Chapter 23: Exhumation (Patreon)

[A/N]: Welcome to all our new members, thank you so much for supporting me! Small announcement: the schedule is MWF, but I'll try to sneak in an extra chapter when I can to increase the advanced chapters on offer. As far as specific timing, I'm shooting for 10am PST generally, but sometimes I'm still editing and have to push it back. But in general, expect morning posts.

Enjoy!

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“Jimmy, what the hell!” Terry complained, his head stuck out the rolled down window.

The older boy cringed, subtly taking a step away from Liam, who looked just as embarrassed but for different reasons.

Tania leaned across Terry, forcibly shoving his head out of the way to take his spot.

“What’s he doing here?” she asked, indicating Liam with a nod. The boy scowled at her, but had the good sense not to fire back.

Tania’s elbow was digging into Terry, so he slid to the other side and opened her door, coming around the car to face the two older boys.

“Can I talk to you?” Terry asked Jimmy. “Alone?”

Jimmy nodded and they walked a few feet off.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Jimmy started. “I just wanted someone to know what I was doing, in case…”

“In case what, dude? Did you think Crunch was gonna eat you or something?”

“No, of course not. It’s just…I’ve heard some stories about people going missing and the thought of my parents having no idea what happened to me—I couldn’t sleep thinking about that.”

Terry sighed. Jimmy wasn’t completely off base with his fears, though he had to know he was safe with Crunch here.

“The sanguine aren’t kidnapping people off the streets, Jimmy. That’s just alarmist propaganda.”

“But there are vampires running around Wichita!” He said it like he’d caught Terry in a lie.

He waffled his head back and forth. “I wouldn’t say running around…” Jimmy’s eyebrows rose. “Okay, yes, there are vampires visiting from the Underworld.” He held up his finger. “But they are not draining random citizens for food. Their presence is part of the bargain my grandfather made in exchange for the working that stopped Sol. But they’re more like ambassadors, not food tourists.” He brought the discussion back on topic. “And none of that explains why Liam is here. You should have left him at home.”

Now, Jimmy didlook embarrassed.

“Okay, yeah, that’s my fault. After I told him what we were doing, he insisted on coming.”

“Look at that car, Jimmy,” Terry said with a wave. “That seats five. You know what, okay, I’ll talk to him.”

Terry walked over to Liam, who was standing alone with his arms crossed, his shoulders hunched in tight.

“Hey, Liam,” he said as companionably as he could muster. The boy relaxed, his hardened expression turning embarrassed in an instant.

“Terry, I mean, Prince Terry, I’m really sorry. I wasn’t thinking, I just thought…” he trailed off, his lower lip trembling with obvious adrenaline. “I just wanted to be included,” he finally said, his voice cast low so Tania wouldn’t hear him from where she was perched out of the car window.

A pang hit Terry and he sighed. Liam was more Jimmy’s friend than Terry’s, which was why he hadn’t been included before—Terry wasn’t really sure if he could trust the older boy. But the thought of excluding him now felt cruel, made him feel like a bully.

“I get it, Liam. But the car only fits five. So unless you want to ride in the trunk…”

His face dropped, his shoulders slumping in defeat.

“Oh…yeah, that makes sense. Okay, sorry to make a fuss.”

Man, this guy better not be pulling out the puppy dog eyes on purpose, because if I find out he’s playing me…

“Hold on,” he said with a sigh. “Let me talk to Crunch.”

The older boy’s head shot up, his eyes hopeful.

Terry jogged over to the car and leaned in through Dalton’s window.

“Crunch, would you be willing to ride the roof?”

“Terry!” Tania exclaimed. “Are you for real right now?”

He ignored her, waiting for Crunch to respond. He shaped his aura, filtering the thought through into a shape that he knew resembled the form earnest request. Crunch didn’t speak, but his own aura projected out, a inquisitive thread that asked a question, something like: are you sure?

Releasing his other shape, he fought to mold the aura into the affirmative feeling, but there was too much nuance, beyond his ability to craft quickly.

He let it go with a frustrated noise and spoke.

“I’m sure.”

Crunch nodded, then stepped out of the car.

Terry turned back and walked over to where Jimmy had joined Liam.

“You can come—” A pure smile spread across the older boy’s face, his eyes lighting up. Terry held out his hand. “—on some conditions.”

“Anything—” He cleared his throat, obviously embarrassed by his own enthusiasm. “Ahem, yes, my prince. Whatever you need.”

Terry ticked up one finger.

“First, you are not to speak about this little excursion to anyone. Not your mom, not your therapist. Not even your dog. Good?”

Liam nodded excitedly.

“Two,” he said, ticking up another finger. “Crunch is in charge. If he tells you to do something or I tell you to do something through him, you don’t argue, you just act.”

Liam’s eyes widened at that, casting a furtive glance over to where Crunch was climbing onto the car roof. After a quick second of hesitation, he nodded again.

“And three…” Terry let a friendly smile touch his lips. “If you wanted to be included, you shoulda asked. No more strong-arming your friend, okay?”

The older boy bit his lip at that, glancing at Jimmy with an embarrassed look.

“You’re right,” he said, turning to Jimmy. “Hey…I’m sorry I put you in that spot. Cool?” He held out his hand in a conciliatory gesture.

Jimmy didn’t hesitate, shaking his hand and pulling his friend into a hug.

“Cool.”

From the car, Tania groaned.

“Emperor’s balls, are you two done broing out? We’ve got things to do.”

The two friends separated, Jimmy chuckling while Liam leaned in close to Terry.

“Does she ever chill out, or is she gonna be busting my balls the whole night?”

Terry looked at Tania with a wry smile before turning back to Liam.

“She’s an acquired taste, I’ll give ya that. And yes, expect this for pretty much the rest of the evening…” He looked off in thought. “And probably for a couple more weeks, if we’re being honest with each other.”

Liam groaned and Jimmy slapped him on the back before heading toward the car.

“Shotgun,” Jimmy called out and now it was Terry’s turn to groan.

“I’m your prince!” he joked. “I should get shotgun by default!”

Jimmy looked back with a wry smile. “Sorry, my prince, but shotgun rules are sacred.”

Terry stared after the older boy with narrowed eyes. “I’m gonna remember this, Jimmy.”

He approached the back seat where Tania had slid over to the far side. Liam was lingering at the door, obviously expecting Terry to sit in the center seat.

“Sorry, I-uh, I get carsick if I’m not at the window,” Liam said with an embarrassed flush.

Terry looked up with a sigh.

“Of course you do…”

***

Terry’s anxiety didn’t really hit him until the car’s headlights illuminated the cemetery gates. He realized after the fact that he’d been filling the silence with jokes and chatter to keep from thinking too hard about what they were on their way to do.

But now…there was no sidestepping reality; they were here to dig up his mom’s grave.

He still didn’t know what he expected, what he was hoping for. Arthur had shown him multiple feeds from different angles, but they had never been able to answer that question: what had happened to his mom?

They had watched Sol taken prisoner by the Emperor, watched as the Siren’s body was carted away indecorously, even watched as James raced into the nearby woods in an obvious attempt to track down his mom—only to return empty handed ten minutes later.

Which was to say, he expected the casket to be empty. Expected to dig up his mother’s grave and find bare wood and soil. Perhaps there would be a corpse in there or a ghoul shaped to look like his mother, but not her, not the White Rose.

Meaning she was either alive…or dead in some dungeon in Topeka or elsewhere, forgotten or abandoned by her captors in the wake of the war between the two cities.

He’d come to terms with that, worked through the grief in either case.

She’s either dead or left me alone on purpose. Either way, she’s gone…just as his father had said all those months ago.

He pushed that reality away, returning to the moment as Dalton shut the car off. Tania cracked the door and slid out, Terry quickly following behind her. Crunch slithered off the roof without a sound, while the trunk popped with a click.

Arthur peeled away from behind a nearby tree, startling Liam who hadn’t expected the mousy man.

“Whoa, hey, there’s someone there!” he practically shouted, pointing at Arthur as he angled for safety behind the car.

“Shhh, keep your voice down,” Terry hissed. “We know!” He waved toward Arthur, who eyed Liam with skepticism behind his thick glasses. “Hey, Art, thanks for meeting us.”

“You brought him?” the man asked, ignoring Terry’s greeting—though he knew it wasn’t that Arthur was trying to be rude, but rather, wasn’t very good with people.

Terry flushed, casting an embarrassed look at Liam.

“He…kinda invited himself.”

“Wait,” Liam said, recovering from his fear with an accusatory glare. “You know me?”

Arthur didn’t even acknowledge the boy, but immediately started listing details of his life.

“Liam Webber. Age: 20. Mother: Maria. Father: Daniel. Licensed paramedic. Favorite musical genre: reggae. Most visited website—”

“Tha-that’s good! Okay, yep, got it,” Liam blurted out in a panic.

Tania snorted, reaching into the trunk and pulling out a shovel. With a bit of force, she shoved it into Liam’s hands.

“One guess what website that was,” she said with an evil grin as Liam looked with confusion at the shovel in his hands.

“What’s this f—oh, are you serious? I’m on digging duty!”

Terry turned toward the boy and raised an eyebrow.

“When you invite yourself to the secret grave digging meeting…yeah, you’re on digging duty.”

He looked up for a moment, then shrugged. “Yeah, I guess that’s fair.”

Terry nodded and pulled out the second shovel, turning in a circle as he raised it high.

“And guess who gets the honor of joining Liam?” he asked the group with a smug smile, waiting for the shoe to drop.

“God dammit…” Jimmy muttered.

Terry handed it over with a wink. “Hey, at least you got to sit shotgun.”

***

It took the two older boys a couple hours of hard work, even with Terry spelling them occasionally, to dig the six feet of packed soil away. Crunch perhaps could have done it faster, even with one arm, but the ghoul was on high alert, ranging around the cemetery as if he expected someone to be lurking around, waiting to attack.

With each pile of dirt cast out of the grave, Terry’s anxiety grew sharper. He’d eventually found himself taking digging shifts just to distract his mind with the painful burn of tired muscles and forming blisters. But as the hole grew deeper, there was no avoiding the fact that he was about to see for himself the truth of the situation.

His back was soaked with sweat, his palms starting to bleed, when Liam’s shovel cracked against solid wood. The two of them stopped, sharing a shocked look before Liam smiled.

“Finally!” he exclaimed, turning back to dig out the rest of the dirt even faster.

Terry, on the other hand, found his limbs full of lead.

Was it too late to back out? He’d wasted everyone’s time, sure. But they’d understand if he got cold feet at the eleventh hour…right?

No, don’t be ridiculous. You’re here and she’s right there. Or not, whatever the case is. Just do it, coward.

He willed his arms to move, directing the shovel to shift the soil away, his heart pounding so hard he thought he’d faint.

“I think we can get it open,” Liam said, throwing his shovel out of the hole. “You lever the shovel into the gap and I’ll pull here.”

Terry mechanically obeyed, the adrenaline making his fingers clumsy as he shifted the sharp edge of the shovel into the seam. Leaning back on it, he felt the wood beginning to give, creaking in protest as Liam tried to slide his fingers in the gap.

With a snap, a piece of the wood broke, dislodging the shovel without opening the casket. Liam fell back in surprise, then hopped back to his feet.

“Can you ask the ghoul? He can rip it open in a second, right?”

Terry nodded, his mind feeling distant from his body. Of course Crunch could open this with ease. I should have thought about that.

“Crunch?” he called up. “Can you lend us a hand?”

At the top of the grave, Tania, Dalton, Jimmy, and Arthur were watching them work. Dalton had begged off the digging, citing a bad back from years of driving with poor posture. Arthur wasn’t a physical person, weighing almost less than Tania. And Tania hadn’t even fielded the suggestion that she help and not even Terry had felt like fighting that battle.

The four of them parted as Crunch came into sight and leaped down without a word. Terry and Liam climbed out to give him room to work, receiving helping hands from Jimmy as they did so.

Crunch leaned over the casket, his finger-blades extending out and digging under the edge of the lid. With a snap, the whole thing popped open and the ghoul stepped back.

Terry craned his neck to stare down, his mouth slack with shock.

“Is that a…?” Tania started.

“Yeah, but what’s it doing there?” Jimmy asked.

“Is it magical or…?” Liam looked to Terry in question.

He just shook his head. “I don’t know…”

Resting there on a velvet pillow, covered in soil, but still as fresh as if it had just been plucked, lay a pristine white rose.

There was no body to be found.

“Who do you think put it there?” Liam asked.

“Your dad, maybe?” Jimmy suggested.

“What if—”

Tania cut across the two boys with a growl. “Will you two shut up and let him process things for two seconds? Emperor save me.”

They cringed at the rebuke, turning to regard Terry like he was some delicate piece of porcelain teetering on the edge of a table, about to fall.

He waved away their concern, but was distracted all the same.

“I’m fine…I just…Crunch, can you bring it up?”

He couldn’t tell from this height if it was really one of his mother’s or just a simple white rose. Crunch reached down and delicately retrieved the rose. With a flex of his legs, his leap took him out of the grave and he landed beside Terry. Slowly, he held it out for Terry to grab.

His hand reached, but paused right before he made contact.

It is one of hers, he realized. There was an aura to the rose that was unmissable this close up. It had her touch to it, almost like a scent but for his aura sense.

He thread his fingers past the thorns, taking it from Crunch’s hand.

“It’s one of hers,” he whispered.

“What does that mean—”

A harsh voice barked out, cutting through the air, causing all of them to cry out in surprise.

“WHAT IN THE UNDERWORLD IS GOING ON HERE!”