna. She sucked on her lips and lowered her brows. “Mom.”
“Oh, my daughter.”
They threw their arms around each other, and Frennie raised her brows at Inspector Bon in a sassy look. “You going to arrest these ladies for reuniting a mother and daughter?”
Bon’s jaw dropped and he looked back and forth between Frennie and the hugging spirits. “I—I—”
Frennie folded her arms and stepped closer to Bon. “I think you should be lowering that wand.”
He frowned, gulped, then did as she suggested, tucking it into his pocket. He nodded at the officers beside him and they followed suit. He smoothed his hands down the front of his navy uniform. “Someone care to explain what the sea snakes is going on here?”
Riga pulled back from her mother and turned to Bon. “I can.” She tossed her ponytail over her sequined shoulder, still wearing her showgirl outfit. “My mother and I had a falling out when I started dating Scullivan Night.” She rolled her eyes. “His real name is Robby.”
Zerna huffed. “Should’ve been your first clue.”
“Mom!”
Zerna sighed. “Sorry.”
“Anyway,” Riga continued. “We ran away together and I joined his act. Everything was fine for a few months, but after a while… I don’t know. He changed—became jealous if I so much as looked at another man, accused me of all kinds of things, played mind games. He became so controlling, he even screened my mail.” She turned to her mother. “I didn’t know you were sick, I swear. He burned those parts out of the letters—said you’d written things that would hurt my feelings and that he was protecting me.”
Madame Zerna scowled and balled her fists. “That yellow-bellied, detritus-eating, snake of a—” She continued to let loose a string of profanities until a pale-faced Bon interrupted.
“Madame. I must ask you to watch your language!” He glanced at the mourners nearby. “There are families here.”
She crossed her arms and bit her lip. “Sorry.”
Riga cocked a brow. “Well, it’s all true.”
Zerna smiled at her daughter. “That’s my girl.”
“Anyway, I grew suspicious he was hiding something from me, and managed to snag a letter before he got hold of it. I learned—” She shook her head, green tears welling in her semitransparent eyes. “I learned you were dying and confronted Scullivan. He denied it all, of course—the lying snake. But I knew better by then. I’d had enough of him. I told him I was leaving and going back home to see you.”
She shook her head, her long ponytail swinging behind her shoulders. “I don’t remember what happened exactly, the dead forgetting their deaths and all that, but I know he must’ve been expecting something like this because he was ready. He killed me and he stole my breath.”
She huffed. “What a jerk. I’m the one who taught him that. He was such a hack when I first met him. I taught him all the necromancy he knows. Anyway, he’s been controlling me for months. Killing me and reanimating me for his show. Pervert.”
Zerna shook her head. “I am so sorry, my beautiful daughter. You deserved so much better.” She hugged her. “If only you’d married that nice Smith boy I tried to set you up with and—”
Riga pulled back. “Mom!”
“Sorry.” Zerna held up her palms but didn’t look particularly apologetic.
One of the officers leaned over, jotting notes in a notebook. “Sir, can we use this as testimony?”
Bon blinked. “I—well—I suppose there’s a first time for everything. It is a firsthand account.”
I raised a hand. “And I can tell you he tried to do the same thing to me. Even admitted to killing her.”
Bon nodded. “Yes, I’m sure we’ll be able to put Scullivan—er, Robby—away for
a long time.”
Riga smiled at me. “Thank you for helping to free me. You too, Mom.”
Zerna wrapped Riga in a hug. “My darling, I’m just happy we’re together again.” She narrowed her eyes and addressed Bon. “And while I expect you to bring the full force of the law down on my good-for-nothing son-in-law—” She cracked a wicked grin. “—whatever punishment he receives in this life will dim in comparison to what awaits him in the afterlife.”
Goose bumps prickled up my arms, and not just because of the chilly sea wind.
Frennie nodded in agreement. “He violated the code of ethics of necromancy.”
“And for abusing his powers over death, death shall not be kind to him.” Madame Zerna nodded. She looked at Frennie. “I know now how much I overlooked you, my old friend. I am sorry. I want you to have my book and carry on my work… and you should cut that wispy hair of yours, you’d look ten years younger.”
Frennie rolled her eyes.
“Sorry, sorry. I mean… I want you to live your life and embrace it. It’s short and precious. And while you won’t carry on with all of my fanfare—” She rolled her wrists. “Well… maybe you can do more genuine good—you have the talent for it.”
Frennie blinked her deep-set eyes at Zerna. “You think so?”
Zerna nodded. “You just need practice, my girl.”
The temple bells tolled their deep, ringing song. Madame Zerna turned to Riga and tossed a long scarf around her neck. She took her daughter’s hand. “It is time, my dear, for us to go.”
Dong! Dong! Dong!
I glanced over my shoulder to where Iggy still spoke with Nan. The little Iggy in my lantern had snuffed out, making him whole again as he said goodbye to his friend.
Dong! Dong! Dong!
“Goodbye, all! Be good to each other and most of all….” Madame Zerna winked at us.
The last bell tolled.
“Have fun.”
She and Riga disappeared. All the spirits disappeared, the candles on the graves snuffed out, and goose bumps prickled my arms at the profound silence and darkness that engulfed us.
27
Closing Time
“And here’s your change—oops.” I dumped the merkles back in the till and fished out some euros for the human tourist. I placed the nonmagical change in the woman’s hand, and she and her date wandered off, munching on hand pies wrapped in waxed paper.
I sighed. It would’ve been nice to actually spend more of the carnival working the booth. I enjoyed seeing people take their first bite of a muffin or scone and close their eyes in happiness. The perks of smelling pies bake all day and eating the leftovers weren’t bad either.
Maple put a hand on my shoulder. “Why don’t you go get some more sleep?” She tipped her head toward the oven. “Iggy and I have this.”
I smiled at her and patted her hand. “Thanks, but I’d rather be here right now. I’m good.” I’d slept through the wee hours of the morning after leaving the graveyard, but had dreamed of being wrapped in silk by a giant spider, paralyzed and frightened. It wasn’t too hard to figure out where that had come from. I yawned and scrubbed at my face.
She wrung her hands in front of her apron. “You hardly slept.”
I shot her a grin. “Neither did you two.”
“Yeah, but you need more beauty sleep than us,” Iggy called from the oven.
“Har har.”
The late morning sun shone bright. The wind had swept away most of the clouds from the night before, making the air pleasantly warm and fresh. Seagulls circled overhead and a small group of human tourists milled about between the tents.
Many were already packed up, some of the vendors closing early. Most of the revenue came from the night crowd, and yesterday had been the last night. Others waited for the evening, so they could use magic without humans around to quickly disassemble the tents, booths, and fair rides.
I took a deep inhale. I’d miss this. Spending all day in the fresh air, smelling our baking pies, the fried street food and the sea breeze. I let out a heavy sigh and closed my eyes, letting the wind play with the wisps of hair around my face that I hadn’t pulled into my bun.
When I opened my eyes again, I jumped. Rhonda and Francis strolled by, hand in hand. I elbowed Maple and tilted my head toward them.
“Look.”
Her eyes grew round.
I lifted an arm and waved. “Rhonda! Francis!”
The couple looked up and sauntered over. Rhonda took a big bite of cotton candy cloud, the toy dirigible dangling from the bottom of it. “Hey guys,” she said around her bite.
Francis used his slender, pale fingertips to dab at the splotches of red around his lips, his other hand holding a doughnut that oozed red filling.
I swallowed, my stomach turning. “Another blood doughnut?”
Francis smiled at Rhonda.
She winked. “I made them for him. My own recipe.”
“Oh, ha.” I nodded. “So that’s where you got them. I’d been wondering about that.”
Francis nodded, his huge, dark pupils drinking Rhonda in. “Yes. My little snookums made them.”
I cocked a brow. Snookums, huh. Not a word I’d expected out of a vampire’s mouth.
She snuggled up against him. “I like to bake for my man bat.”
Maple and I looked away as they pawed each other. I frowned and turned back to them. “Wait. Where does the blood come from?”
Rhonda giggled. “Don’t worry about it.” She winked.
“Okay, I’m super worried about it.”
The sun glinted off something around Maple’s neck. Ah, right, the horrifying goblin jewelry. “I see you got your necklace back.”
Rhonda nodded, grinning. “Yeah, the officer who works in the evidence room practically threw it at me. Said the lights had been flickering, murder weapons flying around, that kind of thing since this arrived.” She chuckled. “He was just jealous.”
Behind them I spotted Hank stalking toward us, and I paled. Rhonda noticed and followed my gaze. She bumped her hip against Francis. “Best be leaving these two alone.”
“No, why don’t you stay? You don’t have to—” I reached out but they’d already sauntered off, lost in heart-eyes land. Darn it.
Hank strode toward me, his face clouded, thick dark hair standing out in every direction. I squinted. He’d buttoned his shirt unevenly.
Maple looked up. “Oh my… I think I have something in the pantry to do.”
I turned to call her back but she’d already disappeared into the back of the tent. Iggy winked and slid to the back of the oven, out of sight. I sighed and turned as Hank stalked around the long table laden with pastries and stopped in front of me. I opened my mouth to speak, but he silenced me by putting his enormous hands on either side of my face.
I froze and he held me still, the warmth of his hands comforting—and electrifying. He searched my forehead, eyes, mouth—where he lingered—then slid his hands down my arms and checked my hands, and then glanced at the rest of me, down to my Mary Janes.
His nostrils flared and his chest heaved. “You’re all right.”
“Yeah….” I frowned. “Are you?”
He pulled me into a tight hug. “I am now.”
I didn’t want to. I couldn’t help it. I closed my eyes and nuzzled into his chest, wrapping my arms around his waist. He buried his face in my hair and spoke into the top of my head. “My ridiculous advisors just told me what happened. Why didn’t you send me word?”
I swallowed and turned my head so I could speak. “It was after one in the morning.”
He growled, the sound rumbling through his chest and sending shivers down my spine. “You think I’d care? Next time—and there better not be a next time—I want to know right away.”
I gulped. “I’m not sure that’s your advisors’ fault. I mean, it all happened so quick and it was late and—the police making an arrest is hardly worthy of waking up a prince for.”
He gripped
my shoulders and stepped back, holding me at arm’s length. He narrowed his blue eyes and looked down his large, straight nose at me. “Is that what you think I’m concerned about? You almost died, right? That’s what they said. That he—” His throat bobbed and his face turned bright red as he looked away for a moment.
Whoa. He’s really upset.
“They said he bound you and nearly killed you. Is that what happened?”
I swayed on my feet, overwhelmed by a lack of sleep, the traumatic events of the previous night, and by Hank’s strong feelings. I hadn’t expected that. I mean, he had Shaday, and while he’d told me it wasn’t what he’d have chosen for himself if he wasn’t a prince—he was one, and he accepted his duties. Marrying a princess was one of them.
I pulled my lips to the side. Man. I’d never want someone to marry me out of duty. It almost made me feel bad for Shaday.
He squeezed my upper arms where he held me. “What are you thinking? Tell me what happened.”
I held up my palms. “All right, all right.” I shrugged and tried to keep it light, despite the hitch in my voice. “Yeah, it was—bad. I took Iggy to the graveyard to see Nan’s spirit.”
Hank nodded, his eyes riveted on my face.
“And… her ghost reminded me that I’d seen Riga, Scullivan’s assistant and Zerna’s daughter, have a similar glow she covered up with makeup. So I went to see if what I suspected was true. If she was dead—well, undead—whatever. And yeah, turns out I was right, Scullivan caught me, bound me, and—”
Hank stepped closer. I kept glancing at his face, but couldn’t seem to hold his intense gaze for long. I looked instead at the three-tiered tray of muffins.
“And… he forced me on stage to cut me in half and steal my breath and make me his new assistant, since Riga was getting a little—uh—decomposed.” I shrugged. “So, there you have it. Typical Friday night.”
Hank’s face lost its color and his eyes glassed over. He stepped even closer, our toes touching, and slid his hands up my shoulders, neck, and cupped the side of my face. I lifted my chin in response, parting my lips. He stared at them, his thick brows drawn. “I can’t believe I almost lost you.”