a bit of hunting I discovered that he was buried in no. 84, the section reserved for World War II veterans.
The sun was starting to fade below the horizon as we finally found his plot. His marble headstone had a purple heart symbol etched on it, and the date said he’d died nearly a decade before at the age of seventy-four.
“We need to get back before it gets really dark; this place isn’t very—”
“Defensible. I know. So let’s get to digging.” I turned to Pal. “Unless you know a spell for this kind of thing?”
Pal cocked his head thoughtfully. “You know, I think I do.”
He began to play a new calliope tune. A few seconds later, the ground began to shake, and a crack formed in the earth covering Henry Schleicher’s grave. The soil bubbled and foamed as if it had been turned to liquid, and suddenly the plain black casket bobbed to the surface. The soil went still and firm again beneath it, and the casket settled slightly.
“That’s hella slick,” I told him.
He took a bow.
I hefted the pick and used it to crack open the lid. The corpse inside was little more than a skeleton in a stained army uniform; short strands of white hair still adorned the parchmentlike scalp adhering to the top of the skull.
I touched one of Henry’s desiccated fingers; instantly, my mind was filled with his nightmares and memories of his death, still painful and bright even after ten years in the dry darkness:
—Miko pulled me tight, her breath hot and ragged in my ear. As I gasped for air, I felt a strange tugging in my chest, my testicles, my mind. Something deep inside started to peel free. “Oh yes, please, yes …” she whispered. My soul tore away. Her body convulsed against mine, and she let out a hoarse, animal groan of delight.—
—I knelt beside an eighteen-year-old soldier with a chest full of shrapnel, and I couldn’t stop the bleeding. I could hear the Zero making another pass over the island. The kid was dying, no matter what I did. The plane was zooming closer, and I knew we had to get to cover.—
I shoved his memories aside and regained enough focus to jerk my hand away, breathing hard. “He’s the guy, all right.”
Using one of the burlap sacks as a mitt, I reached back in, grabbed the skeleton’s closest wrist, and pulled. There was a crack as the bones came loose at the elbow. I pulled the half arm into the bag and tied it off.
“I’ve got what I came for.” I heaved the casket lid closed. “Can you put him back where we found him, Pal?”
“Certainly.”
chapter
twenty-seven
Izanamiko No Oni
Once we got back to campus, we checked in our weapons and went up to the eighth floor.
“Guys, I need to try to find some useful memories in Henry’s bones,” I told Charlie and Pal as I picked up my mouthpiece. “My gut’s telling me that there’s something here we can use against Miko. But the imprints are so strong … the old guy went through some horrible things. The Goad might slip out and take over my body while I’m under and try to do some serious damage.”
Charlie stared at me. “Are you possessed by an evil spirit or something?”
“Yeah.” I winced. “Forgot to mention that part. Sorry.” I sat down in the restraint chair. “Anyway, I need you guys to strap me back in this thing.” I popped the mouthpiece in. “Please leave my jaw and my flesh hand free.”
They did as I asked.
“Pal, put his bone in my hand; take it away if I have a seizure or lose consciousness or anything like that.”
“I will.”
He put the bone in my outstretched hand; immediately I was hit with Henry’s primary death-memory. I bit down on the mouthpiece and tried to ride it out, tried to catch the memory-threads I could feel drifting below it—
The girl stood at the new releases shelf, and God almighty, she was a looker. She wore tight worn-out cutoffs that barely covered up enough to keep her from getting arrested, and she was barefoot. The first three buttons of her black silk blouse were open, and I could see her breasts swaying free under the fabric. Thick hair, as shiny and black as her blouse, hung nearly to her waist. I wondered if her hair would feel like silk.—
I pushed that thread away and moved on to the next.
The girl had the spooky, unnatural grin I’d seen