Free Bone Cold: A Soul Shamans Novel (Volume 2) by Cady Vance

truck onto the gravel road.
    “He wants to meet us here,” I said. “I just don’t want to pull him into the craziness again. He’s not like us. He’s human.”
    “Well, I’m half-human, thank you very much,” Laura said. “But I know what you mean. I’ll never forget what my dad looked like, laying there helpless while Anthony threatened his life. We may not be great with our powers yet, but at least we have them.”
    I nodded, relieved that Laura was back to her normal self after the strange incident at Wanda’s. “I just don’t want him to get hurt.”
    “All we’re doing is checking out a grave,” she said. “It’ll be fine.”
    “I’m dying to know if Wanda actually has some kind of power.” Twisting the steering wheel, I edged the truck to a stop just at the edge of the cemetery.
    “Maybe she really is a psychic.” Laura shrugged a hoodie over her head and cracked open the door. “Or maybe she’s just a lunatic.”
    My lips quirked as I jumped out of the truck to join Laura outside. Gazing up the hill, all I could see under the cloud-scudded sky were rows and rows of hunched stone figures. Most of the headstones toward the bottom of the hill were identical and new, all created by Edmund Cutter, the local undertaker and superintendent of the burial grounds.
    Up on top of the hill were the jagged rows of chipped stones from hundreds of years ago, all under a canopy of twisting dark limbs that reached down to the ground. Shivering, I pulled my gray hoodie over my head and began the ascent, boots sinking into the untouched snow.
    As we climbed, the snow turned to slippery ice, the grass thin and crackling at the edges. Laura hooked her hand in my arm and we huddled close as we pushed our way through Seaport’s neighborhood of the dead. The sky darkened, casting shadows all around us. Everything was silent and still and bitterly cold. Blinking against the sting, I scanned the rows of ancient headstones, using my phone to shed light on the names carved into the rock.
    Laura sniffled and pulled her beanie down over her ears. “The temperature’s dropped.”
    “Yeah, I noticed.” A shiver ran along my spine. “Maybe we should cast a spell in case a spirit is here.”
    “What spell?” Laura’s voice was low as she whispered. “If your dad is right, our magic won’t do any good against them.”
    We stood quiet and still, waiting for the iciness to blast in our faces, signalling a spirit attack. Our breath puffed out clouds of white. My heartbeat drummed in my ears. My Intuition prickled my forehead, shivering through my skull, whispering a warning in my mind. Something was wrong.
    A crunch sounded behind us. My heart clanged against my ribcage as I whirled around, one hand thrown into a fist and the other grasping for the dagger in my bag.
    Nathan’s familiar laugh settled around me as he crested the hill. “Calm down, you guys. It’s just me. Your friendly, neighborhood Spiderman.”
    “You scared the shit out of me.” My hand pressed against my chest as I tried to calm my racing heart.
    “I noticed,” he said with a laugh as he came to join our huddled circle. He glanced around at the trees and the dark clouds overhead. “No wonder you’re jumpy. This place gives me the creeps.”
    “It’s cold.” Laura’s teeth chattered. “We thought that meant a spirit was about to come charging at us.”
    Nathan blew hot air on his hands. “Yeah, I swear it’s colder up here than it was down the hill.”
    “Alright, guys,” I said with a quick head shake. “We need to find this grave and get the hell out of here before something weird happens.”
    “What are we looking for?” Nathan asked, snaking his arm around my waist and dropping a quick kiss on the top of my head.
    “Wanda told us that we’d find a grave on this hill that would hold some answers.” Eyes scanning the headstones, I shrugged. “It’s supposed to have something to do with why my dad is here.”
    “Wanda?”