Page 47 of Perfectly Perplexing Zombie

“Let me guess,” Wendall said with a sigh. “It’s one of your restrictions.”

“Unfortunately.”

“I’m starting to have a love-hate relationship with these restrictions of yours,” Wendall groused.

Aurelia’s smile was full of teeth and malicious intent. “Trust me, little zombie, the feeling is mutual.”

ChapterEighteen

Wendall

I stared at the circular object swinging from Muriel’s hand and frowned. “Is that really supposed to hypnotize me?” I sounded dubious because Iwasdubious. I’d always been skeptical of hypnotism. Not because I thought things like that were completely bogus, but I just didn’t think it would work on me. That was probably arrogant thinking, but regardless, it was what flashed through my brain now.

“Well, it sure as shit won’t work if that’s your attitude,” Johnny huffed. We’d decided to try this down in the bar, mostly because squeezing Johnny, Mr. Moony, Peaches, Ray, and Muriel into my little apartment seemed like an impossibly tight squeeze.

“Johnny’s right.” Peaches fluttered nearby. I might have sneezed if I’d needed to breathe. Golden pixie dust filled the air, and when Muriel did sneeze, Peaches snapped his wings shut and offered up a contrite apology. Walking closer instead of flying, Peaches got down in my face and said, “You’ve got to keep an open mind.” He said it with a smile and a confident nod, as if that’s all I needed to follow his instruction.

“Muriel.” Mr. Moony’s cool voice was like a glass of refreshing water on a hot day. Or, at least, what I remembered it tasting like. “I have not heard of hypnotizing the reanimated dead before. Do you truly believe it is possible?”

Muriel huffed. “You’ve never heard of it before because every other zombie doesn’t have two brain cells to rub together. Wendall’s different, and no, I have no idea if that means this will work or not, but right now, I don’t have a better idea. Do any of you?” She pointedly stared down each and every pair of eyes in the room.

Peaches shifted toward Mr. Moony’s side, and his arm immediately pulled him in closer.

Johnny stomped a cloven hoof and shook his head.

Ray said nothing.

“That’s what I thought.” Muriel inhaled and pushed her chest out, throwing her shoulders back. “Now, if the peanut gallery is done with their piddly-ass comments, I’ll get busy, and we’ll see if this has a prayer of working.”

Muriel’s gaze softened when her eyes settled back on me. I was sitting at a table. Trinket was in her usual spot, snuggled up to my neck. Her fur rubbed along my latest spot. I’d quickly slapped a bandage over it this morning when I woke up and saw it staring back at me in the mirror. I didn’t want Trinket getting the antibiotic ointment on her fur.

“All you need to do is relax and concentrate on my voice, Wendall. You can do that for me, can’t you?”

Muriel knew I’d do anything for her, and my nod made her eyes crinkle with her smile. “Good. Do you have any questions before we get started?”

I shifted and asked, “Even if this works, how will we know if I saw anything? I didn’t recognize it then, so what will make this different?”

Instead of Muriel, Ray stepped closer. His hand found its way to my wavy hair, tucking a strand behind my ear. He’d been a little touchier since our impromptu meeting with Aurelia in the park. I couldn’t say that I minded.

“That is what we are all here for. Muriel will attempt to take you back to Professor Stover’s office. All we need is for you to look around, describe what you see, and maybe note the professor’s reactions when your eyes land on a particular object. It will most likely be subtle, something you mentally wrote off or didn’t fully contemplate. Simply relay things as you see them and leave the rest of it up to us. That’s what we’re all here for.”

“Ray’s right,” Johnny said with more confidence than he’d had before. “All you gotta do is look around. You’ll be safe. It’s just traveling back into your memory. Right, Muriel?”

“Correct. The whole process should be painless.” I wasn’t sure if the bravado coloring Muriel’s tone was false. I liked to think she was as confident as all that, but she’d readily admitted she’d never done this with a zombie before.

“Okay. Let’s do this.” I wiggled my body, trying to ease the building tension. It sort of worked. Honestly, Muriel’s calm, soothing voice did more to relax me than my own efforts.

“You’re gonna do just fine, sugar,” Muriel’s coo was different from Trinket’s, but they had similar effects. “You just leave all the heavy lifting to me.”

It was surprisingly easy to fall into Muriel’s lulling voice and soothing tones. I trusted her completely and readily placed my body and mind into her care. The round object started swinging in front of my face, and I did as Muriel said and tracked it with my eyes. I wasn’t sure how hypnosis works for living humans. As Muriel’s zombie, she could control my actions. I didn’t know if she was actively controlling me now, but whether she was or not, I fell into her trance frighteningly easily.

Before I knew it, I was back in Professor Stover’s office. It was just like I remembered it, but that was probably the point. Since we were relying on my memories, the place should look just as I remembered it.

I could see it all so clearly, maybe even more clearly. It was like everything was bright, highlighted, and oddly 3D. It was even more cluttered than I thought, or maybe it looked that way because I could see each and every object so clearly. Professor Stover was in the far corner, back to me and body turned so I couldn’t see his face. He didn’t know I was there.

“There’s so much to look at. It’s overwhelming.” My voice sounded far away, but not as far away as Muriel’s answering one.

“I know, sugar. Tell me what you see. Is the professor there?”

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