“Are you telling me my baby’s dead?” Crush asked, his voice quavering.
I shot up. “Christian, no! Tell him I’m not dead.”
“She wants me to tell you she’s not dead.”
Crush faced us and wiped his eyes. “What do you mean, she told you? Only Gravewalkers can see the dead.”
“Aye. But she’s not dead.”
“Then how the hell can she be a ghost?”
I crossed the room and stood in front of my father. “Tell him I’m here. Tell him.”
“She’s here. She’ll explain everything through me.”
I reached out to touch his cheek, but my hand went through him. It was a strange feeling since I wasn’t transparent or anything. “Tell him to sit down before he has a heart attack.”
“She wants you to sit your arse down before you have a heart attack.”
Crush’s lips twitched. “Yeah, my baby’s here.” He dragged the chair to the foot of the bed and took a seat. “Explain.”
I sat on the bed near him. “A Mage put a curse on us using energy. We don’t know how, but we’re trying to figure it out. You can’t tell anyone. Not yet. It might put us in danger.”
Christian relayed my words.
“What the hell did he do that for?” Crush asked.
“It was a whole bunch of people,” I said. “He wants us to join his army to overthrow everyone. Those who join him will have the spell lifted.”
Christian continued acting as my interpreter.
“And those who don’t?” Crush asked.
“We stay this way forever.” I sighed and looked at his steel-toe shoes. “There’s a risk if we tell others about this deal and it gets back to most of the higher authority members. They might think we’re all a risk of becoming traitors, especially those who work for the higher authority, Mageri, and so on. Everyone seems to be keeping their mouths shut or else we would have heard rumors by now.”
After repeating my words, Christian strode to the bed and sat to my right. “Humans can’t see them anymore, but Breed still can. That’s why I can talk to her.”
Crush stopped petting Harley on the head and looked around. “Where is she?”
“In front of you.”
Crush looked in my direction and teared up. “No wonder you came over yesterday. Is that why Switch was giving me a funny look—because you were there when I came back?”
“Yes.”
“Fuck. I’m sorry I didn’t give you a hug before I left.”
“Daddy, don’t cry. You know I love you, and we had the best day.”
“She had a good time,” Christian said.
Crush speared him with a glance. “That’s not Raven talking.”
Christian gave me a peevish look. “I’m not saying it.”
My father leaned back. “Grow a pair.”
When I gave Christian a reproachful look, he stood up and leaned against the dresser.
