Page 7 of Devils and the Dead
My own grandmother had died when I’d been an baby. Dad had taken off soon after my birth. Mom hadn’t stuck around for much longer. But I had six sisters and a cousin that I was very close to. I understood family. At the very least, I yearned to introduce Maude to Rita so she could bond with one of her descendants and know that her progeny had carried on, but I doubted that reunion would turn out well. Rita would freak at zombie Maude. Not that I blamed her. Even my own sisters found my form of magic icky.
So Maude remained here, cooped up in my house, crocheting, and watching Netflix.
I moved a stack of books off the table, and forced myself to eat a piece of the cheese Maude had put out as a snack for me, just to be polite.
“Do you feel up to trying one of these spells tonight?” I asked her.
When Maude hadn’t immediately returned to her afterlife, I’d jumped into research. I’d Googled. I’d e-mailed other witches, asking if they knew any other necromancers I could consult with. I’d ordered more books off eBay than a small-town library. I’d already attempted two spells to try to send Maude back with no success. Tonight I wanted to try once more.
“Howww about tommmmorrow?” she slurred. “You arrre tired.”
She was right. I was tired. Besides, my particular brand of magic didn’t need to be worked at night.
“Tomorrow then.” I smiled at her and took another piece of cheese from the plate. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
* * *
After breakfast,I got the spell ingredients ready. Glancing over at Maude, I saw her surrounded by her crochet supplies and flicking through the television channels. She didn’t sleep. She didn’t eat. The only time she breathed was if she needed to speak. I sucked as a necromancer. Creating a zombie was okay for a quick defense against attacking demons, but I’d sort of resurrected the woman. Only,not. I’d half-assed the whole thing instead of actually resurrected her.
I could deal with the ramifications of this if she were in a living body. It would be one thing to teach Maude to live in the modern world, to somehow get her a fake ID and let her live a second life. But this? This was horrible. She was cooped up in my house, decay seemingly suspended but definitely not reversed. I needed to figure out how to return her to the grave, or how to fully resurrect her, because this just wasn’t fair to the zombie at all.
Setting the candles on the table, I went to sit beside her and took her bony hand in mine. “Maude, I’ve never have really asked you this. I honestly don’t know if Icando anything about your situation, but I’m trying. So far I’ve been doing spells that would return you to the grave, and I realized I never really asked you whatyouwant. Do you want to go back to the grave and whatever afterlife you had? Or do you want me to try to give you a second lifetime as a human?”
She sighed, picking at the sofa cushion with a yellowed nail. “I don’t rememberrrrr where I was beforrrre you awakened me. It’s fuzzy and unclearrr. I think I was happy, but I don’t recall enough to know if I want to go back orrr not. It scarrres me, this not knowing. My situation rrrright now isn’t grrreat, but I’m scarrred that the alternative might be worrrse. I mean, at leasssst I’m sorrrrt of alive, rrrright?”
I winced, sad that she knew she was a zombie, and knew she’d never be able to live a normal life like this.
“I’m going to see if I can find someone to help me. Right now, I have three spells that I’ve found that are supposed to resurrect someone. It’s not a lot, but I’m willing to give them a try. I want you to be able to live again if that’s your choice, but it may not be possible.” I ran a hand through my hair. “Hell, I don’t even know if I can even manage to send you back or not. The last spells I performed didn’t seem to do squat.”
She looked over at me with filmy blue eyes. “It’s not yourrrr fault, Babylon.”
“Yes, itismy fault.” I stood and began to pace. “Animating corpses doesn’t harm anyone. Bringing back a spirit echo into a dead body doesn’t harm anyone. I thought calling for an army of the risen dead to defend my sister and me wouldn’t harm anyone either, but it did. It hurt you. It may have also hurt the others I raised that night.”
It was the nightmare I didn’t want to think about. Were they back in heaven or hell, or were those souls trapped somewhere? Thebodieshad gone back to their graves, but were theirsoulstruly at rest, or had I screwed that up as well?
“Everrrry one of us would have come frommm the grave to protect our farm and our family,” she told me in a firm tone. “We spent our livesss on that farm. The people that live therrre now are the children of my grandchildren. It wassss my honor to defend them, as well as you and your sssister. And I know the othersss feel the same.”
I hoped so.
“I want to do right by you, Maude. And I want to make sure the others are definitely safe and at rest.”
“I know you’ll do alllll you can, Babylon. And in the meantime, I’ll make blanketsss. I promisssse not to prepare any more food, though. After some of my hair fell off in the oatmeal thisss morning, I decided cooking isn’t a good idea.” She sighed. “It’s a shame. I wasss quite a good cook when I was living, you knowww. My baked goods were considered the best arrrround. I even won a blue ribbon for my peach crrrrumble.”
For a second I thought about offering to introduce her to Glenda, my foodie chef sister, but I didn’t want to freak my family out.
Who was I kidding? I didn’t want to let my sisters know that I’d screwed up something so monumentally.
But Maude’s situation wasn’t going to resolve on its own. I needed help, which meant I was going to have to confess my deeds. And Maude needed to get out and among people other than me. The only place she’d be remotely welcome would be Accident, where supernatural beings felt comfortable walking about in their own skin. But even a town of selkies, shifters, vampires, and more would hesitate to welcome a zombie with open arms.
I needed assistance, but in the meantime, I wanted to try everything I could to help Maude. So I got to work, setting up candles, eyeing the spell I’d marked in one of the books I’d bought off eBay, and gathering my ingredients. When I was ready, I pulled the blackout shades down, drew the curtains, and turned off the television.
“Ready?” I asked Maude.
She smiled and rose. “What sssshould I do?”
“Stand over here by the table,” I told her. “Then disrobe. I need to rub some oil into your skin for this spell, and you’ll need to be naked.”
She hesitated, and I could swear I saw a blush creep up her neck and across her cheeks. “My body doesn’t look verrry good.” She shook her head and let out a raspy laugh. “It didn’t look verrry good at ssseventy-one when they ppput me in the grrround, but it looksss worse now. My ssskin is coming offff, and I’m blotchy and green in placesss. And ssso bony.”
