Daniel glanced my way to make sure I was staying where I was. I can hold my own in a fight, but my powers don’t give me any advantage. In this situation—like when they’d been fighting in the alley—the best thing I could do was stand watch against unexpected interference. That also meant keeping an eye on Rae, but she was staying where she was.

Daniel neared the tent flap. Inside, Moreno was still cursing. A sudden hiss had Derek, Maya and Daniel going still. It was the lantern, hissing to life. I could see Moreno’s figure inside the tent now, crouching as he muttered under his breath.

“Moreno?” Daniel said.

Moreno shot up. “Goddamn it? I told—”

“Throw the gun toward the door.”

A sigh. Then, a thump.

“Yours, too. And if I see you disappear—”

“I’m not going anywhere.” The thump of a second gun. Moreno’s silhouette waved his hands over his head. “Can you see me?”

“Where’s Luke?”

“Well, I’m guessing you heard that shot.”

“Is he okay?” Maya called.

Another sigh. Deeper. “No, he’s not. Dumb kid. Can I come out, and we can have this conversation in person?”

Daniel retrieved the guns and had Moreno walk, hands on his head, to the fire pit. We all joined him there, Derek escorting Rae. Moreno glanced at her, eyes narrowing as if she looked familiar. Then, he said, “Fuck. Is that what this is about?”

“Tell us what happened,” Maya said.

As Moreno started to explain, I leaned over and whispered something to Maya. She nodded, and I went to the tent. Derek watched me but didn’t come after me. I could hear Moreno telling his story as I slipped into the tent.

I tried not to look at Luke’s body. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t seen a corpse before. I’m a necromancer; I see more than I like. A necromancer can’t only communicate with the dead—she can raise them, too, and part of my wonky, genetically modified powers means that my zombie juice is a little overpowered. I’ve been known to accidentally reanimate dead things. Which is not pleasant—for me or the poor spirit caught in the rotting body.

I’d learned to control it, but that was part of the reason I hadn’t asked someone else to run this errand. Dead bodies make me nervous, and the more exposure I have to them, the more confident I get that I won’t have an unfortunate power surge around them. I entered the tent and avoided looking at Luke while clutching my necklace, which seemed to be oddly warm. My sweaty hands, I guess. I walked to Moreno’s backpack, found what I was looking for and left.