Church of Bones

11.

I leaned against the doorway to my office and watched Jamie work for awhile, holding on to my arms while I tried to figure out what to do. The Axeman was a formidable and deadly man while he was alive and roaming the streets in the early 1900s. If he really was a revenant, one of them, he needed to be caught, and fast. As I said, a person's unfinished business can be anything. They forgot to turn the stove off, they realized they left their car double parked, they didn't kiss their children goodnight. Or, hey, I didn't get to the goal I wanted in kills. The terrifying thing is, despite how many he killed, and the evidence he left behind, he was never captured. I think only Death knew who he truly was, and if I could avoid talking to her at any costs I would.

I chanced a glance back at the globe and had to do a double take. My stomach dropped and I rushed to the window as lights began to shoot up in five other areas in North America. "This can't be right." Northern and Southern California, Florida, Illinois, and Washington were all starting to pulse. "What the fuck is going on?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin as Jamie spoke from next to me. "This isn't like the one upstairs."

I held on to the bar in front of me, trying to steady my hands. "No. No, it's not." I looked closer at the pulses. "I monitor fear while Pitch and North monitor belief."

He seemed to understand why I was upset. "Something's wrong."

I nodded. "I expected your home state, but… but not this." I gestured to the globe. "I know what attacked you."

"I thought you said it was a revenant."

"Yes, but revenants were once people too." I forced myself to look away from the globe. "It should have been obvious from what you told us. He had an axe, he liked jazz music, said he was from New Orleans." Jamie only looked more confused and I sighed. "Right. Way before your time. I keep forgetting you were born in, what, 2004?"

"Yeah."

I wandered over to my desk where the crystal still sat in the holder, and the book lay out with the inside exposed. I pushed it towards him. "The article comes from a newspaper printed in 1919. Read the letter."

He tentatively took the book, getting paler each minute he took to read the letter. "And this madman was never caught?"

"Forensics hasn't been that great. Big advancements were made in what, the early nineties? By then, all his evidence would be reduced to nothing anyway. There's no point in reopening his case, especially with the time that's passed."

"Then what's making the other states light up?"

I shook my head, looking completely defeated. "I don't know. I wish I did. The globe only monitors fear. It doesn't tell me what's caused it." I smacked my forehead between my horns. "This whole thing is making me forget I can do things." I sat in front of the crystal and attempted to pinpoint newsreels from each of the counties. Each one only made the situation more dire. People were being murdered in different ways. Stabbed, strangled, hacked, and shot. By the time I covered all the states, the death count was in the double digits already.

This was not something I needed so close to Halloween. This was not something anyone ever needed. One revenant was bad enough, but if the pulsing lights meant more… If they meant more, we were dealing with seven. I gripped my fingers together to steady them. If that was the case, why target Jamie? Or… I looked to the boy. "Did you witness anything lately? Anything out of the ordinary?"

"Not that I can… Wait, there was something." He pointed to me with his index finger, bobbing it as he recollected his thoughts. "Yeah, there was something weird at a frat party I went to two months ago. I drank a bit too much and had to use the bathroom, but they were all either locked or occupied. I went outside to find a tree, and found someone cornering a girl. I managed to shake him off, but not before I saw a flash of goldish light coming from under the hood of his sweater. I didn't think much of it then. Thought I was just drunk and seeing things. Got the girl back inside safely."

Well, that was something indeed. I looked out over the expanse of the workshop, seeing everyone still rushing about to finish their wares. They had three and a half weeks, but that time flew by when things needed to be taken care of. "Sounds like you made a friend."

"So it would seem." He sat on the edge of my desk. "What did I see?"

"Honestly? I don't know. Quite a few things have glowing eyes like that, unless you've forgotten." I pointed to my own.

"You saw a necromancer."

I looked to the far wall, seeing Pitch emerge from the shadows. I narrowed my eyes. "A necromancer? In college? Are they really starting that young now?"

He shrugged and folded his hands behind his back as Drago emerged from the shadows behind him. "Many human habits are starting early. Children are playing… doctor much younger than they used to. Wasn't the youngest father eleven now?"

I rolled my eyes and closed the book. "So you think they're starting necromancy at eleven as well?"

"Why not? Drago's been doing worse for years."

"Our son also has a unique upbringing." I swirled the shadows in the crystal, turning off the newsreels. "How do you know it's a necromancer for sure?"

"Lady Death told us," Drago said.

I knocked the crystal out of its holder in surprise and Jamie had to grab it before it fell from the table. "What brought on an encounter with her?"

I saw Pitch glare at Drago before looking back to me. "We followed a lead and came across a murder scene in Burgess. The Axeman killed again. A couple this time. Death came to reap their souls and find out what was doing the killing. She said something raided her special vault. Seven souls are missing."

My heart stopped for a moment and I looked back to the globe, still pulsing in those five states. "W-which ones?"

"Frankford Slasher, Axeman of New Orleans, The Zodiac Killer, Gary Ridgway, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, and the Grim Sleeper."

I felt my blood run cold and my stomach tried to flip over itself. It was a good thing I was sitting. I don't think my knees would have kept me up. "That's… whoever this person is did their research. Necromancers usually only raise spirits for their bidding, don't they?"

He arched a brow. "And who's to say this one isn't?"

"Don't say that."

Jamie had been looking back and forth between us. "Guys, who are these people?"

I thrust the tome to him. "Do your homework." I glanced back at Pitch. "Where is Jack?"

"He went to tell the others. They should be here any moment in the main hall. They'd like to discuss a plan of action."

I reactivated the shadows in the crystal. "I'll keep an eye on the reports. Maybe I can pinpoint something."

He nodded. "Very well." He motioned for Drago to follow him. "Let's leave your mother in peace." He cast a glance at Jamie. "You too, boy."

Jamie looked up from the tome, looking a little paler already. He nodded. "Y-yeah. I'm coming."

Pitch took the torch next to the entrance stairwell and I watched the light slowly disappear. Once out of sight, I turned my attention back to the crystal, my useless stomach still doing twists. "What is the purpose…?"