Something Strange and Deadly (Something Strange and Deadly #1)(90)

“Do you have any pulse bombs left?” Daniel asked Jie.

“Just the one,” she said.

“Shit.” His head spun left and right. “What do we do?”

“Go back!” I yelled. “We go back. We can throw the bomb.”

“That’ll kill Joseph, Empress.”

“Look!” Jie said.

The Dead had cleared a space around the fighters, and Marcus was beating the life out of Joseph. He flung Joseph around like a loose puppet. Marcus’s fists connected with Joseph’s jaw, nose, stomach. Then the Dead swarmed too thickly around the fight, and I couldn’t see them anymore.

“Go back!” I shrieked. The current had picked us up and was pulling us away from the cemetery.

“Yes!” Jie grabbed Daniel’s sleeve. “Row us back!”

“How?” he demanded. “We can’t get through that!”

He was right. What remained of the army—likely half the cemetery—was either marching through the river or stepping into it. Decrepit, waterlogged bodies.

“He’ll die if we leave him.” My voice cracked.

“We’ll get through another way,” Jie said. “Just row back to the shore somewhere.”

I watched the Dead and strained to see Marcus and Joseph. When I finally did see, I wished instantly that I hadn’t.

“No!” Jie cried.

Marcus had a limp, bloodied Joseph by the collar and was dragging him effortlessly up the hill.

Jie squeezed her eyes shut. “He’s gonna sacrifice him.”

Daniel grabbed the oars, his face hardened and his lips compressed into a narrow line. “We’ll get out over there.” He gestured to an empty shore expanse south of us. We slid through the water toward it.

“Once we’re there,” he continued in a gruff voice, “we’ll try to get into Laurel Hill from another point, like maybe the south gate. If we’re lucky, we’ll find Marcus and—”

His words broke off. The oars had hit something.

Daniel’s eyes grew huge. “Shit!”

Fingers, arms, and claws surged from the water, scratching and shaking the boat. The Dead had reached us, and we were surrounded.

Jie burst into action. Her sword sliced into the water while Daniel beat at the hands with his oars, but more hands appeared—faster than they could fight.

All I could do was stare, my hand clutched to my chest and my mind scrambling for a solution.

The boat tipped dangerously. A skeletal hand was latched onto the rim, and Jie darted at it, almost tripping over the influence machine. She hacked at the hand until the fingers were severed.

And then the solution locked into place in my mind. Joseph had power—he was gifted with the ability to touch spirits. Elijah had that gift. I had that gift. It was why I could use the earrings, why I could handle electrocution, and why Elijah had used me to resurrect Father.

“I can use the machine!”

Jie and Daniel jerked their heads toward me.

“Start spinning,” I cried. “I can use it to stop the Dead—to stop Marcus.”

“No!” Daniel rammed his oar into the water, but the splashing and thrashing didn’t cease. “That’s the stupidest thing—you can’t do that!”

“Stupid or not, it might work,” Jie interrupted. She dropped to the boat’s floor, ripped the jacket off the machine, and gripped the handle firmly. She nodded, intensity and belief bright in her eyes, and before Daniel could stop her, she started turning the wheels.

I scooted toward the machine. I could do this, I knew I could—and I really had no choice but to try.

“Clear a spot in the water,” I yelled at Daniel. The boat was pitching and rolling all around. We’d topple to a death of drowning at any moment. “I need to touch the water, Daniel—clear it!”

He grabbed Jie’s sword, and without another word, he chopped at the corpses closest to me.

Crack! Blue sparks flew from the machine.

“Go,” Jie said.

I shoved my mutilated hand into the river. Then I leaned forward and thrust my left hand into the popping electricity.

The electricity hit me with a crack. It was like at the library but tenfold stronger. The current raced through my body. The bubbling heat poured through me and into the water.

Millions of worms crawled beneath my skin, and I could smell burning flesh and hair. Then a light erupted all around. Behind my eyes, in my eyes, through my chest. A sapphire light brighter than the sun. With it came a thunder that shook my soul.

With it came power.

It felt like eternity. Like the world spun and spun. I was the river, I was the fish, I was the soil and the roots and the sea, and then I was Jie and I was Daniel. I was Joseph. I felt as large as the entire planet and as small as the tiniest cell.

And then I understood how Joseph could use the water to affect the Dead. I could feel the corpses and their corrupt energy. I focused on their hungry souls and the tethers that connected them to Marcus.

The leashes looked like glowing blue strands of spiderweb, wispy yet strong. I began with the corpse closest to me, though I’d no idea what to do. I didn’t know how to blast the tethers like a cue ball; and when I concentrated on the single thread, nothing happened. I tried to touch it, but I had no physical control. I moved my senses closer to the thread. It was rather beautiful, the pieces of spiritual energy. Beautiful, but wrong. It didn’t belong in this world.