by Jen Pretty
"You should probably go," I said, looking down at him.
His nose scrunched up and I could feel the whine coming before it even left his mouth.
"Can't I stay with you? First period is math and I'm excellent at math."
I crouched down beside him. "I have to go talk to Niri, anyway. It will be boring. Why don’t you go to class and I'll meet you here for lunch?"
"We could take him out for lunch if you want," Nick said. Falcor had wandered away, dragging my suitcase as soon as we arrived, but Nick was still standing with us. "I'm sure Niri would agree."
I looked back at Colvin. His face had transformed from sad to eager. "I guess we can go out for lunch then."
Colvin's small arms wrapped around my neck, nearly strangling me in a hug, then he bolted off to follow the rest of the kids.
"That was nice. I hope Niri agrees," I said, rising to face Nick.
"I'm sure he will." Nick took my hand, pulling me forward. "Come on, let's go find Niri."
I shuffled along, not in the biggest hurry. I still wasn't really looking forward to whatever news he had for us.
We turned into the hall, now silent since all the kids were in classes and walked along for a moment before the shattering caw of Crow broke the silence.
I jumped and turned in time to duck so the silly bird didn't hit me with his wing as he flew over.
"Fuck Crow. You almost hit me!"
Crow just cawed and continued to the end of the hall, flying around the corner.
Nick was laughing, so I gave him a friendly shove. "I don't think I will ever get used to him popping up. I swear he does it on purpose to scare me."
Whatever Nick was about to say was cut off when Niri rounded the corner. "Hello Anick, Selena. Why don’t we speak in my office?"
He turned sideways, holding his arm out in invitation, so Nick and I walked past him and down the hall towards his office. I was thinking about what kind of beast I could be off to track and destroy when the image of Godzilla hanging from the side of a skyscraper came to mind.
Niri chuckled behind me as I glanced back at him. He was apparently reading my mind as he waved his hand when I raised an eyebrow in question.
"I'm sorry, but that movie was quite ridiculous."
I had to agree with him, but still, I wouldn't want to have to fight some giant Godzilla monster.
We stepped into Niri's humble office. It was the room where I had used the phone to call Dorothy and she had filled me in on the raising the dead for the police thing. That wasn't a good day for me, but it was one of the last times I spoke to Dorothy and the memory brought back more worry for her than it did for myself.
"I'm sorry, I haven't been able to find any leads on where Dorothy is," Niri said, reading my mind a moment before I was going to open my mouth and ask him.
"But you aren't wrong in your assumption that we have a monster to take care of. I'm afraid you'll be travelling to Phoenix. Reports say there is a monster sucking the blood out of people."
I glanced at Nick, but he was staring at the floor, his brow lowered. "A vampire?" he asked, still not looking up. He clenched his fist as if holding himself back.
"No, Anick," Niri said in a soft voice. "We don't believe it's a vampire."
He scoffed and turned, storming out of the room.
I looked back at Niri with a question about to spill out, but Niri raised his hand to stop me. "I'm afraid that is Anick's story to tell. Your Flight leaves in the morning. That should give you enough time to take little Colvin out for lunch and perhaps to the park or graveyard. I will let his teacher know he will be out for the afternoon."
"Thanks," I said, turning away. It would be fun to spend time with Colvin, but I was more worried about Nick and whatever secret he was keeping.
CHAPTER THREE
I found Nick in the dorm room we were usually relegated too when we arrived at the Sanctuary. He was flaked out on the top bunk of a bunk bed, but It wasn't that high, so I could still see him. Standing beside the bed, I stared at him, waiting for him to acknowledge me. His arm was flung over his eyes, but I knew he was still awake.
"I don't want to talk about it," he muttered.
"Okay," I said, sliding into the bunk beneath him. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and started flipping through my messages. OK, I didn't have any messages, but I needed something to do while I waited for lunchtime.
Nick’s head popped over the side and he looked at me. "That's it?"
"Do you want me to pry the story out of your mind? I'm not Niri, I can't read your mind and if you don't want to tell me, I'm not going to push it. Your hair looks weird like that." His hair was standing on end, it looked like a weird bush growing out of his head.
He slid off the top bunk and scooted in beside me on the lower one. The beds were way too narrow for two people, but it was cozy.
"My parents live in Phoenix."
Nick never talked about his family. All I had ever heard was that they were busy. "You don't want to see them?" I asked, carefully, my fingers playing with the dyed green hair at his neck. His eyes glittered over my features as if he was looking for something.
"No." It was so soft I almost didn't hear it. "They won't want to see me either."
I was taken aback. "What? Why not?"
"Just trust me. Hopefully, we won't have to see them, and we can get in, kill the blood-sucking-whatever-it-is and get home again."
I let it go. For now.
"That would be great. I am not interested in hanging out in the desert. I bet it's boiling there right now."
Nick took out his phone and swiped the screen a few times. "Yeah, it's hot as hell there."
"Damn," I said, burying my face in his chest. "I think I packed mostly jeans and sweaters."
His chuckle shook his chest, but being cuddled up with him was perfect, so instead of continuing a conversation, I sighed and closed my eyes. This new career of investigator and monster killer was already wearing on me.
I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, I opened my eyes to find blue sparkles coating the vampire and bed all around me. A moment later, the door flung open and Colvin came storming in, flinging himself on top of Nick.
Nick let out an oof and we all broke into a fit of laughter as Colvin pulled his magic back in.
"That's a neat trick, did you let your magic find me?" I asked when the giggles settled down and we had Colvin tucked into the tiny space between me and Nick, almost shoving Nick right off the bed.
"Yeah! It's so cool." Colvin gushed. "I let my magic go and instead of disappearing into the magic of the school, it went straight for you!"
That would be a handy trick in case I ever lost him. I wanted to try it out, but I would wait until we were out of the school, I didn't have much magic fire still burning inside me.
"All right you two," Nick said, rolling off the bed. "I'm going to get the details of our trip and see if we can find a ride to lunch. I'll be back in a bit."
Colvin barely acknowledged Nick's parting, still too focused on me and telling me about his morning of classes.
"All right, we'll be here," I said with a wave.
"Are you and Nick married?" Colvin asked me as soon as Nick was gone.
Shit, I was not prepared for birds and bees talks. "No, we are just good friends," I said hoping that would suffice.
"Mrs. Burlington says you don't share beds until you are married."
Oof. This kid. "We were just talking."
Colvin eyed me suspiciously, then dropped the topic, thankfully and got back to his stream-of-consciousness chatter that made my heart swell. Colvin's features were so similar to mine, I wasn't convinced we weren't actually siblings, but the connection between us proved blood relationship didn't matter. I always felt whole when he was nearby and hoped one day, I could spend more time with him. Time away from Sanctuary and it's weird siphoning of my fire. I pushed those thoughts away and pulled myself back into the moment, nodding and throwing in a word
here and there so Colvin would know I was listening.
"Oh! I have something for you." He stopped talking and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small folded piece of paper.
I unfolded it and rolled onto my back so we could both look at the painting.
"That's you and me," he said, pointing to the two blue-coloured people. He had used a small paintbrush to make our blue sparkles all around us. The sun and the moon hung in the sky.
"What's this?" I asked pointing to the black space on the far side.
"That's the hole, we shouldn't go in the hole yet though. Only when the time is right."
My heart sped up in my chest and my mouth went dry. Something told me I wouldn't like anything to do with that hole, but I asked anyway. "What's in the hole?"
Colvin just shrugged his small shoulders.
I stared at the inky space on the page. There wasn't much more to see in the painting, so I folded it back up and held it close to my chest. "Thank you, Colvin."
He smiled back at me, his grin was missing a few teeth, making him look far too cute.
"Let's go find Nick and see if we can go for lunch." I had to move and shake off the creepy feeling. The painting didn't seem to affect Colvin the way it did me, I was glad for that at least. There was something special about Colvin. He wasn't exactly like me or like Niri, but somehow like both of us.
Colvin rose and grabbed my hand, tugging me out the door and down the hall. I let go of my worries about Colvin. I had too many people to worry about and I knew the Niri was monitoring Colvin. Nick rounded the corner up ahead and smiled when he saw us. He held up a set of keys, jingling them as he walked. "Got us some wheels, you ready to hit the road, little man?"
Colvin squealed and jumped up and down. His joy was infectious and my face was aching from smiling so much.
"The car is just outside the cafeteria doors," Nick informed me. "Me and Colvin will get it started and ready, you can hop in and we'll gun it out of here," He looked down at Colvin, whispering not so secretively, "So you know who doesn't blow up like a blimp with magic." He puffed out his cheeks and made Colvin laugh.
"Not funny, you guys. I have a serious medical condition," I joked.
We turned to head toward the cafeteria, but Falcor stood in the middle of the hall with his hands on his hips. "I thought we were going to your home state, Nick."
"Not until morning. We are going out for a bit, don't wait up," Nick said, striding past the warlock. Falcor was part of our team, but it never occurred to me to invite him along. He always seemed so put out by us.
"You want to come?" I asked, feeling guilty. The words were no sooner out of my mouth than Colvin wrapped his fingers tighter around mine, stepping closer like I would protect him from the boogie man.
Falcor scoffed again and strode away. Once he was out of sight, Colvin relaxed again. I wanted to ask him about it, but it could wait till we got back, at least.
Colvin grabbed Nick's hand and dragged him off towards the cafeteria doors. I followed behind, laughing at the awkward way Colvin was dragging Nick away. Seeing them together was special, after missing them both so much.
I waited at the door until they were both buckled in and Nick had started the car. He gave me the thumbs up and I ran from the school to the car, pushing all my magic out into the ground. I dove in the door and Nick took off, tires squealing.
"Let it go," Colvin said, his voice a whisper beneath the sound of my fire raging in my ears. Magic consumed me, filling me until I was so bloated, I felt the way Nick had looked with his cheeks puffed out.
"Let it go," Colvin said louder, taking my hand and pressing it to Nick's arm.
I felt the magic pull towards Nick slightly and that was all I needed. Like a floodgate had opened, all the magic that was filling me silently flowed into Nick and a moment later we were through the gates and out on a street. A Normal street with no weird magic voodoo.
I sat up straight, taking my hand off Nick who had his eyes lidded and was barely holding the wheel.
"You okay?" I asked him as we cruised down the quiet street.
Nick’s head turned slowly to look at me and a lop-sided grin pulled his face. "I'm fine, that was just... intense."
Colvin giggled in the back seat. We chatted and laughed in the borrowed car, eating greasy burgers and French fries until our bellies were full.
"We can stop at the graveyard," Colvin said as we gathered up all our garbage to toss out.
I glanced at Nick and he shrugged.
"All right, but we will have to be quick, I know Niri said you had the afternoon off classes, but we should still be back in time for dinner." It was already midafternoon. Our lunch took a lot longer when we were talking the whole time.
Colvin grinned and pulled his seat belt on. His grin wasn't quite an agreement though and something about it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
CHAPTER FOUR
I hadn't seen the graveyard near the school in daylight before. It was cheery with flowers and tidy rows of gravestones. I had only been there once before. That time it had been night, and I was terrified, running from the Sanctuary after finding out what they had planned for me.
"Niri said you summoned every corpse in this cemetery," Colvin said with a glint of pride.
"That was an accident." My voice came out like Dorothy's when she was warning me not to do something foolish. The memory brought back the sadness of her absence, but Caviling too my hand, distracting me from my dark thoughts.
"I wouldn't do that, I know it's a bad idea," Colvin's little hand squeezed mine, and I was thankful he was such a good kid. A necromancer with a bad attitude could cause so many problems.
"I know," I replied. "I just wish I hadn't done that."
Crow's loud caw broke the quiet hush of small birds tweeting in the trees that lined the cemetery.
Colvin looked up tracking my silly bird's progress across the sky.
"I'm going to go make a phone call," Nick said, pulling out his cell. "Make sure that everything is set for tomorrow. You two have fun."
"All right," I said as Colvin palely Dem further into the cemetery.
"How about this one?" Colvin asked. "Can we raise him together?"
I hadn't raised a wraith with anyone before, but I had read about it in a book. "Sure, if you like." The date on the grave marker said the guy was in his mid-eighties, so I assumed it would be fine.
Crow swooped in, landing on the gravestone and ringing out a loud caw before fluffing his feathers and settling them back down. His coat glittered in the sun.
"All right, you know what to do," I said, letting go of Colvin's hand.
The blues sparks of his magic flowed easily across the ground, meeting up with mine as the shimmering light sunk into the grass surrounding the grave.
Almost immediately a fully formed man, dressed in a business suit rose from the grave. He was nearly solid-looking, definitely the most alive looking dead person I had ever seen.
I fished a small knife out of my pocket and unfolded it before pushing up my sleeve and sliding it across my skin. Colvin took the knife and cut his finger. Most necromancers cut their fingers, but I still preferred my arm thanks to my job in the food industry. Sure, we healed fast, but there was nothing worse than getting salt in a finger cut. My arm was safer.
I watched as blood welled on Colvin's finger and then I tipped my arm sideways, letting the drip run off into the grass at the same time as Colvin's.
The man looked up as if he hadn't noticed us before and Crow hopped down into the grass, flipping leaves and things on the grave and passing right through the man. He may have looked solid, but he was as much a wraith as any other dead person I had summoned.
"What do you want?" the old man asked.
"What happened to you?" Colvin asked, his voice soft.
The old man grunted, his brow furrowing. "What's it to you, kid?"
Colvin shrugged and looked up at me. "Is that how you do it when you have to
raise murder victims?"
"Pretty much, but sometimes they can't tell me what they know, only what they saw. This man seems almost alive though. Do the people you raise usually look like him?" I hadn't had time to ask Peran about raising the dead, but I had seen his wraiths and they looked similar to mine.
"Yes, is that weird?" Colvin's big eyes looked up at me while the wraith continued to grumble.
"No, I didn't think so. Mine are usually less solid though."
Coving nodded. "Mr. Thompson? Do you remember how you died?"
I glanced past the wraith to see his name was, in fact, Mr. Thompson. The old man's head lifted, and he looked Colvin in the eye.
"Too many cheeseburgers. That's what my doctor said would kill me. Turns out he was right." The grumpy dead guy started to fade a bit, looking more like a normal wraith.
"Thank you, Mr. Thompson," Colvin said, picking up the knife and cutting his finger again. I followed his lead, slicing across my arm and saying goodbye to the old man.
I felt light as the blues sparks disappeared. It wasn't long before I felt magic rush back into the feed the fire in my stomach, but that empty feeling unnerved me now, instead of feeling like a release. I needed magic. It was my defence against the things that came out at night.
I realized my face had morphed into a frown when I noticed Colvin gazing at me. I slapped on a smile and ruffled his hair. "Let's go. Maybe the cafeteria will have pizza for dinner."
In all honesty, I was still stuffed from lunch, but Colvin jumped up and ran off towards the parking lot, giving me a few moments to think about things.
Colvin was special. I had already known that from the paintings he had shown me. I didn't doubt that he had more power than an average Necromancer nor did I doubt that Niri knew he was special.
"Niri will keep him safe," I whispered, strolling toward the car.
"Keep who safe?" Falcor's voice behind me made me jump and my magic lash out, knocking the idiot wizard to the ground.
"Shit, Selena," Falcor said, a scowl on his face. "You didn't need to do that."