Page 68 of Jacob Michaels is Dead

“I know.”

“I don’t know what comes after…but I didn’t see you die.” Lucas said. “I saw…I saw…”

“What?” I asked, leaning in and kissing his lips softly. “What is it, babe?”

“I saw myself die.” Lucas swallowed hard. “Not you.”

I’d never been a wordsmith or someone who could eloquently describe my feelings in a way that would sound poetic. So, I had no way to describe the feeling of my heart dropping from my chest like a rollercoaster towards my feet while it felt like someone punched me in the gut simultaneously. Lucas’ revelation about what he had seen was a one-two assault on my body and mind. All I could do was stare at him dumbly as my entire body went numb, and my heart decided that it was going on vacation.

“I died,” Lucas said. “Not you. That’s how this ends. At least…that’s part of it. I can’t see past my death.”

“That’s not true.” I shook my head. “You’re lying. That serves no purpose in solving our problem. How do you even think telling me that is going to change my mind about this? You dying won’t stop Bloody Bones.”

The ground shivered beneath our feet again.

“Ooooh,” Oma waggled her head, not caring about the words Lucas and I were sharing, “he is comin’, and he is pissed.”

“All I’m saying, Rob,” Lucas ignored her, “is that you can’t save me—if that’s why you’re choosing to do what you think you have to do. I’m going to die. So…if you’re doing this, only do it if you’re doing it for everyone else. Not me. It won’t help me.”

“Stop it.” I shoved him gently, though I didn’t let him fall out of my personal space. “Stop fucking saying that.”

“Do you want me to lie?” He sniffled.

“No, I just—”

“There has to be another way, Rob.” Lucas stopped me. “Nowhere in my vision did I see you die saving me. If you are supposed to do that, I would have seen it happen before my death. I didn’t see that.”

“That doesn’t mean that I’m not supposed to fight him.”

“Maybe there is still enough magic left in the lands.” Lucas offered quickly as the ground shook again, but harder. “If he can do it, maybe you can take magic from the land, too? Use his own tricks to defeat him and lock him away? If you used everything that’s left and stuff him back in the ground, send him to Hell permanently with all of that magic, maybe that will work?”

“Will that save you?”

He shrugged then shivered.

“How can I know what the right thing to do is now, damnit?” I winced. “How do I know what can save you? If I do what was in my head all along, obviously, you die. But how are we to know what will happen if I change my mind about how to defeat him?”

“Ya’ can’t change your mind,” Oma stated.

“What?” Lucas and I both turned our heads to snap at her.

“Ya’ can’t use the magic in the land.” She reiterated. “He’s carrying it all with him. Do you think the grounds shakin’ for fun? That sumbitch is stompin’ this way and sendin’ us a warnin’. He’s loaded for bear, and there’s nothin’ you can do about it but do what’s always been done.”

I didn’t like it, but Oma had a point. Turning back to Lucas, I took his face in my hands.

“There is only one way,” I told him in a hushed tone. “How do you die? Maybe if I—”

As if knowing this was the most imperfect time, a wolf’s howl filled the air, making Lucas and I both jump as I stopped talking immediately. Oma sighed and turned to us, giving us a look that said: “Well, shit.” As a threesome, though Oma was standing a few yards away, we turned, looking off in the direction from which the sound came. Our eyes landed on the tree line of the woods, off in the direction of Lake Erie. At first, I saw nothing but darkness and the trees that helped to create that darkness.

Then there were a pair of red, glowing eyes peeking out of the tree line, about waist high. Then another pair. Another pair. Then another. And another. Five pairs of eyes stared out of the darkness of the woods in our direction. Finally, a new pair of glowing, red eyes joined the bunch, but much higher than the others. Lucas squeezed my hand as we all stared towards the glowing, red eyes in the distance. We watched as one wolf emerged from the darkness, then another…until five wolves were standing just outside of the tree line, staring us down, muzzles pulled back, fangs bared.

Without having to be told, I knew the wolf in the middle was Jason. The pairs on either side of him were what remained of his functioning pack. They all stood there on all fours, snarling at us, fangs bared and eyes glowing, ready to tear us limb from limb if they could. The three of us waited, just like them, as the sixth pair of glowing red eyes stepped out of the darkness of the woods. But they weren’t shrouded by a hood any longer. Bloody Bones had pulled back his cloak, exposing himself finally. A gleaming white skull, smeared in rust-colored stains and dripping blood, bony teeth and fangs bared, red eyes staring out at us, Bloody Bones was no longer hiding himself away.

“Well,” Oma looked over her shoulder us, “I’m completely shocked by this turn of events. Are y’all?”

Lucas gave a whimpering groan as I glared at her.

Then the wolves were charging at us.