Page 85 of Live To Tell

Gather information that puts me back in control.

* * *

The violets in the small vase are already wilted, and I stare at them. They’re soft to touch as I use magic to make them flourish again, amused with myself, as I was when I fixed Holly’s tomato plants. The proud and vocal necromancer never goes further than flora these days.

I pause. With all the distractions, I’ve stopped nagging Eloise when she plans to teach me to strengthen and control necromancy. My morbid curiosity about how a reanimated individual would behave came from a girl who never saw anything apart from black and white—mostly pitch black. I couldn’t see the issue since the person got to live a second life with their self and memories intact. Despite my semi-joke about Wesley, I’d no desire for control of another. Now, all I can see is the dependence the creature would have on a necromancer, as close a tie as a bond. Closer.

“You okay, Vi?” asks Holly and my teeth grind.

She insists on shortening my name, something she sees as a term of endearment brought about by our closer friendship. This reduction of people to one-syllable appears rife amongst the student body, but I don’t partake. Holly would hear the disdain if I replied, Yes, Hol.

“What are you thinking about? You’re quiet,” she continues.

“Necromancy,” I say without looking away from the violets.

“Is that what you’re studying on your phone?” she asks lightly.

I swivel my desk chair. “Do you honestly believe there’re ‘how to raise the dead’ instructions on the internet?”

“No. That was a joke.” She tears a strip of strawberry licorice between her teeth. “Did you have anybody in mind?”

“Leif.”

The licorice jams in Holly's throat and she chokes so hard I’m on the verge of walking over and slamming my hand on her back. I haven’t figured out how delicate she is and don’t want to break Holly's ribs, and so wait. She spits the licorice into her hand.

Gross.

“Does Leif know?” she asks, eyes watering.

“I’m not sure he realizes I think about him.”

“Oh!” Holly wipes at her eyes and her shoulders sag. “I meant, did you have anybody in mind for the necromancy.”

“Good grief, Holly. No. I am not considering Leif’s death and reanimation.” Especially since that was a real fear for him in the midst of the Rory and Wesley investigation.

“He’d like that you’re thinking about him,” says Holly and washes down the remaining stuck candy with a water from a bottle.

“Mmm.” I check my phone in case any of the guys messaged me.

“Or not? Did you upset him? Violet, you have to keep practicing.”

“Practicing what?”

“Not to be as blunt—consider how your words affect people more. I mean, Leif and the guys understand—so do I—but sometimes you’re too much.” She’s cautious and holds out her packet of candy to me.

I shake my head. “Leif made me painfully aware of all this.”

She sighs. “What did you say?”

“Nothing. The meeting with the elders did not go well, and he preferred Rowan’s company to mine afterwards,” I say stiffly.

“What happened?”

“I’d rather not say. Leif’s business.”

“Ah. So that’s where they were going,” says Holly. “Rowan and Leif headed off campus earlier.”

“What?” I straighten and swallow down ‘without me’. “Not to confront anybody I hope.”

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