Knee-deep in Walker ashes, Wendy pulled in the Light and wrestled down the heat, flickering into view. Lately she’d spent so much time as the Lightbringer that shifting back to her physical form seemed like it was beginning to grow more difficult for her as the nights wore on, not easier. Though Eddie couldn’t see the monsters his best friend had battled, he could tell that this fight had been a tough one by the way Wendy trudged back to the car.
“Rough night?” Eddie held out a cup of hot chocolate laced with amaretto, just the way she liked it, and sympathized as she sank into the passenger seat in a heap. Surreptitiously he glanced at the dashboard clock. Fifteen minutes to ten. Her reaping had run over.
“A whole cadre of Walkers was waiting for me. Near a bunch of people, too, and not a one of the Walkers burned! I swear they’re totally multiplying,” she complained, taking the first sip and squinching up her nose. “Ugh, cold.”
“Yeah, well your ‘only ten minutes, I promise’ reap took forty,” Eddie chastised, finishing the last of his own coffee. He grimaced at the bitter dregs but swallowed them down. Someone around here had to show a good example. “I finished my coffee cold, so quit bitching and drink your cocoa already.”
“Mm, thank you,” she said. “Today sucked.”
“Looks like it.”
“I’m in English class, right? And a ghost walks through the wall and right up to me. How he knew I was there is beyond me but he followed me around all day, begging me to help him get into the Light. But I couldn’t, right? Because, hello, I’m at school.”
“Ouch. So what’d you do?” Eddie reclined his seat and tilted his head back, enjoying the feeling of the cool evening breeze on his warm cheeks.
“I had to lead him into the girl’s bathroom,” Wendy grumbled. “But it was so weird. I sent him into the Light, and right before he went he was crying. Crying and thanking me. Afterward I felt so much better, Eds. The Walkers are monsters, it’s important to put them down, but actually helping regular ghosts out again…it’s nice. I feel like an ass for quitting in the first place. This was what I’m made to do, right?”
Eddie hesitated. “Yeah. Right.”
“I am so-so-so very tired,” Wendy said, yawing. “On top of everything else, I’ve had nightmares every night this week. Mom, calling to me, trying to get me to find her, saying that she’s trapped, that she’s lost.” She rubbed her eyes. “I just want them to stop already.”
“Huh,” Eddie said, glancing at his watch. Part of him wanted to listen to her, hug her, tell her it’d be all right. The other part knew better. He wasn’t going to fall for it this time—he’d promised. “You could, uh, try some Nyquil or something.”
“I don’t have problems getting to sleep, it’s staying asleep.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe pick up a book on dream zen or something? Learn to be one of those dream master guys?”
“Working on it,” she muttered under her breath before taking a deep gulp of her drink. “So, um, Eddie? Have you noticed that my life’s been sort of weird lately?”
Eddie grabbed the steering wheel in a white-knuckled grip. “Yeah. But you’re preachin’ to the choir there.” Desperately he added, “I told you about landing a date with Gina Biggs, right? Oh, man, that girl is so smoking hot!” He forced his fingers to release the wheel and straightened in his seat. “Forest fire hot.” Eddie chuckled, too loudly.
“Yeah,” Wendy murmured, “you told me before.” She ran her thumb around her lips, wiping away excess chocolate. “But, Gina’s hotness aside…”
“You can’t ignore how hot she is. It’s impossible.”
“Eddie!” Wendy ground her teeth. “Enough about your…whatever she is, okay? Yes, she’s sexy. Go you. I’m trying to talk to you here.”
“What? I’m listening.”
“No you’re not, you’re mooning over Gina Has-a-hot-ass.”
He sighed. “Wendy, just because you’re jealous—”
“I’m not jealous! Why would you think I’m jealous?”
“I still love you, sweetie, you know that.” He patted her hand. “It’s just, you know, you said that you and me weren’t going to work out and a guy can’t just sit at home and twiddle his thumbs waiting for you. I mean, I would, but…”
“We weren’t going to work out. Aren’t. Whatever.” Wendy groaned and buried her face in her hands. “Eddie, this isn’t about Gina, okay! Just shut up already and listen to me!”
He settled back in his seat. “Fine, fine, I’m hearing you. No Gina talk. You’ve got my full attention. Go.”
She sighed. “With me, stuff’s been weirder than normal. I mean really, really weird. With the ghost stuff, I mean.”
“Right-right, sure-sure,” Eddie said, waving his hand. “I get ya.”
Wendy took a deep breath, as if steeling herself for a negative reaction. “You know how I’ve been going out every night lately, right? Well, I—”
The alarm on his phone trilled a warning. Anxious that he might miss his phone date with Gina, Eddie lifted his arm and tapped his watch. “Hell, look at the time. If I don’t get home soon my mom’s gonna kill me.”
“Oh, okay.” Rubbing a hand over her eyes, Wendy gulped the rest of her drink down. When she finished, she wiped her mouth and belched. “Blame it on me.”
“I have been.” Eddie grimaced, now all nerves. He’d been meaning to bring this up for a few weeks now, but Wendy had been incommunicado, not up to their usual late-night texting chats, and certainly too sleepy and busy to talk with at school.
Twisting the key, Eddie started his car and fervently checked his mirrors, avoiding looking at Wendy while he said what he had to say. “Um, just to get this out there, if you keep up all this long-distance reaping, Mom says she’s not going to let me hang out with you anymore. She’s starting to talk about how you’re a bad influence. Keeping me out to all hours on weeknights and stuff.”
At Wendy’s dumbfounded look, Eddie waved his hands in protest. “I tell her she’s wrong, of course! But you know what a pain in the butt moms…are.” He winced, and cursed himself for ten times a fool for bringing up his mother in particular, and mothers in general. “Sorry, Wendy. I didn’t mean to go there.”
“It’s cool.” Wendy shrugged, trying for nonchalance but clearly upset. “Moms are moms. It’s not your fault, right?”
“It’s not your fault either,” he reminded her, getting up the guts to look her in the face. “What happened to your mother wasn’t.”
“Whatever.” Wendy checked the time on the dash and buckled up. “Come on, Eds, let’s make tracks. I’ve got a date with geography and you’ve gotta get your pretty little butt home before Mommy Dearest goes all Mommy Dearest on you.”
“Wendy—”
“Move it, Jeeves, if you please.” Wendy rifled through her purse and pulled out a five, slapped open the glove compartment, and dropped the money inside. “Here. For the gas.”
Concerned, Eddie tried to catch her eye. “Hey, hey, you don’t owe me anything, Wendy. I’ve never asked you for gas money.”
Wendy kept her face turned away. “Exactly, you’ve never asked. So after all these years I totally ought to throw at least a little scratch your way. Now vroom-vroom already. The hour groweth late and crap like that.” She sounded casual, but the cup in her grip told a different story; it had gone from a venti Styrofoam cup to a sticky ball in her fist.
At least she finished the hot chocolate, Eddie thought to himself, and shifted the car into reverse. He’d scrub out any stains on Saturday before his Homecoming date with Gina, no problem.
A little worried but willing to let her mood slide, Eddie eyed the empty mall parking lot and started rolling toward home. He had plenty of time to worry about Wendy tomorrow, right? Truth be told, Eddie was glad to be taking her home early; the night was young and he still had a long evening ahead of him to spend flirting with the luscious little artist he intended to woo and win. Even though it killed him to be going out with Gina instead of Wendy, he had to move on. Wendy wasn’t the only girl in the world. Still, the guilt niggled at the back of his mind.
With an annoyed grunt, Eddie headed home, the girl beside him weighing heavily on his mind.
When Wendy stomped into her room, she found Piotr waiting. He had a small cardboard shoebox in his hands. A swath of fabric dotted with the familiar acid-eaten holes peeked out at the top.
“You’re here early.” Her phone beeped. Wendy glanced down:
IKssBoiz&Grls: Was I being an ass? U still wanna talk? I’ll tell Gina not 2nite.
Wendy hesitated then pressed ignore. Eddie would understand. Now wasn’t the time.
“I had to see you right away.” Piotr held up the box. “I did not know you would be out, so I decided to wait.” He hesitated. “You were with Eddie, yes? Working?”
“Duh.” Wendy eyed the box. “So this thing sounds big. What’s up?”
“Another kidnapping.”
“Who’s missing?” she asked, dropping her bag to the floor. Jabber hissed—she’d inadvertently dumped her bag right on top of him. Head held high and tail stiff with disdain, the cat flounced through the bag and under the bed, pausing to swipe at her ankle as he departed.
“One of James’ Lost,” Piotr said, setting the box on her desk. “Tommy. This was his jacket.”
Wincing at the thin sting Jabber’s claws left, Wendy knelt down to rub her ankle, whistling at the bad news. These past weeks spent listening to Piotr’s stories had advantages; she’d peripherally learned all about the other ghosts Piotr surrounded himself with, Lost and Rider alike, to the point where she felt like she could effortlessly list them off. The news struck her harder than she could ever have anticipated. She wondered again about Dunn, if the White Lady had meant her threats. “Tommy? Wasn’t he once one of yours?”
Piotr nodded, lips tight. “A few decades ago. He got on better with James than he did with me. They were alive at the same time and James understood Tommy in a way I couldn’t. They were friends.”
“Didn’t James tell his Lost to stay close?”
Piotr’s fist pounded his hip. “Tommy was close! He was dutiful, he wasn’t like the others, he didn’t wander off. Do you see? Elle turned her back for one minute and he was gone. Poof! Just gone.”
“And she couldn’t track him?” Wendy lifted the ethereal fabric out of the box and examined it. Jacket, she noted, was too strong a word. It had probably been, in life, little more than a thin and moth-eaten cloak made of heavy linen. Now, with the familiar burn holes dotting the entire length, it appeared less like a garment and more like a slice of Swiss cheese.
“They hid their tracks very well. We found it torn up at the end of his trail.” Piotr punched the wall and, since his concentration was weak, his arm slid through the plaster almost to his elbow, sticking deeply in the wall. He scowled and, with effort, extracted his arm. “They are angling toward the city.”
Wendy sighed, nodded. “Tomorrow’s a half day at school. I can take Caltrain up to the city and take a look around. See if I see anything different.”
“Spaseebo balshoye,” Piotr said gratefully. “Your aid is appreciated.”
“No problem. It’s the least I can do,” Wendy said, folding the cloak and nestling it back in the box. Her phone beeped again.
IKssBoiz&Grls: Hellloo? U awake? Srry bout Mom. Screw her. I’ll still drive u anytime.
This time Wendy set her phone to silent and laid it on the corner of her desk. “Is there anything else you can tell me? Anything at all?”
“Only that there was a crowd.” Piotr sank onto the edge of the bed. “Walkers didn’t walk in crowds before. Now they thrive on it.” He buried his face in his hands. “I don’t know what to do! We sit like ducks, waiting to get picked off! One this week, two the next! Even gathered together we’re not safe.”
The phone flashed as another text came in.
IKssBoiz&Grls: Wendy? I’m sorry. Please call me. Please?
“Did they take him from Elle’s place?” Wendy sat beside Piotr. She started to take his hand and then thought better of it. He seemed untouchable right now and she didn’t want to push their boundaries. On the desk the phone flashed again. This time Wendy set it upside down. “Did they go inside?”
Piotr shook his head. “Tommy was fond of the roof. Some clear nights, the old theater will project classic movies on the wall across the wharf.”
“Was he up there alone?”
“Elle went with him but she turned to scout the far corner. When she turned back he was gone. She spotted a shadow moving south and gave chase but a block or two later she found Tommy’s cloak. Nothing else. No trace of which way they went from there. Nothing.”
“It’s not much, but it’s a start,” Wendy said, guilt churning in her gut. She still hadn’t told Piotr about the deadline the White Lady had set for her. He had no clue that Dunn might be in even more danger than he suspected. But it made no sense to her—why would the White Lady go to all the trouble of kidnapping the Lost and then do nothing but squirrel them away? Something about the whole mess smelled fishy. She just couldn’t pinpoint what.
“Wendy, we can’t take much more of this! You must help us,” Piotr cried, grabbing her by the wrist. This time his touch was not just cool but frigid and Wendy, startled by the sharp chill, yanked away. She rubbed her wrist, eyes wide with shock at the pain.
“Pros’tite,” he whispered, stunned and repentant. His own palm was dark from their brief contact; if he’d been alive, Wendy imagined it would be red and blistering. “My apologies. I hurt you. I didn’t mean to.”
“It’s fine. Looks like I hurt you too,” she replied grimly. “How’s your hand?”
“I’ll survive.” Piotr turned away from her and stood, walking to the window. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. You were worried, you lost your concentration and you weren’t careful when we touched.” Wendy laughed brokenly. “I mean, hell, it’s not like there’s an instruction manual for this sort of thing. We’re sort of feeling our way along, right?”
“I’ve asked every Shade still able to talk with me if they’ve ever heard of anything like this. None can. Most think I am insane to even think of being near the living.”
“Maybe. I wish my mom were here,” Wendy said. She slid from the bed and braced her back against the mattress, legs thrust out and flexing her toes. The exercise gave her something to concentrate on besides Piotr. “She’d know what to do. She might have a clue, at least.”
“Your mother?” Steadied somewhat, Piotr settled on the floor beside her. “What do you mean? How could your mother help us?”
“Mom is…was…like me. She…she sees. Saw. The dead, I mean.”
She’s also a Lightbringer, Wendy wanted to add, but kept silent on that fact. Now was not the time, nor the place. She had to think on this revelation first, to turn it over in her head.
“I do not recall you speaking of this before. So you were born this way, it was not merely your accident…it is inherited, your Seeing?” Piotr reached for her hand and Wendy hesitated, then drew away, uncertain if she wanted him to touch her after his outburst. He hadn’t meant to hurt them, she knew, but time after time he’d told her that existing in the Never was all about strength of will and concentration. If he lost his concentration again he might do more than sting her, he might do real damage to them both. Still, despite all that, part of her was anxious to brush her fingers across his wrist, to feel that strange ethereal suppleness that existed between them.
Duty, a voice whispered within. Her duty was being denied all for the touch of a boy’s hand. Wendy wanted to be disgusted with herself but couldn’t quite work up to it. Touching Piotr’s hand still felt too calming, too nice. Feeling like a taut bundle of nerves and emotions, Wendy gave in and brushed his fingers with hers. Now that he was calm their temperatures had almost equalized. It was very pleasant.
“Wendy?” Piotr was examining her face and Wendy, flushing, realized she hadn’t answered his question.
“Sorry! Um, well, yes and no. My ability to see the dead is sort of inherited, yeah, but I wasn’t born like this. I only started seeing ghosts after the accident. The one we met at.”
“The accident we met… oh, yes, I remember now.” He glanced around the room, as if looking would reveal more of Wendy’s past to him. “I have asked and asked, but no one has heard of your mother. And your patrols, are they still turning up nothing?” Wendy shook her head. “Wendy,” Piotr began hesitantly, “I do not mean to belittle your pain but…she has probably entered the Light by now. Much time has passed.”
Stiffening, Wendy started to draw away.
Piotr knew that he’d said the wrong thing. Wendy’s shoulders hunched and her head dipped down, her chin tucked to her chest and her eyes watering. Thoughtlessly, Piotr put an arm around her and drew her to his side, barely feeling the increase of her heat in his concern for her.
“You don’t understand. Before…before, I didn’t tell you the whole truth, Piotr. My mom isn’t dead.” She scrubbed the heel of her hand against her cheeks. “She’s in a coma. Mom’s sick.”
“Oh.” This changed things, Piotr knew. “Then your problem is fixed! Her soul may be where her body is and since she still lives—”
“That’s the problem,” Wendy whispered. Her shoulders shook and Piotr hugged her tighter, wishing that he could help. “Her soul isn’t anywhere near her body. She’s just gone!”
“Perhaps, because you are Seers, you are strange,” Piotr suggested, half to assure himself and half for Wendy. “It is known that your souls are different from the rest of us. Perhaps her cord, it has grown thin and she is just traveling. Wise men, yogi, do this from time to time.”
“That’s what I’ve been banking on,” Wendy admitted, “but I’ve scoured almost all of the South Bay and I’ve come up with bupkis.” She scrubbed her eyes. “I hate to say this, but I’ve been really counting on you coming up with some sort of lead for me. You seemed to know everyone, you know? But… you’ve got your own issues. I can’t ask you to keep worrying about my stuff.”
“This is nonsense!” Piotr cried, tightening his hold. “I do not leave my… friends… to suffer, Wendy. I shall keep looking, I swear.”
“But,” she frowned, “what about Dunn and Tommy? You can’t be in two places at once, Piotr.”
“Shush. I am here for you.” Inexperienced with this sort of misery, Piotr fought with himself over what was the best next move, what question would hurt her the least. Finally he settled on, “What do the doctors say is wrong with her?” and hoped that it wouldn’t cause Wendy further pain.
Knuckling away the tears on her cheek with one hand, Wendy coughed wetly, leaned back into his steadying arm, and sighed. “That’s just it. They don’t know. Her condition is like nothing they’ve ever seen before, but…” Wendy wiped her eyes. “Physically the doctors don’t know what happened. Aneurism, embolism…all these ‘isms.’ They can’t find any actual physical damage, her collapse and the coma are a big mystery. The insurance company flew in fancy doctors from New York, Paris, London. They all want to write papers about her mysterious collapse. But I know what really did it.” She pressed her lips tightly together. “It was the Lost.”
“The Lost?” Piotr didn’t quite understand how contact with the Lost would affect Wendy’s mother that way, but after meeting Wendy, he was unwilling to dismiss the possibility so easily, unlikely as it seemed. “I do not understand.”
“That night, the night of the accident, my mother was swarmed by Lost, Piotr. They…drained her somehow. Pulled her soul free. They had to have, because when I got there her soul was gone. Completely gone. And some of the Lost were apologizing to me. They were so upset…” Wendy crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself.
“I have never heard of such a thing,” Piotr murmured. “It cannot be. It is impossible.”
“Is it?” Wendy studied Piotr. “You told me time and time again how unique the Lost are, how much raw power they’ve got. And Seers are different, right? You just said so.”
“But to harm a living soul—”
“It wasn’t intentional,” Wendy replied firmly. “That was clear. I think it was some crazy sort of accident. I think that she went to…talk to them, to make sure they were finding the Light okay, and they were in a panic. They pulled her apart.” Wendy chuckled wetly and Piotr realized that she’d been holding back the bulk of her tears only by sheer force of will. That will was starting to crack. “I always wondered why she wouldn’t let me…interact…with the Lost before. Mom was trained by her grandmother who said that there were generations of us, Seers, stretching who knows how far back. They must have known something like this could happen.”
The heat coming off her was starting to grow immense. Piotr shifted, uncomfortable but unwilling to let Wendy go when she was hurting. “Put like that, I suppose it is possible that the Lost may have hurt your mother. But Wendy, what makes you think she hasn’t simply passed on?”
“It’s like that cap of Dunn’s, or Tommy’s cloak. If her body hasn’t given up, that means her spirit’s still out there, right?”
“In theory? It is possible.” Piotr didn’t want to offer her hope, but he’d seen his fair share of spirits that still had healthy silver cords attached. If her mother’s spirit had been knocked free somehow and was wandering, there was a chance they could return her soul…but not if there was no body to return to. So long as the cord remained tethered, even if it were thin as silken thread, Wendy’s mother might yet be roused.
Then a terrible thought occurred to him. He didn’t want to bring it up, but Piotr knew he’d never forgive himself if he didn’t at least broach the topic. “Wendy? There is…one other possible reason why you may not be able to find your mother.”
“Oh yeah?”
Taking a deep breath, Piotr rolled his hands into fists, nails digging deep into his palms. He could feel himself shaking. “It is possible that she…has become a Walker.”
Wishing Jabber were there to draw her attention away from this horrible conversation, Wendy rolled her tongue around her barbell and ran the ball against the ridge of her mouth.
“Nope.”
“Wendy—”
“No, Piotr.” She slashed her hand through the air, cutting him off. “If you knew anything about my mom you’d know that she’d rather vanish into nothing, okay? She’s not…she’d never…look, it would go against who she is, Piotr. She’s a good person. She’s not a Walker, okay? She’d never hurt a kid. I don’t believe it. So it’s something else. Got me?”
“If you say this is the way it is, so it is. My apologies.”
“Forgiven. Besides,” Wendy winced, “if anyone were going to go against who they are during a tough time, it’d be me. Not her.” She hung her head.
“I do not understand.”
“After everything that happened—losing Mom—I quit. I started avoiding the dead, only interacting with them when I had to, because I was scared that what happened to Mom might happen to me. Or something. Maybe I just blamed myself for not getting there in time. If I’d come when she first called, when she actually asked for my help…maybe she wouldn’t have gotten overwhelmed.”
“This story is amazing.” Piotr gently rubbed her shoulders and, astoundingly, Wendy felt the siren song of sleep start to wrap itself around her. She sagged against him, weary to the bone, wishing that she was stretched out on the bed rather than sitting on the floor.
“Wendy, surely you must realize that this is not your fault,” Piotr added as Wendy struggled to keep her eyes open. “Had you gotten there in time, there was no guarantee that a dozen panicked Lost wouldn’t have hurt you too. You are very, very lucky that they had time to calm down. Fear makes them more powerful. Trust me, I know.”
“I know that now,” Wendy murmured, yawning so that the tendons in her jaw creaked. “But it was hard to understand then. I’m doing the best I can on my own now, but Mom had lots of training. I don’t. We were always so busy that I barely had any teaching at all. I’m not half the Ligh…the Seer she was. And I’ve got tons yet left to learn.”
“Hmm. It’s strange. You’d think if members of your family were there, trying to guide souls to the Light, that more ghosts would remember seeing them. Not every soul is ready for that journey so close to death, after all.”
Here was the moment, Wendy realized. Sleep-ready or not, here was the moment when she would have to decide; she could make something up, could lie to him and keep him…or she could be honest and hope he would understand. It was all so new, so fresh and strange, and she desperately didn’t want to lose the chill but comforting arm around her shoulder, the soothing cadence of his lyrical voice. She could keep quiet, or lie, or even simply mislead and let him draw his own conclusion. Or she could tell the truth. She could be true to what her mother sacrificed, what her mother was in the hospital for, and pray that Piotr wouldn’t run away.
Lying, Wendy knew, wasn’t right, not anymore. She took a breath.
“Well,” she drawled, “there’s sort of a reason for that.”
Piotr’s hands stilled and Wendy drew away from his comforting embrace. The moment she did, her head felt clearer, calmer; her heart rate sped up, preparing for the coming confrontation. “There’s, um, well, there’s something I haven’t been one hundred percent, you know, open about. About me, I mean.”
Slowly Piotr stood, and Wendy, feeling vulnerable on the floor, rose to stand beside him.
“Go on,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest, expression guarded.
“I’m—I’m the Lightbringer, Piotr,” Wendy said. “About a month ago? When you were with Lily, fighting those Walkers? It was me. I’m the monster you saw in the dark.”