Raven’s father thought he’d buried her years ago, so Raven had a grave next to her mother. As soon as Christian noticed the fresh sod, he fell to his knees and used his hands to dig. When Claude saw the name on the headstone, he joined in.
“Someone’sdefinitelydown there.” Wyatt parked the cart and stumbled out of the seat. “And judging bythatguy’s face, the residents aren’t too thrilled about it.”
Christian didn’t bother asking Wyatt about whatever apparition he was referring to. He just kept digging.
“This is impossible.” Claude sat back, his hands caked in dirt. “It’ll take all night.”
A blue light showered the ground, and they looked over their shoulder. Gem wielded an energy ball between her fingertips. “Let me help. Please, Christian. If she’s running out of air, we don’t have time.”
“Lass, put that away. Do you want to blow a hole through her mother’s coffin?”
“I can do it! A lady’s been teaching me how to control my energy. Stand back and let me show you.”
The two men slowly got up and backed away. Claude looked as white as any ghost that was probably watching.
“It might blow up her headstone. Is that okay?” Gem asked, her voice as innocent as a child’s.
“Aye, that can be replaced. But if your aim isn’t true, you might kill her for sure. If you can’t control it, don’t risk it.”
Gem’s eyebrows drew together as she focused on the light spinning between her fingers. Instead of growing larger like it normally did, it grew tighter and more compact. Wyatt clutched his hat and dove behind the cart. When a few white sparks flickered from the core, Gem raised her arm and hurled the ball at the ground.
The explosive impact knocked everyone off their feet.
Christian stuck his fingers in his ringing ears as he sat up. A charred stench filled the air. Claude waved away the haze of dirt, the lights on the cart illuminating every particle of debris.
Wyatt hurried over and peered into the crater. “Holy Toledo! She blew a hole to China.”
Christian jumped into the pit without looking. Gem had aimed off-center, so the hole wasn’t invading Raven’s mother’s plot. Christian found it easy to sweep the loose dirt aside until he knocked against the coffin.
“Shut your eyes,” he said loudly, hoping Raven could hear him.
Christian punched through the wood before shoving his hand inside and breaking off the top half. He flung it out of the hole, and Wyatt cursed before the lid thumped against the ground.
Nothing could have prepared him for that moment. Though twice buried, Christian had never imagined that Raven would endure the same horror. He sat on the bottom half of the casket and waited. Her eyes were still beneath the closed lids, and when someone shined a flashlight into the coffin, Gem gasped.
“Tell me she’s not dead,” Gem whimpered, shocked by Raven’s purple complexion.
Christian looked at the blood on her tank top by a tear no wider than a dagger. There were also small spatters in another area. She must have put up a hell of a fight before healing herself. He reached out and touched her feverish cheek. Her heartbeat was faint, like a distant drip from a bathroom faucet.
He shook her. “Breathe, Raven. Wake up! You’re not dead.”
Her mouth suddenly opened and made a horrific sound as she pulled in oxygen. Christian watched her chest heave and body arch grotesquely, as if she were some undead creature coming to life. The second gasp was smoother than the first, but her reflexes kicked in and she clawed at thin air.
“Tell her she’s okay,” Gem said between sniffles. “She’s okay, isn’t she?”
Claude slid into the grave behind Christian. “Pull her out of there.”
“Give her a minute,” Christian said, his voice as sharp as a razor’s edge.
“A minute for what?”
Christian looked over his shoulder at the Chitah. “To wake herself up from death. You can’t just jerk a man out of his own coffin.”
“He’s right,” Wyatt said from above. “Boy, does this bring back memories. Doesn’t it, Christian?”
Raven’s skin coloring slowly returned, but the capillaries had burst, giving her a sunburned appearance. She opened her eyes and gaped up as if she couldn’t see the two men crouched on her coffin. Her eyes had hemorrhaged and were bloodshot.
“We’re here, Raven,” he said calmly. “You’re not dead, and you’re not permanently blind. It goes away.”
