Page 83 of Cemetery Boys

Yadriel rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah.”

“I told you, I—”

But Julian never finished his sentence. For a second, he froze.

“Jules?” Yadriel started to sit up.

Julian sucked in a deep, rattling breath. He collapsed back onto the bed.

Purrcaso sprang from the window and darted out of sight.

Yadriel pushed himself up. His heart hammered in his chest. “Hey, what’s happening—?”

Julian’s jaw went slack, his mouth open wide. His eyes rolled back into his head, and his entire body spasmed. No, it wasn’t spasming, it was shaking, vibrating. Julian flickered in and out of existence, like a light shorting out.

“Jules!” Yadriel’s hands hovered above him, not knowing what to do or what was happening. All he could do was watch as Julian’s body flashed in and out of existence.

It took him a moment to see the red stain on the chest of Julian’s white shirt. It started as a dark smudge, but it slowly bloomed larger, appearing in flashes.

More quivering. Just a shadow of Julian.

Then he disappeared and didn’t come back.

Yadriel heart lodged in his throat.

“Jules!”

His eyes frantically searched the bed. Yadriel fumbled, pressing his hands against the mattress as if he could feel him there, that maybe Julian was just invisible, but he was gone. There was nothing. Not even a wash of cold against his fingers.

Just as quickly as he’d vanished, Julian blinked back into existence. A gasp ripped through his throat and his eyes flew open.

Yadriel sprang back, nearly falling off the bed.

Julian sucked in breath, his hand clutching his shirt where the blood seeped. But then he started to fade.

It was like someone had cranked down his saturation and opacity. Julian seemed duller now, his edges slightly more blurred than before. The red stain faded to nothing.

“What—what the hell happened?” Julian heaved, breathless.

Yadriel could only shake his head.

“What was that?” Panic cracked his voice.

Yadriel stared down at his hands. They trembled uncontrollably. “I—I don’t know.”

FOURTEEN

“You—you disappeared!” Yadriel stared at Julian, afraid to blink in case he vanished again. “Where did you go?!”

Julian leaped from the bed. “I—I don’t know!” he stammered. He twisted left and right, patting himself down and inspecting his limbs.

“You were bleeding.” Panic tightened his voice, and Yadriel hated how frightened he sounded, how frightened he felt.

Julian pressed his hand to his chest and winced, like he could still feel it. “But why? What happened?” he demanded.

Yadriel racked his brain, trying to remember everything he knew about spirits, but it was hard to focus. He kept seeing Julian’s contorted face and bleeding chest flash in his mind over and over again.

“When—when spirits have been in the world of the living for too long, when they start going maligno, sometimes they’ll relive their death,” Yadriel said.