Nothing But Necromancy (Macrow Necromancers Book 1)

by J A Campbell

  “This is Sam.” Harmony introduced him. Sam nodded. He might have been able to talk to the living chicken or turkey that became the meat the shop offered in their sub sandwiches, but the human behind the counter was beyond him.

  “I’d like a six-inch sandwich, please,” Harmony said. “And my friend would like a foot-long.”

  It was more than she’d spent for lunch in forever, but Sam needed feeding. His sun-dried flesh barely covered his bones. He looked homeless and sadly, he also smelled that way, too. Harmony had never noticed, but the close air of the shop and others’ scrutiny made both facts clear. No way was she going to get him this close to food and safety without doing what she could, though. Hopefully that wouldn’t mean she would get kicked permanently out of the only food vendor that’d feed her regularly and not ask questions.

  Shelley nodded. Between the two of them, they managed to get Sam’s sandwich made for him. He basically nodded at what he wanted and shook his head violently at what he did not. He emphatically would not eat meat, particularly turkey or chicken. Shelley managed to get him a veggie sandwich—and she packed it with lots of cheese.

  “What a retard,” one of the male customers behind them in line remarked impatiently.

  “I won’t tolerate that language here.” Shelley pointed at the young man. Harmony glanced to see he was wearing a t-shirt from the same frat Sam’s tormentors belonged to. Her stomach lurched. “Apologize to Sam here, or get out of my store.”

  He spewed several epithets at Shelley and in parting turned to Sam and said, “See you later, bro.”

  “Now, Sam,” Shelley moved on. “Would you like some of these bell peppers? I just cut them this morning.”

  Sam nodded.

  Others voiced complaints at the delays, which Shelley ignored. Harmony made her selection quickly and had Shelley pack the order to go. She carefully prepared their order and to Harmony’s surprise, added chips and cookies and bottles of water for both of them at no charge.

  “You two take care,” Shelley said. “And Sam, you’re welcome back anytime.”

  Harmony’s heart beat so fast she found it hard to swallow when she left the sandwich shop. She glanced around for any cars which might have belonged to the boys. She wished she’d thought to drive them to the shop, but she wasn’t sure if Sam would get in her car—or what the car would smell like if he had. They walked across the street to a park with shade trees and benches and she sat Sam down on one of them.

  “Here,” she said, still scanning the street for the enemy, her throat too constricted to choke down a bite of her own lunch. “Eat.”

  Yeah, she told herself she was right getting the foot-long for him. For every bite he took, he threw three out to the pigeons.

  “Bite,” he would say and toss the piece to the pigeon.

  The bird would bob and he’d continue. “You’re welcome.”

  Harmony watched in fascination as several conversations went on. She would have thought he was crazy, but he could tell the birds did all kinds of tricks for him. Maybe it was Sam who got them to poop all over their attackers? The thought cheered her, but she doubted he had a malicious bone in his body.

  “Are you going to the shelter tonight?” she asked, tired of having the birds stare at her for her lunch. She took a couple of bites of the ham and Swiss and tossed the rest to them. “You should.”

  Sam shrugged.

  “Tell him to go to the shelter,” Harmony said to the pigeon that Sam talked to the most. “Please.”

  The bird bobbed what she hoped as an acknowledgement. Harmony left Sam and his companions with everything but a bottle of water. Too afraid to return to the beach, she caught the next bus downtown to the YWCA. She was early enough to get a room. It wasn’t a pleasure she afforded herself often, but it was nice to have a safe place to clean up and a bed with fresh clean sheets.

  Harmony slept so well, she missed the tide. She awoke and hastened through a shower, washing her hair and brushing her teeth.

  By the time the bus deposited her, the gulls were awake and swarming. Something was badly wrong.

  “Have you seen Sam?” she asked of every familiar person she saw. He hadn’t been at the shelter, hadn’t been to feed the birds, hadn’t been anywhere people who knew him and looked after him were aware of.

  The black cloud of crows led her to the businesses on the beachfront. Their raucous cries jarred her ears.

  She found Sam in an alleyway, brutalized so badly he was scarcely recognizable, a pack of rats already making a meal of what the birds had left.

  She ran, unsure of where to go. Honking horns scarcely deterred her from crossing the street on a red light, nearly getting struck by a garbage truck. All she wanted to do was put as much distance between herself and what she’d just seen.

  “Halt!” the barked order didn’t deter her. The tackle did.

  When Elise woke, she felt heavy. Her eyelids were almost too weighty to open, and her hands felt too dense to even try to move. She seemed to sink through the bed. For a few moments, she was amazed her humongous body didn’t break the bed and send her crashing to the floor.

  After marveling at the weight of her body for a while, she became aware of other sensations. Rhythmic beeping intruded upon the silence. Soft cloth covered her and kept her warm. Finally, her eyes focused and the white and beige blur turned into the sterile walls of a hospital room. After staring at the ceiling and making patterns out of the imperfections, Elise slowly grew aware of distant pain and discomfort. Something isolated her from truly feeling it, but she knew her leg ached and her bladder was full and her body stiff from lying in the bed. The last sensation to make itself known was Callie, slightly translucent, but tucked up against her leg all the same. Though she still didn’t understand, she was grateful her border collie was there to protect her.

  The floating sensation she’d experienced with the medication over the last couple of weeks was absent, but so was the pressure behind her eyes. At least for a while, she’d be okay.

  Reaching down to pet Callie, she felt the dog’s tongue caress her hand.

  The heaviness tugged at her eyelids and this time she surrendered to their weight.

  The next time Elise woke, she was no longer alone. Her mother sat in a plastic chair next to her.

  She leaned forward with her elbows resting on her knees and her head cradled in her hands.

  “Mom?”

  “Elise!” She rushed over to Elise’s side.

  She looked awful, with dark rings under her eyes and her normally elegant shiny black hair all disheveled, Elise wondered if her mom had slept at all.

  “How do you feel, honey? Your father will be by as soon as he can. He’s stuck at the airport right now.”

  “I feel pretty good.” The weight had lifted, and while she thought she felt Callie pressed up against her leg, she no longer saw the ghost of her old dog. So far, the pressure hadn’t returned behind her eyes, either.

  “How’s your ankle?”

  Elise frowned and glanced down at her legs. They were covered by a blanket, but one was propped up a little and looked a bit more blocky under the sheet.

  “Fine, I guess.”

  “You broke your ankle in the fall.”

  “Oh.” Elise tilted her head back and stared at the ceiling. “They must have me on some good pain killers, then. Was it a bad break?” Unsure how she was supposed to feel about the news, Elise tried to stay disconnected from the idea that she’d hurt herself for the moment.

  “No, dear. Are you sure you feel okay? Do you want to talk about what happened?”

  Elise winced at the anguish in her mom’s voice. She hated causing her family such pain and worry. “I don’t know. I thought it was migraines, but it’s not, it’s ghosts. Has anything like this ever happened before?” Elise knew she sounded alone and scared, but how else was she supposed to feel?

  “Not to our family, honey.”

  “And you don’t know anything at all about my birth
parents?”

  Her mom sank back into the plastic chair and shook her head. “No. Nothing more than what we’ve told you. Obviously the social workers never mentioned the possibility of ghosts.”

  “You believe me?”

  “Yes dear.” Her mom glanced at the door. “Someone contacted us. Someone who knows about these things. They said that putting you on medication probably made the last episode worse. I’m so sorry.” Tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes.

  “It’s not your fault I’m some sort of freak.” Elise squeezed her eyes shut.

  “Oh, honey, you’re not a freak. Mr. Burns says that there is a large magical community that most people know nothing about. You’re obviously from that community. Children with abilities don’t normally end up with us non-magical folks, so he’s not sure how that happened, but there’s a school you can go to.”

  “A school?” Elise’s mind whirled. She wasn’t sure if she could handle this new information on top of everything else. People with abilities?

  “Yes. Mr. Burns would like to talk to you, if you feel up to it?”

  “Uh, sure.” Elise wasn’t actually sure she felt up to it, but maybe she could get some answers.

  Her mom went to the door and opened it. She said a few quiet words and an older man followed her inside.

  Elise studied him, wondering if he could do magic. Silver graced his temples, but his short hair was mostly brown, matching his brown eyes. Taller than her mom by several inches, he wouldn’t be considered large compared to another man. He wore a brown tweed jacket with patches on the elbows over a white button down shirt, and gray slacks. Nothing about him seemed remarkable, except for the slightly outdated jacket.

  Mr. Burns smiled when she met his gaze. “Hello, Elise. How are you feeling?”

  She couldn’t help but smile back. “Right now, fine.” Unconsciously, she reached down and patted Callie on the head. The collie was still there, even if she couldn’t see her.

  Mr. Burns followed her motion and after a moment, arched his eyebrows in surprise. “It seems you have a protector.”

  Panic made her want to snatch her hand away from Callie’s head, but she made herself stay still. He knew her secret. He was here to help.

  “Yeah. She helps keep the ghosts away.”

  Mr. Burns smiled again. “Well, keep her close.”

  “What do you mean?” Elise’s mom looked around the room. “I don’t see anything.”

  “It seems spirits like Elise. She has a dog with her right now. Nothing to be alarmed about. It’s quite normal for someone with magical talents to have protectors. We call them familiars. Dogs are some of the best.”

  “It’s Callie, Mom. She’s trying to keep me safe.”

  Though her eyes still darted around the room, hearing the collie’s name seemed to calm her mom. “Okay, honey.”

  “Now, Elise, I wanted to tell you a bit about our school. They should let you out of the hospital today and I’ll come back in a couple more days and see what you think. I think you’d like our school. It’s a boarding school in a beautiful riverside setting and there are lots of people your age. We’ll teach you to control and use your powers along with all the normal academic subjects. You’ll have to leave home, of course, but you can still write and visit your parents.”

  The idea of leaving home terrified Elise. She glanced at her mom, who smiled encouragingly.

  “You don’t have to decide now, but you do need to learn to control your powers,” Mr. Burns said.

  Elise nodded. “I know.”

  “I’ve left some information with your mother and I’ll come by in a couple of days to chat.”

  “Okay, thanks. Where is the school?”

  Mr. Burns smiled again. “It’s in Oregon, a bit more than an hour out of Portland off the Columbia River. It’s an older facility, but we’ve done our best to make it comfortable and the students seem to like it.” He patted her shoulder and turned to leave the room. “You won’t have a lot of free time, but we do occasionally have trips to the beach, along the Columbia River Basin, Crater Lake, and other sites in the Northwest.” The door shut behind him.

  After a few minutes of silence, Elise dared to ask. “What do you think, Mom?”

  She sighed. “It may be the only option, honey. I don’t know how to teach you to control the ghosts. They do. I don’t want you to leave, but I want you to be happy and safe.”

  “I don’t want to leave home.” The idea broke through the drug-induced fog enough to make her pulse race.

  “It’ll be okay, honey. You can always come home.”

  “What will my friends think?”

  “We’ll tell them you’re on a health retreat to help with your migraines. There’s a school there, so you won’t get behind.”

  That seemed a good enough story for Elise. Her friends would believe that.

  “Are you sure these people are telling the truth.”

  “Yes, dear. Mr. Burns convinced us that magic is real.”

  “Really?” Elise raised her eyebrows, still not believing.

  Her mom nodded. “He showed us.” Her eyes clouded for a moment and she gave a quick shake before refocusing on Elise.

  Trusting her mother, Elise nodded. “Yeah. Okay. Hey, can you get me out of here?”

  Perking up, her mom nodded. “Yes, let me see what I can do.” She left.

  “Well, Callie, what do you think? Should we go to a magic school?”

  Her collie became visible again and thumped her tail on the bed. Elise took that as a “yes” as she scratched her ears again. “Okay. First challenge, figuring out how to walk with crutches.”

  Both Mr. Burns and her doctor thought it was okay if she went back to school the next day if she felt up to it, and she was determined to do so. Apparently Mr. Burns was able to put some sort of spell on her that would temporarily keep the pressure and the ghosts away, but he said it wasn’t permanent. She wanted to see her friends one more time before she went off to the special school. Unfortunately, she wasn’t supposed to talk about magic or the special school and she was afraid her friends were going to think she was going to an institute of some sort. She didn’t have any special skills that she could say she got a scholarship for, at least not ones she could talk about. It would be so much easier simply to tell the truth.

  Elise studied herself in the mirror while she debated calling the whole thing off and slipping away without saying goodbye. She thought she should look different, but her black hair was still black, though she had brown hair in some of her earlier baby pictures. Come to think of it, her eyes had been brown in some of her baby pictures, too, but somewhere along the way they’d turned green like her mother’s, and her hair had darkened. Almost like magic. Magic to make her look like her adopted mom.

  Still uncomfortable with the idea that magic actually existed, Elise shied away from those thoughts. She’d always been told her birth mother had left her at a fire station. Probably true, that meant that there was no way at all to find out any more.

  Finally, determined to see her friends one more time, and tell Derek she couldn’t go out with him, she picked up her crutches and hobbled out of her room. Not killing herself on the steps downstairs was still a trick, but she managed.

  “Ready, honey?”

  “Yeah, Mom. Thanks.” She thumped her way into the garage and managed to get into the back seat without falling. She couldn’t fit into the front seat right now without putting too much pressure on her cast.

  “Now, remember, honey, if you need to come home, call.”

  “I will, Mom. Thanks.”

  Her mom nodded and started the car.

  Not sure what to say, Elise stared out the window on the drive. Very likely this was the last time her mom would drive her to school. She’d go to her new school tomorrow. Mr. Burns had arranged for someone to pick her and her mom up for the trip to the airport. They pulled to the curb and Elise struggled out.

  “I love you, honey. You know tha
t, right?”

  “Yeah, Mom. Thanks.”

  They hugged and Elise thumped her way into school.

  Threading her way around the mass of students wasn’t too hard. As soon as they saw she was on crutches, they gave her some room.

  Derek and Abby saw her before she made it to her locker and rushed over.

  “Hi! Let me help.” Derek took her backpack.

  “Thanks.” Elise blushed.

  “Can I sign your cast?” Abby pulled a marker pen out of her purse.

  “Um, yeah, thanks.” Elise wondered if Abby had known about her ankle. That’s the only reason she could think of that her friend would have a purple sparkly marker pen in her purse.

  “Me too!” Derek grinned.

  Pretty soon, a crowd had gathered of people who knew Elise and her cast rapidly turned purple with signatures.

  Though excited to learn magic, Elise was sad to leave her friends and school behind. It would be hard, but she’d manage.

  The first bell rang and most of the students rushed off to their homeroom class. Derek and Abby stayed behind to help her.

  “Before you guys head off to homeroom, I wanted tell you both that this is my last day here. They’re sending me off to a school where....” Damn it, she had to tell someone. “Where I can learn to control the ghosts I’m seeing, so I don’t see them anymore.”

  Derek raised his eyebrows and Abby tilted her head, obviously not believing her.

  “Look, you can’t tell anyone. It’s a secret school to teach people who can use magic. Apparently I have some sort of magical ability and I have to learn how to use it. I know it’s hard to believe, and you may never believe me, but I wanted to at least tell the two of you the truth. Tell anyone else that I’m going away on a medical retreat.”

  “We believe you, Elise.” Derek gave her a quick hug outside her homeroom door.

  “Yeah. We saw the ghosts, too. Unless we’re all crazy.” Abby smiled nervously.

  “So, you’ll write to me?”