Fallen Academy: Year Four (Fallen Academy #4)(25)

Her soul.

“Chloe!” Donnie ran forward, but my mother held up a hand.

“Stay back, or you could contaminate the process,” she told him in an iron voice.

He skidded to a stop.

I’d seen my mom reanimate hundreds of bodies, maybe thousands. Never, ever, had I seen this. The soul was always long gone, the body demonically reanimated to look and feel like the family’s lost loved one in a vain attempt to give them that person back, but it wasn’t really them. Not like this.

This was incredible.

“Hey, sweetie.” My mom spoke softly to the smoky apparition of Chloe, who stood in the kitchen looking around the room and then at her body. When she saw the form on the table wrapped in white towels, her hands flew to her mouth.

“It’s okay, hon. We’re going to help you back,” my mother told her calmly.

Chloe looked at me wide-eyed, and then Donnie. Startled, she took a step back, away from her body, and then glanced over her shoulder, where a small white light began to glow.

“She’s leaving!” my mom called out and flung her right wrist, sending a whip of braided purple and orange light to wrap around Chloe’s soul’s abdomen.

The Nightblood grasped at the rope traumatically, trying to yank it off, pulling with everything she had, while looking over her shoulder at the white light that was growing brighter. Suddenly this felt wrong. I was reminded of the enlightening moment I’d had with Michael. Death was a natural part of life, and we all deserved to return to the white light, take a rest between lives.

“Chloe, please!” Donnie choked. “I need you. Mom and Dad need you.”

She stopped fighting and let her hands go limp, looking up at her brother. She took one last glance over her shoulder, and the brightness intensified. For a crazy moment, I thought I saw Bernie, like a flash of a figure walking past the light. Before I could say anything, it was gone.

“Attagirl. Come on.” My mom pulled the rope, and Chloe’s spirit form floated closer to her body with ease.

“Get those feet ready. We’re going to have to stitch her in inch by inch,” Mom told Angela, who had created her own lasso of orange and purple magic that was tied around Chloe’s ankles.

Chloe’s soul allowed herself to be pulled by my mom, but she kept looking over her shoulder longingly at the now diminishing light.

“That’s it, baby. Come back to your body,” Mom coaxed her, the muscles in her forearms flexing as she pulled on the energy rope around Chloe’s soul.

Fanning more sage smoke, my mom finally got the apparition close enough to Chloe’s body for Angela to reach out and grab her feet.

Chloe froze, looking back at the light, which was barely glowing now.

“You need to talk her into this, Donnie,” my mom warned Chloe’s brother.

Oh God.

What have I done?

“Chlo.” Donnie’s voice shook. “I can’t imagine life without you. Mom and Dad don’t even know what happened. It would kill them. You’re the reason they live. You have to come back. I need you. I can’t stand seeing you like this,” he told her in shaky tones.

Finally, she nodded, then fell onto the table and back into her body, overlaying perfectly.

Every single person in the room took in a giant breath and held it.

“Quick! We’re almost out of time. At this point, she’ll be a lost soul, so it’s important we do this right.” My mom turned to Angela and instructed her in terms I didn’t understand.

Lost soul. I didn’t want that for Chloe. Whatever it was, it sounded bad.

We watched in a mixture of fascination and horror, while they wove magic around Chloe’s body like they were stitching her soul to her human form. It was like watching two people sew the stuffing inside of a pillowcase.

“Brielle, fetch my frankincense.” My mother pointed to the expensive bottle of the essential oil on the counter.

I’d been so enthralled with watching the process that her voice startled me a little . I was familiar with this part. Stepping into the kitchen, I quickly washed my hands and grabbed the oil, spinning off the cap.

“How many drops?” I asked.

She thought for a moment. “Ten should do. Seven for me, and three for Angela to anoint Chloe’s feet.”

Although the practice of Necromancy was demonic in nature, I found it ironic that they used an oil from the Bible. Frankincense was needed to awaken the body again. Coupled with my mother’s magic, Chloe would reanimate. Without the oil, it didn’t work, though I’d never questioned why.

I dropped seven drops into my mother’s palm and then three in Angela’s. The smell hit my nose instantly, and I couldn’t help but smile. The scent of sage and frankincense was my childhood. It had a sharp yet sweet smell, and it reminded me so much of Demon City.

Beginning to unwrap Chloe, I positioned parts of the towel to cover her modesty—her brother was watching, after all. Once she was free of the binds, my mother started to massage the oil on Chloe’s temples while Angela massaged the balls of Chloe’s feet. Orange and purple magic wove her into a colorful cocoon of light.

Luke walked a bit closer with Donnie, one hand intertwined with his boyfriend’s as he slipped the other in mine.

We waited as one, holding our breaths.

Shea was at the front door standing guard, but she kept sneaking anxious glances in our direction.