Trying To Live With The Dead

by B. L. Brunnemer

  “You’re a Necromancer, Alexis.” My mind went blank, I had no clue what the hell that was.

  “A what now?” Her face was patient as she explained.

  “A Necromancer, you can control the dead.” She picked up her tea and brought it to her mouth. “And a natural talent too. That is incredibly rare.” She took a sip; I was already shaking my head.

  “I can’t control any of it. They control my life, if I sleep, if I can even function…” I trailed off not knowing what else to say. Her silver eyes were full of understanding as she put down her mug.

  “That’s because you are still growing into your abilities.” She told me gently. “This gift you have hasn’t even finished growing to its full potential.”

  “You mean it’s going to get worse?” I asked not wanting to believe it. Serena shook her head gently.

  “Not worse, just more. You’ll see more, new and different things.” Her eyes ran over me again.

  “It’ll scare the heck out of you whenever you see something new.” She smiled gently. “When that happens, you need to figure out what you saw. The more you see, the more you learn the more you’ll be able to protect yourself.” Her mouth pressed to a tight line. “And for that you’ll need control.” Her eyes shifted to Zeke. "Your friends had the right idea, finding charms, herbs, stones, even incantations that will keep the dead away are exactly what you need right now.” She shook her head. “You have very thin natural barriers as it is and they are completely down, your resources are non-existent. You’re one soul away from death right now.” I heard the leather of Zeke’s motorcycle jacket creak as he shifted. I latched onto what she had said.

  “I read about barriers but I don’t think I really understand it.” I admitted; she smiled at me. She seemed happy to get a question out of me.

  “Have you noticed that sometimes, you can be around one kind of spirit longer than a different kind? That the more dead you see the faster they affect you?”

  “Yeah.” I said slowly, I had actually noticed that over the years. When it got too much I’d go sleep at a cemetery.

  “That’s your natural barrier wearing down.” She swallowed and tried to explain. “It’s like a sea wall, the energy of the spirits are the waves, wearing down your barriers. And the older the spirit or more angry, the harder the waves hit the wall tearing it down faster.”

  “So the more juice they have the faster they’ll tear through her barriers?” Zeke spoke up for the first time. Serena nodded before turning back to me.

  “You have to take care of yourself to keep your barriers strong, especially you. That means getting at least 8 hours of sleep, eating right, exercising.” Her voice grew stern. “These are not options for you; you have to do this if you want to survive.” If she was trying to scare me, she’d be happy to know she did. My gut was knotted and my heart racing. Her hand reached out and took mine. “But none of this explains why you’re in constant pain right now. Show me your back.” She ordered softly, it was very clear to me that I wasn’t going to get a choice in this. I sighed and took off my jacket, then my plaid. Serena got up and walked around the table to stand directly behind me. I pulled up the back of my shirt, fighting off memories.

  “Did you do this to her?” Serena hissed.

  “Fuck no!” Zeke snapped.

  “It was my Mother.” I shot over my shoulder; I didn’t like her accusing Zeke. I turned my gaze back on the table. I felt small smooth fingertips on my back and instantly knew it was Serena.

  “This might also explain why you’re having so much trouble.” Serena walked around the table and sat back in her chair. I let my shirt fall back down. “Repressed emotions will tear you apart just as easily as a spirit.” I couldn’t keep the sarcasm from my voice.

  “I haven’t exactly had time to process anything.” I changed the subject before she could push further. “How can a ghost leave their haunting grounds?” Serena blinked at me.

  “They don’t.”

  “This one did.” I explained about Miles and the choking. Serena’s brow furrowed.

  “If she had enough energy, she could hitchhike.” She looked back at me. “Attach herself to someone and ride along with them. If she had a whole lot more, she could direct a person towards where she wanted? Then walk up to the door?” She shrugged at me looking uncertain.

  “This ghost had more juice than she should have.” I told her honestly. “And from what Claire told me she wasn’t the only one in town. She also said there is a lot of energy floating around, waiting to be picked up.” Serena tilted her head back her features blank. “What does that mean? Is something happening? Does it happen sometimes then settles down?” Serena’s lips pursed.

  “It means someone is messing with things that should be left alone. They are messing with the natural order on some level.” She told me, her eyes on the table. “Someone is behind it and you’ll need to find out whom.” She sighed, her hands smoothing the tablecloth. “I’m sorry Alexis; the dead really aren’t my field. I specialize with the living.” She licked her lips before meeting my eyes again. “This is your field, so it’s your responsibility to fix it. You need to find a way to take control of your gifts and I don’t know how to help you.” Her eyes narrowed on me as if something had just occurred to her. “But I might be able to point you in the right direction.” I nodded; I’ll take anything I could get.

  “What about my friends? Is there anything that can protect them from the dead right now?” I couldn’t help the small bit of anxiety in my voice. Her eyes were full of sympathy as she answered.

  “That I can help you with.” Over the next hour, we collected stones, charms, jewelry, herbal oils and even a couple of books from around the shop. An herbal ointment for my bruises, a salt scrub that would remove any hitchhiking ghosts and the instructions on how to make it for myself. Serena told me not to get close to a ghost for at least three days to give my mind some rest, six for complete recovery. Zeke enthusiastically agreed. Serena refused to charge me for everything. When I objected, she waved her hand at me.

  “Oh honey, most of my business is done online. I mostly deal in special herbs, soaps and candles I don’t even really need this inventory anymore.” I had to fight the urge to hug her. It was so much stuff that Zeke had to make two trips to the truck. We were standing on the front porch saying goodbye as Zeke was taking out the last box when Serena pointed at Zeke.

  “That boy has been through hell.” Serena whispered. I looked over at Zeke putting the box in the back of the truck.

  “How do you know?” Serena smiled sadly.

  “His aura, it’s scarred.” She squinted at him. “But healed, mostly.” She turned to me. “It’s one of my gifts. I can see to the heart of the person through their aura.” I raised an eyebrow.

  “What does that mean?”

  “He’s built a wall around himself so thick it’s hard for anything to get through.” She was looking at Zeke again as he pulled his cell phone out and answered. “It looks like he’s almost closed himself off. But there is still a crack he’s left open.” She made a humph noise. “If anyone gets in and hurts him, it’ll be devastating.” She looked at me. “Keep an eye on him.” She ran her gaze over me her eyes unfocused. “You’ll have that scarring too if you don’t deal with your emotions about your Mother. Or the other thing.” Serena's eyes focused again. I blinked at her. Then I realized what she was talking about. My shoulders tensed.

  “That was a year ago, I’ve dealt with it.” I told her, not understanding where she was going with it. I’m over it; I’ve moved on, why was she bringing this up now?

  “You think you have, but now you’re quicker to anger. To violence.” I bit the inside of my lip. She was right, but I really didn’t want to admit it. “You’ve been closing yourself off over the last year, trying not to feel.” She leaned in and made eye contact with me. “Deal with it. Or scar.” My lungs felt stiff as I nodded. Mental note: Deal with your shit. Zeke walked to the base of the stairs and
stopped still talking on the phone.

  “I can’t tell you how grateful I am for all this, you have no idea.” I said changing the subject. Serena smiled sweetly.

  “Oh yes I do. I was once where you are.” Her eyes ran over me as she smiled. “Well, not exactly. But everyone starts somewhere.” She held out a slip of paper, it was an address.

  “This is in case you need more help than I have given you. It’s in case of an emergency. It’s a Catholic church in Boulder Colorado. Ask for Father Francis; tell him you see the dead. You’ll have to prove it, which isn’t hard there’s a spirit always hanging around him. He might be able to give you a little more oomph against the dead and worse things.”

  “Thank you so much.” I thanked her again; I couldn’t seem to stop. For the first time in my life, I had hope that I might be able to control this. I just needed the right information.

  “Do your research; find a way to control this. No spirits for 6 days.” She told me seriously, then she smiled. “And come back if you need any advice.” I agreed that I would. I walked to Zeke on the stairs; he was still on the phone. He turned and headed toward the truck still talking.

  “No Isaac, we’re not going after the Bitch Ghost. Lexie had a lead, and we followed it. We’ll be back soon.” His gaze went to me. “And pick up Lexie’s homework from her teachers, mine too.” Zeke was quiet; I could hear Isaac bitching from here. “Do it.” He hung up and tucked his phone away. “The guys just realized we were missing.” I winced. After yesterday, they must have been pissed. We climbed into the truck and buckled up. “They thought we were going after Bitch Ghost and they wanted a piece of the action.” I burst out laughing. I couldn’t really blame them; someone hurt Miles they wanted to return the favor. I pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward the highway. It wasn’t long before Zeke pointed out the window. “Let’s get some food.” I looked over, it was a sandwich shop and we’d have to get out.

  “Let’s just hit a drive through.” I offered. I wanted to get back to the others as fast as possible. Zeke’s jaw clenched.

  “Drive thru is crap, she said you needed to eat right.” He pointed toward the sandwich shop.

  “So we’re eating right. Pull over.” His tone was clear he meant business. A little twisted part of me wanted to keep driving just to see what he would do, but I kept a lid on it and pulled into the parking lot of the shop. We were waiting in line deciding what to order when I got another wicked idea. I looked up at Zeke and smiled sweetly.

  “You know if I’m stuck eating a salad, you’re not going to be eating a footlong sub in front of me right?” His eyebrows almost disappeared into his hairline. He gestured at himself, his face almost desperate.

  “But... man... hungry... need lots of fuel.” He stuttered looking horrified. I changed tactics.

  “Are you really going to make me watch you eat a huge sandwich full of meat and cheese, while I’m stuck with a salad?” I asked, I made my eyes big and my bottom lip began to pout. I hadn’t even started with the lip trembling yet when his eyes narrowed at me and he cursed.

  “You cheat, Lexie.” He growled. I smiled to myself happily. If I had to suffer, it wasn’t going to be alone. I ended up with a tuna salad, Zeke a 6-inch turkey sandwich and a garden salad. He grumbled the whole time. It was so worth pulling the pout. During lunch, I told him about the priest she wanted me to see if I couldn’t manage on my own. We were on our way back out to the Blazer when Zeke took my arm and pulled me to the passenger side door. He opened the door and held out his hand.

  “Give me the keys and get in.” His tone told me not to argue. I did anyway.

  “I can drive.”

  “You were almost falling asleep over lunch, you’re not driving.” He flicked his fingers towards his palm twice. “Keys.” I shook my head. This was fun. His eyes narrowed on me.

  “Give me the keys or I’ll grill you about your back.” Suddenly it was less fun. I pursed my lips together hard and handed the keys over.

  “You cheat, Zeke.” I grumbled. Zeke had a satisfied smirk on his face.

  “You started it. Now get your exhausted little ass in the truck.”

  I ended up falling asleep on the way back to Spring Mountain. I don’t even remember leaving Bridgeport. I didn’t wake up until a hand was shaking my shoulder.

  “Lexie, come on, we’ve got shit to do.” Zeke’s voice wasn’t gentle, but it wasn’t too harsh either. I groaned and opened my eyes. I was instantly confused. I remembered Bridgeport, lunch; I remembered talking to Zeke about going to my house. Why the hell were we sitting in a cemetery? Zeke had parked the Blazer facing the front of a red truck. Two cars were parked behind it, one of them familiar.

  “What are we doing here?” I asked him, sounding grumpy. Zeke took the keys out of the ignition and put them in his pocket.

  “Time for a meeting.” He explained like that would make sense to me. Before I could ask, he was out of the truck, the door closing behind him. Confused, I opened the door and slid out to the gravel. All cemeteries looked alike to me. Lots of green grass, some trees and lots of headstones. That’s about it. I walked around the front of the blazer and followed him. When we passed the cab of the red truck, I saw the other guys. Asher and Isaac were sitting on the tailgate their backs to us. Miles and Ethan stood across from them, leaning on the hood of a green sedan. They all turned as we walked up to join them.

  “Zeke what are we doing here?” Asher asked. “We were all supposed to meet at Ally’s.”

  “Yeah, what’s going on?” Ethan asked his dark eyes bouncing between Zeke and me. I pointed to Zeke; I wasn’t taking the blame for this.

  “Where were you guys today?” Miles asked, his fingers dancing on his thigh.

  “Lexie,” Zeke gave me that stern stare. “Tell them what we found out.”

  “Fine, but why do we have to do this here?” I asked a little frustrated.

  “We’ll get to that.” He assured me. I sighed, then turned to the guys and explained some of what we learned. I started with why I left school today, that a ghost leaving their haunting grounds shouldn’t be able to happen. How the ghost could hitchhike onto someone and leave their haunts if they had enough energy. And we knew Bitch Ghost had more juice than she should. I told them about Serena and about the books, stones and charms that she gave me to help us. I stopped before I got to the more personal stuff.

  “Tell them all of it, Lexie.” Zeke ordered me when I hesitated. I met his eyes and tried to tell him no without a word. I didn’t want to scare the guys, or worse give them something else to worry about. I just wanted to get those charms on them, put them in a circle and keep them out of it from now on. “We don’t lie to each other Lexie; we don’t even have secrets from each other. They need to know what’s going on.” he stated coldly. When I still hesitated, his eyes narrowed. “You tell them or I will.” Completely irritated with Zeke I turned back to the guys and told them what Zeke wanted. Everything. How I didn’t have the Sight, I was a Necromancer. I explained what that meant. I explained what barriers were, and that mine were down now. That I wasn’t supposed to interact with the dead for three to six days to let my mind heal. How since my natural barriers were so thin I had no choice but to take care of myself to keep my barriers up. How Serena said that someone was messing with something they shouldn’t, they were messing with the dead here. This was giving the ghosts in the area extra juice. That it was my responsibility since it’s my area of talent. I was telling them everything, showing everything. I was vulnerable again, and I didn’t like it. My temper was getting the better of me. So when I finished I glared at Zeke. “Is there anything else or should I tell them my bra size too?” I noticed Ethan’s eyebrows go up out of the corner of my eye. The corner of Zeke's mouth dropped a bit. His eyes slightly narrowed at me.

  “If what you’re saying is true, then we can’t go to Lexie’s.” Miles said his eyes unfocused.

  “That’s what I was thinking.” Zeke agreed.

  �
��What? Why?” I asked surprised. “If we explain to Rory what’s going on, he’ll be okay with you guys staying over. A salt circle and everyone is safe for the night.”

  “But will Rory and Tara be willing to sleep in this salt circle too?” Miles asked his brow drawn together. I stopped to think about it. Shit. I wanted to argue, but he had a point. I doubt I could get Rory to sleep on the floor in a salt circle. Let alone explain it to Tara.

  “Tara doesn’t know.” I admitted to them. One of Miles' eyebrows arched.

  “But it runs in your family through the women right?” Miles asked slowly as if making sure he wasn’t going to insult me.

  “Yep.”

  “But Tara doesn’t have it?” He asked again slowly.

  “Nope.” I met his eyes, trying to let him know my suspicions without telling him.

  “So, Tara isn’t-” Asher began. I interrupted.

  “Rory and I have a 'don’t ask don’t tell' policy about Tara’s lack of abilities.” I explained. “He wants to keep her in the dark.” I looked back to Miles. “So no, Tara wouldn’t be sleeping in the circle.” My head was starting to hurt, not from a ghost just from everything going on.

  “If Bitch Ghost is after us specifically, then we can’t bring that to Rory and your cousin.” Asher brought us back on topic.

  “Why the hell didn’t I think of that?” I cursed in a whisper at myself, my eyes closed.

  “You haven’t been sleeping Red. Your brains not at hundred percent right now.” Isaac hopped off the tailgate and wrapped his arm around me. His body warmth felt really good right now, comforting. I sighed and let myself lean against him a little, breathing in his citrus lime smell. I think I was starting to understand why the twins were so affectionate. Touching and being touched by someone who cared felt pretty good.