Page 95 of Coven of Corpses

“I’m going to say some phrases and you all need to repeat them as closely as possible to how I pronounce them. Got it?” Tracey said.

The wind picked up, moving through the upper branches of the tall trees. It scattered some fallen leaves into the clearing, the skip and skitter sounding like claws against stone. Cody’s heart hammered, and his mouth tasted like copper. Or, Demmy’s heart and mouth. Dammit, he would be really glad when they were back in their own bodies. If they were able to get back in their own bodies.

Tracey began to speak. Cody repeated the words as best he could. Demmy stood behind him, also repeating the words, big hands on his shoulders. It was a strange reversal, but also comforting. And it was good to know when Cody stood so close behind Demmy, it made him feel safe and comfortable, not overshadowed or intimidated.

The wind increased, tumbling more leaves into the clearing. Candle flames fluttered but remained lit. Cody looked around their circle as they all repeated the strange phrases. Jugs shifted his weight from foot to foot, eyes moving as he watched the darkness within the trees. Amelia listened closely to Tracey. Margie held the St. Christopher’s medal with both hands and looked all around as she repeated the phrases. Cody saw Clarabell prowling around the exterior of their circle, holding a binder and seemingly following along with Tracey.

Something moved deeper within the trees.

Demmy’s hands tightened on Cody’s shoulders, so he knew he’d seen it, too.

Tracey spoke a phrase, and they all repeated it. The wind died, as if someone had switched off a giant fan. The woods seemed to be holding its breath. Cody discovered he was, too, and let it out.

“What’s happening?” Amelia said.

“He’s here,” Tracey said, staring out into the woods. “Everyone prepare yourselves. This next part is going to be wild.”

“Going to be?” Jugs and Margie said at the same time, then looked at each other.

Tracey resumed speaking, her voice louder, stronger. It rose through the branches of the trees and out into the night. Cody repeated the words, Demmy doing the same behind him.

Wind blasted across the clearing, rushing over them like a tidal wave of air. The candles guttered but remained lit. Margie, facing it head on, screamed and turned away, crouching down.

“Don’t leave your spot!” Tracey shouted over the wind. “You must remain where you stand!”

Margie put up a hand to block the wind and straightened up. She held the medal tight in a fist against her chest, the other hand up to keep wind, dust, and debris from her face, eyes squeezed shut as she repeated the phrases. Amelia bent slightly at the waist and turned her face to the side in order to breathe. Jugs had dropped to a squat, hands pressed against the ground, head bowed but lips moving as he chanted.

Cody turned his face away from the dirt, leaves, and twigs blowing against them. Demmy’s hands tightened even more on his shoulders. Through the tears in his eyes from the brutal onslaught of wind, Cody saw Baron out in the trees. He moved from spot to spot, too fast to track.

Suddenly, Baron came to a stop at the very edge of the clearing, facing Tracey. He looked terrible. His face was beyond ashen; it was white as chalk. Dark lines ran across his skin, and his eyes were completely black. As Cody watched, a dark spot burned into life on his cheek.

The parasite was already eating its way through the host.

“You won’t last,” Baron said, his voice deep and horrible, a phlegmy and resonant growl.

Tracey continued to read the phrases, and the five descendants repeated them, even as the wind stole their breath and snatched the words away.

Through squinted eyes, Cody saw Baron hold one hand up, elbow bent and fingers together, pointed to the sky. He turned his arm in a circle and extended his other hand, fingers spread as he pointed into the clearing.

The wind obeyed. It twisted around them, building in strength. Branches and leaves spun up into mini tornadoes. Dirt and small rocks battered Cody’s body and face, and he turned his head to keep it from getting in his mouth.

“Stay where you are!” Tracey shouted, barely audible over the roar of the wind.

Cody shouted when he felt his feet lift off the ground. “Fuck!”

Demmy’s hands slipped off his shoulders as Cody rose into the air. He flailed, words forgotten as the wind tried to spin him up into the night and away from the others, away from his connection with the grave.

Then strong hands clasped his ankles, fingers gripping him tight. Demmy looked up at him, expression determined as he repeated Tracey’s phrases. Cody nodded and closed his eyes, tuning into Tracey’s voice. He continued to repeat what she said, and the winds whipped around them even harder. His arms waved above his head, lifted by the updraft, and he closed his fists tight.

Then he rose a bit higher, even though Demmy still clutched him tight. Opening his eyes, Cody looked down. Demmy’s feet had also left the ground, and they hovered there, Demmy keeping him from blowing away, both of them swaying in the force of the wind. Cody squinted into the wind, looking around the clearing. The others had lifted off the ground as well. Tracey and Amelia had both lost their glasses, and Jugs had a cut across his cheek where something had blown into him. All of them were wide-eyed and panicked.

The ground rippled beneath Tracey’s dangling feet. She didn’t notice as she continued to read from the book she held, the pages lashing in the wind and her hair flying around her face. Skeletal hands thrust up from the earth and grabbed her tight around the ankles. She shouted in alarm and looked down, eyes going wide in shock.

Demmy gave a shout, and then Cody heard Jugs, Amelia, and Margie all cry out in alarm. Each of them was being held in place by a pair of skeleton hands that had pushed up from the dirt and now gripped their ankles.

Their ancestors were maintaining the connections.

The wind battered them, trying hard to rip them free. They were all being buffeted about by the force of the wind, Cody especially, but no one was lost. Tracey shouted her phrases and they all repeated them. Cody thought he heard something in the wind, what sounded like women chanting in time with them, but he couldn’t be sure.