A Torment of Savages (The Reanimation Files Book 4) (24 page)

“Really?” Ethan’s look of disappointment was rapidly fading.

“Yes. Any chance Ailani is going to be there?” I grinned when I saw him flush. He looked away and started scratching the back of his head.

“She might…I think…possibly…”

I walked over and clasped him on the shoulder. “Go turn that nerdish charm on her. And don’t worry, let me deal with the deadly stuff.”

“Thanks, Selene.”

I nodded, and headed to my room to get ready.

* * *

Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes greeted me when I entered Magda’s little area at the bottom of the graveyard. Stormy stalked a circle around me while Snake Eyes slithered up until it was eye-level with me, flicked out a shadowy tongue, then dropped down and slithered off to a dark corner where it continued to watch me. Stormy followed me over to Magda’s worktable where I lay the broken bracelet in front of her. She looked up at me with an eyebrow raised.

“I had a rumble with some Savages,” I said.

“I see,” she said, picking it up. “How close you seem to have gotten to them.”

“Closer than you think,” I muttered. She looked at me expectantly and I avoided her gaze.

“What has happened, child?”

“Bad stuff, as usual.” She continued to stare at me with those fathomless dark eyes until I sighed and told her what had happened today. When I was finished, a tiny smile graced her lips.

“My girl, you found the warlocks.”

“Yeah, but it’s not really a victory. The warlock ghost I wanted to help…I can’t put him back into his body unless I bind myself to a ghost to evolve my reanimation power. But that will put me at risk for the Rot again.”

Magda laughed. It was a thrilling, throaty sound. I couldn’t remember hearing her laugh before. “Oh, child, do you still think in such a linear way?”

I frowned. “What are you getting at?”

“Fact is fact, but that does not mean it applies to you.”

My frowned deepened as I tried to puzzle out what she meant. I sensed she was trying to be helpful, but she was rarely straightforward with her explanations. Then something dawned on me.

“The Rot,” I said. “It is meant to kill, but the way I am now…I cannot be killed.”

Magda nodded. “In your current state of evolution, my intriguing girl, the Rot will have no effect. It will be absorbed and channeled away by the dead magic.”

“So it won’t be like I would get sick and just not die?” I asked. “I will remain healthy?”

“Indeed.”

“Whoa.” I stood there thinking about that for a few moments. It made sense, but there was still another issue.

“I would have to be ghost bound,” I said. “And I can’t just do that to any ghost.” Ethan wasn’t a ghost anymore, and even if he were, I wouldn’t do that to him again.

“Of course you can do it to
any
ghost,” Magda said. The strange emphasis she put on “any” made me pause and stare at her while she continued to look at me with that knowing smile on her lips. My eyes slid to the corner where Snake Eyes was, then down to my feet where Stormy was curled up. I looked up at Magda in disbelief.

“Ghost animals?” I said. “I can bind myself to the ghost of an animal and my reanimation power will evolve?”

“I knew you were a smart one,” Magda said. “Once you start thinking off the straight and narrow path. That trickle of knowledge the above world holds is but a drop in a very large ocean. I keep telling you that.”

“Oh wow,” I said, still stunned by this new development. “But I would be bound to a ghost animal. That…that’s weird.”

“Or is it power?” Magda reached her hand toward the ghost snake and it slithered out and coiled its thick body of roiling darkness around her. “This ghost is already powerful. When it gains a connection to you, think of how much stronger both it and you will be.”

I gawked at her. “You’re suggesting I bind myself to Snake Eyes?”

“Were you going to go kill a pathetic little squirrel and use its ghost? That would not do the trick, girl.”

“I…I mean…I don’t…” I sat down on the stool in front of her table, not quite feeling as though my legs could continue to keep me supported. I looked down at Storm Shadow again.

“How about the cat?” I suggested.

“Not strong enough,” Magda said simply.

I blew out a breath. “This is insane,” I muttered. “Bound to a ghost snake that’s spent time in the In Between getting juiced up before being summoned back here.” I shot Magda a look.

“What you gain from it is what you should focus on,” Magda said. “This dark energy you took from the Savages, that’s causing you to feel like you are losing your true sense of self, a connection to another entity, a powerful one, can help give you some ease.”

I frowned. “Really?”

“Have you forgotten what being ghost bound is?” she asked. “You give and you take. You draw on the ghost’s strength, but you can give it some of yours as well. You can share the dark energy with a vessel much more suited to handle it.”

I couldn’t lie, I found that very appealing.

“I could channel the dark energy to the ghost,” I said, eyes widening. “It wouldn’t have to continue existing inside me, changing me…”

“Indeed.”

“But what about if it changes…it.” I slid my eyes to the ghost snake.

“Such change can only mean greater power, which in the end would be a benefit to the one bound to him, would you not agree?”

“I don’t know…” This was appealing, yes, but could I really do this again? And to a giant ghost snake that was summoned from the In Between no less? I wasn’t sure what I would gain would outweigh what I might lose.

“Do you want to do this or not?”

I hesitated. This was familiar, yet new territory, and I had no guarantees about anything. I trusted Magda’s knowledge, sure, but never had I expected that I would end up in a place where I would choose to be bound to a ghost. The memories of all the horrible things that had ensued after being bound to Ethan were still vivid.

“Well?” came Magda’s soft voice.

I swallowed hard and remembered that Kyo’s body was lying on Ethan’s bed in my house, and his sad ghost was wandering around somewhere. I could do this and help him. And if other dead warlock souls were retrieved from the In Between, I could help them too. I could help Micah and the other Savages. And this time there would be no Rot to worry about. The only deadly threat would continue to be the possibility of Garrus crossing over here. Plus, I had to admit that being bound to an animal’s ghost made me feel more at ease than being bound to a human’s ghost. Even if said animal ghost was a creepy as hell beefed up ghost snake.

I stared into Snake Eyes’s steady glowing eyes for a moment, then slid my gaze back to Magda.

“I’ll do it.”

“Good,” Magda said. She slid a binding rune toward me. I wondered where the ones I had given her were, as well as the skulls she had filled with their power. I had never seen them again after that day.

“Take the rune and go sit down.”

I did as she said, and once I was seated in the middle of the room, Snake Eyes slithered over. Stormy hung back, looking out from under Magda’s table. I wondered if she was sad that she hadn’t been the chosen one.

Magda came over a few minutes later and first tied the repaired rune bracelet around my wrist.

“I’ve made the runes stronger,” she said. “It will help you better handle not only the dead magic and dark energy but the connection to the ghost.”

“Thanks,” I said. I felt infinitely more in control of all the power inside me, but it was unnerving to know that I’d need help once I was bound to Snake Eyes. That was never an issue when I was bound to Ethan.

Magda was using rune powder to draw a circle around the binding rune. Inside the circle she drew several runes.

“Activate the binding rune,” she instructed.

I swallowed hard, trying not to show how apprehensive I was about going down this road again. Everything looked good on paper, but there was always the element of the unknown. Still, I was not the same as I was the first time this had happened. I had to remember that I was changed in a way that would truly keep the Rot away from me. How terribly sad that when it came to the biggest threat to my life these days, the Rot was far from the top contender. If I didn’t do this, I couldn’t get Kyo back into his body. Or get Micah and the Savages back into theirs. I kept repeating that to myself as I placed my fingertips on the binding rune and channeled energy into it. A strong thrum of power surged up my arm and tore a gasp from my lips once the rune came to life. I had almost forgotten how powerful these runes were. The rune circle as well as the drawn runes started to glow.

Magda turned her head in the direction of Snake Eyes, and he slithered closer. The ghost snake bent down and touched his head to the binding rune, and an even stronger jolt went through me, as though a thunderbolt had been thrown right through my chest. I almost fell back under the staggering feel of the connection between myself and the ghost snake, but managed to maintain my hold on the binding rune. It had not felt anything close to this when I had become bound to Ethan. I hadn’t felt anything, which was why I had not known at first that we’d become bound. But Ethan had been a brand, spanking new ghost, only a day or so outside of his body, and had never touched the Afterlife. Snake Eyes was old, evolved, and very powerful, and I felt that power form an intense circuit between us. With relief I realized that what Magda said was true. Much of the dark energy I had taken into myself from the Savages got channeled to Snake Eyes. Not all of it, but enough to make me feel more like myself and less like I would want to rip someone’s head off every time my anger rose. I also felt powerful; my necromancer, reanimation, and dead magic got an insane boost from Snake Eyes’s power. I much preferred this feeling of strength and power over how the dark energy had made me feel.

Once the connection had been formed, the overwhelming sensation of being bonded to Snake Eyes diminished. I still felt it, and always would as long as we were bound, but I could handle it. The runes stopped glowing, and with a nod from Magda, I recalled my energy from the binding rune and pulled my hand back. Snake Eyes raised its huge head and looked at me with those glittering ruby eyes. I had no idea what perception the ghost snake was taking away from all of this. I hadn’t yet fully wrapped my head around the fact that I was bound to it.

“It is done.” Magda held the binding rune out to me and I took it. It felt warm, and I knew it now carried a spark of my reanimation power within it. I carefully slipped the rune into my bag and stood up. A heady rush of magic and power coursed through me as I felt the change that had happened to my reanimation power. I was still nervous about what I had just chosen to do, but I was also excited about helping Kyo, Micah, and the Savages.

“Thank you, again,” I said to Magda, who had risen to her feet as well.

She nodded.

“I hope this goes better than the last time,” I said, running my hand through my hair as I glanced at Snake Eyes. “My biggest concern is anchoring ghosts to tell you the truth. I don’t want to end up in a situation where anchored ghosts are stuck here, even if their unfinished business is wrapped up and they won’t turn into beasties.”

“If you anchor a ghost, it won’t be a human one, child,” Magda said.

I raised an eyebrow. “You mean being bound to Snake Eyes will make me anchor only animal ghosts?”

“Indeed. There are similarities to what is gained when bound to a human or animal ghost, but there are differences as well.”

“I see.” I thought this over. The probability of being around an animal that died and got anchored was slim, unless something unfortunate happened to Luna, in which case I would just reanimate her—again. Therefore, I could live with this caveat. Especially since ghost animals didn’t turn into beasties.

“I’m relieved,” I said.

“Go on now, girl,” she said, moving back to her worktable. Stormy was perched on top now, still watching. “Go write the next chapter of your very interesting story. Show me how it unfolds.”

She left me with a cold smile as I headed out with Snake Eyes following closely behind.

* * *

Snake Eyes didn’t exactly hop in the car for a ride, but when I parked and was walking up to my door, he appeared from the shadows and slithered up beside me. This was going to take some getting used to. I really hoped he and Luna got along. I glanced at the large ghost snake that was enveloped in moving shadows and sported bulbous red eyes. There was slim chance he and Luna would get along.

I opened the door and saw what I hoped I would see. Kyo was coming down the hallway. He’d probably been in Ethan’s room with his body. His energy rune had depleted, but that was okay, soon he would have no need for them. His face was solemn, but confusion and curiosity took over when he saw me come into the house with Snake Eyes. He stopped in his tracks and kept staring from me to it. Luna had run out to greet me but practically flipped over backward when she saw Snake Eyes and ran over to Kyo. I knew she’d been hoping he would pick her up—and maybe flee somewhere far away—but since Kyo was incorporeal, he was little help to her. So she ventured forward and started barking her little head off. I found it adorable that she had pushed through her fear to stand her ground against the large and very sinister looking new pet I had brought home. I went over and picked her up, trying to calm her.

“Um…where do I even start?” Kyo said. “I saw Ethan’s note that you had gone to see Magda, but I hadn’t expected you to come home with that.”

“Snake Eyes is here to stay,” I said. The ghost snake had left my side to explore the house, seeming most pleased with any pockets of darkness he found. Kyo still looked confused, but I offered him a smile.

“I went to Magda to fix the bracelet, but I came back with the ability to put you back into your body. Shall we?”

Kyo gaped at me. “Wh-what?” he finally managed to say. He looked at Snake Eyes again and realization dawned on him. “You bound yourself to the ghost snake?”

I nodded. “Turns out I don’t need to be bound to a human ghost in order for my reanimation power to evolve.”