Revenant (3 page)

* * *

I
found myself on the edge of the now-familiar dark abyss. But unlike the times
I’d been there before, there were no voices calling out my name. No unearthly
snarls and
sounds
came from the darkness.
It was eerily calm.
This isn’t real…this
is just a dream.

I looked down
instinctively, to where
I could see the mark of a bear in the flesh of
my forearm. In the fight with Weatherton, the serial killer at the asylum, the
old gods had bestowed this gift onto me. The symbol meant that a spirit pack stood
ready and willing to defend me. But I couldn’t bring them forth. I had to keep
them back. If I let them loose, Luke would die. Gage was not the type of man to
make idle threats. He was a proven killer. He’d slaughtered three hundred
innocent people.

I could not fight him with my magic, even magic
granted by the old gods. I could only serve his dark purpose.

A woman’s voice whispered
next to me, “Find the light.”

I whipped around. “Mama.”
My voice broke as I said her name. She was standing right next to me, on the
edge of the abyss, as healthy and warm as she’d looked when she was alive. She
seemed to glow from the inside out.

“You are a healer,
Colina. There
is
still light within
you. A small spark of it still lives. Fight against the darkness. Remember who
you are.”

She held out her hand to
me, but before I could reach for it, she slowly disappeared.

My heart sank. My mother
was dead, and this was only a dream.
There
is no light still inside me.
Darkness coursed through my
veins,
beat in my heart, and pounded through my
brain. The darkness filled me to the brim. Whoever I was before, that girl—that
healer—was dead. Now I was nothing but a harbinger of death.

Suddenly, I felt evil
radiating out of the darkness around me and tried to calm my pounding heart
.
This is
not real,
I told myself again
. This
is a nightmare.
But it felt real. The fear felt real.

Something grabbed me and
I looked down, stumbling back. There were fingers wrapped around my ankle—white,
wrinkled fingers
that
came out of the
darkness and tore into my flesh. With the contact came a burning
pain
that radiated up my leg. And then there
was another hand on me. Long fingernails raked against the flesh of my calf.
More hands appeared. Rotting fingers with long nails reached out from the
blackness and grabbed at me. One, two, a dozen.
All
reaching for me.
Searing pain flowed through my body. I felt myself
being pulled down. “No, no!” There was nothing to hold on to, no way to stop
myself from falling over the edge and into the abyss. Down I went—falling,
spiraling into the darkness.

The pain consumed me
like a fire that burned from within. My limbs twisted in agony as I fell. And
then the hands disappeared, and I was lying on a rocky floor. There was nothing
before me but blackness. Within the blackness, a face appeared. Then another.
Ghostly images began popping out. A shock ran through me as I recognized one of
the faces. I’d seen it just the other night, lying on the grass in the field.
They’re the undead I’ve brought back to life.
The zombies moved around me, circling. They reached out to me.
Seeking what?
I wasn’t sure. They kept moving
forward. There was nowhere to hide, nowhere to go. I could feel their cold
fingers against my skin, pulling at me, tearing at me.

* * *

And
then I woke, gasping and sweating on the dirt floor in my prison cell. I
assumed Caleb carried me back each night after I collapsed into
unconsciousness. Each night I tumbled into a fitful sleep, encumbered by
fleeting dreams until I woke, greeted once again with the harsh reality of my
captivity. But this time I remembered clearly what I had dreamed. I thought
back to my nightmare. Or was it a vision? I didn’t know, and I had too little
energy to figure it out now.
I was so hungry, so
thirsty, so tired all the time.
My mind
was
having
a hard time focusing on the here and now.

Luke
. I breathed in
his name. I felt the wild pounding of my heart slow as I visualized his face in
front of me. The face of the boy I had met in the magic shop. It was the way I
always thought of him whenever I was alone. That blond hair, those dark eyes.
Eyes that burned with passion as he looked at me.
Luke. He’s
still alive,
he’s still
here. That’s all that matters
. I forced myself to sit up. There was dirt on
my
pants and
mud smeared across my hands
and arms, but I was so used to being dirty now that I didn’t even try and wipe
it away. I put my back against the cavern wall.

How many more dead
lay out
in that field? How many had I raised?
Seventy? A hundred? I could see their rotting flesh when I closed my eyes. I
could smell, even now, the putrid scent of them on me. I would never be able to
rid myself of that smell.

When I felt eyes
crawling over my skin, I realized I wasn’t alone. My head jerked around and I
spotted Caleb leaning against the bars. He was watching me. He was so silent,
so still, that for a moment I wondered if I were hallucinating. We stared at
each other. There was the hatred again, blazing from his eyes. What had I done
to bring up such strong emotions in him? I’d never met him, never even seen him
before. But he looked at me as though we were mortal enemies.

I gave him a wary look
and finally broke the silence between us. “Is it time again?”

As suddenly as it
appeared, the anger disappeared, replaced with indifference. But I knew the
indifference was an act. “The big man wants to see you.”

That was Caleb’s
nickname for Gage. A wave of cold horror washed over me. I had only seen Gage a
handful of times since I’d been here. Each time I felt like a snake charmer
standing before a deadly cobra posed to strike. Gage had never laid a hand on
me—he did something far worse when I misbehaved. Anytime I didn’t follow
his direction, he set Caleb and Jacob on Luke.

The guilt I felt when I
saw the aftermath of that first beating consumed me…and I began to do whatever
Gage said. But it didn’t take full rebellion to set Gage off. There had been
other beatings, ones I had caused inadvertently by saying or doing the wrong
thing. Keeping my mouth shut and doing whatever Gage said to do was the only
way to keep Luke safe.

Gage also seemed to take
great pleasure in starving me. I hadn’t realized how hungry you could get without
food for a few days.

And now he wanted to see
me. My fingers were trembling. I forced them together and took a deep breath. I
pushed myself up and waited for Caleb to unlock the iron bars.

I followed Caleb down
the tunnels, losing track of the twists and turns we took, but my head came up
when we entered a large cavern. A chandelier hung down from the ceiling, this
one lit with two dozen black candles.

Lavish furniture was scattered
throughout the room. Red sheer material and orange silk curtains draped down against
a few of the rock walls. At the front of the room sat a large wooden chair, elaborately
carved on the arms and back. The figures were creatures and human bodies
intertwined as if in battle. Some of the creatures had horns, and some, wings.

Every time I saw Gage, I
was shocked by how good-looking he was, despite the long scar
slanting
across his forehead, which stopped
just above his right eye and
marred
his
perfect features. He wore an expensive suit, his white tie matching the shock
of white that streaked through his dark hair.

Caleb bowed as soon as
he was in Gage’s presence. “My liege.” I almost laughed, only just stopping
myself at the last moment—I didn’t need to antagonize Gage. I satisfied myself
by rolling my eyes at the ridiculous formality.

Gage ignored Caleb and
addressed me. “Things are not working out as I’d hoped.”

“I’m doing what you
asked,” I spat.

“True, you have been a
model prisoner.” Gage rubbed his hands together. “But we have a problem.”

He stood there, staring
at me.

I stayed silent.

“You’re not a curious
creature, are you?” He leaned over and grabbed a grape from a bowl on a nearby
table. “
Gage, what is the problem
?”
he asked himself, mimicking a female voice. “Well, Colina, since you ask, the
creatures you created are starting to fall apart.” He popped
the grape
into his mouth and watched me for a
reaction. “You don’t seem surprised by this information.
That makes me wonder if the reason you have happily
gone along with my wishes is because you
knew
the zombies would eventually start to fall apart.
Come, come, what kind
of friends are we if we can’t tell each other such things? You don’t trust
me
—I can see it in your eyes. I
want
you to trust me. We need to build a
bridge of understanding between us if we are going to work together.”

I bristled at his tone,
but kept my face stony. Truthfully, I wasn’t surprised that the zombies were
falling apart—Wanda, the spirit who entered the first zombie I’d made,
told me she’d been freed when the body decomposed. I wasn’t sure why Gage was
surprised—the bodies were dead and decaying, and forcing spirits into
them wouldn’t change that. I wanted to scream at him,
What
do you expect when you create an army of the dead?
But what good
would it do?

He leaned forward,
studying my stoic expression. “What’s wrong? Devil got your tongue? I will tell
you
—since you won’t
ask
—that your friend Wendy is not doing
so well. She tried to harm herself.” He raised his hands. “But don’t be
concerned. As primitive as this place looks, we do have access to healers. She
is recovering nicely.” He popped another grape into his mouth and when he was
done chewing, he gave me a disapproving look. “Your boyfriend has not been
cooperating. I suggested, out of the goodness of my
heart,
that Luke join us. He should work for me. It only makes
sense—your boyfriend has gifts that make him
truly
suited to this type of work, but he has been resistant to
joining our ranks.”

He turned away from me
for a moment, pausing before turning back. “So, with all that in mind, I was
thinking this arrangement we have has not been working as well as it should. I
mean,
look
at you. How many days
has
it been since you’ve had a proper bath? You
look pale.” He motioned with his hands, and a girl a few years older than me
came out from behind one of the curtains. She was stunning, with flawless
makeup, flowing red hair, and a predatory glint in her eyes. She looked me up
and down with disdain.

Gage gave me a wide
smile. “I think we can find better quarters for you. Get you some decent
clothes to wear, a bath, and some food to bring the color back into those
cheeks.” He turned to the
girl. “Sonja
will take care of your needs.”

The girl motioned for me
to follow her, but I stood my ground. Gage was never kind or charitable. I’d
watched the grin spread across his face when he’d ordered the twins to beat
Luke. The great pleasure in his eyes when he told Caleb that I didn’t need to
eat for a few days. Beatings, starvation—these were the things he had
done so far without any remorse. What game was he playing now?
What is this going to cost me?
I thought
coldly. I addressed Gage. “What do you expect me to do in exchange for this
sudden…kindness and generosity?”

He gave a wicked laugh. “Don’t
look so suspicious. I
was thinking
you
could help us find a solution to our problem. I can’t very well have an army if
the army has limbs and parts falling off as it marches along. The bodies are
decaying, and the stink alone is—well, I don’t have to tell you. You’ve
experienced it yourself.”

“I’ve done everything
you’ve asked
of
me.” And I had. I created
his undead army. What price would I pay for going along with his evil plans?
When my time was up, I doubted a white light would be beckoning for me.

Gage nodded his head. “Yes,
my dear, you have been a model of cooperation. But I think that if the two of
us have a chance to put our heads together, we might be able to come up with a
solution. There has to be a spell or some magic we can find that will stop the
rate of decay. I have access to a library full of books that aren’t readily
available to the general public.”

“Forbidden
black magic,”
I said through clenched teeth.

“
Forgotten
magic,” he corrected me. “Not everything from the past is
bad. In the past, the death dealers were more powerful than any of the mage
clans. The spells they did—the great rituals—enabled them to have
unimaginable strength.”

“At what cost?” I
whispered.

“
Everything
comes at a cost. You should know that better than most. We
should be on the same team, Colina. I
want
—no,
I
need
your help. And in return, I
won’t hurt your friends. You can stay here and join our little family. Where
else do you have to go? The death dealers are hunting you. If they get their
hands on you, what do you think they’ll do? It’s not safe out there for you.
But if you are under my protection, I won’t let any harm come to you or your
friends.”