Possession (31 page)

Gratitude and a sense of
belonging filled me. I hadn’t felt such emotions since I stood before my healer
clan. I could feel tears running down my cheeks.
I’m not alone. These spirits are here with me, here to help me, to
protect me.

As my emotions eased
into calm, they began to fade slowly away. Shadows turned back into shadows.
The world suddenly seemed smaller and darker, and I shivered, but not from the
cold.

Luke’s eyes watched me, overflowing with shock.
“What
were
those things?”

“I’m not sure. Mildred had called them totems and spirit
guides.”

“You controlled them.”

“No. Not controlled.” I knew these spirits were
not like banshees. These creatures might be bound to me, but I did not command
them.

“They were chasing us!” he yelled over the rain.

“No. They were
hunting
him
.
Weatherton
. They felt him in the woods.”

Luke looked out into the forest. “Is he still out
there?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think so. They couldn’t
find him.”

“Colina, what happened to you? Why did those
creatures come to you?” He looked confused and worried for me. It wasn’t the
first time that I had displayed a new and scary ability.

I shared his worry and confusion. “I don’t know.
That thing I touched when I was with Morgana…”

“The old gods, they gave you a gift? That’s what
Mildred said.”

Questions circled through my mind.
Are they really gods? Or just some kind of
being we haven’t seen before? Beings that predate our kind?

“Something happened to me.” I wanted him to
understand what had happened with the old god, but wasn’t sure how to explain
it. “When I touched that thing… I feel different now. I can’t explain it.”

Luke looked out into the woods. “Can you make
those things come forth again?”

I shook my head in resignation. “I don’t know. I
think they came because I was afraid.”

“What kind of power do they have? Can they do
damage, like a banshee?”

“I don’t know.” There was so much I didn’t know.
So many questions whirling around in my mind.

A flash of lightning lit the sky.

“We better get inside.” Luke grabbed my hand and
started pulling me toward the asylum.

I went with him. But now, I felt with dead certainty
that I was safer out here.

Using blankets and sheets to dry off, we all sat in Luke’s
room.

Wendy was the first to break the silence. “What
were
those things chasing us in the
woods?”

This time I seemed to find the words to explain, and
I told them what happened when Morgana came to me. I told them all about the
spirit animals. I told them everything—except I didn’t tell them the
spirit pack had been chasing
Weatherton
. And I didn’t
tell them about seeing my mother. And I didn’t mention how she’d warned me of
danger.

Luke stood there silently, watching me, and I
wondered if he suspected I was keeping things from him. I didn’t want to keep
secrets from him, but there was a small part of me that was still not 100
percent sure the killer wasn’t somewhere inside him.

No one interrupted. When
I finished my tale, they all just stood there looking at me in astonishment.

Mildred spoke first.
“The staff will be wandering the halls soon.”

Mildred was standing in
one place, shuffling from one foot to the other. Her hands were twitching
at her sides. She was a nervous ball of energy. She’s free from her padded
prison, but what are we going to do with her? They would look for her once they
noticed she was gone. We had to find a place to stash her until the following
night. But where? She couldn’t just roam the halls; someone would surely
recognize her. That long, wild white hair was hard to miss.

I looked out the window.
Rain slammed against the glass and flashes of lightning lit up the sky. No sane
person would hide in those woods, not with that fierce storm blowing overhead. But
then again…Mildred isn’t so sane.

I looked over at Wendy.
The corner of her mouth twitched. As usual, she was reading my thoughts. I
sighed. “Mildred, you can hide in our room.” There was no other solution. We
just had to hope our luck held.

Mildred said in a quiet voice, “They might not
know I’m gone, not right away. They didn’t feed me every day. Sometimes it was
a couple days before I saw anyone.”

I frowned. “I’ll smuggle something for you from
breakfast. But there’s one problem. Until we get out of here, we need to stick
together. We’re sitting ducks when we’re alone.”

Wendy looked over at Mildred. It wasn’t a friendly
look, but it was a far cry from the hatred I’d seen flash between them out in
the woods.

Wendy turned and gave me a small smile. “I can
pretend to be sick again. I can stay in the room with Mildred.”

For the moment, Wendy and Mildred seemed to be in
an uneasy truce. I was thankful for it. The last thing I needed was the two of
them going at it like cats and dogs.

“It’s a good idea. Luke and I can…” My words
trailed off. Soon the sun would be rising, which meant Luke would be gone
again. “I mean…Dean and I can go to breakfast. We can stick together, and then
later we’ll all meet up.” We were no closer to finding
Weatherton
,
but it was getting too dangerous to stay. “As soon as it’s dark, we can make a
break for it.
Weatherton
is in a killing frenzy. If
we don’t find him today, we’ll have to try to run for it and then contact the
authorities.”

“You’d better get going back to your rooms.” Luke
said, taking a step forward and pulling me into his arms. “I hate that I won’t
be there to protect you during the day.” He leaned in close to my ear and
whispered to himself, “Dean, do you hear me? I know you can. You’d better make
sure nothing happens to her. Guard her with your life.” His face was now inches
from mine. His hands went into my hair. He pulled me forward and kissed me hard
on the mouth.

I pulled away, embarrassed to be kissing him with
an audience, but he leaned forward and put his lips on mine again. This time
his kiss was soft and gentle.

When we finally parted he pressed his forehead
against mine and whispered, “Take care of yourself.”

“I will, I promise. We’ll be out of here soon.
We’ll be free.”

I turned to join the other two and saw that Wendy
and Mildred had already left the room. We were alone. I started to move away, but
Luke grabbed my arm.

“
Weatherton
is
dangerous. There’s power in the blood and flesh of the people he’s killed. He’s
bound their spirits to him. He’s using what’s left of their spirits to add to
his own magic.”

“He’s doing it all to try and impress the old gods,
so that they will grant him a body of his own and return him to life.” I
explained. Gods who don’t even acknowledge his existence.

“Old gods. Gods who came before mages and death
dealers.” Luke’s fingers traced over the bear tattoo on my arm. “The skull with
feathers, the bloodletting… There are all kinds of tribal
magics
that go back to when man first walked the earth. Every culture and continent
has its religions and its own gods. He’s mixing all this with death dealer
magic to make something truly appalling.”

I followed his logic. “The magic is older than our
kind, and you’ve never seen any books on it… What if it’s not passed down in
writing? What if it’s passed down
verbally
?
In stories and folklore?”

Luke nodded his head. “Makes sense. But if that’s
the case, then there’s no way for us to study it. No way to find a
counterspell
in books.”

“No way for us to protect ourselves against it.”

He reached out and took my hand. “You have to
remember, he’s in a living body. Whoever he’s inside is alive, which means they
can be hurt. Look at Macaven. As powerful as he was, he was killed. If
Weatherton
is inside someone, you
kill
that person. Kill that body and
Weatherton
has no more power.”

“Kill the body and
Weatherton’s
spirit is released back into the in between.” And what if that body is Dean’s?
If I kill Dean,
Weatherton’s
spirit won’t be the only
one released.

“
Weatherton
might be
able to come back again, into someone else.”

“He would need an open vessel. Or someone on the
edge of insanity.” I looked back toward the door. “There’s a whole building of
insane people to choose from.”

“True, but it might take him time to worm himself
into someone and gain a hold on them. And if you got him loose of the body he’s
currently in, you might be able to use your magic to cross him over.”

“Cross him over into the depths of hell.” Gladly. Where
else would such a sadistic madman go? “But what if…” I couldn’t meet his gaze.

He put his hand under my chin and lifted it until
our eyes met. “What if?”

I squared my shoulder and forced the words out.
“Dean didn’t have a choice when you took him over. What if the person that
madman is inside is someone innocent? Someone who couldn’t help but be
overpowered by him?”

Luke’s expression turned hard. “If we’re going to
stop him, the only way is to kill the vessel he’s inside.”

“But that person isn’t responsible for what
Weatherton
has done. You can do things when you’re aware
that Dean can’t control.”

This time Luke’s voice was softer. “We might not
have a choice but to kill.”

And if the
vessel is you?
I wanted to cry out.
If
the killer is inside Dean, will I—can I—do the unthinkable?

* * *

Mildred and Wendy were waiting for me outside the room, and
we made our way down the empty halls.

Mildred looked nervous. “Keep those ears of yours listening.
That’s how they caught me before. I didn’t hear them coming. I walked around a
corner and right into their arms. They took my runes and my keys. I needed
those.”

Wendy led the way through the rat’s nest of
corridors and stairways until we stood in front of our room.

My hand paused on the doorknob.
What will I find when I open the door?
Another heart? Or something worse?
I took a deep breath and walked into the
room.

It was empty.

I turned to Mildred, relief apparent on my face.
“It might be best if you sleep in the bathroom. That way you’ll be out of
sight.”

“Don’t worry about me. I never did have much use
for beds.”

I went to the drawer and took out an extra robe,
handing it to her. Wendy threw her a pillow. Mildred caught it. Without saying
another word, she walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

Wendy changed into dry clothes, then went over and
lie on her bed. After pulling on my own new clothes, being careful to select a
long-sleeved sweatshirt—I didn’t want the nurses asking questions about
my new bear brand in the morning—I walked over and lie down on my own bed.
I put my hands behind my head. There’s no way I’m going to sleep with a killer
out there.

“We sleep in shifts,” Wendy said, reading my
thoughts.

“Right. You go ahead and sleep first. I’ll wake
you in a couple hours.”

Without another word, Wendy rolled over and faced
the wall. A few minutes later I could hear the sounds of gentle snoring.

I watched the door.
What’ll I do if the killer bursts in? If it comes down to my life or
someone else’s, am I prepared to do whatever it takes to stay alive? Am I
prepared to kill if the face of the killer is someone I know?

Or worse, someone
I love?

* * *

I was still awake and on watch when Nurse Harrington came
into our room to wake us.
Now if we can just
keep her from going in the bathroom
…

“There’s quite a bit of drama going on this
morning,” the nurse said. “I really shouldn’t say anything…”

Out of all the staff, Harrington seemed the most
eager to chat with patients. Most of the other staff usually spent their time
ignoring or yelling at the patients. I could tell by the expression on her face
that she was bursting to spill whatever information she had. Before I could ask
any questions, Nurse Harrington blurted out, “Caroline and Larry ran off
together!”

Wendy and I just looked at each other.

When we didn’t respond, Nurse Harrington gushed on.
“The young nurse, Caroline? You know who she is. She spent a lot of time with
the two of you.”

An image of the poor woman lying on the floor with
her head bashed in flashed across my mind. I hoped the horror I felt wasn’t
showing on my face.

Nurse Harrington didn’t seem to notice our
silence. “From what I’ve heard, Caroline was on the night shift working with
Larry, the orderly. He’s the one with long black hair.”

Larry’s image would be forever imprinted on my
mind. He was a mean and vicious man, and I wasn’t sorry he was dead. But Caroline
had been sweet and kind.

Nurse Harrington took a deep breath and continued.
“Apparently they must have been secretly dating. Honestly, I don’t know what
Caroline saw in him. But when it comes to love, you never know. I’ve seen the
oddest couples.” She chuckled a bit before continuing. “Anyway, when the
morning staff came in, the two of them had vanished. They left a note. They’ve
run off to get married! I have no idea why they’d do it like that—up and
leave their jobs, I mean—but Caroline did tell me her mother is a bit
controlling. I guess they’re off getting a fresh start on life. It’s romantic,
don’t you think?”

“Very,” I answered stiffly, getting out of bed. I
looked at Harrington in confusion, trying to figure out why the normally
taciturn woman would suddenly become so chatty. After a moment I chalked it up
to another example of the staff in this place being nuttier than the patients.

The nurse started to head toward the bathroom, and
I threw a panicked glance at Wendy. She abruptly gave a little cry and fell
back against the bed.

“Are you all right, dear?” Nurse Harrington
stopped and went to her side.

“I’m afraid I’m still not feeling well. I wonder
if I can stay in bed a bit longer?” Wendy answered.

The nurse looked down at her. “Of course, of
course. I’ll come back and take your temperature. There’s an awful bug going
around. I can have them bring you some breakfast. Something light? Maybe toast
and juice?”

Wendy gave the nurse a weak smile. “That would be
great.”

“Oh, and there’s some awful news, too.” The nurse
looked over at me. “You might not have heard. Of course you haven’t. It was on
the news this morning.” Once again she didn’t wait for me to ask. “I know
you’re a death dealer—everyone does. The word has spread. I was so
surprised. Never in a million years would I have thought that you’d associate
with
those
type of people.” She gave
me a disapproving glare. “But since you’re one of them, you’ll want to know…”
She stopped and stared at me, obviously waiting for me to ask.

“Know what?” I prompted.

“Three hundred death dealers. They were at some
gathering. Some ceremony, or maybe it was a special holiday, honestly I can’t
remember—”

I interrupted her. “What happened to them?”

“Dead! They’re
all
dead. Slaughtered like livestock, the news reporter said, and then a bunch of
the bodies were stolen, for who knows what purpose. They think it was the
Redeemers.” She gave me another disapproving look. “But honestly, the way
people think about your kind…it could have been anyone.”

Her words shocked me.
Three hundred death dealers killed?
And then I had another thought.
Three hundred people all dead because of me
.
Killed because I raised zombies and released a demon into the world, and
everyone blamed them for my actions.

But what
kind of force does it take to kill three hundred death dealers?
I wondered.
Most people quaked in fear from just one.