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“Send the minions home. Your place is spotless. Get some sleep.”
A huff escaped Sky, and he sat up, releasing Nolan’s hand. “You’re right.” He shoved to his feet and called Frank to his side. “Send everyone home. The place looks great.”
The black creature jumped and waved his hands in the air as he chittered.
Sky was shaking his head before Frank even finished. “I don’t have to make anyone sandwiches. First, I’m all out of bread, meat, and cheese. Your boss and his friends cleaned me out last night. And second, I didn’t summon you. He did. If you need payment, you take it up with him.”
That last sentence silenced Frank. The minion pressed his folded hands to his chest and cowered in front of Sky. He didn’t seem too keen on asking the king for payment.
Without further argument, Frank ran through the house, shouting at the other minions. One by one, they poofed away to nothing, leaving the two of them alone. Nolan leaned in and pressed a kiss to the side of Sky’s head. “Get some sleep. I’ll come check in on you later in the day.”
Sky grunted and shuffled to the stairs but stopped and spun halfway around. “That’s right. Why did you stop by in the first place? Did you need something?”
“Oh, shit! I forgot!” Nolan smacked himself in the middle of the forehead. The unexpected presence of a horde of underworld minions was enough to knock the morning’s disturbing news from his brain. “I wanted to ask you about the weird shit that’s being blasted across the news this morning. At first, I thought it might have something to do with the upcoming Moving Day, but I guess it was related to the demons you had partying at your place.”
As he spoke, Sky grew pale, and his eyes widened, the sleepiness vanishing from his posture. “What weirdness?”
He didn’t even wait for Nolan to reply. He darted into his living room, muttering to himself, “Where the fuck is my phone? Gotta find my phone.” Sky lifted pillows and pulled aside cushions until he came up with his phone buried in the couch.
“I haven’t seen any news since I woke up. Frank dragged me out of bed when they arrived, and I thought I should keep an eye on my cleaners to make sure they didn’t raid the remains of my pantry,” Sky grumbled. “Forgot about my phone.”
Nolan moved to stand next to Sky as he swiped through the security lock and discovered a ton of messages waiting for him.
“Oh fuck,” he whispered.
“The short of it is that the dead crawled out of their graves last night,” Nolan stated.
“What?” Sky squeaked, his phone falling from his fingers to clatter to the floor.
Nolan bent and picked it up while Sky remained frozen. “Yep. Crawled right out of their graves. Looked a lot like what happened when you summoned the dead against the vampires, except they didn’t put themselves away before dawn.”
“Are you shitting me? Is there video proof of this? Which cemetery?”
Nolan handed the phone to Sky, who clutched it with both hands. “I haven’t seen anyone post actual video of the dead climbing out of the ground. Just lots of pictures of rotting bodies and skeletons lying in the grass near open graves, as if they crawled free but ran out of energy to continue.”
Sky’s fingers tightened on his phone. “Which cemetery? Was it the one we went to for your brother?”
“No.” Nolan paused and shook his head. “I mean yes, but not only that one. All of them. Or rather, a huge number of them scattered around Hartford. They posted a list online of the graveyards that are closed to the public as the police investigate and return the bodies to the right graves. Had to be at least twenty to thirty names.”
“Holy fuck.” Sky exhaled. Nolan grabbed one of his arms as he sank to the ground. With a grunt, he got Sky moving so that he could sit comfortably on the couch. The necromancer appeared shell-shocked. His soft lips parted, but no words were coming out. Just quick pants. His eyes were wide, staring at some distant spot.
“Was this from the demons’ visit? Did you guys pop out and cause some mischief between TV shows?” Nolan inquired.
“No!” Sky jumped and blinked at him as if waking from a nightmare. “Of course not! We didn’t use any magic last night. Seriously, it was me and five demons lounging in my living room, watching TV while they attempted to eat all the food in my pantry. When they left, I think the sun was peeking over the horizon. As far as I know, they went straight home.” Sky pursed his lips together for a second before shaking his head. “No, not the demons. Zal’s not the type to cause trouble like that, and he wouldn’t have allowed any of those demons to run amuck.” He shook his phone at Nolan. “This has nothing to do with me…for once.”
“Okay. It’s okay. I’m not saying it does, honey.”
Instantly, Sky calmed and even flashed him a smile.
Yes! This was a beautiful magic weapon, and he was going to need to be careful with its use. He couldn’t abuse this new power. But right now, it was necessary. Sky was exhausted and frazzled. Nolan didn’t need Sky to panic.
“You’re right. But I need to dig into this. Find out what caused it. As the only necromancers in the region, it’s my job to look after the dead.” Sky leaned toward Nolan and laid his head on his shoulder. “Besides, even if you know this isn’t my fault, there are going to be lots of others who are going to blame me.”
“Could this have to do with the fae?” Nolan wrapped an arm across Sky’s slumped shoulders, giving him a supportive squeeze.
Sky shook his head without lifting it from where it rested. “Nope. Not unless the dead were trying to make a run for it on their own. The fae have zero interest in the dead, and as far as I know—which I will admit, my knowledge is limited with the fae—they don’t have any power over the dead. I don’t think they could do this even if they were right here at this second.”
“So either someone escaped from the underworld and is causing problems, or it’s another necromancer.”
