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Raise the Dead Page 11
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"I can't help it if you're giants with freakishly long legs."
He grinned at me as Stony climbed into the third row of the van. Jonelle took the second row. Blaine sat next to her and closed the sliding door.
"She's in pain," Teri murmured to me.
"I know, but you know how she is."
"Yeah." Teri grinned. "She's gonna go down hard."
"What? I don't understand what's so funny about her heart getting broken."
"Oh, her heart's not gonna get broken. Well, maybe for a little while, but she's not going to be able to resist Stony for much longer. She's already fallen for him, now she just has to give in and admit it."
I didn't agree but it was no use arguing with Teri. Especially since everyone in the car was staring at me, waiting on me to get inside.
"We're done talking about this," I grumbled to her.
She chuckled and disappeared.
I climbed into the front seat and slammed the door.
"Everything okay?" Mal asked.
"Yeah. Teri's being her usual self."
He grinned at me and put the van in reverse.
The drive out to the house took closer to forty-five minutes. Austin traffic was worse than Dallas and I'd grabbed the oh shit handle next to my head several times, which made Mal laugh.
"Shut up and watch the road. I'd like to get there in one piece," I griped.
Mal stopped laughing but he was still smiling as he exited the highway behind Jezzy's white Prius. We drove further and further from the suburbs until we were out in the country, surrounded by rolling hills, lush greenery, and the occasional driveway that disappeared behind thick stands of trees and shrubs, hiding the house from view.
"Wow, Francesca lived way out in the country," Stony commented from the back.
The Prius turned down a driveway similar to all the others we'd passed and Mal followed behind.
The gravel drive was long and rutted. After Mal hit the first few potholes, he slowed down and tried to steer around them.
A small house sat in the center of a large grassy area, but the clearing was surrounded by trees. It was adorable, the perfect place for a family with children. And vaguely reminiscent of a fairytale cottage.
Flowers bloomed in front of the house in a riot of color and varying heights. I spotted herbs interspersed with them. The kind a witch would use for potions or spells. And a few were clearly for cooking.
Jezzy and Rafe climbed out of her Prius and waited for us as we pulled in behind them.
Once we were all standing in front of the house, Jezzy said, "Rafe and I will check the house for magical traps or any other issue. We would like to help with the search, if that's okay."
Though she worded it as a request, I knew it wasn't.
Mal seemed to understand that as well because he nodded. "Of course. They're your people."
Jezzy smiled brightly. "Excellent. Please give us a few moments."
"She's kinda pushy, isn't she?" Stony said. He stopped next to me and crossed his arms over his chest.
"It was either agree politely or risk pissing them off," Mal muttered to us. "I didn't think alienating them right now was the best idea."
A few minutes later, Jezzy and Rafe appeared from behind the house and came over to us.
"There don't appear to be any booby traps or nasty spells around the house," Jezzy said.
Rafe stood behind her, crossed his arms, and brooded. His dark sunglasses adding to his strong, silent persona.
Jezzy held up a key. "And I found the hide-a-key. Shall we?"
We trooped up the front walk to the door and waited as Jezzy unlocked the deadbolt.
The house was silent and almost uncomfortably warm when we entered. It also smelled musty with more than a hint of rancid trash.
Jonelle wrinkled her nose. "Can we open a couple of windows and air the place out while we look?" she asked. "It stinks in here."
Jezzy nodded and Jonelle moved to the window by the front door. Blaine was the last one in and he left the door open wide. A few minutes later, several windows had been raised and air flowed through the house. It was still hot but nowhere near as stuffy.
Rafe and Jezzy split up. Unsurprisingly, Jezzy chose to pair up with Stony. Rafe, however, stuck close to Jonelle. My friend didn't notice the dark look Stony shot Rafe, but I did. Maybe Teri was right after all. I could never tell her that though because she would be unbearable.
Mal paired up with me, claiming the kitchen, and Blaine offered to go through the desktop computer in the small office off the living room.
The smell of trash emanating from the kitchen was horrible. Before Mal and I even started searching, he moved to the trashcan and tied the bag off.
"I'm going to take this outside. Why don't you go ahead and look around?"
I nodded and moved around the kitchen, casting my eye over everything. The cabinets were old but clean and it was obvious Francesca had taken good care of them. The countertops were empty of clutter and a row of wilted herb pots lined the deep windowsill above the sink. I walked to the sink and saw that the faucet had a detachable head. I pulled it loose and tried the faucet. It worked. I added a bit of water to the dry soil in each pot.
If they still had water and power, they couldn't have been gone long enough for the utilities to be cut off. Or maybe Francesca had automatic bill pay. I'd have to find out. They obviously hadn't expected to be gone since no one had taken out the trash.
It probably wouldn't help, but I hated to see the plants dying. As I studied them, a faint green light seemed to emanate from them. I blinked several times, but the light remained, pulsing faintly.
I reached out and lightly ran my finger over one of the shriveled leaves of a basil plant. They had to have been gone for at least a week, considering the state of dehydration. The light surrounding the leaf brightened, the pulse intensifying.
I jerked my hand back and stared as the leaves filled out and lifted. Then, one by one, the other plants did the same until all five were bright and thriving. I stared at them with my mouth hanging open.
"What did you do?"
Mal's quiet question made me jump. I whirled around.
"I have no idea," I answered.
It was the truth because I had not a single clue what I'd done, but I did have a sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with my newfound abilities.
For the first time since I'd known him, Mal looked at me like he was disappointed in me. "Zoe, one thing I've always liked about you is that you're a terrible liar and you know it, which means you've never really lied to me. Until now."
My face flushed. I closed the distance between us and whispered, "I can't talk about it right now, not with Rafe and Jezzy around." I couldn't deal with the way he was looking at me. It was ripping at my chest like tiny razors. I blinked rapidly as tears filled my eyes. "Please don't be angry with me. Angie told me that both of our lives depended on me keeping this secret. I only wanted to protect you."
Mal opened his mouth to say something but Jezzy's voice floated out of the living room and he stopped.
"We'll discuss this later."
I nodded and tried to control the sobs that wanted to escape me. I'd known Mal would be upset when he found out but I'd underestimated exactly how much it would hurt.
"Hey," he said, reaching out. "I'm not happy with you right now but we'll talk about it before we do anything else."
I sucked in a sharp breath and nodded again. My chest tightened as I struggled to take another breath. Anxiety surged inside me. A second later, I was in his arms with my head resting on his chest.
"Calm down, Zoe. Just breathe."
Several more tears slid down my cheeks before I managed to regain control. "I'm okay." I withdrew from his embrace and wiped the wetness off my cheeks. "I'm okay," I repeated. "I'm sorry."
"We'll figure it out. I promise."
I sighed. "We should probably start searching the kitchen for clues to where Francesca and Selene went.
"
Mal squeezed my hand one more time. "Good plan."
He moved to the fridge and opened the freezer section.
"Um, what are you doing?" I asked.
"Checking the freezer. Sometimes people hide things in them."
I'd never considered that. I moved to the drawers next to the fridge and opened the first one. Like the rest of the house, it was organized and free of clutter. I took out the contents and felt around inside the drawer. Nothing.
I tried to put everything back inside exactly as I found it, but I failed miserably. I didn't want to leave everything just lying out on the countertop. When Francesca and Selene came back, they didn't deserve to walk into a mess.
I moved on to the next drawer and Mal laid a notepad on the counter next to me.
"What's that?"
"I'm not sure," Mal answered. "It could be something important or it could be a grocery list. Can you help me find a pencil?"
I smiled and pulled one out of the drawer I'd just opened. "Here you go."
"Thanks."
Mal took the pencil, turned it on its side, and lightly ran the lead over the page from side to side.
"I saw that on a cop show once," I teased. "Is that where you learned it?"
"Nope. This is how I learned to forge my mom's handwriting so I could sign my own report card when I got a bad grade. Or excuse notes so I could skip class in high school."
I laughed under my breath, relieved that Mal wasn't giving me the cold shoulder. I may not have dated often, but I was used to my boyfriends sulking when I did something they didn't like.
I started going through the open drawer in front of me. It appeared it was Francesca's "junk" drawer. Though even that was a misnomer. Though the contents appeared to be miscellaneous, they were scrupulously organized. I took my time sifting through the items and pulling things out of the drawer, lining them up neatly on the countertop.
I found a small grey drawstring sack in the very back of the drawer and frowned. It was light, almost as though it was empty, but something about it felt...wrong. That strangeness seemed to radiate from the material itself. I ran my fingers over the fabric and felt small objects shifting inside.
"What's that?" Mal asked.
"I'm not sure but it feels weird."
I gave the bag to Mal and he fondled it for a moment. "It just feels like a little bag of stuff to me," he said.
"I don't mean the literal feel of it," I replied. "It's more of a metaphysical feel. Like the energy of the object is wrong."
Instead of brushing off my thought as most people would have done, Mal nodded, his expression pensive. He'd spent enough years investigating paranormal phenomenon that he took statements like mine in stride.
"Maybe Jonelle should look at it," I said.
Mal nodded and tucked the bag in his pocket. He didn't suggest that we show it to Jezzy and Rafe and that told me all I needed to know about his attitude toward them. He wasn't ready to trust them yet either.
"What about the notepad?" I asked him.
He picked it up and showed it to me. Unfortunately, it was just a grocery list and not notes on where the two of them could have possibly gone.
Three hours later, we were all hot, sweaty, and hungry. We were also no closer to figuring out where Francesca and Selene had disappeared to. Blaine had downloaded the contents of Francesca's desktop onto an external hard drive. He would comb through all the files on his laptop when we got back to the hotel.
The sun was high overhead when we closed down all the windows and locked all the doors. Rafe was already in the running Prius as Jezzy set a protective ward around Francesca's house. She said it wouldn't hurt anyone but it would let her know if someone crossed the barrier. I wondered if she meant other people or us. If it was meant to prevent us from coming back without them.
While Mal was talking to Stony and Blaine, Jonelle was watching Jezzy like a hawk. I stood off to the side of the house, staring at the vegetable garden in the back. It wasn't as overgrown as I would have expected based on the state of the herbs in the house. Strange.
I walked around the house. I hadn't even noticed the vegetable garden before but now I couldn't take my eyes off it. The plants glowed like the ones inside the house had earlier in brilliant greens, reds, yellows, and the rest of the colors of the rainbow. It was mesmerizing.
I drew closer and closer, reaching out to touch the nearest tomato plant. I nearly snatched my hand away when one of the leaves lifted to meet the tips of my fingers. It was as if the plant was reaching out to me.
I heard footsteps behind me and turned, thinking it was Mal.
A huge man stood before me, his skin mottled with both natural brown tones and grey. He looked as though he were very, very sick.
But his eyes were the most disturbing aspect of his appearance. They were pure white, no pupil or iris. Colorless and vacant.
Before I could react or even suck in a breath to scream, he lunged forward and grabbed me.
Chapter Fourteen
I shrieked in terror and jerked away.
The man was huge. He had to be at least a foot taller than me and packed with muscles. He likely outweighed me by over a hundred pounds.
Before I could manage to scream again, he lunged forward. I backpedaled but there was no escaping him. He grabbed me around the waist and threw me over his shoulder like a sack of feed. Then, he ran for the trees at the back of the property.
His shoulder jabbed into my stomach with each step, knocking the wind out of me over and over again. And he was fast. With my weight added to his bulk, he shouldn't have been able to move at that speed. As a human being he shouldn't have been able to run that fast.
The trees were blurring past us and nausea assaulted me. My breakfast threatened to make a reappearance.
"Let me go," I gasped.
He didn't respond. I didn't really expect one, but it pissed me off just the same.
Judging by his speed and the state of his skin and eyes, he was a supernatural creature of some kind. He may have started out as a human, but he wasn't any longer.
Something clicked within me and suddenly my vision changed as it had earlier in the kitchen and garden. I could see the green glow of the trees and the dark amber light that hovered over the rich earth. The creature carrying me was surrounded by a grey aura. I had no idea what that meant but I doubted it was good. It likely explained his sickly appearance.
I heard a distant shout that sounded like Mal but I knew there was no way he could catch up with us. Even if he did, I doubted he could take on the giant carrying me. I couldn't even feel Teri. It was as if her presence was blocked to me. Even if I could call to her, there wasn't a whole lot she could do except maybe trip him.
It was up to me.
I didn't know how to fight. Or cast spells. I didn't even know if I could. Maybe my magic didn't work like a witch's. Why hadn't I made it a priority to study more?
The only means I had to protect myself was to use my powers the way I had at the cemetery a few days ago. I didn't want to but I had no choice. I only hoped I wouldn't kill him. Or myself.
I sucked in a deep breath and focused on my power. I needed to build it up slowly and try to control the flow. It hadn't worked out so well in the cemetery, but I didn't have any other options.
As I had in the kitchen, I reached out to the gray light surrounding the man and tugged at it. A tendril floated away from the rest and landed on my hand. Slowly and oh-so-carefully, I pulled harder. It was energy, but it wasn't vibrant and fresh like the light that surrounded the foliage we passed.
It felt wrong. Unnatural. It wasn't life or even death, but something in between.
The energy connecting us snapped into a thin, taut line and suddenly the flow stopped. So did the man carrying me. We were bound by the magic. I could feel him on the other end of the bone, waiting for something. But what? Maybe a command.
"Put me down," I demanded.
To my complete and utter shock, he
did. He straightened and stood in front of me, his freaky white eyes focused on me.
"Who are you?" I asked.
He said nothing, just stared at me.
"Why did you grab me?"
Again, nothing.
I tugged gently on the energy field around him and met resistance. I used more force and the trickle began again for just a moment.
Until something yanked hard from the other end. I nearly toppled over at the abrupt jerk on my magic.
The man reached for me again and I dug my heels in, both literally and mentally. I reached down the thin rope of gray light that connected me to him and grabbed it with my power, holding tight.
With the same swiftness as the fight began, it ended. The power at the other end of the energy vanished and the giant collapsed at my feet, completely limp.
I gasped at the lack of resistance and my power expelled the energy I'd sucked from the creature. Whatever it was, my magic didn't like it. It was a perversion. An abomination. My stomach cramped and I felt sick from the sour residue of foul magic.
"Zoe!" Mal's shout rang out through the trees.
"Here!" I cried back. I knelt and pressed two fingers to the man's throat. Nothing. No pulse. No breath. I was hesitant to continue touching him, but I placed my palm on his chest. It didn't move. He was dead.
Had I killed him? Jesus, had I sucked the life out of him like I had the grass and flowers that night at the cemetery.
My nausea doubled with a vengeance and I gagged. Somehow, I managed to control the urge to vomit and collapsed on my ass, staring at the corpse in front of me.
"Zoe, where are you?" Mal yelled.
My mouth wouldn't work. I was frozen. My worst fear had been realized. I'd used my magic to kill someone. I hadn't meant to, but that didn't change the fact that I had.
I heard footsteps in the brush and looked up from my spot on the ground. A cool breeze cut through the trees, the first I'd felt all day, and it brushed my cheeks. They were wet.
I blinked and lifted my fingers to my face. I was crying.
Mal skidded to a halt in front of me and dropped to his knees. Hands cradled me close to his chest.