Free Unchosen by Michele Vail Page B

sky was already purpling, and I knew the sun would set in less than an hour. I decided that when I got to the bottom of the hill, I would return to the school.
    At the spot I’d designated, I turned around and jogged back up the incline. The silver ring on my right hand tingled with warmth. The ring was my reaper token—a gift from Anubis that magically held my raven familiar and my awesome scythe.
    Surprised, I looked down at the band and watched the raven fly off it. The tiny bird glided over my hand and launched into the sky; it grew bigger and bigger and bigger. The huge raven was more shadow than substance, but still very formidable.
    In its claws, it held my scythe.
    Caw. Caw.
    Its cries made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. The air grew heavy, and the friendly sounds of the forest disappeared as though someone had hit a mute button.
    I stopped running, my heart pounding and my breath heaving as I watched the raven circle above me. The last time I had seen the bird was when I had escorted a ghost to the other side. The same ghost who had traded a stash of diamonds (I covered this earlier … stolen jewels … Anput’s diamond gift … blah, blah, blah.) for her freedom from the dreaded Spirit Extraction, Encapsulation, and Restraining (SEER) machine.
    Like I said, it was a long story.
    The bird dove down, cawing urgently. My arms seem to lift of their own accord, and the beautiful silver scythe dropped into my hands. It was warm—alive, really—and it felt like part of me.
    A faint shadow rose from the earth, wavering weakly. I held my scythe, ready to fight, when I saw my Aunt Lelia’s face in the grayness. Her haunted eyes held more pain than I’d ever seen.
    “Sh-she’s here. You’re not ready.” Her voice was a mere whisper.
    “Who ’s here? Ready for what?”
    “Get … to … school. Safe. Run!” She opened her mouth in a soundless scream, and my aunt’s sheut was sucked into the ground, almost as though as she’d been yanked through the earth by an unseen hand.
    I didn’t waste any time. I gripped my scythe and ran. My raven flew above me, its caws seeming to urge me to go faster and faster. My calves throbbed and my lungs burned as I dashed into the forest.
    My heart pounded so hard I could felt the beat of it in my throat.
    I was afraid to look around me, afraid I might see the mysterious “she.” The forest tha t had seemed so peaceful before now felt dark and foreboding.
    The silence unnerved me.
    Despite the protests of my legs and lungs and heart, I kept running. Within minutes, I saw the spires of Nekyia Academy jutting above the treetops, and I focused on the gray stone as I tried to keep momentum.
    The air grew colder and the sky darker. I started to feel like something awful was right behind me—and if I stopped for even a second, it would grab me.
    I kept my gaze forward. In only minutes I would break through the trees, out of the shadowed embrace of the woods.
    Then a tall figure stepped out from behind the thick trunk of an oak tree. I yelped—and veered, my sneakers losing traction as I hit a pile of dew-slick leaves.
    An arm snaked out and I felt the cold clamp of fingers on my shoulder. I was yanked back so hard, my legs gave out beneath me and I fell.
    I immediately rolled away and popped to my feet, holding my scythe up.
    I looked at the man.
    Then I blinked.
    “Jon Lemons?”
    Jon Lemons was Barbie’s zombie. He was funny in the sense that he understood his name, and got upset if anyone tried to call him anything other than “Jon Lemons.”
    What was he doing out here alone?
    The zombie’s gaze met mine, and I shuddered at the intensity of his unblinking stare. He lifted a gray finger to his lips and whispered, “Shhh.”
    I worked on deepening my exhalations as I slowed my breathing. My senses were on high alert, and I gripped the scythe. Above me, my shadow raven kept circling.
    Jon Lemons stretched out his arm. The finger he’d put to his lips now pointed