Page 21 of Dead End

“And my spider?” I asked in a raspy voice, clearing my throat to hide my feelings.

“Arachnid!” Jessica shouted, scrambling out of my hair.

“Sorry,” I muttered, looking back at the aunties. “Why do I have a witch’s familiar if I’m a necromancer like my dad?” I was confused. Was it because my mom was a witch?

“All powerful creatures have familiars, Pumpkin,” Pip said with a small smile. “Sometimes, a body contains too much magic and needs a source to hold some of it. Yours is a spider, and it looks like Norman here might have found his own little batty buddy, Billie.” She gestured to the bat as she frowned into her tea cup. It was almost empty.

Norman’s eyes went wide as the bat continued to nuzzle his neck. I fought a smile because now wasn’t the time. But it was really damn cute watching him fight the urge to snuggle back.

“So we might all get one?” Maddie asked. I could see the wheels turning in her brain already. Maddie was a sucker for cute animals. With her luck, she’d end up with a freaking panda.

Pip shook her head. “Not necessarily. For example, Fe and I do not possess a familiar because our power as sisters is balanced.” Her eyes flickered to mine sadly. My mother had been the third, and now she was gone.

We went quiet, everyone pondering their own individual situations. I could see everyone struggling with what to do and how to react to the news that we could never go home again.

“I have just the solution,” Pip announced, clapping her hands together. “The six of you were just starting university, so we’ll sign you up for some courses here at Midnight U, so you can acclimate to this world and learn a little something about the creatures here.”

“Are you kidding me?” Jason spat angrily. “I don’t want to acclimate. I don’t want to go to some freaky creature university. We have basketball scholarships to think about. I just want to go back to our world and forget this ever happened.” The others murmured their agreements.

“That’s tough luck, then,” Auntie Pip said, finishing the last slurp of her tea and standing up from her chair. “You belong here now. You left the mortal world behind when you died, and I’m sorry if that’s upsetting, but if you don’t learn to live amongst us, then we cannot protect you. Hallowell witches are powerful, but we cannot perform miracles. It’s a trick-or-treat world out there, and I’d rather see you treated than tricked.” She winked.

Pip stood up as well. “We’ll give you a week to settle in, but make no mistake, this is permanent. And don’t go blaming my niece. She saved your sorry lives, and for that, you should be on your knees thanking her.” She tossed me a proud, loving smile, but I felt sick to my stomach.

I stood then as all eyes turned to me. I couldn’t take it anymore. It was all too much. I felt dizzy and nauseous, like I could sleep for a month. Needing to get out of the room, I pushed back my chair and fumbled to get to the other side of the table, but in less than a second, my vision swam.

I heard Fe shout, “Take it easy! You expended a lot of power after you died; try not to—”

But I was down for the count. I saw the floor rush at me and braced for the landing. It was lights out after that.

The soft summer breeze whipped my hair around my face as I lay in the grass next to their headstone. The dirt was still fresh, and the grass had yet to grow over it.

Pushing a few wayward strands of orange hair behind my ear, I squinted up at the sun, wondering how the hell it was still shining while everything else was falling apart. Sitting up, I twirled a piece of grass between my fingertips as my eyes traced over the two names carved into the granite, realizing that this was all we had to look forward to when we died. Just our names stamped on cold granite as our loved ones stayed behind, talking to nobody. It wasn’t like they could hear me anymore. At least, I hoped they were somewhere else.

“Why did you have to leave me behind?” I rasped. “I was supposed to go with you. Right by your side like always, remember? But I’m still here.” My voice carried on the wind, traveling through the empty graveyard. Nobody was around to hear me. “What am I supposed to do now, Mom?”

Maybe I hoped for her to show me some kind of sign that she was still around in spirit, but all I ever got in return was dead silence. The sun suddenly disappeared, leaving my once-overheated, pale skin chilled. Looking up in confusion, all I could see were strange black clouds rolling in from the east.

That was odd; summer was still in full swing. With a heavy heart, I kissed my fingertips and placed them against their stone for the hundredth time this month as I climbed to my feet.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered as the wind picked up in earnest, blowing me back a step in the process. My loose coat picked up and flapped in the breeze.

The ground under my boots started to shake. It felt like the beginning of an earthquake, but as I tried to not topple into the dirt, I noticed that the leaves on the trees weren’t moving an inch. The trees should have been swaying with the force. Everything was frozen, not even the sound of crows calling out in surprise.

The only movement was where my feet were planted—right above my parents' caskets. The sound of wood splintering reached my ears, and all I could do was stare down in horror at where the soil was now shifting. Stumbling backwards, my foot got caught on a gnarled root sticking up from the ground, and the moment my butt made contact with the grass, I started crawling on hands and knees to get away.

Two horrifying, greying hands tore through the dirt in front of my mother and father’s graves, bracing itself on the solid part of the soil to move up from the hole it was buried in. A scream was stuck in my throat, and all I could do was stare in absolute panic when the soil next to it moved. Dad’s wedding band was recognizable on the one hand, tearing through the next. That was what got me moving.

Twisting, I crawled on my hands and knees, scrambling through the dirt and grass. I jumped to my feet but still kept glancing over my shoulder. This couldn’t be real. I have to be dreaming right now. I looked back against my better judgment as I got closer to the entrance, only to find my dad staring me down as he dragged himself out of his grave.

Rotten, disfigured flesh was hanging off his exposed bones, but it was unmistakably him. The same clothes we buried him in were now covered in dirt. Needing to get away before I threw up and curled into a little ball, I turned my head to see where I was going but skidded on the slick grass to a stop as more sobs racked my body.

“You di-did this to u-us.” Mom’s sunken eyes stared straight ahead, her mouth gaping open, her cheekbones peeling and deteriorating. Her mouth was a torn mess of yellowed teeth.

“No! You're not real. This isn’t real!” I cried as my legs collapsed under me. I stared up at her through my hazy tears as my dad shuffled slowly to her side, pointing his boney finger at me.

“Join u-us, October. W-we can be a-a famil-y again.” His words came out disjointed and breathy as they stepped closer. Soon, both of their rotting corpses were towering over me. There was no love left in those sunken eyes.

“Time to wake up,” Mom said. Her voice sounded suddenly normal, but she was smiling at me with her head cocked to the side. “Wake up, October!”

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