“What, afraid of fire, Frank?”
“I fucking hate you,” he laughed.“Stop calling me that.”
“If you’re Frankenstein, that makes Eisley Frankenstein’s bride. What does that make me?”
“Whatever you want to be, fuckface.”With all the candles and Eisley’s herbs that had to be set up just right, it took longer than we’d expected, but we both knew how important it was to get everything perfect.
“I have a question,” I asked when we’d paused for a break. “What were the Minister’s last words?” I looked around the room, trying to picture it all, ten years ago. I wished I’d been there to see the fucker die. Constantine looked up from his cigarette.
“He told me to save the books. That I’d need them when I got older, and as long as I paid tribute to the Reanimator, I’d be okay.”
“And then what?”I took a drag of my cigarette.
“I stabbed the fucker.”He pushed off the table and looked around the room. “It looks about done. Just make sure we have a few backup lighters and we’ll be good to go.”
I shuddered, as we stretched and walked down the hall, toward our respective rooms. “All those candles really freak me out.”
“Now who’s Frankenstein?”
I paused at my door. “You really think we’re ready?”
“Not quite. A few more bodies should do it.”
Rule 56 - Kansas
It doesn’t have to make sense if it works.
Ten years ago.
“Isaw it. He was bleeding and then he wasn’t.” Constantine pushed his finger into the page. “And this is why.”
I glanced over at the bed. Eisley was sleeping. She’d been taken the night before and made to stand in one of the Mother's rooms as punishment. When she’d been returned to us, she could barely walk, and the back of her legs were bright red from being smacked every time she tried to sit.She was growing weaker, more tired, by the day. We had to get out of here.
Constantine cleared his throat and I returned to him. I looked down and read the text again.
Reanimation.
“So, you die and come back?”
“If you do it right. My— The Minister said it’s easy to mess up. That’s why he’s the only one allowed to do it.”
I read the text again, and again. I wasn’t sure what to do about this information.
“I want to see it.”
“What?”
“I want to see it,” I said sharply. “It’s impossible.”
“It’s not,” Constantine argued back.
“It is, unless we try it ourselves.”He was telling me that magick was real and I was just supposed to believe him? It could very well be the end of my life if I did and he was lying.
“If we mess up, we die,” he whispered.
“There’s mice all over here. Let’s catch one and try to do it on him.”
The next time we were taken to the Minister for lessons, we looked for rodents scurrying around. When I saw one, I excused myself to the bathroom and caught it. I stuffed it into my pants pocket, forever grateful that they were still giving us clean, fresh clothes to visit the Minister.
