Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (Dead Things Series Book 1) (16 page)

26

KAI

I
t was way past midnight when they stumbled through the door but the entire household was awake and an intense argument was well under way.

Isa loomed over Wren who sat shirtless on a kitchen stool. “Just let him put in a few stitches so it heals properly. You could get an infection. We aren’t bulletproof.”

“Well, then it’s a good thing I didn’t get shot,” Wren mumbled.

Quinn stood by, preparing to suture a raw looking wound, silently waiting to see who would win the argument. Ember sat at the breakfast nook looking miserable.

“What’s going on?” Rhys asked. “What happened?”

Wren spoke first, “I took Ember and Tristin to check out a call. Things got…complicated.”

“You took Ember on a call?” Rhys shouted, “Why would you do something so stupid?”

Wren smiled kissing Isa’s flushed cheek, “Because my alpha told me to.”

“Do you have something you’d like to say to me, brother?” Isa asked, folding her arms and gazing up at the wolf.

He huffed, “No.”

“So what was it?” Kai prompted, pointing at Wrens wound.

“Revenant.”

“That she conjured,” Tristin sneered, pointing at Ember.

Kai and Rhys looked at each other. “What do you mean?”

Tristin snatched away Ember’s sketchpad and showed them the picture. “She was drawing this before we left. This zombie got Wren. She created him.”

Rhys sighed. “I know that guy.” He looked like he was wracking his brain, “Mike, yeah, Mike Hutchins. He was the guy who worked at the body shop.”

“How could Ember have conjured a zombie in what…minutes? It would have taken him a while to climb out of his grave, don’t you think? Maybe she’s just psychically linked to them?” Neoma said from where she lay inexplicably on the kitchen floor.

They looked at the picture with more interest. Kai suddenly had an idea. “Can I see that?”

He took the book and flipped back a few pages, looking at face after face until he found the one he was looking for. There she was, Mrs. Carlson. He showed it to Rhys, who just grunted his acknowledgement.

Ember looked green, “What’s going on?”

“We’ll tell you but first we need to talk to Wren and Isa alone. Ms. Josephine wanted me to give them a message privately.”

Rhys set his jaw, eyebrows drawing together, looking like he wished he could strangle Kai with his bare hands.

“Porch, now,” Isa told them.

Once they were safely away from the others, Kai told them about their visit with Ms. Josephine. He told them about the spell cast on the town, how somebody, more than likely Ember’s own father, had bound her powers and that, essentially, she was a ticking time bomb unless they could teach her to channel her energy.

“Is that everything?” she asked.

Rhys stared hard at Kai, “Th-”

“Yeah, that’s it. Isn’t that enough?” Kai asked, cutting off Rhys while casually sliding out of his reach. Luckily for Kai, Rhys spent so much time glaring at him nobody seemed to catch his blatant lie. Rhys might trust the pack to overlook Ember’s responsibility in the death of their parents but he just couldn’t risk it. Not yet.

She sighed. “Tell everybody to be in the living room in twenty. I’ll call Allister.”

Wren’s brow furrowed, “He’s going to want to know why you sent the boys without his permission.”

She waved him off, “I’ll tell him it was a last minute idea that I figured wouldn’t turn up anything and I didn’t want to bother him.”

Kai pulled a face, Isa might trust the witch but he didn’t. There was no way Allister could be unbiased despite his protests to the contrary. The distrust between witches and other supernatural creatures went too deep. Besides, the guy was a dick to his own son. Good guys didn’t act like that.

The pack took the time to freshen up. Kai took a quick shower and threw on pajama pants and a clean t-shirt, running a towel over his damp hair as he padded barefoot downstairs.

People flopped wherever seating was available, impatiently waiting for answers. When the doorbell rang, Rhys stomped to the door and yanked it open, turning away from his guests before they could say a word. Kai smiled to himself. Rhys didn’t like Allister either.

Allister entered, immaculately dressed as usual. Did Allister ever sleep? He wasn’t alone. Astrid stumbled in behind him, dressed in a light yellow sundress and cardigan, exhausted and wearing a sour expression.

Quinn sat up straighter in the armchair. “What is she doing here?” he asked, staring down his sister.

“Someday she will take over my seat on the council. I need to make sure at least one of my children carries on my legacy with dignity,” His tone was jovial but his smile cold. Quinn flinched as his sister smirked. Tristin shifted to sit on the end of the armchair, not touching Quinn but positioning herself between him and his family. Astrid glowered at her, but Allister just raised a brow.

Ember rubbed her eyes, “Is anybody going to say anything or are we just going to stare at each other awkwardly? How do you guys stay up all night like this? I’m tired. We have school in like five hours.”

Neoma giggled from her spot on the couch next to Isa. She covered her mouth with her hand when the others turned to her, flushing at the sudden attention.

Rhys filled in the pack with military precision. Tone clipped, embellishing nothing. Kai’s heart knocked hard against his diaphragm waiting for him to divulge the information he’d kept from the others but it never came.

“So that’s everything?” Allister asked. “She didn’t know who was responsible for what happened to the council?”

Rhys stared hard at Kai before saying, “Yes, that’s it.”

“She said nobody lived to tell what really happened,” Kai only half lied. “I mean, she did tell us a lot but she said it was just rumors. We know what Ember is now. We know that a council meeting started whatever happened. We know Tristin screamed at the council meeting,” He glanced at Allister, “but I guess we already knew that.”

Ember stayed silent throughout Rhys’ explanation, chewing her thumbnail, feet tucked underneath her. She looked exhausted and confused.

“So reanimators are just zombie makers?” Ember asked.

Quinn spoke. “Reanimators are a rare type of reaper. Their powers allow them communication with the dead, either by summoning an apparition or by raising the body from the grave. The raised aren’t alive like people, just moving bodies with no thought process. It makes them easy to control. It’s why reanimators have to register with the Grove. They don’t want them creating an army of ravenous corpses and that’s why it’s illegal to reanimate a corpse without the Grove’s consent.”

He looked pointedly at Kai when he said it, trying to relay a message. Kai’s mouth went dry. All canine eyes turned to Ember. The color drained from her cheeks. He didn’t know if the wolves smelled her anxiety or heard her heartbeat go wild but he was grateful the witches didn’t possess the same abilities.

Why hadn’t he thought of that? He knew it, of course. He’d talked to Rhys about it last week. He’d just been so relieved to know what Ember was, it never occurred to him what she’d done was illegal. She’d reanimated two corpses that they knew of, but there were three other pictures between Mrs. Carlson and the other guy, Mike. Were they hanging around town? Had they come back too? If the Grove knew what she’d done, they’d come for them both.

Ember ran her hand across her face before combing it through her hair, “So I can make zombies and conduct séances or raise an army of the dead, but not really because it’s illegal?” she asked, voice flat. “That seems like a really lame super power.”

Quinn shrugged, “Reanimators are not only rare. Their magic is so highly regulated because they are very powerful. It’s actually really cool.”

Ember didn’t look convinced.

“And dangerous,” Rhys added. “Nobody wants to be on the Grove’s radar.”

Kai glared at Rhys but Allister said, “I’m afraid he’s right. For now, I think it’s best we say nothing. At least until Ember has gained some control. Since she hasn’t actually reanimated anything, I think we are safe for now. We can control it.”

The others looked to Isa. She hadn’t told him about the revenants they’d killed. Isa had lied to Allister. Kai took a minute to digest the new information. Ember looked ill. There was a long pause before the alpha said, “He’s right. Ember hasn’t hurt anyone. We say nothing for now. We need to know more.”

Ember looked shocked. Rhys’ gaze bored a hole through Kai but Kai had never been so proud of Isa in his life. It was official. Isa’s lie told the pack Ember was one of them. She would protect her. Even if the Grove came for him, Isa would protect Ember so it wouldn’t all be for nothing.

“So now what?” Tristin asked.

“We need to know more about her magic, right?” Donovan asked.

“Couldn’t you access the Grove library, daddy?” Astrid asked, smirking at her brother. She knew how badly he wanted access to that information.

“I’m afraid that won’t work. There is no way to access the library without alerting the Grove. We already have a big enough mess on our hands if they find out she’s not really dead…”

Ember yawned, “How do we know they don’t already know? Couldn’t they have sent me and my dad away?”

Allister tilted his head at her, “The Grove doesn’t handle things that way.”

Ember paled, “So if they do find out I’m alive? That I’m a reanimator?”

Allister looked pained, “The Grove will do anything to maintain the balance. Imagine how…unbalanced three reapers in one family may seem.”

Quinn stared at his father with suspicion. Astrid looked uncomfortable at the attention on her father. She had to be questioning why her father would help them cover up what was sure to be a death sentence for all involved if the tree huggers found out.

“It’s already risky. We weren’t careful. People know you’re alive. Your family knows you’re alive. The Grove may already be aware. If people believe you are a reaper like your cousins, they may become scared. Things could get…ugly.” Allister said.

Kai looked at Allister sharply. That’s exactly what Ms. Josephine said. Had Allister been involved in what happened twelve years ago? Josephine said she’d been out of town, that’s how she survived. How did Allister survive?

“It’s going to be a bit hard to keep her powers under wraps if she can’t control them. She is barely keeping it together on a regular basis.” Wren said, subconsciously touching his shoulder.

Ember blushed, tucking her feet under her further. Donovan turned and patted her leg comfortingly. She didn’t flinch at his touch, just smiled. The knot in Kai’s chest loosened a bit. She was warming up to their ways.

Tristin snorted. “Barely keeping it together? That’s an understatement; she practically spewed magic all over us today in class.”

Kai shot a glare at his sister. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh, that’s right. You weren’t there today. Ember’s little friend made an appearance at school and her magic went nuts.”

Ember was staring at Tristin, mouth hanging open.

“Little friend?” Allister asked.

“Yes, the grim from the cemetery, the one that tried to kill her. He followed her all the way from New Orleans.”

Tristin told them, smirking at Ember until Isa’s eyes bled gold and she growled.

27

TRISTIN

“I
t seems my pack has forgotten who the alpha is around here. Is there any reason you four decided this information was unimportant to me?”

Tristin went still and Neoma buried her face in Isa’s shoulder, where she sat tucked under the alpha’s arm. The others gazes slid to the floor.

“That…thing is here because of you? Of course it is,” Astrid rolled her eyes. “We haven’t had anything like that settle in this town in years.”

“Yeah, and why do you think that is, sis?” Quinn questioned. “Oh, that’s right. Because we run them out of town while you guys hide behind your sad Grove approved spells and your huge egos.”

“Quinn,” Isa warned gently. “Enough.”

He adjusted his glasses and slid his hand over Tristin’s leg. She gave a shaky breath at the feel of his touch, running her palm over his but not looking at him. She ignored the raised eyebrow from her brother. She didn’t need to explain their relationship to him.

“Right now,” Kai said, “Our main priority needs to be figuring out how to get Ember’s power under control so we don’t have to worry about her blood boiling or her ‘spewing’ her mojo all over us or anybody else.”

“Tristin helped me in class,” Ember supplied.

“Huh?” Tristin looked at her in confusion. She doubted very much the water she supplied helped her.

Ember nodded, “When we were in there. Whatever you did helped.”

Tristin looked around the room. “I didn’t do anything. I swear.”

“Interesting,” Allister said, before adding, “So, how do we help November get some control over this power of hers?”

“What about trying to have her use her powers in a controlled environment?”

All eyes swung to Neoma. She blushed at having so many people looking at her.

Tristin watched as her brother looked to Rhys before letting his gaze skitter back to the faery. Rhys moved closer to him, hand sliding along his lower back. What the hell was that about? Isa watched them too.

Ember looked flushed. Was she sweating? She really hoped this conversation wouldn’t get her worked up. She didn’t think she could handle another round of dunk the reaper in the bathtub.

“Ms. Josephine said she needed somebody who could filter or channel her magic.” Rhys supplied.

“I could try to let her use me as a channel?” Kai shrugged.

Allister shook his head, “I don’t think that is a good idea. From what I saw the day she arrived, that is a lot of magic. It may kill you. I think we need another way. Perhaps, Neoma is right. We need a controlled environment. Deliberately attempting to use her powers might help her gain some control.”

“Okay, so controlled environment,” Wren smiled at the Neoma. “What did you have in mind?”

“We could go to the cemetery,” she offered, picking at the flower detail on her robe.

“No!” Kai and Rhys both shouted.

What was going on with those two? She looked at Quinn knowing there was no way he was missing their strange behavior. He watched them carefully.

Neoma slunk further into Isa who snarled at the two. Rhys moved to sit next to the girl. “It’s a great idea,” he told her. “Really. It’s just maybe we should start with something smaller. An even more controlled environment.”

Isa and Wren still glared at them, “Such as?” Isa asked through clenched teeth.

“Morgue?” Tristin offered.

“God, no. An entire bay full of fresh corpses is probably a bad idea,” Kai shuddered.

“He’s right. Besides, it’s hard to access and even harder to explain if we get caught.” Quinn said. Tristin nodded.

Tristin looked at her alpha, who was currently extending and retracting her claws like a pissed off cat. Cats. Yes. “What about the pet cemetery?” she asked.

Rhys’ hand partially shifted so his claws pricked through the fabric of her brothers shirt. Kai hissed but looked to Rhys, “It’s actually not a bad idea. Worst case scenario, she raises an army of bunnies and really old cats.”

Ember shuddered but said nothing.

“What do you think, Ember?” Isa asked.

Ember shrugged, “Sounds like a plan, I guess.”

Tristin couldn’t help feeling they were all going to regret this.

“Wonderful. Is that it?” Allister asked.

“No,” All eyes swung to Quinn who narrowed his eyes at his father. “I have some questions, dad.”

“Questions? For me?” Allister snorted, “Such as?”

“How did you know Tristin screamed at the council meeting?”

The witch flushed, “Excuse me?”

“Ms. Josephine said she heard Tristin screamed at the council meeting. You’ve been saying she screamed for years. I just assumed it was because Tristin was at home with us and you heard from whoever watched us. But Josephine says they were at the meeting, right?”

Quinn looked to Kai for confirmation. Kai nodded hissing quietly as Rhys’ claws pierced his skin. Yeah, they were definitely hiding something.

“You were on the council, dad. You knew Tristin screamed. Sounds like you were there. I mean, somebody had to get the kids out of there, right? Everybody said you and Ms. Josephine were the only council survivors. She was out of town, so that leaves you. How did you know Tristin screamed if you weren’t there like you’ve always claimed?”

“Exactly what are you accusing me of?” Allister sputtered.

“I’m not accusing you of anything, dad. I’m just saying you said you heard Tristin scream but Tristin was at the meeting. So you had to have been at the meeting too? Somebody rescued them from the conveniently unnamable evil that annihilated our town.”

“What’s your point, Quinn?” Tristin asked, nicer than she would have asked anybody else.

“You said you were the only council members to survive but that’s not true. Ember’s dad survived. Ember survived. You said Tristin screamed that means you were there. You know what happened to the council, you know what happened to mom, to all of them. You have to know what happened. Have you known all this time and kept it from us? From all of us? If you know, you need to tell us.”

Tristin put a gentle hand on Quinn but he was too far gone. The tension between the two of them had been building for some time. If Quinn thought his father had lied to him about his own mother’s death, there would be no going back for them. Quinn might be overreacting but given the look on Rhys and Kai’s faces she didn’t think so. Quinn was onto something.

Allister’s mouth split into a sneer. “You ungrateful little bastard; do you dare to question me, to question my loyalty to this town? You think you’re so smart, don’t you?” Quinn said nothing, “You think I would lie about what happened to your mother? My own wife? My friends? I grew up in this town,” He pointed at Ember, “Your father was my best friend,” He shoved a hand through his hair, agitated. “That old witch is a trouble maker, always has been. She knows nothing. She wasn’t even there. That’s why she really refused to tell you everything. She had nothing to tell. Was I there? I don’t know. None of us do. They took it from us. They wiped my memories, just like the rest of the town and replaced them with whatever fake ideas they chose to implant. For all I know, they wanted me to know Tristin screamed. Maybe I did rescue you children. Maybe it was Ember’s father or Alex. I’ll never know. None of us will ever know. That is what they do. They fix things. The Grove always cleans up their messes.”

He was breathing hard by the time he was finished. Quinn was blinking rapidly and Astrid looked like she had invisible hands around her neck but Allister wasn’t finished. “You don’t know shit about what happened back then so don’t pretend I’m the bad guy.”

Quinn snorted, “That’s convenient; you survive but the Grove Men-in-Black’s away your memories?”

“Quinn, please,” Kai pleaded, looking back and forth between Allister and his friend.

Allister shook his head, “You’ve made your choice. Don’t bother coming home. You don’t live there anymore. I’ll have your things delivered here since its clear where your loyalties lie. Let’s go, Astrid.” To Isa he said, “Let me know if anything changes.”

Isa nodded, eyes on Quinn.

Quinn sat, stunned. Her brother moved to comfort him but Rhys held him still. Tristin turned from where she sat on his armchair, sliding herself into his lap. She could feel him shaking. Quinn’s arms went around her automatically, leaning his head against her chest.

“You okay?” she asked.

Quinn took a shaky breath, before shrugging, tone more confident then he must be feeling, “Whatever, I barely live there anyway. This is my home,” His eyes darted to Isa, “I mean, if-that is-can I-”

Isa stood. “This is your home, Quinn.”

She clapped her hands together, “Now, everybody go to bed, we have to animate some corpses tomorrow.”

Everybody drifted away but Tristin stayed where she was, tucking herself across Quinn’s lap.

“Are you really okay?” she finally whispered.

He shook his head against her shoulder, “No, but it doesn’t really matter. He’s lying. I know he is.”

“Yeah, he’s not the only one. Kai and Rhys are up to something too.”

“Maybe it’s just all that unresolved sexual tension,” he mumbled against her skin.

She snickered, sucking in a startled breath at the way his lips dragged across her shoulder. “Hey, I’m trying to comfort you here. You better not be malingering just so you can check out my boobs.”

He laughed too but it died just as quick. Finally, he looked at her and said, “He’s never going to love me, is he?”

Tristin’s insides twisted at the hopelessness in his eyes. She wrapped her arms around him awkwardly, not sure how to really comfort somebody hurting like this. She kissed his forehead. “Fine, you can look at my boobs for a little bit longer. Then its bedtime.”

“I like the sound of that.”

She rolled her eyes. “Your bed, Romeo.”

He groaned. “You’re no fun.”

“Ha, I could be lots of fun. You don’t know.”

“I’ll wear you down eventually.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”