Free Death of the Body (Crossing Death) by Rick Chiantaretto Page B

time and was restored with barely a thought. I marched straight out the nearest door into the late afternoon sunlight and headed for the town gates.
    I avoided my house because I knew by now someone would be stationed there to keep an eye out for me. It wasn’t so much that there was a missing kid that was the problem, but that there was a missing servant kid. I knew Clayton would be irritated enough by the thought of having to cook and clean for himself that he would raise some sort of commotion.
    I was passing the schoolyard when the thing that I half expected to happen, did. It was simpler than I had anticipated: calmer; even kinder. It was simply a voice.
    “So, dear Edmund, did you get to pay your father a visit?”
    The sugary tone of the question made my blood boil. I turned slowly to see Joshua standing tall in his blackest robes, not twenty feet from me. He was not alone. A quick mental count revealed ten other men standing with him, each with unnaturally hollow, bright yellow eyes. I could hear more closing in behind me.
    I knew what they were. They were humans possessed by energumen. They huddled protectively around Joshua as though he were some sort of god. The idea sickened me.
    Just a day earlier I would have considered this moment my worst nightmare, but I had been wrong. Finding my father burned at his desk trumped this one.
    I kept my response flat. “In fact, I did.”
    “I hope you found him well.”
    The lie in his words was meant to hurt. I felt a lurch in my emotions that resulted in a single tear beading up in the corner of my eye.
    Joshua took notice. “So my fire did find dear old dad. Strange. No matter. Your father has—had—something I need.” His words dripped with venom. “But, you see, he kept his work a secret. So much so, in fact, that his office is hidden somewhere in the parliament building, and I can’t find it.”
    I could see where this was going. I regretted the fact that I had admitted to seeing my father.
    “You see, Edmund, there’s this book…”
    I instinctively placed my arm to protect my stomach. The weight of the book suddenly felt heavy.
    “Did he give it to you?”
    I was perplexed, so my voice was not as controlled as I would have liked. “How could he have given me a book, you filthy betrayer? You killed him. You sacrificed us all for your putrid energumen!”
    The accusation didn’t faze Joshua at all. His face was still hard and determined. “Yet, he gave you his ring.”
    My hand recoiled like I’d touched a hot stove. “I took it.”
    Joshua inched forward. Although I inched backward at the same pace, I wondered how far the energumen behind me would let me get.
    “And the book?”
    “What book?”
    “The book you have hidden in your shirt?”
    I didn’t let my expression give any response. “My father’s journals.”
    Joshua took one more step forward, but when I followed with my backward step I encountered strong, cold hands preventing me from going further.
    “I don’t believe you,” Joshua said. His following step closer was meant to be menacing.
    My response was cold. “What makes you think I care what you believe?”
    Joshua stopped, his expression changing. He drew his eyebrows together in contemplation, took a step back, and laughed. “Edmund, Edmund,” he read the expression on my face, “do you really think you could take me on?”
    I knew my response could bring a death sentence, but I probably wasn’t going to get out of this alive anyway. Even if I did everything Joshua asked, gave him the book, and took him to my father’s secret place, he would still kill me or give me to the energumen in the end. I had the odd sensation that I didn’t need to fear death as I once had. The feeling made me feel energized and foolish.
    A few mumbled phrases in my head and the world around me turned blindingly white. The energumen screamed profanities as the possessing spirits were ripped from their hosts. The flash caused the humans to erupt