Page 60 of Witches of Dubious Origin
“But how?” I asked.
“The undead are preternaturally strong,” Olive said. “They are no longer bound by their human limits.”
“Whoa.” I turned to Eloise and asked, “Would it work on you?”
She blinked at me. “What?”
“The incantation I used on Moran,” I said.
“Oh, I don’t know.” Her eyes were wide as if this hadn’t occurred to her.
“Eloise, I’m going to try, okay?” I held up my hands and summoned all the internal focus I could. “Corpus regressus ad mortem.”
Eloise stiffened as if bracing herself for the impact of my magic. There was no crack of sound and no bright light. She gave me a sad smile and sighed.
I glanced at Olive and she shrugged. “You can’t win them all.”
“But why didn’t it work?”
“Potentially because the spell you just used was for returning the undead raised by another necromancer. But to whom you have no connection. You have a blood tie to your grandmother, however, so the spell to return Eloise is likely a different one. Magic can be very particular,” Olive said.
I dropped my hands. A sudden all-encompassing need to understand everything about the grimoire, my grandmother, my mother, their powers, and what had happened to them surged through me. Gone was all my resistance. I would not rest until I had full control of my abilities.
Olive clapped her hands. “Focus. We have a dead body that we need to remove before someone finds it.” She opened the desk and rifled through the contents until she came up with a set of keys. “Follow me.”
It never occurred to me to refuse and I followed her out to the hallway, as did Eloise. Olive tried several keys until shefound the right one. She locked the office door and pocketed the keys.
She strode down the hallway with her chin held high as if she belonged there, as if we hadn’t just unanimated the corpse of the former director of Mystwood Manor. I tried to match her composure but found myself glancing furtively around to see if anyone was chasing us. No one was. The few people we passed were laughing and chatting as if everything were perfectly normal.
How could it be normal when I had just sent a dead man back to his grave—you know, if you didn’t quibble about the actual location? I felt lightheaded and put my hand out, steadying myself against the wall as we walked.
I had done a BIG spell. REAL magic. Reverse necromancy. Olive and Eloise walked ahead of me as if everything were status quo, but how could it be? We had a dead body to dispose of. I thought I might be sick.
“Pull it together, Ziakas,” Olive ordered.
I stared at her back. She hadn’t even turned around. How did she know I was spinning out? I shook myself like a dog coming in from the rain. Fine. I’d freak out later.
“That might be easier if you told us what the plan is,” I said. It felt good to punch back a little.
Olive glanced at me over her shoulder. “If you must know, we’re borrowing some items.”
“What items?” Dread pooled in my stomach.
“Hospital attire, which we’ll likely find in the laundry,” she said.
That didn’t seem too bad, and scrubs would definitely help us blend in.
“And, of course, we’ll need a stretcher to move the body,” Olive answered.
“We can probably find one near admissions,” Eloise suggested.
Olive nodded. “That seems likely.”
“And what are we going to do with Moran when we have him on a stretcher?” I asked, not really wanting to know but thinking it was better to be prepared.
“Then we’ll borrow an ambulance, naturally.” Olive stopped walking and turned to face me. “We have to take him back to his grave.”
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