Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (Dead Things Series Book 1)

by Martina McAtee

Unwell was generous, Kai thought. Her fair skin was chalky. She was sweating again, like in the car, pupils so dilated you could no longer see the iris. The girl was definitely sick. Had she been bitten?

  “I just feel shaky,” she promised. “It’s been a long night.”

  “Yes, it has,” Isa said. “So why don’t we let Kai tell us what happened?”

  Kai couldn’t help it; he slid towards Isa before speaking. He needed to know she wasn’t still mad. “I was in class this morning when I got a name for collection,” he shoved up his sleeve, tapping the blank space where Ember’s name had been just hours before. Ember leaned forward, brow wrinkled in concentration. At first glance, his tattoo was a swirl of black ink starting just above his elbow and winding around his bicep. If you looked closer, though, the image consisted of names, all crammed together to create a pattern.

  “Hello?” Ember raised her hand as if she was in kindergarten, “Newbie, remember? What does that mean?”

  “So, I’m a reaper, a collector to be exact. I cross people over.” He felt his face flaming with embarrassment, though he didn’t know why. He thought about his next words, “When its somebodies time to go, I collect their souls so that they can move on to the otherworld. The names appear on my wrist, kind of like a tattoo. Once they’ve been collected and passed through the veil, the name moves to its place in the design.” He gestured towards the swirl of names.

  “That is so cool,” she said, eyes glassy but tone awed.

  “This morning, it was Ember’s name. Her real name.”

  “Where did you find her?” Allister said, like she wasn’t sitting right there.

  “New Orleans,” Tristin said.

  “This whole time?” Allister asked her.

  She nodded, frowning.

  “And your father, he’s…” he trailed off.

  “Dead, since last week,” Ember mumbled.

  He felt the mood of the room change. The wolves shifted, moving closer to each other and his cousin. They found comfort through contact.

  “We’re very sorry for your loss, Ember. That’s terrible.” Isa said, giving her a sad smile.

  His cousin nodded, shifting uncomfortably.

  “Okay, I’m going to need you to backtrack a bit.” Wren told him, “You were in the middle of class and found a dead girl’s name on your arm and you didn’t question it. You didn’t think to call us?”

  Kai’s mouth tightened, “Of course I questioned it. She was dead. I knew it couldn’t be possible,” he told the room, “but her name was there.”

  He looked at Ember, wincing at the words, explaining further. “As far as this town knew, you died twelve years ago with our moms and the others.”

  She seemed to take the information in stride. Maybe she was in shock. “I didn’t even know you existed so I guess that makes us even.” She said.

  He plunged on, “I was going to say something to Rhys,” Kai said, hoping his already erratic heartbeat would mask the lie “but then, Tristin screamed.”

  All eyes swung to his sister whose eyes dropped at the weight of everybody’s stares. She slid herself to the floor, drawing her knees to her chest.

  “Is that true, Tristin?” Allister asked. “Did you scream?”

  She froze, looking to her brother for help.

  “She did.” Rhys supplied, “I was there. She scared the crap out of our sixth period math class.”

  Isa looked like she wanted to skin Rhys, “If you were there, why am I only just hearing about this now?”

  Rhys’ nostrils flared. “I was going to tell you but then I was sent a text four pages long about the supplies for the twin’s birthday party this weekend. I figured they would tell you at work.”

  “Wait,” Ember interrupted. “Your birthday is this weekend?”

  “No, our birthday is today, like yours.” Kai told her, glancing at the time on his phone. “Well, technically yesterday now.”

  “We share the same birthday? How old are you?”

  “Seventeen, like you.”

  “Our moms had us on the same day?” Ember shook her head. “That’s really weird, right? Like, even in this world that’s gotta be weird.”

  “We’ll get to that in a minute.” Isa told her, “Tristin, you screamed…for Ember?”

  “How should I know what I screamed for?” she grumbled, posture defensive, “It’s not like I know what I’m doing or have any control over it.”

  “Well, now. That is interesting,” Allister said, looking at Tristin with a smile that made Kai’s stomach feel squishy.

  “The screaming is important because…why?” Ember prompted.

  “Because Tristin is a reaper as well,” Allister supplied, gaze still on Tristin. The added attention had Quinn sliding down the wall to put an arm around her.

  “You are a soul collector thingy like Kai?”

  “Technically he’s what they call a psychopomp. A type of reaper. There are different types of reapers.” Quinn explained.

  “Oh, so what type are you?” Ember asked.

  “Banshee,” Tristin mumbled.

  “Banshee,” Ember repeated, “Really? I thought banshees were old women who would wash the clothing of the soldiers destined to die in battle.”

  Tristin narrowed her eyes at Ember, “You seem to know a lot about the supernatural for a girl raised with humans.”

  “My father was a professor of Celtic mythology and occult studies. I grew up in New Orleans. I know more than you think.” Ember said, “Though, up until ten hours ago, my knowledge was entirely anecdotal.”

  Isa gave her an assessing look before saying to Kai, “Continue.”

  Kai looked like he was struggling to decide how to proceed, “I figured if Tristin screamed it had to be something, right? Tristin hasn’t screamed since…well, in a really long time.”

  He cleared his throat. “Banshee’s are rare,” Kai supplied to Ember.

  “How rare?” Ember asked, looking to Tristin.

  “Like as far as we know, I’m the only one still in existence.” Tristin’s jaw tightened in a grim line, eyes fixed on the floor. Quinn squeezed her tighter. She half-heartedly tried to shake it off but he held on until she deflated against him.

  “That just makes you more special.” Quinn told her. Tristin hmph’d but said nothing.

  “My son is correct. You are unique. That makes you special. You screaming is a good thing. It means you didn’t lose your powers, they were just dormant.”

  “You thought you lost your powers?” Ember asked.

  Tristin shrugged but said nothing.

  Ember looked puzzled, “But even if you are the only one, somebody must have information on your powers. On what you are. There has to be records, books, databases.”

  Kai watched as Allister puffed out his chest, “Of course there are records and she can petition the council to give her access to information concerning banshees when she is eighteen.”

  Ember’s forehead furrowed, blinking like she was trying to clear her vision. “I don’t get it. Why does she have to be eighteen? Can’t you just go to your local library and google information on banshees?”

  Allister’s eyes narrowed, “I’m sure this all seems very confusing to you but you have to understand, Ember, information about our kind is highly sensitive and dangerous in the wrong hands. As such, the Grove has restricted access to any information concerning our kind until adulthood.”

  Quinn snorted, “Adulthood? You mean if you are an adult witch. Even then, it’s not likely to get you anywhere. Requesting information from the Grove is like asking the government about Area 51. You’ll get back a bunch of papers covered in black sharpie. Everything’s classified.”

  Kai felt for his friend. It physically hurt Quinn not to have access to the thousands of years of knowledge hidden in the Grove library.

>   “Okay, I understand it’s dangerous, but how do you ban books. I mean, they’re books. Don’t people have a right to that information?”

  There was no hiding Quinn’s bitterness, “You would think that, this being America and all, but no, not in our world. If you aren’t a witch, you are a second class citizen. Only the witches can be trusted.”

  “But that’s crazy? How can that be possible?” Ember asked.

  She was right. It was crazy. It hadn’t always been like this. There was a time when information was free. Back when his mother and aunt ran the council. Back before whatever happened to cause the council to close ranks and shut out all supernatural creatures but the witches.

  Allister shifted uncomfortably. “It’s a long story, Ember, and it is getting late. The Grove keeps the information well-hidden for the protection of all,” Allister said, as if he rehearsed that line in front of his mirror at night. “Can we please focus on what brought you to us?”

  “Weird,” was her only response.

  Kai cleared his throat, startling the room back to attention, “So, anyway, after Tristin screamed I showed her Ember’s name. We both decided we should go to New Orleans and see for ourselves. We had to know if it was really her.”

  “Isa,” Allister said, “It seems you are not keeping a close enough eye on your pack. Should I be concerned? The consequences of this little excursion could have been catastrophic. They still might be.”

  Isa flinched like he’d slapped her before she steeled her spine, looking at Kai then Tristin. “He’s right. You should have come to me first. You know we can’t travel through another alpha’s territory without permission. You could have caused a ton of trouble for the pack.” Isa scolded. She addressed the others, “Nobody is to travel outside of this town without my express permission. I thought that was clear but I was clearly mistaken.”

  Kai wouldn’t make eye contact with the alpha. “I never had to clear a collection with you before. And besides, like I said, we didn’t really know if it was real.”

  Rhys shook his head, “That just makes it worse. You don’t think it’s weird that your dead cousins’ name pops up for a collection in another state? You didn’t stop to think it might be a trap? When have you ever had to travel this far for a collection? Nothing about this made sense and your first instinct was, ‘screw it, let’s just see what happens?’ That’s not how the pack works.”

  Kai set his jaw, “Well, as you like to tell me all the time, we’re not really pack, are we?”

  “Enough,” Wren barked from beneath the alpha. “No more distractions. Just finish telling us what happened. This is giving me a headache.”

  “When we got there, she had attracted the attention of some kind of grim.”

  Eyebrows shot up all around the room. “What kind?” Neoma asked crawling closer to Kai, like a child excited the teacher was finally getting to the good part of the storybook.

  “Not sure, vampire, maybe an incubus, random demon of unknown origin?” Tristin supplied, “Whatever he was, he was certainly interested in her and it looked like the feeling was mutual.”

  This time Ember looked embarrassed, ducking her head, “Grim?”

  “It’s just our code word for anything supernaturally bad. We made it up, it’s not in the official handbook,” Kai explained.

  “There’s a handbook?” Ember asked.

  Kai smiled, “I was kidding.”

  “Oh,” Ember said, disappointed.

  Isa jerked forward and Wren hissed in discomfort. “Let’s get back to the grim. Was he looking for her? Or did he just happen upon her?” When Wren adjusted the girl, she patted his face, “Sorry, babe.”

  “I don’t know,” Kai told her, shrugging helplessly.

  Isa’s eyes shot to Ember, “Have you ever seen this creature before?”

  Ember shook her head, goose bumps erupting over her skin. “I don’t feel s’good.” She told them, words sloppy like her tongue refused to cooperate with her brain. She tugged at the collar of her sweater.

  Kai looked to Isa not sure what was happening or what they should do about it. Ember was drenched in sweat, a near impossibility in a house that kept its air conditioning set to seventy degrees to offset the constantly elevated body temperatures of four werewolves.

  Donovan moved closer to his cousin, putting a hand on her forehead. She didn’t try to move away, in fact, she swayed closer. “Isa, she’s burning up.”

  “It’s so hot in here,” Ember mumbled, yanking off her sweater, leaving a wet black tank top that emphasized her corpse like pallor, “S’anybody else hot?”

  “Ember?” Isa pushed Donovan out of the way, clasping Ember’s face in her hands. “Ember? What’s happening here? Are you okay? Did that thing do something to you? Did it bite you or scratch you? Ember, honey, stay with me. This is important.”

  Ember blinked unfocused eyes at his alpha, looking at her like she’d never seen her before. Suddenly, she bolted forward, catching Isa by surprise enough to cause her to stumble back. Ember lurched to her feet, head swiveling in every direction.

  She clutched her stomach, looking at Isa with dread, “I’m so sorry,” she managed before vomiting the most foul black sludge onto Isa’s very old and very expensive Persian rug. Isa had just enough time to look dismayed before she caught Ember’s limp body in her arms.

  13

  EMBER

  Ember dreamed she was in the ocean. All alone in frigid black water she floated upon gently cresting waves, eyes narrowed against the blinding white sky above. Water filled her ears until the only sound she heard was her own steadily thudding heartbeat. She didn’t mind the chilly water. It was a balm to the scorching heat of her skin. She could stay like this forever, floating in a vacuum of silence.

  It didn’t last. Frantic voices shattered her peace, muffled and far away. She tried to protest but a heavy weight descended on her, sucking her under the surface. She gasped, water filling her nose and mouth as she struggled, arms thrashing, tearing against her unseen attacker. Each time she broke the surface she was shoved back down again. She fought to wake up, panic clawing through her chest. Her dreams never felt this real before. She needed to wake up or she was going to die.

  She wasn’t dreaming. She opened her eyes, viewing the world from beneath a foot of water. Amorphous shapes moved above her and she fought against the large hand at the center of her chest holding her under. Then it was gone. Arms flailing, she scrambled to gain traction as she broke the surface, coughing and sputtering, expelling water from her burning lungs. Her oxygen deprived brain was swimming and she struggled to stay conscious.

  Were they trying to kill her?

  She looked around, trying to visualize her attacker. She was in a bathtub. She was in her underwear. She wasn’t alone. Kai, Tristin, Quinn and Rhys were all against the far wall, arms akimbo, limbs entangled as if thrown across the room. Three of them stared at her in horror but Quinn smiled like he knew a secret. She opened her mouth to ask why they were doing this to her but she only choked up more water. She felt herself losing consciousness again, slipping back into the water.

  The last thing she heard was Quinn saying, “Take her out. She’s had enough.”

  When she woke again, she was in somebody else’s clothes and tucked into an unfamiliar bed. Quinn sat in a wooden chair next to her. He was pouring powders into a steaming cup. “Oh, good, you’re awake. Drink this.”

  Ember narrowed her eyes at him, sitting up with effort. Her whole body ached. “What is it?” She sniffed the cup suspiciously, “Is this some kind of potion? I thought they said you were human?”

  “It’s true. I am but a simple, useless human.” She arched a brow in his direction. He sighed. “Sorry, it’s not witchcraft; it’s just herbs, some yarrow tea with a few other things thrown in. I’m hoping it will help with your fever, even though I’m pretty sure this isn’t the
flu.”

  She sipped the tea, wincing at the taste, “You don’t seem useless.” As far as she could tell, Quinn was the only one with any real information.

  “Sorry,” he told her again, blushing. “I’m not always this annoying. My father tends to put me in this mood.”

  She nodded. “I can relate.”

  “Anyway, since we don’t have a hospital around here and our healer sort of parted ways with her grip on reality eighteen months ago, I do what I can.”

  “Did she train you?”

  “I trained me. I have an IQ higher than Einstein and an eidetic memory. I could probably teach myself open-heart surgery with the right YouTube video.”

  “So you take care of everybody?”

  “I don’t know about that. I keep them alive. It’s not like we can go to the local hospital with a werewolf scratch or a vampire bite.”

  He sounded a little defensive, like he was used to having to justify himself and his usefulness. She didn’t say anything, watching as he jostled small bottles and vials in the box at his feet. His human brown eyes were almost luminous in the dim lighting of the room. He had freckles smattered across his nose and he pushed his glasses up the bridge almost like a nervous tick. He had a sweetness to his face the others didn’t.

  “So, I had a fever? Is that why you tried to drown me?” she finally asked.

  He grinned at her. “Technically, I ordered Rhys to try to drown you.”

  She couldn’t help but smile back, “Awesome, thanks. All my future nightmares will be much more vivid.”

  “Normally, you don’t plunge somebody into ice water to help a fever but yours was so high, I took a chance. There was no way we could take you to a hospital with a fever that high. Any human would have been dead.”

  It was weird to hear somebody say it aloud. “So I’m definitely not human?”

  “It seems more unlikely by the minute.”

  She swallowed the last of the bitter tasting tea, “Does it bother you? Being human?”

  He swallowed hard, eyes meeting hers briefly, “Me? No, not really. I mean, if I really wanted to be supernatural, I could have somebody bite me. A shifter, vampire.”