Page 57 of Dead Wolf Rising (Bad Moon Academy 3)

He narrows his eyes, but I race out of the room before they all decide to try and stop me. I’m doing this.

Time to go save Bea.

Chapter 20

RAVEN

My determination wavers as soon as I step over the velvet ropes. I glance around the hallway, taking in the dust, cobwebs, and broken lights. With a frown, I take a step, coughing when I inhale a dust mote. My lungs seize, there’s too much filth in the air, and I take in a hard breath, trying to relieve the pressure building in my chest, but it doesn’t help.

Heart racing, I take another step and inhale, counting to three. The walls close in around me. It’s not the air making it hard to breathe, it’s anxiety. Step. Exhale. Step. Inhale. I focus so hard on the basic functions my body should be able to do with ease. Even after an extended run my legs have never felt so heavy. My lungs are so tight, like there’s a five-hundred-pound weight crushing me.

It’ll be okay,Joan says softly.

I scoff and shake my head.I don’t want to deal withher.

Is Bea worth it?

What kind of question is that?I snap.

Joan sighs.Suck it up and handle your mom.

You say that like it’ll be easy.

No.I can visualize how she shakes her head.It’s going to be hard as hell, but all of this hesitance and fear is only making it worse.

I don’t respond to her. I am scared. The day I came home and found her in the bathtub was the day part of my soul died.

Dropping my bag by the front door, I kick it closed and slip my shoes off. School was boring as usual, but it’s a welcome escape from being at home with Mom and her fucked up version of Dad. There for a while, I assumed she’d see why I was so horrified when she raised him from the dead, but she never snapped out of whatever grief induced haze she was in.

I head to the kitchen for a snack, but stop short when I see muddy footprints heading from the sliding glass door and in the direction of the stairs. Lines crease my forehead, and I walk to the door and slide it open, stepping onto the worn porch. Immediately my eyes find a rectangular pile of dirt, a freshly dug and filled hole.

Blood rushes through my ears, my heart thuds slowly, pounding so loud I can’t even hear the neighbor’s dog barking at me though I can see him on the other side of the chain link fence.

Where’s Mom?

The thought bounces around in my head, and I spin on my heel, dashing through the door. My socks slip on the tile, and mud cakes the bottom of them. The same dirty footprints cover the steps. I sprint up them, stopping at the top and taking in her discarded shirt. Further down the hall lies her shoes. Her pants are carelessly tossed on the floor outside of the bathroom.

I stop in front of the half-closed door, listening to the water running.

“Mom?”

No answer.

Pushing the door open, my gaze catches on three things. The red tinged water filling the tub overflows, flooding the floor. The razor on the tile. And Mom’s lifeless eyes staring at the ceiling. Gasping, I trip over my feet as I try to back away and crash into the wall. The phone in my pocket is in my hand, and I dial the only person I know will care.

Aunt Lou.

Ten short steps are all that separates me from the ballroom and safety. Taking Joan’s advice, I pull my shoulders back and head down the hall at a clipped pace. There’s no going back now. I have to do this.

Much like we left it before, the ballroom is musty, and Jinx’s decorations have fallen to the floor in a heap of vibrant colors. I carefully make my way toward the stage, crossing the marble floor, walking over the wooden dance floor, and stopping in front of the raised platform. I peer across the stage. This part of the ballroom is always so dark. The curtains are mostly pulled shut, but tiny slivers of daylight seep through. The beams cast a golden haze filled with dust and grime about the room.

I relax every part of my body, calling on the connection I have with my mother. Even in death, that bond is unbreakable. As soon as she arrives, I know it. I feel it in the core of my being. My spine tingles with awareness and I spin, gaze clashing with hers. Her hair is a mess, like she got out of the shower and didn’t bother to comb it. She always appears in black-and-white, I guess she doesn’t find any need for color in the afterlife, except for the red staining her wrist. With a slow blink she steps toward me.

Unlike how I usually react, I stay put. I don’t tell herstop. When she reaches out for me, I let her semi solid fingers brush against my cheek. The gesture is strange, especially given the way we left things.

After she freaked out on me at the graveyard, our relationship was never the same. Her words stung and burrowed into my soul. There are some things that should never be said, and it’s too late to go back now. Instead of letting her touch linger on me, I grab her hand and pull it away, clutching it tightly in my grasp.

Using her as a connection, I funnel myself into the Other World, dragging her with me. We cross through a monotone vortex which is void of life. Popping out and landing on the same beaten path I’d seen Alice off on, I let go of my mom and step back.

---