Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (Dead Things Series Book 1) (46 page)

83

EMBER

T
he sound that pierced the air was unlike anything she’d ever heard before. It had no impact on the reapers in the room but the others reacted as if electrocuted. They fell to the ground, clawing at their ears. The wolves howled, spell broken, bolting back out the gym doors, trying to protect themselves from the soul splitting shriek.

The knife clattered to the gym floor, Allister apparently not immune to a banshee’s scream. His face contorted, blood trickling from his ears. Ember took two steps back as Tristin went silent leaving nothing but the echo of her scream bouncing in the giant room. Tristin’s face drained and gravity became too much for her.

Kai rushed to his sister, catching her as she fell. This time when the doors opened, the wolves were in human form, shaky and bleeding but all in one piece. Ember let go of the breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. Her people were okay. Her people were alive.

Everybody but Mace.

That brought her up short, a pain slicing through her chest, sharper than any knife blade. Mace was gone and she had killed him. She’d blinked him out of existence.

He killed your father, a voice nagged.

Even knowing that she would have saved him if she could have. She knew that made her a horrible person.

“Ember!” Isa screamed.

Ember could do nothing but watch as Allister grabbed the knife from the floor and lurched to his feet. Ember had no time to react. She was going to die.

“No.” It wasn’t her voice but Quinn’s. He rushed his father, shoving him backwards, a blur of limbs and movement. Allister still held the knife. “Quinn, no.” Ember cried but it was too late. The slick sound of metal slicing through flesh filled the room and blood poured to the floor.

Astrid screamed. Quinn stumbled back looking at the knife protruding from his father’s heart. “Dad?” he whispered. “I’m sorry.”

Allister wrenched his own hand from the blade, reaching for his son. Quinn took his hand, his expression softening. “I’m so sorry,” Quinn said again.

Allister’s face bled into a look of disgust as he forced Quinn’s hand around the blade, squeezing until he cried out and then gasped.

“What’s happening?” Astrid asked, reaching for her father.

“No,” Isa barked. “Don’t touch him.”

They all stood there suspended as the knife did what it does, Allister’s magic pouring into Quinn until his father’s eyes drained of life, his body fell to the ground. Ember had this horrible sense of déjà vu.

Quinn still held the knife.

“What just happened?” Quinn asked.

“Dude, did you just absorb your father’s magic?” Kai asked.

“I don’t know,” Quinn told him, shaking the spines of the knife loose with a shudder. It fell to the floor. They stepped away from the knife like it might come alive and attack them.

Tristin raced forward, tugging Kai’s flannel shirt off his shoulders so she could wrap it around Quinn’s hand. Ember stood frozen. Not sure what she should do.

“Do you feel any different?” Tristin questioned, eyes wide and still so pale.

“Nope,” he said, staring at his father’s body. “That just happened, right? I just did that? I killed my father. That wasn’t some magic trick or optical illusion? He’s-He’s dead. Oh, God.”

Ember gaped at Allister’s body. Blood, so dark it looked black, oozed from the wound over his heart. So much blood. How had this happened? She looked to the members of the coven present. They would tell everybody what they’d done. Nobody would be safe. The Grove would come back and this time they would kill all of them.

She sank to her knees next to the older man feeling for a pulse she knew wasn’t there. “I’m sorry,” she told him sincerely. “I’m so sorry but you have to wake up.”

“Ember, what the hell are you doing?” Kai asked warily.

“I don’t know.” She told him, hoping Tristin was right; hoping that all these magical power surges were nothing more than psychic panic attacks because if Tristin was wrong she was going to kill everybody. But if Allister stayed dead, they were all dead anyway.

“Ember, I know what you’re thinking, but you can’t.” Isa told her. “If you try to bring him back you have no idea what you’ll get.”

Ember looked at her alpha, “I don’t care what I get as long as he comes back, Isa. He just has to come back.” She glanced at Quinn, wincing at her insensitivity. “Sorry.”

He shrugged, expression blank.

To Isa she said, “If Allister is dead, the Grove comes back now. Right now.”

“This is a really bad idea,” she heard Donovan say from the doorway but it was too late. She’d already made up her mind.

She took a deep breath and dropped the wall between her and her magic, shaking off the fear and the anxiety. She let her magic take over, power surging through her. This time it settled around her like a blanket, thrumming through her, with a steady warm pulse. She was fully herself and yet also her magic when she saw the sparks arching off her fingers. She could do this. Just like the bird. She pressed her hand to the center of his chest. Nothing happened. She tried again. “Come on. Come on.” She whimpered to herself. “Just do it.”

“Ember-” Tristin tried but it was too late. Ember slammed her hand against his chest and gasped as the energy left her body.

The force hit like the shockwave of a bomb, knocking everybody backwards. Allister’s eyes flew open and he sucked in a breath, violently forcing air back into his lungs. He stared at Ember in horror. “What did you do?”

“Holy fucking shit, dude, I think my cousin just resurrected your dad,” Kai said.

Arms engulfed Ember as Astrid chanted, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Ember nodded slightly, shoving Astrid away just in time to puke everywhere. Would she ever stop vomiting? Thick black goop and something like dirt poured from her mouth and she wondered absently, if she was dying. Is this what dying felt like?

“Ember,” Kai yelled, but she threw her hands up. “Stay away from me, I don’t know what this is,” she managed before she vomited again.

The gym doors opened once again. Two figures stood shadowed in the doorway and for one terrifying second, she feared it was the Grove come for them months too soon.

“Josephine?” Isa asked.

The swamp witch, Ember recalled, not able to keep her head up long enough to see the woman. Rhys nudged Kai, “Isn’t that Ember’s boss, what’s his name?”

“Miller,” Ember managed, head snapping up to see if it was true. It was another bad idea. Another wave of nausea hit her. Ember watched the little old woman teetering along next to her former boss and wondered if she was dead and this was purgatory. Behind them were a group of partially shifted wolves.

Ember tried to look for her own wolves to know whether these new wolves were friend or foe but she lacked the strength.

“Well, it appears we did not arrive in the nick of time,” the witch rasped. Cane tap, tap, tapping on the floor.

“What is going on?” Quinn whispered.

“I have no idea,” Kai told him, mouth barely moving.

84

TRISTIN

T
ristin stared between the old witch and the tall well-dressed old man her confusion growing by the minute. So this was Ms. Josephine. She didn’t look like much to Tristin but she obviously wielded a great deal of power because the seven wolves standing behind her stared at her like she was their alpha.

She wore a purple and blue housecoat, white tufts of hair standing on end as if she’d rolled out of bed. She looked crazy to Tristin.

“Well, y’all have created some kinda mess here.”

Isa came forward, “Josephine? What are you doing here?”

She smiled at Isa, patting her cheek, “Donovan sent for me. We were…delayed. Full moon.” She said as if that explained everything.

“Donovan?” Isa’s eyes turned to the young wolf, who’d all but melted into the shadows. “What does Donovan have to do with this?”

Josephine waved away the question.

“Edgar,” she told the oldest wolf, pointing to the coven members still lying on the ground. “Take these children outside,” she scoffed, “but don’t you let ‘em leave.” She pointed at Allister, still sitting on the ground, dazed, “and this one, you lock him up good ‘til I know exactly what’s what.”

“Can you help her?” Kai asked Josephine, gesturing to Ember. Tristin’s lip curled at the growing black puddle beneath her cousin. That was really disgusting.

“She almost done,” Josephine assured him. “This is the consequences of bad magic. All that darkness gotta get out somehow. You’re already feeling better, ain’t ya, child?”

She nodded weakly.

Ember wiped her mouth on her sleeve, sliding away from the mess on the floor. She was white as any ghost Tristin had ever seen. Her eyes were still glassy but she didn’t look like she was dying anymore.

The witch huffed, “Good, cause I need to sit down.” She tottered towards the bleachers with enough wobbling momentum that Tristin feared she might topple over face first. As the witch walked, she waved a hand and the overhead lights flared to life, temporarily blinding the room.

They all followed along behind her, unquestioning. The old woman used her walking stick to knock the witches’ candles out of her way. Tristin couldn’t fathom how this woman held so much power. She looked like she had one foot in a retirement home and the other in the grave. Josephine plopped herself down with a heavy sigh. Ember’s boss took a seat beside her.

Once settled, the witch turned her gaze to Tristin and then to Ember. “What were you two thinking? Blood magic?” she snorted. “After all the things I put in place…years of planning and you two manage to muck it up in a matter of weeks.”

“Josephine, what are you talking about?” Isa asked, her bewilderment apparent.

“I’m talking about setting up these children to inherit their birthright.”

“Our birthright as reapers?” Tristin asked, annoyance creeping into her voice. Kai winced, giving her his wide eyed, shut-up look. She rolled her eyes. This old bat didn’t impress her.

“She’s talking about your birthright as the Morrigan,” Miller answered.

Josephine slapped the man’s arm, eyes fond, “There you go, stealin’ my thunder.”

“The Morrigan?” Kai gasped.

Tristin’s anger flared. Oh, of course. “Ember’s a goddess? That figures.”

The old woman crooked a finger and Tristin lurched forward, hitting her knees before the older woman. Her pulse slammed against her throat as she realized she was unable to get away. The old woman held her in place with something…her swampy witch magic.

She placed a palm against her cheek and Tristin felt her unease slipping away. “Child, you are, by far, the feistiest of my three, my little warrior, fightin’ the world.”
She addressed all three of them then. “Do none of you know your history? What do they teach you in this town? The Morrigan wasn’t one person, but three. Three separate reapers, sisters, each with their own gifts and abilities. Each powerful in their own right. But together…together they were unstoppable.”

Ember stood, unsteady as a baby deer, moving to sit on the floor near her old boss, placing her head on his knee. The elderly man startled at the touch but then began to comb his fingers through her hair. “You’ve become a little bit of a wolf yourself, Ember,” he told her. She nodded against his leg, looking exhausted.

“You’re saying we are gods?” Kai asked, face flushing. Her brother blushed so easily but Tristin admitted it sounded crazy. He reached for Rhys’ hand but then stopped as if remembering it wasn’t his to hold anymore. Tristin’s eyes found Rhys’ and he stepped closer to her brother, his huge hand encircling Kai’s wrist. Kai looked relieved but so sad Tristin had to look away.

Josephine smiled, “I’m saying the magical world has waited a long time for you.”

“Not the entire magical world,” Kai quipped, looking at the bloodstain where Allister’s body had lain.

When Ember could muster the strength, she turned her face towards her old boss, “Miller, why are you here? How do you know Donovan or Josephine? How does Donovan know Josephine? I’m so confused.”

“I’m here because my sister said you needed me and I’ve been looking out for you your whole life.”

“You’re Ms. Josephine’s brother?” Tristin asked.

He nodded. “I am.”

“I don’t understand any of this,” Ember groaned. “What is this?”

Ms. Josephine chuckled, “I had a vision, the night the three of you were born and I knew we had to protect you no matter what the cost.”

“A vision, you’re a psychic witch?” Quinn asked, moving closer to Tristin like she had her own gravitational pull.

“No, child, I’m an oracle.”

“No way,” Quinn blurted.

“Like in the Matrix?” Kai asked. Tristin hid her face. He was so embarrassing.

“Perhaps,” she laughed, “but I knew, just as your mothers knew, that you had returned to save us.”

“Save you from what?” Tristin asked.

“From the curse. From the Grove.”

“From the Grove?” Ember gasped. “How could we ever save you from them? We couldn’t even save Quinn.”

“That’s not important now. That comes later. It’s clear we have much to do. First, we have to clean up this mess.” She looked at Quinn. “How you feelin’?”

He flushed as all eyes turned to him. “Okay, I guess. A little weird. I look like me, but I don’t feel like me, exactly?”

“That’s what happens when a reaper uses witch magic to try to restore a soul.”

Tristin’s heartbeat stuttered, “Are you saying it won’t last? Is he going to disappear?”

Josephine quieted her with a gesture. “Nah, it’ll hold but there will be consequences. Big ones.”

Ember lifted her head, eyes guarded. “Like what?”

Josephine didn’t answer right away, as if trying to decide what to say, “I’ve been waiting for this for so many years. I knew you three were destined to change our world, but no amount of planning can control how things come to pass.” She frowned, eyes haunted.

“Your father knew the only way for you to truly be free of his spell was for him to die. He’d always known it had to be this way. We knew when we dropped the cloaking spell that hid you and your father, Allister would come.” She looked to Kai, a hint of a smile on her face. “It’s why I put your name on Kai’s arm. It was a gamble but from what Donovan told me, he wouldn’t be able to resist seeing if it was really Ember.”

“That was a pretty big gamble,” Wren said.

“So you knew who I was the whole time? You knew everything when we came to see you? You lied to us.” Kai said.

“I didn’t tell you nothin’ that wasn’t true. I just didn’t tell you everything. You didn’t tell me everything neither. You coulda’ told me Ember was alive. You coulda’ told me her powers were out of control. Let’s not talk about ‘coulda’.

“I didn’t count on the soul eater. Given what I knew of Allister, I should’ve, I suppose. He’d never do his own killin’. But I never saw him in my visions. I never figured you’d find a way to bind yourself to somebody so quickly. I didn’t figure on you restoring his soul.”

“Restoring his soul?” Ember repeated sluggishly, like the words were fighting her. Tristin thought her cousin might puke again. “He didn’t have a soul.”

“Not until you gave it back the night you met him in the cemetery. You remember?”

Her cousin swallowed hard. “That weird ball of light?” she whispered.

“It took a while for him to really start to feel human again. You both blamed it on the bond but Donovan said his soul seemed to be anchoring a bit more every day. Had you not tethered him to you, he might a realized it eventually but you were still dealing with the effects of the binding spell wearing off. You did better with the critters.”

Tristin could see the exact moment the enormity of what the witch said hit Ember. “So if Mace had a soul…” Tears formed in her eyes, “Was what we felt real? He-sacrificed himself-his soul…” Her eyes widened, horrified. “Oh, God, what did I do with his soul?”

Josephine shook her head, “I don’t know, child, but I expect we’ll find out soon enough.”

Ember swiped viciously at her eyes, before suddenly asking, “So you’re saying my dad knew he was going to die?”

Miller nodded, “As long as he lived, your powers would never truly be unbound. Without your full powers, Tristin and Kai’s powers could never advance.”

“Advance?” Kai asked.

Miller chuckled, “Oh, yes. You haven’t even begun to see what you’re capable of. But you will.”

Ember shook her head, “This is crazy.”

“We have time to explain everything to you, but not tonight.”

“I have one more question that will need an explanation. Tonight.” All eyes turned to the alpha who’d stayed silent until now. “Who is Donovan to you?”

Donovan moved to sit next to the older lady, kissing her cheek, “Donovan is my grandson. His mother was my daughter Deja. His father is Edgar. I sent him to you but not with any ill intent. I needed to know Kai and Tristin were okay. Miller was taking care of Ember as best he could. I knew if you saw an injured wolf, you’d take him in. You gotta big heart, Isa. It’s why I chose you to watch over the twins.”

Isa looked conflicted. “Allister brought them to me. He said it was under orders of the Grove.”

“A man so desperate for power is easily manipulated. It only took a little nudge to get him to see keeping you three alive was a far greater benefit to him than having you dead at least until you grew up.”

“Donovan was near dead when we found him. We could have killed him. You injured your own grandson so he could infiltrate our pack?” Wren asked sounding more spooked than Tristin had ever heard him.

“My grandson is very strong. He understands what’s at stake. Soon you will too.”

Miller stood, “I think that’s enough for tonight. You need to get some rest. From here on out, everything changes.”

“That’s it?” Tristin asked. “That’s all the explanation we get? We’re supposed to save the world with this information?” she gestured to herself, Ember and Kai.

Quinn pulled Tristin from her knees. “Tristin, I’m tired. I want to go home. I’m sure Ms. Josephine will give us more answers soon, right?”

“Course, child,” she told him.

Tristin shivered as Quinn wrapped his arms around her. She returned the hug but gasped as she felt Mace’s scars. “What is-?”

Miller stood, stretching. “That glamour spell that girl used is glitchy. You children have no training whatsoever.”

He waved a hand, Latin pouring from his lips. Tristin pulled up Quinn’s shirt, earning a yelp from the boy. “Hey, handsy, no means no,” he told her, yanking his shirt down. “Buy me dinner first or something.”

“Better?” the old man asked.

Tristin nodded.

Everybody began making their way towards the door. Everybody except Donovan. “What about me?” he asked quietly, looking to Isa.

Isa looked at Josephine, “Yes, what about him?”

“Donovan’s father may be an alpha but Donovan was born human. He took the bite by choice. He will always be a beta. He’s earned the right to choose his pack. If he’s still welcome in your pack?” Josephine smiled at him.

Donovan kept his head down, eyes to the ground only daring to glance at Isa when it became apparent they were waiting on him.

“What do you want, Donovan?” Isa asked.

He risked a look at his grandmother, “I want to stay. I want to stay with Isa but not as an Omega. I want to be permanent.” He looked at Isa. “If-If that’s okay with you?”

Isa stared at the boy for so long he started to whither under her gaze. Finally, she said, “Fine, but that means no more running off whenever you feel like it; you cannot answer to two alphas. If you are mine, you are mine. No more secrets. How’s your father going to feel about that?”

“It’s my choice. I promise, no more secrets.”

She looked to Wren who nodded. Rhys looked more leery before giving her the slightest nod. “Okay, let’s go home.”