Chapter 7

Kellan walks toward the tomb,but I don't follow. Fear holds me back.

Not the tomb. Not the tomb.

Even through the stone walls, the insidious presence of the soul it houses bleeds heavy and thick into the air around us. The weight of it is crushing. Kellan hasn't felt it yet, but he will. We may not have been aware of it when we were living and spent hours inside the tomb, eating, drinking, hiding away, but now we're dead, it's a different matter.

He reaches the door.

"Kellan." My voice is low.

He glances back at me over his shoulder, and smiles. "I'll be right back."

Don't go inside. Don't go inside.

He vanishes through the door.

Panic chokes me.

There's nothing scarier than the thought of an eternity on your own. Nothing and nobody to talk to while stuck in the place where you died.

Come back. Come back.

"Kellan?" I take a step toward the tomb.

He shouldn't have gone in there. The first night I was here, I saw Churchill Bradley in the halls of the school. He is the master here, lord of the realm, and his hand is the one that holds the chains of all the souls that are trapped here.

"Please, Kellan. Come back."

There's no reply.

I can't let him do this alone.

Curling my fingers into fists, I walk straight through the solid wood. It sends a disturbing tingle through me. I stop inside the structure. Kellan is standing in front of the coffin, but his gaze is on the wall on the opposite side. A white fog slithers toward him.

"Stop with the dramatics." Kellan's voice is dry. "I'm not scared of you."

The temperature drops, and although it no longer affects us the way it did when we were alive, I still shiver.

"All I want to know is how I can return to my life. Answer that, and then I'll leave you alone."

His words hurt. I understand that he wants to get back to Eli. Protect him. I also know it's impossible, but the thought of him leaving me here alone still hurts.

"Get out." The raspy voice echoes off the stone walls. "Get out."

Kellan scowls. "Answer my question."

Pain explodes through me. When Kellan gasps, I know he's experiencing it too.

"Get out of here." The words turn into a howl. "You're not welcome. Insolent boy. Leave!"

"No." Kellan snarls.

I grab his arm and yank him back a step, the invisible assault intensifying.

Fog rolls out on either side of the tomb, and a sickly green light forms above the coffin. It coalesces and swirls, until the shape of a man takes form. His eyes burn with rage.

Churchill Bradley raises a long finger and points at us. "Know your place, boy."

Kellan shakes off my hand. "I do, and it"s sure as shit not here with you."

A clawed hand wraps around the essence of my being. It squeezes and the pain feels like a metal band crushing my soul. Kellan cries out, clutching his chest, and drops to his knees. My legs fold beneath me.

"You're mine." The old man's voice rises. "You belong to me. All of you do. This is my domain. My home."

"Kellan." I gasp his name.

"There's no escape from here."

A force hits me, and I'm flung backward, through the door, and over the tombstones outside. I hit the ground and tumble over and over before coming to a stop. Rolling onto my side, I search for Kellan. He isn't far away.

An eerie shriek rattles through the cemetery, and my attention snaps back toward the structure. Churchill Bradley floats from the confines of his tomb.

"Run!" I shout.

He doesn't have to be told twice.