The Dead Read online

  “What do we get in exchange?”

  “What do you want?” I asked, knowing they wouldn’t have even shown if they didn’t already need me for something.

  “We want your dead removed.”

  “All of them?” I tried to think of how many bodies I’d buried. This might take a while.

  “Only the human. We want him removed.”

  Of all the bodies I might have had to dig up, there was only one human. “Why?”

  “We don’t want him there.”

  Forgive me, Bookie, if you’re hearing this right now. It’s a bluff. I promise. I’ll never let it happen. “You’re all powerful. Dig him up if you don’t want him there.” Even having apologized to Bookie in advance, I wanted to shake at the notion of these things touching him—not that I’d ever let it happen.

  “No. It has to be you.”

  “Why?” Something stank, but I wasn’t sure what it was, and I doubted they were going to tell me if they hadn’t already.

  “You put him there. You take him out.”

  Bookie, I’m sorry, but if moving you will stop anyone else from dying, it’s the right thing and I know that’s what you’d want. “Fix the Dark Walker of whatever you did to him and I will.”

  “Move the body first.”

  “No.”

  I stood there facing down the faceless. Talk about a good poker face. How was I supposed to read expressions on a thing that had no features?

  “Bring him here. We’ll reverse what we can and you will remove your dead.”

  “Agreed.”

  The faceless creature was gone, but I still felt them around me, could feel the probing the whole walk out of the forest. I didn’t feel safe until I hit the beach where Dax was waiting.

  He was already walking toward me when I saw him. He didn’t ask if I was okay, but it felt like his eyes had taken in every hair on my head. I saw a flash of heat cross his expression that made me think of flesh on flesh.

  Then I thought of what lay ahead. I crossed my arms, feeling a chill that I wasn’t sure was from the ocean, as the heat his look had generated faded. “It’s on like Donkey Kong.”

  “What the hell is Donkey Kong?”

  “I don’t know. I read it in one of those books that came from the Glory Years library. I thought maybe it was just me.”

  “But they made a deal?”

  I nodded. “We’ve got to go get the monster and bring him back to the Wood Mist, and they’ll undo whatever they did.”

  “What did they want in return?”

  “I’ll tell you on the way.”

  He must have read the unease that was steeped into me so deeply it oozed from my pores. This was going to be a rough one.

  31

  We were getting close to Croq’s cave when I finally spoke about what I’d agreed to do for the Wood Mist in exchange for them healing Croq. “They want me to dig up Bookie’s body and move him somewhere else. I told them I would.”

  “Did they say why they wanted that?” Dax asked, his voice calm, even though I knew it had to bother him as much as me. He’d known Bookie his whole life. They might not have had the same type of relationship as we did, but Dax had watched out for him since he was a kid.

  These were the times I could appreciate the glacier he tucked unwanted feelings behind. I had enough of my own volcano of emotions ready to rupture given the right catalyst. I needed him to be cold and analytical about the subject, and he was doing it without me asking.

  “No. I can’t see any reason for it to be a problem. But it doesn’t matter what I think. I’ve got to do it if they hold up to their end.”

  We’d taken quite a few more steps before he said, “It’s only his body. It’s not Bookie.”

  “I know.” It was what I’d been telling myself since I agreed. Funny how it didn’t seem to matter. “I swore I’d kill every Dark Walker I met and now I’m trying to save this one and negotiating with the Wood Mist who tried to kill me. I gave Jacob the stuff that might kill him. I don’t know who’s good and who’s bad anymore.”

  “You warned Jacob. He insisted anyway. That’s on him.” His conviction was so clear that I envied him.

  A smile cracked my face. “I forgot to mention we’re also indebted to a crackpot wizard,” I added, and I didn’t know why that seemed so funny to me at the moment. Maybe I was cracking up. “You don’t think anything bad will come out of the Grounding Spell, do you? He seemed a little concerned about the effect our magic might have on the spell.”

  “Little late to worry about that now,” he said as we stepped onto the beach and walked toward Croq’s cave.

  “Croq?” I called as we entered the dark interior. The bottle from Bitters sat almost empty on his stone table. There was the sound of feet dragging along the cave floor heading toward us. As he came into view, I could see the black spots had progressed. “The Wood Mist are going to fix you.”

  “Why would they do this?” he asked, making his way toward us.

  “It doesn’t matter. But I want assurances that you’ll do what you say. I want answers now,” I said. “I want to know what the cure is before we take you to them.”

  “If I tell you what the cure is, they’ll fix me?”

  He was looking at us like we were rattlesnakes, trying to draw him in before we stuck. Couldn’t say I blamed him. I certainly wouldn’t trust us, and he didn’t even know how many Dark Walkers I’d already killed. “Yes.”

  His eyes bounced between Dax and me for a moment and then he spoke. “The cure is our flesh, our real flesh—not what’s covered in borrowed skin, but what’s underneath. After a month it’s useless. But it has to be from a Dark Walker that is healthy, not how most of us are.”

  No wonder he was willing to speak. It only firmed up his position. Even if he reneged, we had to try.

  “Let’s go,” Dax said.

  “Can you make the trip? It’s a few hours away,” I said, looking at how he was staggering, even now. The thought of having to touch him entered my mind, and it was about as attractive as walking into a swarm of bees.

  “Yes,” he said, moving even slower than he had been. Dax stepped forward, looking like he was about to throw the creature over his shoulder.

  “No,” Croq protested. “I can make it!”

  Dax let out a very loud sigh, shook his head, and stepped away, and I realized Croq didn’t want us to touch him any more than we wanted to lay hands on him.

  “I don’t believe he can handle the trip,” I said to Dax.

  “I’ll make it,” Croq said. “I’m not having a beast touch me.” He looked over at Dax. “That’s right. I know what you are.”

  “How?” Dax asked.

  “Her,” Croq said, and nodded toward me. “I can smell your magic when you get close to her. I know the scent of a beast.”

  “You just overplayed your hand.” My hand instinctively went to my knife, and I realized the price had just gotten too high. Not Dax. I wouldn’t have him hunted the way I was. We healed this monster and they’d have someone who knew exactly who Dax was. I’d always suspected the reason Dax’s brother had died in beast form was because he’d been protecting his twin. It was the only thing that made sense. If he’d turned human, he would’ve been able to get help. He also would’ve possibly led the Dark Walkers right to his brother. I wouldn’t undo his sacrifice.

  My knife was out of its holster and I was less than a second from killing this monster when Dax spoke. “Dal.” Him simply uttering my name stayed my hand. “Don’t kill him. This is what you wanted.”

  “The cost is too high,” I said, my hand held in check but knife poised to strike. This was a line I wasn’t willing to cross. I couldn’t do it to him. Not Dax.

  “Is it?” he asked. “You were willing to give your life.”

  “I won’t help him so that you end up being hunted the way I was. I won’t do it.” I could see Dax still waiting for something else, something from me. The woman in me understood what it was, and it
scared me worse than the Dark Walkers.

  “I won’t have more blood on my hands,” I said, and I could see something shuttering in his eyes, but not before I caught a glimpse of disappointment.

  “I have to kill him,” I said, trying to change the subject back to the threat at hand.

  “He’s your best bet. Are you sure you want to do that?”

  “I have to,” I said as I replayed his sentence in my mind and realized he’d said “your,” not “our.”

  “This is your crusade. I won’t try and stop you either way, but think about what you’re doing.”

  “I am.” It was all I could think about at that moment.

  “I won’t tell anyone,” the Dark Walker promised. “I can prove that you can trust me with my magic.”

  “How?” I snapped, pushing Dax’s “your” from my mind. This was exactly why I shouldn’t be involved with anyone. It was already clouding my mind.

  “If I share some of my magic with you, I won’t be able to do anything that would intentionally harm you, including hurting him,” Croq said.

  I felt like I was swimming in dark magic these days, and I didn’t even know how to tread water. I turned to Dax, wondering if he had any idea of what he was talking about. “Dax—”

  “Never heard of it.” Damn, it annoyed me when we were on the same page like this.

  “You can test it,” Croq said.

  “How do I know it won’t kill me?”

  “Because I want to be cured of this curse and you’re the only chance I have of that happening.”

  I looked at Dax. As long as I was the only one who did it, I’d be fine. This Grounding Spell was going to come in handy. Then Dax shook his head. Keeping Croq in my sights, I moved closer to Dax so only he could hear me whisper, “Why not?”

  “I knew what Bitters was doing, but you don’t know what his magic will do to you.”

  “It’s not going to kill me.”

  He leaned closer, taking up some of my personal space. “You keep thinking that’s the worst thing that can happen. It’s not.”

  “I know myself. If my heart is beating, I’ll be fine.”

  Dax shook his head. “I’m not sure you fully appreciate the restraint I’m showing.”

  “What?” I asked Dax.

  “Nothing. Might as well see this out now,” he said as he stood back.

  The Dark Walker was waiting for an answer when I looked back to him. “Okay. So, how do you go about sharing this magic?”

  The Dark Walker looked at Dax and then me, as if he knew he was missing some piece of this situation. I wasn’t certain I was the one who had the answers to his questions.

  “I need you to bring your face close to mine,” Croq said.

  I did as he asked, hoping this wasn’t going to be as bad as Bitters’ potion.

  His mouth opened and I could see it: a thin mist of vapor left his lips and then traveled the couple of inches to mine.

  I steeled myself to act as if this were nothing, even as I wondered what it was going to do to me. I could feel it entering, this strange magic, as if it had a life force of its own. It was thick and cloying and I could feel the panic starting to take control of me. I tried to breathe through the sensation…until I couldn’t, and I gripped my throat.

  “What did you do to her?” Dax asked, as I felt his presence nearby and the sensation of my air being cut off. I reminded myself I had that grounding spell. I would make it out of this. I’d be okay. I would. The Grounding Spell would protect me.

  “It’ll pass soon. It’s just settling into her,” Croq said, his voice raspier now than it had been.

  I felt my throat clearing as the magic moved deeper, air slowly coming back into my lungs.

  Croq rested a hand against the table as he slumped forward. All I could think was that this bastard wasn’t going to die before I got my cure, if I had to hog-tie him and drag him to the Wood Mist.

  “Try and cut me with one of your knives,” Croq said.

  “What?”

  “You won’t be able to do it because you have part of me now.” He drew a few ragged breaths before he continued, “And I can’t hurt you because of that same part.”

  I pulled my knife out and tried to aim for a target on him.

  Dax stared at me, waiting for an answer, and I nodded. “He’s right. I can’t get an aim.”

  Dax walked over to Croq and hoisted him up, the creature not having enough life in him left to complain.

  32

  We entered the clearing, all three of us, as the sky was tinged with the first light of dawn. Any thought of Dax staying by the coast was destroyed by the need to get a barely alive Croq here. I had one whopper of an imagination cultivated after years of being in the Cement Giant, but this? I’d never imagined a situation where I’d be trying to heal a Dark Walker.

  I turned to Croq where Dax placed him on the ground beside me. “The minute you’re healed, I want a piece of your flesh.”

  He nodded.

  “Hey? Wood Mist? Let’s get this show on the road?” I yelled out, knowing they were near. I’d felt them close by for the last fifteen minutes but hadn’t seen a thing.

  “You didn’t remove it.” The voice was strong but there was no golden mist or faceless body.

  “It’s too far away, but I will as soon as this is done. I will do as I promised.”

  “Make sure you hold up to your bargain. You don’t want us as enemies.”

  I nodded. They’d already tried to kill me. If they considered our past relationship friendly, then I didn’t know what would happen if we were enemies. I looked down at Croq beside me, literally rotting away. Maybe I did know what that looked like.

  “I will.”

  “Move away from him,” they said, and I couldn’t have stepped back quicker.

  Dax and I moved a good twenty feet back as the faceless started to appear. They circled around Croq, and for the first time, I could see what it must have looked like when they’d done this to me. From the outside, the air glittered and lit the invisible dome they created.

  Croq’s body, which had been almost lifeless, contorted with pain as he curled into a ball.

  “What if they’re killing him?” I said to Dax.

  Dax shrugged. “Then he’s dead.”

  The golden mist grew stronger and I saw Croq’s form at the center, lighter than the dome. He was being completely covered by the shimmering gold. As we watched, his form uncurled and then rose to its feet. The gold started to peel away, leaving a man with golden brown hair and perfect flesh to emerge.

  “Are you seeing this?” I asked, knowing Dax was, but too shocked to come up with anything more original.

  “Yes, I am.”

  The charred and rotten skin of the Dark Walker was gone. The only things left from the creature before were the rags he was wearing, the ones that had looked so fitting on the pathetic creature and now marred the skin of the beautiful being in front of us.

  He could pass for human—if you didn’t look too closely. There were clues there if you looked close enough: a slight luminescence to his bronze-tinted skin, a strange sheen to his hair. But there was nothing so glaring you couldn’t ignore it if you chose to.

  As he stood in the circle, a new kind of fear gripped me. Right or wrong, when you saw Croq before, you knew he was a monster. No one would see this coming. Not even me. He looked closer to an angel, and there wasn’t a trace of the smoky mist I was familiar with.

  How many Dark Walkers had I missed?

  The Wood Mist disintegrated into the air and the only ones left were Dax, Croq, and me. It took a moment for our small group to adjust to the changes, and then with a nod and nothing else, we all started walking toward the shore and closer to the salt water and air, and hopefully out of reach of the Wood Mist, because as it stood right now, I was more comfortable in the Dark Walker’s company than theirs.

  We walked the entire distance to the shore without speaking. We didn’t stop until we stood o
n sand and the water lapped just shy of our feet.

  “Give me your knife,” Croq said.

  I pulled it from my holster and handed it over willingly, knowing what he was going to do. He took it, and I watched him slice off the padded part of his pinky finger.

  “Here,” he said.

  I dug through my bag until I found the map Bitters had given us, and used that to take the flesh from him and wrap it. By time I was taking it from him, his finger was healed.

  “Dice that into tiny pieces and feed it to a sick person. It’ll cure them within an hour,” Croq said.

  I thought back to how large a dose was and did the math. There might be more sick people than there were Dark Walkers that existed. Another huge problem: the Dark Walkers I needed were much harder to spot.

  But it was enough to heal Rocky, and right now that was the most pressing need.

  “You said if we helped you, we wouldn’t need a cure,” Dax demanded.

  Croq hesitated long enough to make me worried he’d bluffed.

  “You’ll never be able to cure them all completely with one Dark Walker, but you might be able to stop it from spreading.”

  “How is it being spread?”

  “The cure turns into the disease itself after a month, but the disease’s virulence depends on the initial host. It’s limited in its damage unless it’s a piece of one of our strongest. That’s why there are only small outbreaks most of the time. The smaller outbreaks are usually when a group of us mine the population for Plaguers. Plaguers have the best skin. They last longer.

  “A bigger outbreak like what’s spreading now needs a Dark Walker who is healthy and strong among our kind. Most of us are dying. There’s only one of us I know of who could spread the disease this far and wide.”

  “Who?” Dax asked, more interested in the information than I’d seen so far, but that made sense, since I had a feeling where this was about to lead.

  Croq stared at us, but especially intent on Dax, as if trying to decide how much of a threat he was. “I told you how it works. Names aren’t part of the deal,” he said, testing the waters.