I shrugged. “I don’t think it sounds all that great. Can you imagine having to go through life being treated like a freak? Those people must feel so hated and afraid right now.” I glanced at her out of the corner of my eyes and frowned. Something felt off with her demeanor, and she almost seemed nervous all of a sudden. “Did you see the footage they’re all talking about?”
She shook her head and nervously chewed on her lip, looking like a frightened child. “I’ve always been scared of zombies, and I’ve had really bad nightmares after watching zombie movies. They’re my boogiemen. Or my clowns.”
That startled a laugh out of me, and I momentarily forgot my pain. “Clowns? Who in the world is afraid of clowns?”
She laughed again, going back to normal. “I don’t know. Some people just are. Don’t ask me why, because I couldn’t tell you. I don’t understand how it’s possible to be afraid of someone that makes balloon animals for kids.” She looked at me and slowly frowned. “Are you sure you’re alright? Something seems off about you.”
I could say the same thing about you…
“I’m fine, Tabitha.” Now that she’d mentioned it again, the weight of the situation dawned on me. The mayor knew I was lying, my stomach hurt and was cramping something awful, and I had the revelation of the entire supernatural world on my conscience. All of these things were going on around me, and here I was, laughing about clowns and boogiemen.
What’s wrong with me?
Tabitha sighed, sounding suddenly irritated. “I don’t know why you won’t tell me what’s wrong with you, but whatever. I think you need time to figure it out on your own. Do you still have my phone number? If so, give me a call when you’re done battling your inner demons.” She shook her head in disgust and walked away, leaving me to stand alone on the street corner with only the lamp post for support.
Chapter Seven
“Tell us what happened,” Tanya said gently, placing her arms around me tightly. She patted my shoulder sympathetically, and when she pulled away to look at me, I could see the worry in her lovely turquoise eyes. “Start from the beginning and take as much time as you need.”
I took a deep breath and let it out before I began. “Earlier, the Council asked me to speak with the mayor. He apparently made an announcement on the local news, demanding that the girl from the video step forward. The Council warned me to be careful about what I gave away, and I was. I didn’t say anything I wasn’t allowed to say, but the mayor suspected I was keeping something from him. So, he had one of his bodyguards–who happens to be a sorcerer–take me out back to interrogate me. It didn’t go well.”
Finn growled dangerously, and I looked over my shoulder to see him leaning against the wall with his hands clenched into angry fists. His pale blue eyes blazed, and I could tell immediately that he wanted to hit something, or someone. Deep down, it was kind of nice to know that Finn wanted to protect me, but I banished that thought. I had more pressing matters to attend to than my crush.
Tanya took my hand in hers, and I felt something strange running up my arm and through my body. It started off as a frigid coldness that numbed my entire body, before transforming into a warm tingling sensation that got rid of the cold and the pain.
Tanya smiled slowly. “I did it. I actually did it!”
I smiled back. “How long have you been practicing that?”
“Since I got here. Healing is one of the hardest things to learn, and it can take forever. It looks like the last year I spent here has finally paid off. Who knows, maybe in another year I’ll be in control of my magic enough to actually go home. I could see my family again.”
Tanya’s been here for almost a whole year more than me. I can’t imagine spending so much time away from my family and home. If I had a decent home and people to miss me, I’d be miserable here, but Tanya’s always so happy…
Ezra probably had something to do with that. He and Tanya spent most of their time together, and they’d been friends since she arrived at the compound. He showed her around and kept her company while she tried to adjust to life and training. He knew everything about the compound because he’d been here for almost three years, and it didn’t seem like he’d be leaving anytime soon.
As a half-demon, Ezra had the ability to move objects with his mind, and if he was ever in a fight, he could tap into his demon heritage, and transform into a powerful, hideous beast with wings or claws or a spiked tail. I’d never seen Ezra change like that, so I didn’t know how scary or powerful he would be. But apparently he was dangerous enough that the Council didn’t feel comfortable letting him leave.
Demons were unpredictable. They weren’t liked, and they weren’t trusted. Even werewolves were liked more than demons, but that was probably because demons used to feed on fairies and witches and drain them dry, and they raped women to reproduce. I understood that others feared them for the things they’d done in the past, but I’d known Ezra for months now, and I wasn’t sure if he had a mean bone in his body.
Ezra was at the compound because he wasn’t trusted. Tanya was at the compound because she wasn’t in control of her magic, which meant she was a danger to anyone she encountered. Finn was employed by the Council, and Holly just didn’t have anywhere else to go. I wondered if I would be more like her in the end, with nowhere to really fit in and belong.
It must have been horrible be a vampire, but to have to go through it alone was even worse.
Finn grabbed both of my hands in his large and calloused ones, forcing me to look him in the eyes. “Ronnie, if the Council makes you go back to see the mayor again, I want you to promise me you won’t go alone. Promise me you’ll take me with you.”
“Finn, the Council said–”
“I don’t care what the Council said!” he snapped. “Do you realize what could have happened to you? If you hadn’t come back–”
“But I did.”
“It doesn’t matter,” he continued, brushing off my reassurance. “If you hadn’t, I don’t know what I would have done.”
“That’s exactly why the Council refused to let me take you into town. They don’t want you losing your temper and doing something stupid. They can’t trust you to act rational when it…” I stopped and sighed. “When it comes to me. You and I don’t always think straight about one another.”
He frowned, and he leaned forward until his forehead touched mine. “I know, and I can’t help that. You have no idea how hard it was for me not to turn around and kick down the mayor’s front door. I hate that he hurt you because I wasn’t there to protect you. It won’t happen again, Ronnie. I won’t let it, I promise. Now I need you to promise me something in return.”
I took a deep breath to calm my erratic heartbeat. Being close and personal with Finn was making it hard for me to think. His woodsy scent was clouding my senses, and I couldn’t seem to escape the hold his beautiful pale blue eyes had on me. They were normally so harsh and angry, but right now they looked soft and even a little vulnerable. He was in one of his rare moments when he showed how much he cared, and I couldn’t ignore that.
“I promise I won’t go see the mayor again without you,” I said, knowing exactly what he wanted to hear.
Ezra cleared his throat. “Um, we’re still here. Ow!” I looked over to see Tanya and Holly glaring at him while he massaged his shoulder. “That kind of hurt.”
“Why would you interrupt them like that?” Tanya asked, sounding exasperated. “You know how they feel about each other.”
Finn stood abruptly, dropping my hands and avoiding eye contact in the process. “I have something I have to do. I’ll see you all later for dinner.” He hurried out the door before anyone could do or say anything to stop him, and I sighed when he was gone.
When the door opened again, I thought maybe Finn had decided to come back. When Annie poked her head through the door, I tried not to look disappointed. “Ronnie, I need you to come with me. We have a bit of a problem on our hands.”
“What’s going on
?” Holly asked, sitting forward eagerly. “Did they find out who the necromancer is?”
Annie frowned. “Yes, they have. Because she just raised an entire cemetery during a live broadcast for the world to see…”
*****
The laptop rested on the table in front of Marcel, and he was looking at it with a mixture of disgust and fear. If what Annie had said was true, then the entire world had just witnessed our own brand of magic at work. Watching zombies rising from their graves was sure to send the world into an uproar, and I could only imagine the looting, the burning, and the crimes that were most likely being committed at the moment.
Marcel turned the laptop around and pressed one of the keys roughly. “Watch.”
Unlike the first footage, this one was crisp and clear, and I could see every single detail of the cemetery. It was the one on the far side of town, and was the one that was most visited during the day. I’d visited my mother’s grave there several times after her death. I could see dozens of people lining up around the cemetery gate, pressing their faces against the bars, trying to get a glimpse of a show that had probably been promised by our mystery necromancer.
When she stepped into view, all of the air exploded from my lungs, and I felt like I’d been punched in the gut again. She was just a young girl–younger than me–and she had long, dark brown hair. Her nose was small and curved, her lips full, and her body pear-shaped. I couldn’t see her eyes, but I knew they would be an even darker brown than her hair.
Tabitha reached inside of her shirt and pulled out a clear pendant that looked like it might have been made of crystal. She gripped it tightly in her hand, and she began using her gift, right there in front of all those spectators and people filming. For a few minutes, nothing happened, and people began to get restless.
But when the first hand reached up over a dug out grave, the entire crowd around the fences took in a collective breath, and the cemetery was so silent you could have heard a pin drop. Hand after hand, the first zombie crawled up from his grave, got shakily to his feet, and faced the spectators. A woman screamed at the sight of his intestines hanging out of his split open stomach, and she fainted, crumpling into the dirt before anyone could catch her.
Screams rose all around the cemetery fence as more decomposing bodies crawled out from their graves and the townspeople got their first look at real zombies, some of which were quite possible buried loved ones. A mass panic broke out, and people began running from the cemetery as fast as their feet could carry them.
Tabitha turned to face the camera, and the look of delight on her face was hard to stomach. She reveled in the chaos she was creating, and she wouldn’t stop until she was either dead, or she got her revenge. We’d been looking for Andrew’s child–my half sibling–and I’d already known her. I’d talked to her, gotten to know her and her pain, and she lied to me the whole time.
She knew who I was, and she made up some sob story to cozy up to me. She could have tricked me into going anywhere alone with her, she could have taken her revenge, and I would have never known. I guess it’s a good thing I was never truly alone with her…
I shuddered at the thought of what might have happened if I’d been less careful. And now that I knew it was Tabitha, the signs were clear. At breakfast, she knew exactly what my pendant was doing. It was warning me about her, and the thought didn’t even cross my mind. God, I could have been killed! She could have followed me back to the compound. What if she did? What if she knew where we were right now?
She could hurt my friends.
How could I have been so ignorant?
“Veronica?” Marcel’s voice broke me out of my silent reverie, and judging by the tone of his voice, he’d already said my name more than once. He knew something was wrong, and he wanted to know what my problem was.
“Her name is Tabitha. I had breakfast with her the other day, and I spoke with her earlier as well. She was right there in front of me, and I didn’t even realize it.”
Kevin’s eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. “She was right there in front of you and you let her go?”
“I didn’t know it was her!” I snapped. My temper flared in a defensive manner; I hadn’t had an angry outburst in awhile, and was due for one. “I thought she was just some girl that was new in town, who had just lost her dad, and was looking for a friend. I just wanted somebody normal to talk to. Somebody that could understand the pain of losing a parent.”
Annie put her hand on my shoulder and gave me a light squeeze, silently forgiving me for keeping secrets from her now that her student was in trouble. “Its okay, Ronnie. We all make mistakes in life, and it’s nothing to be ashamed about. Though I do wish you’d mentioned her to someone. You didn’t even talk to Finn about her?”
I shook my head miserably. “No.”
“How did the two of you meet?” Marcel asked, frowning. “Start from the beginning and leave nothing out, regardless of whether you believe it to be important or not.”
I took a deep breath before starting. “Finn and I went into town to go to the bookstore and then the movie store. While at the bookstore, Finn began flirting with a girl to hurt my feelings, and while trying to ignore them, a young girl approached me. She told me her name was Tabitha, and she also told me that I shouldn’t have to stay there and watch him.
“She said she was new in town, and wanted to know if there was a good place to eat. Rather than stay and watch Finn flirting with some stranger, I accompanied Tabitha to a restaurant in town, and the two of us had breakfast. She told me that her mother had died in labor with her, and her father had been killed recently in a drunk driving accident. She said she was living with her grandparents, and would be a sophomore when school started again.”
“And you believed her?” Kevin asked with a sneer of disgust. “Could you really be that stupid?”
I flinched, suddenly ashamed of myself. Kevin had never liked me, and might have even outright hated me, but this was different. The disgust on his face was so evident that it made me feel worse than I’d ever felt before. Because of my stupidity, the supernaturals had been exposed and the world got to see zombies rise from the ground. This was all my fault, and Kevin blamed me as much as I blamed myself.
“Ronnie, what made you believe a word this strange girl said?” Marcel asked, much kinder than Kevin had. When I looked at Marcel, I didn’t see disgust or hatred. I saw understanding. He knew that I made a mistake, and he knew that I felt bad about it, so he didn’t see the need to tell me.
I sighed and hung my head in shame. “I don’t know what it was. Maybe I was just upset and lonely and I wanted someone to talk to. I wanted someone that didn’t know a thing about this world, who wouldn’t judge me for the choices my mother made concerning me. I wanted to be treated like a normal girl, and Tabitha picked up on that immediately. She played me. She told me exactly what I wanted to hear, and she pretended to be my friend, to understand what I was going through.”
“She knew you missed your mother,” Annie said gently, surprising me with her kindness. “She used that to bond with you, didn’t she?”
I nodded miserably. “She said her mother had died giving birth to her, and she blamed herself for it. She said she understood how I was feeling, and how I missed my family. She seemed so sincere, so miserable, that I believed every word she said to me, like a chump.”
Marcel rubbed his temples and sighed. “This is a huge mess. One that we need to clean up as soon as possible. We can’t allow Tabitha to keep running around town, causing more damage than she already has. But, we can’t underestimate her. She’s obviously cunning, and not to mention powerful.”
“What are we going to do?”
Kevin chuckled. “We? No, Veronica, you’ve caused us enough trouble. You won’t be given another chance to screw us over, not when there’s so much on the line. We can’t risk it.”
Marcel frowned. “Kevin, not all of this is Veronica’s fault. We have to keep that in mind. Even though our pred
icament is a bad one, we have to remember that we have many friends that can help, including Veronica. She has a connection to Tabitha, and we may be able to use it to our advantage.” He leaned across the table and peered down at me. “Would you be up for helping us? After what happened with Andrew on the roof, I would understand if you wanted some time to heal.”
Kevin snorted in derision, and I shook my head quickly. “No, I can’t back out. I would love for some more time to get over Andrew, but I can’t afford to take that time. Not when there’s so much at stake. I helped create this mess, and I’ll help clean it up. Just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it as best I can.”
Marcel clasped his hands together. “Very well. We can start by hearing what happened at the mayor’s office. I understand that was a bit of trouble.”
I sighed. “Yes, there was. I kept my mouth shut about as much as possible, but he knew I was keeping something hidden. And he had one of his bodyguards, who happens to be a sorcerer, take me out back to interrogate me. It…ended badly.”
Annie looked at me with sisterly concern, momentarily forgetting that she was mad at me for keeping secrets. “Ronnie? What happened?”
“When I refused to tell him what he wanted to know, he punched me in the stomach. Hard. Finn came into town to pick me up, and Tanya healed me using her magic. She seemed pretty proud of herself.”
The double doors slammed open, bouncing off the walls before closing. “You shouldn’t have told her to go into town alone,” Finn growled threateningly. His hands were clenched tightly at his sides as he stormed up to the table, and his eyes were ablaze with pure fury. “You knew there might have been someone out there after her, trying to kill her, and you sent her alone. Which means I’m going to hold you three responsible for what happened to her.”
Marcel frowned, and raised a hand to silence whatever rude remark Kevin was about to make to Finn. I would guess that it probably had something to do about werewolves and knowing their place in the supernatural world. And it was a good thing Marcel stopped Kevin before he could say it, because Finn looked so agitated that he probably would have leapt up and over the table to rip out Kevin’s throat.
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