“Terminate these insect assholes with extreme prejudice,” Sam ordered. “Be ready for him to throw anything at us. He will not let up. Keep the living safe as long as possible. They’re counting on us. Move out.” The ghostly figures faded away and were gone.

Sam carried me around the corner, where there was a bit of shelter from the screaming wind, and set me down with my back against a low wall. He squatted next to me, looking remarkably good for a dead man. I rubbed the blood off of my face and realized with a shock that the blurriness of his features wasn’t due to crap in my eyes at all. Everything else in the world was sharp and focused, but the lines that made up Sam seemed to flicker. “How’re you feeling?”

“Confused.”

“I was asking about physically, but that’s understandable. Listen carefully, Z. You need to know that you aren’t in this alone. There’s a war coming, and it’s bigger than just the living, and it’s bigger than just the Earth. A lot of those that came before you still have skin in this game. There are legions of us. Legions. But until the war starts, there’s rules set that we have to follow, including not meddling with the living. Ah, but you know I’ve never been too good with authority.” He chuckled.

I raised one shaking hand and pointed upwards questioningly.

Sam nodded. “Pretty much. It’s mostly hands-off the living world for reasons I don’t get myself. Way over my pay grade. But this place isn’t in the living world right now. Nobody important has laid claim to this place except for scum that live here. So the rules are in sort of a gray area, which is how come some of us came here to help. We’re buying you some time, but this needs to be finished by the living. I’ve got a message from Mordechai that’ll help. Since the Old Ones messed with your head, you can read other people’s memories. Think of this as a download.”

Sam reached out, put his palm on my forehead, and SNAP.

It was like getting a stun gun to the brain. But when the white-hot electrical vise grip unlocked from my synapses, there was a gigantic pile of new memories in my head. I’d watched other people’s memories unfold before as a result of my connection to the Old Ones’ artifact, but never anything like this. It was quite literally an infodump, and I was surprised to see who it was from…

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

He had been called many things since he’d died. He did not like being referred to as a ghost and preferred protector spirit, which seemed to him to have more dignity, though restless dead also had gravitas, but often had negative connotations. Usually the living that he had dealt with simply referred to him as the old man, since that was how he still tended to perceive himself, and thus how the living perceived him as a result. Regardless of what he was known as, the most common adjective applied to any of his titles by his superiors was usually stubborn.