style="font-size:15px;"> Arm up … back … waiting … waiting … Finally, its shoulders came into sight, giving Aden the canvas he needed to work his magic. He struck, in one fluid motion rendering the dead … dead. Again.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. Not that it could hear him. Made him feel better to say it, though.
One down, Julian said.
Aden was already running to the next grave. He didn’t slow when he reached it, just raised his arm and slashed.
“I’m sorry,” he said again as this newest corpse fell, head one way, body the other, its bones separating on impact.
That’s the way, Elijah praised.
Instinct was finally kicking in. His hands were soaked, sweat pouring from his face and chest, and as he hurried to the third, battered grave, pride blended with his guilt and sadness. Feral red eyes watched him.
We should be paid for this stuff, Caleb said, every word dripping with excitement. Clearly, he was hot. Again.
A growl sounded behind Aden a split second before a skeletal weight landed on his back and sharp teeth sank into his shoulder, ripping through shirt and skin and hitting muscle. Stupid, stupid! He’d missed one.
He groaned, propelled to the ground. Another bite, more poison. Later, more pain.
He reached over his shoulder, grabbed the fiend by the clavicle and jerked. Rather than tug the carcass off him, his hand wrenched away with a piece of lace and bone. A woman this time. Don’t think about that. He’d hesitate, and that hesitation would cost him.
Those sharp teeth latched onto his ear, drawing blood.
He pressed his lips together to cut off his shout. God, that hurt. Reaching back once more, he managed to grip its neck this time. But just before he jerked, the corpse fell to the ground, motionless, and all four voices inside his head began screaming as if in pain, then fading … fading … silent.
Frowning in confusion, Aden quickly shimmied out from under the lifeless body and jackknifed to his feet. His neck, shoulder and ear throbbed and burned as he whirled around and looked down.
The corpse didn’t move. Its head was still attached, but it didn’t freaking move.
He spun in a circle, gaze roving, cataloging, searching. The other corpse, the one he’d been racing for, had fallen, too, despite the fact that it, too, still possessed its head, and now remained immobile. Even the light in its eyes had died.
O-kay. What the hell had just happened?
Oddly, none of his companions had a smart-ass comment.
“Guys?” he said.
Still no response.
“Why were you—” His words trailed off. In the distance, he caught a glimpse of a young girl and forgot about everything else. She was dressed in a white T-shirt streaked with dirt, faded jeans and tennis shoes, strolling just in front of the cemetery. She was tall and thin with straight brown hair anchored in a ponytail, tanned skin and a pretty—very pretty—face. She had earbuds in her ears and seemed to be singing.
All that dark hair … was she … could she be the girl from Elijah’s visions?
Aden stood in place, covered in mud and grime, confused, excited, and trying not to panic. If she spotted him and the carnage surrounding him, she’d shriek. People would come gunning for him. They’d track him, wherever he went. They always tracked him. As he’d feared, he’d be sent away and the kinda sorta freedom he now had would be a thing of the past.
Don’t look, don’t look, please don’t look. The prayer was his own, the souls still strangely quiet. And yet, part of him did want her to look, to see him, to be as intrigued by him as he was by her. If she was the girl he’d seen in those visions … finally …
She was almost past him. Would soon disappear around the corner. And then, as if she sensed his secret desire, she threw a glance over her shoulder. Aden tensed, catching a glimpse of big hazel eyes and pink lips she couldn’t stop chewing.
She scanned the area.
A second later, their gazes met. There was a blast of sound as the world suddenly zoomed in on them—and then nothing. There were no movements. Not their heartbeats, not even their lungs filling with air. There was no yesterday or tomorrow, only here and now.
They were the only two people who existed.
This was peace, Aden thought with shock. True peace. Calm and quiet, no voices in his head, pressing him down, pulling him under, vying for his attention.
Then, everything exploded. There was another blast of sound, as if the world’s focus expanded this time. Cars started back up, birds began chirping and wind whistled through the trees. A sharp gust of it slammed into him and tossed him backward. He landed with a thump, chin jarring his sternum.
That same wind must have hit her, because she stumbled to her butt with a yelp.
There was a twinge of sickness in his stomach, and as he stood his limbs hung loose and heavy. A need to run to her filled him—followed quickly by a need to run from her.
She scrambled upright. After another silent glance, she turned away and rushed down the pass, soon disappearing from view.
The moment Aden lost sight of her, everything returned to normal.
Caleb growled, What the hell?
Pain. Darkness, Eve said, voice trembling. Horrible.
They’d been hurt? How could souls with no bodies feel pain? “What do you mean?” he asked them, though he suspected part of the answer. The girl. Somehow, some way. That odd stillness when their eyes first met … that strange gust of wind …
She’d approached and the dead had fallen. The voices inside his head had faded. She’d looked at him and a peace he’d only dreamed about had encompassed him. She’d left and boom, everything had kicked back to terrible life.
He had to experience that peace again. Could she really be responsible? Was she the one he’d been waiting for?
Fearing the corpses would rise again, he hurriedly removed the heads of the remaining two. But rather than clean the mess, hiding the evidence of what had happened, he found himself gathering his backpack and chasing after her. There was only one way to find out whether she’d done what he thought she’d done. Only one way to find out who exactly she was.
Dude, tell us what happened before I start screaming, Julian said.
“I don’t know what happened. Not exactly.” Truth. He was determined to find out, though. “Are you okay?”
Multiple shouts of No! rang out.
Go back to the house. I have a bad feeling about this, Elijah said, sounding more afraid than Aden had ever heard him.
Aden slowed. Elijah’d had “bad feelings” before, and while they hadn’t been actual predictions, Aden
