Page 12 of Crossing Between

Power from the dead flowed through the room that hadn't been here yesterday.

I glanced around, letting my magic out a little as I tried to see where the power was coming from.

I tried not to show any outward shock as I discovered that the power was coming from the shredded body parts on the table.

Multiple souls, more than I could count, surrounded it.

The bodies own soul was nowhere to be found.

They were reaching out to the parts, some moaning in pain, while others were quietly just staring down at it. With all of them in the same space, my magic fought me briefly to grab onto all of them. I stomped it down as fast as I could.

When my magic touched them, the souls turned as one to look at me.

My fingers tingled as their power focused in on me, my magic wanted to command it.

A soul in the middle of the group, an older man who wore what looked like a cardigan and slacks that hinted that he died sometime in the nineteen fifties.

"The Essencefeaster is back." He looked back down at the body. "You don't have long before it comes into its full power and thousands will die when it does."

God damnit. They knew who was killing these people and I couldn't even let the detectives know or ask them more questions.

I couldn't even make my magic command this soul to meet me at my house later.

At a minimum, Quilith would detect me using my necromancy magic.

I couldn't risk it. Even if this soul could give me much-needed information.

I felt torn between keeping myself safe and helping to save other lives.

"Zoey, my sweet little cherub!" Quilith was suddenly in front of me, breaking my concentration on the souls and I pulled my magic in quickly.

"I am so excited that we get to spend more time together outside of lunch!

" They grabbed my hands, pulling them up to their chest and there was a warning in their eyes.

"Let's hurry this along so we can have that time start soon.

" Their hands squeezed mine tightly before looking back at the detectives.

"Would you two like some donuts? I know how much you hunky boys enjoy your sugar. "

Elias grunted. "Donuts sound good."

Kenji came to my side, took my hands out of Quiliths, and patted them as he lowered them. "Try not to overwhelm Zoey too much, Quilith. We'll go get some donuts while Zoey does her thing and be back in twenty minutes. Does that give you enough time?" He looked at me as he asked the question.

I nodded silently as they left the room.

"Now that we're alone," Quilith's energetic happy go lucky attitude abruptly shifted into seriousness as they crossed their arms. "Do you want to summon the soul now or tell me if my suspicions are correct?"

"I'll try to summon the soul." Anything to put off talking to them. The soul was gone from this plane. I wouldn't be able to summon her without showing that I was a necromancer but I could act like I was trying to summon them at least to give me a few extra minutes.

"Well? Do you need to set up?" Quilith's personality change was like fire and ice. There was a dangerous aura surrounding them that scared me. It felt like some kind of oppressive power was pressing in on all sides of me. They weren't playing around.

They knew.

They had to with this reaction.

I swallowed and faced Quilith. "You know the soul is gone and I can't summon it."

"But you could, couldn't you, necromancer?" Quilith's voice was soft and dangerous. They stepped into my space, their fingers tipped my chin back to look up at them. "No lying, little one, it would do you no good."

What kind of power or monster were they? I'd never met anyone who'd scared me as much as they were. Even Cascade, the one time I'd briefly met him, didn't spook me and he was a black druid.

"How did you know?" My lips felt cracked as I croaked out my question. The bruise on my face throbbed in pain.

"Ah ah. I asked first. You answer my questions, I'll answer yours." Their fingers squeezed my chin tightly in warning. "Don't make me hurt you."

My magic pushed forward as I tried not to react to the threat.

It wrapped around the both of us, enveloping me in a hug like grip while I noticed that Quilith's vein in their neck throbbed.

They were holding off my magic with their own.

A literal fire within their eyes appeared and I hurriedly pulled in my magic, pushing it down once again.

Quilith was a dragon. Only dragons could contain flames within their bodies. I was royally screwed. My limbs went weak as I felt my knees give out.

Quilith caught me up in their arms. "Oh no. We can't have that. You're safe for now, sweetie pie." Their aura had softened. I didn't understand why they didn't just kill me when they'd confirmed I was a necromancer but that gave me a little hope.

They brought us into a separate office I hadn't noticed before they placed me gently in a cushioned chair that was comfortable for an office chair. They sat in front of me on their desk just staring at me as I took some more deep breaths.

I couldn't put it off anymore. I was going to finally admit out loud to someone else that I was a necromancer. Not even Ryan knew this secret.

"Yes." My fingers pulled at the bottom of my blouse as my nerves started to make my hands shake. "I could summon the soul back from the afterlife. I'm a necromancer." Tears formed in my eyes.

"How did you manage to stay alive this long without being part of the shadow world or being caught by the government?" Quilith leaned back on their hands, their head tilted. "That camouflage spell you have on is very good. I doubt anyone but myself or another dragon could detect it right away."

"I didn't come into my powers until I was ten when my parents died.

My mother wasn't a necromancer but the family line was known for it in secret.

I ended up finding out when I called her back into her body.

" I took the bun out of my hair, pulled it over my shoulder and started running my fingers through the thick mane.

"She gave me all the information she had and where to find a book that was hidden about my ancestry.

It was what taught me how to control my magic, not the other way around like other necromancers succumbed to. "

"You were alone?" They gave me a look I wasn't able to decipher.

"I had my little brother but he's not like me." My feet started to tap when I stopped touching my hair. "Are you going to kill me?"

Quilith blinked before throwing their head back and chuckled. "I thought about it. If you turned out to be here with nefarious motives, I would have burnt you to a crisp. You are too innocent and adorable to be evil." They winked.

Relief flooded my body so fast that I almost fell out of the chair as I went limp. "What are you going to do if you aren't going to kill me?"

"That's the question, is it not?" They straightened from sitting on the desk and kneeled on one knee in front of me. They gripped my chin again, this time gently. "First things first. Let's get this bruise taken care of."

Their magic brushed against my cheek like a feather. It felt cool as my bruise and cut began to heal. I could feel my cut skin start to knit together. It felt strange and uncomfortable for the few seconds it took, but soon the pain I had been mostly ignoring stopped.

"Now." Quilith stood and glanced out the window in their office. "Our delicious detectives have returned. I will shoo them away for now. You take a few seconds to calm down. I'll have our brunch ordered and delivered. We'll talk."