Page 38 of Perfectly Perplexing Zombie

It was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. There I was, a zombie drying dishes as one of the most powerful fairies in the world washed. How in the hell had my life turned into this?

* * *

“He did what?” I asked, nearly breathless. My fingers had gone from strangling Ray’s pant leg to my own t-shirt. Mouth gaping like a fish, I choked out, “Wh-why? Why would Professor Stover do something like that?”

I fell onto my couch. My shaking legs didn’t have a prayer of holding me up, and I wasn’t in the mood to ask the impossible of them. My heart should have been pounding, not just lying there doing absolutely nothing. If there was ever a moment made for panicked overreacting, this was it.

“I can’t believe that.” I vehemently shook my head, tossing my wavy blond hair and getting some strands caught in Trinket’s fur. Thankfully, she held on tight with her tail as I’d unceremoniously flopped onto the sofa. “You have to be wrong.” I was clearly in the denial stage.

“Unless the djinn lied, I am not wrong.” Ray sounded so damn matter-of-fact. There wasn’t even a hint of inflection in his voice. Ray had just told me my former professor, a man I greatly admired, had ordered my death.

“Djinn?” That word penetrated my denial haze. “You spoke with her?” I stared up, amazed at how still and calm Ray was.

He looked like perfection made whole. They’d definitely broken the mold when he was born. I had no idea how anyone got a body that firm and defined. Humans struggled in the gym. I had a hard time imagining Ray sweating it out on the elliptical or lying flat on a workout bench lifting weights.

Actually, that wasn’t all that hard to imagine. It was a little too easy to imagine. Not that I thought that’s truly how he got so ripped. It was just aninterestingmental diversion.

Swallowing that amazingly not disturbing thought, I forced my mind back on the here and now.

“Aurelia was actually very helpful and informative.”

“Aurelia? Is that her name?” If so, it sounded beautiful and old.

Ray nodded, and his gaze drifted toward me and, more importantly, at the area opposite me on the sofa.

“Would you like to sit?” I asked.

I wasn’t sure why Ray needed an invitation, but when he walked over and eased down next to me, I realized that was exactly what he’d been waiting on. Having him this close was odd. It was comforting but also a little nausea-inducing. Those two emotions were terribly at odds with each other.

Ray’s hair was so long he almost sat on it. He shifted it out of the way with practiced ease before he fully sat. The move was liquid-smooth and more fascinating than it should have been.

Without further prompting, Ray told me the whole, sordid story. Each word sounded less believable than the last. And yet, I didn’t doubt him. In the most bizarre way, it made perfect sense. Muriel told me the police and the detective she hired hadn’t been able to locate the car or driver. In this day and age, that seemed odd. Not impossible, but not all that likely either. She’d said it was as if they’d simply disappeared, and if a djinn was involved, that’s likely exactly what happened.

I sat there, taking it in and feeling my gut sink further into a looming abyss. When Ray finished, all I could do was sit there. At some point, Trinket found her way onto my lap. Her tail was wrapped around her body, and she softly cooed. Her body rumbled in a way that resembled a cat purring and had the same soothing effect. My fingers dug into her fur and kept up an unconscious rhythm.

“Wendall?” Ray’s unusually soft voice questioned, and his slender fingers found their way to my shoulder. Light pressure eased into my reanimated skin. I wasn’t as sensitive as I’d once been, but my brain still registered the gentle touch.

“I’m fine,” I stupidly said. That hadn’t been what Ray had asked, at least not directly. I supposed he hadn’t truly asked anything in particular. That didn’t matter. I sensed that was what Ray was truly after, and I offered a half-ass lie.

I wasn’t really fine. My body was deteriorating. I was decaying, and the one and only answer to my problem was something I wouldn’t—couldn’t—accept. I was a zombie. I was relegated to a lifetime of diminished senses and limited dietary choices. And I had a professor I’d once admired to thank for all of that. Not only that, said human wasn’t happy that even my second life had an expiration date and was also determined to steal that time.

“I do not believe that is completely true.” Ray didn’t exactly argue. He would have had to raise his voice to qualify as an argument.

I believe I shrugged, but I wasn’t sure. “I don’t think it matters if it’s true. It is what it is. There’s no changing things.”

“That is not entirely true. If you would accept my—”

I cut Ray off. “Not happening.”

I didn’t want to rehash that tired ground. Truthfully, it was damn tempting to take Ray up on the offer. But I wasn’t that selfish. I couldn’t imagine living for eternity knowing I’d taken something precious from him. Something he could never take back and never give to another. I would be condemning Ray to a loveless eternity. I still wasn’t sure if romantic love meant the same thing to fairies as it did to humans. I wasn’t willing to take the chance of taking something that meaningful away from him.

Ray went silent and rigid beside me. I could tell he wanted to say more and swallowed the words. I thought that took tremendous restraint and decided to change the topic.

“Do we know how he plans to take me out?”

It was a better question than it sounded. By the strictest definition, I was already dead. It wasn’t like a knife to the heart would kill me a second time. Poisoning wouldn’t do it either. Hell, I didn’t think even beheading me would totally end my second life. The thought conjured an image of me sitting on this same sofa, my head in my lap or maybe on the armrest as Trinket and I binge-watched TV.

“Aurelia did not expound upon different options. I will need to consult with Muriel. The only way I know to fully put a permanent end to a zombie is through fire or destruction of their priest or priestess.”

---