Awry

77

Panic shot through Tristan like shards of ice slicing up his veins.

“Scarlet’s scared,” Tristan said to Nate as his heart began to race. “I can feel her.”

Without thinking, Tristan hurried away from the dunk tank and followed the pull of Scarlet’s heart.

Nate followed after him as they made his way out of the park and down the street.

The cemetery.

Tristan cursed as another shot of fear sparked Scarlet’s heart. He broke into a run.

When they reached the cemetery, Tristan darted inside, pulling two daggers out to arm each hand. Nate was right behind him, clutching his single knife.

Tristan ran to the back of the cemetery until he neared the ancient graveyard, and came to a halt.

Ashmen—dozens of Ashmen—were coming up from the old cemetery. All of them armed with Bluestone weapons. All of them without a soul or a conscience.

All of them on a suicide mission.

Nate sucked in a breath.

Please, dear god, don’t let Nate pass out. Or cry. Or wet himself.

Without looking at his friend, Tristan said, “Just think of it as a video game, Nate. Those are the zombies. You’re the slayer.”

“I’m the slayer. I’m the slayer,” Nate repeated.

Tristan took a deep breath and straightened his shoulders, raising the daggers in his hands. Throwing was not an option since he was limited on weapons.

So he would have to slice and slash.

The Ashmen charged and Tristan began to slice.

“Laura…?” Scarlet croaked, confused and horrified as she looked down. Laura’s body lay at an unnatural angle and her glazed eyes stared at nothing. Drained of life. Completely dead.

Raven walked over to Laura’s body and callously kicked Laura into one of the empty graves.

Scarlet choked as Laura’s body tumbled into the deep hole, leaving one red high heel planted in the soft graveyard dirt above.

Scarlet stared at Clare in bafflement. “What are you…you just…Laura…?”

Scarlet swallowed, her arms still outstretched around Heather, who was audibly crying.

Raven sighed, looking at Laura’s body with a frown. “Laura was a means to an end.” She gestured around, still holding her crossbow. “They all are.”

Scarlet looked around at the dozens and dozens of broken coffins and dug up holes.

“I don’t understand.” Scarlet looked at Raven.

“I needed access to you in this life and I couldn’t very well adopt you myself on the off-chance that you would remember me. So I hired Laura. Some women are desperate to hold on to their beauty. I paid her well to take you in and I bribed her with the promise of eternal youth if she helped replenish my supply of Liferoot, gain possession of the legendary Bluestone weapons, and retrieve the fountain’s location out of your head.” She shrugged. “Laura got two out of three right.”

“You asked Laura to use a Head Ghost on me?”

Raven nodded. “Yep. Except—surprise, surprise—Head Ghosts don’t work on people with immortal blood inside them.” She rolled her eyes. “So that was a no-go.”

“So you sent the Ashman after Heather’s memories?”

“The Ashman?” Raven looked confused. “Oh, you mean my little dead helpers?” Raven pointed to an empty grave and cocked her head to the side. “Yes, I guess they are somewhat ashy. They’re a pain in the ass to bring back, I’ll tell you that much. Do you know how many spells I had to practice before I found one that would raise the dead?” Raven puckered her lips. “Lots. I was up to my elbows in corpses and that is just not sexy.” She shuddered. “But I found a spell that worked, and I resurrected…” she looked around and pointed to a broken tombstone, “Jonathan Smith, over there. He was a handful and drooled a lot. But he was also obedient, so.” She shrugged again. “It worked.” Raven made a disgusted face. “But it’s like working with animals. They don’t talk. They just grunt and struggle.”

Scarlet was too shocked to speak.

Raven raised the crossbow up and pointed at Scarlet. “I really want to kill you. But since you have what I need, I can’t. Which sucks. So here’s the deal. You give me the map and I’ll give you your friend back.”

Scarlet found her voice. “Why do you need the map so bad?”

Raven rolled her eyes. “Because, in my quest for power, I consumed a drop of fountain water and now I am utterly addicted.”

Scarlet took a step back to shield Heather even more. “I don’t have the map.”

Raven sighed. “Listen, I’m quickly running out of fountain water and a face like this,” she pointed to her chin, “needs to stay young. I’m down to my last few doses and I do not have time to run around and resurrect the dead hoping to pull the right memories out of Heather’s silly head. So we’re going to skip all the Head Ghost stuff and go right to the part where you give me the map, and I don’t kill the annoying blond.”

“No,” Scarlet said automatically.

Raven dropped her head back for a moment, letting out a groan. “You are so stubborn. I swear.” She looked back at Scarlet, the crossbow aimed right at her heart. “I don’t know what either Gabriel or Tristan ever saw in you.”

“Maybe they liked that I wasn’t crazy,” Scarlet quipped.

Raven’s eyes were cold steel. “I’m not crazy.”

Scarlet narrowed her eyes at the dark-haired witch. “You’re playing with dead people. That’s crazy.”

“Well, if you give me the map, I won’t have to play with dead people anymore.”

“I don’t have the map,” Scarlet repeated, looking around for something—anything—she could use as a weapon.

“You know,” Raven said, stepping forward, “I tried to do this the nice way. I tried to be civil. But since you’re hell-bent on making my life suck and you tend to get a little feisty when I confront you….” Raven gave a nod to something behind Scarlet and, before she knew what was happening, splitting pain coursed through Scarlet’s head as something hit her.

Scarlet fell to the ground, her eyes closing against the throbbing torment in her head and her mind spinning out of control.

She heard Heather trying to yell beneath her gag. She heard a rustling. But she couldn’t move.

“That should keep you down for a few minutes,” Raven said.

Scarlet cracked an eye open and tried to pull herself up. The dizziness sent bile up her throat and her limbs felt like pudding.

Raven kicked at Scarlet’s ribcage and thrust something heavy against her chest, and Scarlet grunted as the air left her lungs.

Watching Raven step over her body, Scarlet saw Heather’s terrified eyes glancing to the side where an Ashman was untying her.

Scarlet tried to yell, but her lungs wouldn’t work.

The Ashman finished with Heather’s ropes, keeping the gag in her mouth, and yanked Heather into his arms. Heather kicked and thrashed about, but the Ashman was too powerful for her to fight off.

Scarlet tried to roll over. She had to get to Heather, she had to save her.

Crawling up to her knees, Scarlet felt a surge of adrenaline rush into her veins and a flicker of hope began to bloom. Maybe she could do this. Maybe she could still save Heather.

One Ashman and one Raven wasn’t too hard. Right?

Scarlet began crawling forward on her hands and knees.

Raven let out an unhappy exhale. “You are ridiculous. You can’t just stay down like a normal little girl? You have to fight and be brave?” Raven gripped a handful of Scarlet’s hair and yanked, forcing Scarlet to look up into the face of the woman who had caused her so much pain over the centuries. “Fine,” Raven said. “Have it your way.”

Scarlet was unable to make her hands cooperate with her brain in time to shield her head from the heavy end of the crossbow coming down on her.

With a heavy thud, the blunt object struck Scarlet’s skull and sent her into darkness.