When The Grave Calls (The Veil Diaries #9) - B.L. Brunnemer Page 0,12

to the zombie, the further away my body seemed. The more this rotten carcass became my own. I closed my eyes, breathing heavily. There. I saw the grass beneath me. I lifted my head. Uma and my own body came into sight. In front of me.

My lungs seemed to be made of rock. Breathing became harder.

“Uma …” I gasped as I watched my body fall forward to the grass, but it was the skeleton that spoke.

“Pull back!” Uma ordered, her hands going to the shoulders of my body, shaking me hard.

Pull back? Pull back to where? My lungs seized. Icy fear cascaded through me.

Uma pulled her arm back and brought her hand down on my back with a dull thud. The sting forced me to inhale. I was suddenly in my own body, trying to remember how to breathe.

Gasping, I stayed on the ground as the world spun around me.

Uma rubbed my back roughly. “That’s it, breathe.”

When the dizziness faded, I sat up slowly, my body still aching. “What the hell?”

“You put too much of your consciousness into the zombie,” Uma stated. “It’s a risk when you share any kind of connection. I didn’t think you’d have that problem.”

“I didn’t hesitate this time,” I muttered.

“You need to be careful with any kind of connection where consciousness is moved.” She shook her head.

I nodded. “Agreed.”

“I don’t think you should try that again,” she said. “Not without someone who knows more about it.”

“I think you’re right.”

It was several more minutes before Uma gestured towards the body that now stood in the grass waiting for instructions. “Put it to rest and we can go.”

I turned back to the bones and sighed.

Putting a body to rest was exactly the same as raising it, only in reverse. Instead of the body digging its way out of the grave, it slowly sank into the soil and out of sight, the earth taking back what was hers.

As my energy left the zombie it came back to me in a rush. I gritted my teeth and dug my fingers into the grass as warmth rushed through me in an euphoric wave. Everything was good. Happy. Blissful. The euphoric rush took my fears, my stress, any and every anxiety or doubt I had and washed them away in the wave of energy. It seemed to go on and on, until finally, like the last light of day, it faded away and I was left gasping in the grass.

By the time I slipped into the front seat of Uma’s car a wave of exhaustion had hit me, leaving me almost dizzy. I pulled on my seatbelt then began to rub my temple.

The car was quiet as we pulled out of the cemetery. But not for long.

“It can be addictive,” Uma said. “Raising the dead.”

I chewed on the corner of my bottom lip and nodded as I looked out the window. This wasn’t the first time she’d brought it up, and it probably wouldn’t be the last.

“Do you understand how?”

“It feels …” I swallowed hard. I hated to admit it out loud, but I had to. “It feels good.”

Uma turned onto another street. “And that is why it’s dangerous.”

I looked down at my hands, folded into my lap. “Why does it feel that way? That rush?”

Uma took a slow, deep breath. “Maybe because you’re working with life energy and your body reacts to it. I’m not sure. Louis was always tight lipped about it and how it made him feel.”

“Why?”

She shrugged gracefully. “He was ashamed of the way he reacted to it. He despised it.”

“I don’t blame him,” I muttered.

“Just be aware of your motives before raising the dead,” she said. “Make sure you’re not doing it for the rush.”

“Got it.” I couldn’t imagine ever wanting to raise the dead for the rush. Yeah, for a few seconds everything felt fine, but it was a lie. It was a drug. A drug I didn’t want. I looked out the window as the trees passed by in a blur.

Jessica

I was working on my chemistry when someone pounded on my front door. My heart leapt into my throat. I knew that knock. It was Jason, and he was pissed. I met Tara’s gaze and swallowed hard. Lucy was upstairs in the bathroom.

Setting my books aside, I got to my feet and started for the door. Whatever he wanted, he could kiss my ass. I wasn’t his girlfriend anymore and I never would be again. No matter what he wanted, I owed him nothing.