Sin & Salvation (Demigod of San Francisco #3)(73)

“Yeah.” Bria gave me a thumbs up. “Don’t worry, you’ll be great. I have all the faith in you.”

“I don’t think I can multitask,” I muttered, following Kieran into the house like a lost lamb.

The kids sat at the table with tight eyes as we all filed in, leaving Bria and Donovan behind for obvious reasons.

“A couple days ago, you didn’t think you could yank a soul out of a body, let alone put it back in.” Jack patted my shoulder. “You work miracles under pressure. You’ll do great, don’t worry. Just don’t take off running.”

“Tell Henry to get all our forces mobilized,” Kieran said to Zorn, the energy caged within him threatening to break free. His magic filled the room, materializing as heavy pressure. “It’s finally here. Once we get that army of souls, we’ll be ready to go.”

“What about…” Donovan’s words trailed away.

Frustration came through the soul connection. Kieran’s gaze darted to Daisy and I had to wonder why. “We don’t have any more time. We have to go with what we have and pray that it’s enough.”





31





Alexis





A few hours of digging later, Bria put out her arms and looked over my horror show of a backyard. “First thing’s first, let’s look over our work station.”

Some work station. My lovely grass was in shambles. Holes dotted the expanse in four neat rows. On one side of each hole sat a heaping of dirt peppered with clumps of grass, and on the other lay a dead body stolen from the peaceful resting place it had been lovingly placed by family members who’d thought the grave would be the end of it.

The joke was clearly on them. Or maybe me.

The bodies were in various stages of gross, from “fresh” (recently dead) to “corroded” (some stage of rot). A few were so far gone, the flesh barely hung on the dirty brown skeleton beneath it, not having received the benefit of being bleached by the sun. I had no idea how Bria was going to keep a soul stuck in there—or maybe that would be my problem.

I could feel the evening slipping by as the clock counted down. We all understood that if Valens didn’t make a move by sunrise, Kieran would. Worst-case scenario, we had a little over twelve hours to do a shit load of necromancy, take a power nap, and then I’d be plunged into my first real battle where my whole world was on the line.

To say I was nervous was like saying the ocean was a puddle.

I put a hand on my fluttering stomach as Bria turned to the table she’d set up, holding a plethora of Necromancer tools, from incense to candles to the really annoying bells favored by Mediums. Her gaze roamed the table and her eyes squinted as she noticed each thing. “All there. Good.”

She pointed to the table set up just beyond it. Personal items sat in clusters, my aids in calling powerful spirits from the other side. Since the most powerful spirit I’d ever called was someone’s stubborn grandpap, I really hoped it’d go well.

“Okay,” she whispered, turning back to my devastated yard. “Good. Now, here’s the plan. We’re going to fill these bodies, one at a time, working together. I’ll take a large section of the easier ones, since I’m the hack—”

“You’re the only one with experience.”

“Not for long, am I right?” She grinned at me before turning back to the yard. “I’ve placed the cadavers in order. We’ll start on the left.” She walked in that direction, pointing. “The top left, back there. These are sturdy bodies with a good deal of corrosion, which will help freak people out. We’ll go down the column to here…” She stood at the foot of a large hole. “Then start back at the top of the next column, okay? Females go into a female body. Male into male. Otherwise it’ll take longer for the spirit to adjust.”

“You don’t think this is a little…fucked up?” I couldn’t help but ask. “I mean, who are these people? And what if they get loose or something, and some little kid sees Aunt Ethel running amok? They’ll think she’s a legit zombie. This is the stuff of nightmares.”

She waved the comment away. “It’s fine. All these people were donors.”

“Organ donors. Not body snatcher donors. They were probably trying to help people, not have some rando stuffed into their body and forced to do our bidding.”

She shrugged, moving back to the tables. “That’s the risk you take. Now. Let’s go pick our spirits.” She paused by the Necromancy table. “I’m good to just leave this here, right? You can walk me through your readings?”

“What do you mean, readings?”

She made a this is taking too long, hurry up gesture. Another wave of anxiety rolled through me. “Their power, their skills, their strength—basically how good of a fit they’d be in a particular body. Just…” She pushed me in front of her. “I’ll ask the questions. You tell me the answers.”

“Okay.” All I wanted to do was pop a Xanax and maybe take a bath in my new whirlpool tub, but instead I was ushered out to the front of the house. Boman had used his ability to conceal us from the nearer half of the neighborhood—and them from us.

My next shock of the night came quickly.

“Alexis! Where have you been?” Frank demanded with his hands on his hips, standing in front of a host of waiting spirits. “I was worried sick. Did you know someone broke into your house? I didn’t see who it was, but I saw through the windows that he sure riffled through everything. And there are a bunch of mangy strays running around. The pound must’ve had a breakout or something.”