“The only reason he kills people is because they want something from him, and he clearly wants to be left alone,” I said, stepping into the open. Two rocks wiggled on their perches, a pretty clear warning.

My heart sped up and I put up my hands, danger pressing on me and making it hard to breathe.

“I know you can see and hear me,” I said, then motioned for Chad to get out of the way. We’d put him in a huge body, and he was blocking my view. “Sit down or something, Chad.”

“What do you think your death puppets can do for you?” The booming voice bounced off the walls, surrounding me, beating against me, before flying out of Death Alley. “They cannot protect you here.”

“Big pile of bones over here,” John hollered, sounding like he was deep within the recesses of the mountain. His voice barely echoed out.

Swallowing became a little harder.

“They aren’t my death puppets,” I said with an elevated voice so he’d be sure to catch all my words. Fear swirled in my gut at the thought of the large rocks arranged above me, but I took another step forward. “Seriously, Chad, sit or something. I can’t see past you.”

A rock the size of my upper body rolled off the first ledge on the right and picked up speed faster than was natural, thundering down the side. I didn’t get a chance to say, “Look out!” before it slammed into Chad’s upper body, smashing it against the rock wall. Bones splintered and his jaw crunched. A rib popped out of his dead flesh. The rock hit the ground and thudded against the other side before rolling a little farther and settling.

Bile rose in my throat. Chad stayed standing, clearly fucking amazing at working his spirit within a dead body.

“You are strong for a Necromancer,” the voice boomed. “You have great control.”

I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, needing a second before I looked in Chad’s direction. “I’m not a Necromancer and I have no control over Chad—he’s the one in that body. He withstood that all on his own.” I braced a hand on my stomach. “That is not a good look, Chad. It really isn’t. You can take that body off if you want.”

“Or I could run in there and gut that giant,” Chad responded, his anger seething.

“He’d bring this whole place down on top of us, Chad. Think it through.”

The ground shivered below my feet. The rocks shook in their perches. My heart choked me.

I threw up my hands again. “I just want to talk to you, sir. That’s it. I mean you no harm.”

His laugh had no humor in it. “Yet you talk about killing me. You speak of using me.”

“I don’t think we said anything about using him,” Jack said, having drifted in at some stage.

I put up a finger. “If you try to kill us, I will take you down with us, yes. That’s just the truth. But there’s no reason for it to come to that.”

“And how would you do that? With your dolls?” Another rock plummeted from its perch, barreling down at Chad.

Above me, movement caught my eye. A rock the size of my head barreled down, faster than thought, propelled by some unseen hand. I dodged out of the way, adrenaline coursing through me. The rock crashed into the side. Amazingly, it hadn’t put a single dent in the stone walls.

“That was incredibly rude. We are your guests!” I grabbed the giant’s spirit box in an unyielding grip before squeezing with everything I had. It wouldn’t kill him or jeopardize his soul, but it would hurt like hell and probably scare the daylights out of him. No one was prepared for magic like mine.

Rocks shook on their shelves. The ground heaved under our feet.

“Get in, get in, get in!” Thane yelled to those still out on the ledge. The mouth of Death Alley had become the only safe place to be.

Red and the guys squeezed into the tunnel. Boulders rained down on the outside of the mountain, slamming off the small path before careening away. Another rock loosed above Death Alley. It sped down, aiming for my face.

I jumped over the rock that had previously fallen and dove into the bodies pressed into the tunnel. A monstrous thud echoed behind me.

“I will bring them all down,” the giant thundered.

The mountain heaved. More boulders tumbled down outside. The rocks on the shelves shook, three breaking free and tearing down to Death Alley. One bounced off the lower wall and shot toward us, only stopped by Donovan’s fast thinking. A crack grew along the top of the tunnel, slight at first but enlarging quickly. We had no escape, and he was working on bringing down our safe haven.

I did the only thing I could think to do. I stood up and spoke the truth.

“I will rip your soul out of your body, shove it back in, and make you dance to my tune. Try me, asshole!”

4

Alexis

A hush fell across Death Alley. A small dribble of dirt dusted us from the crack above. Chad, in spirit form, sat on top of the stone that had finally taken his body to the ground.

“The giant looks ashen,” John called from across the way. “Guess that means you’re still alive. You’ve still got a hold on his soul.”

“Le—let go.” The voice was no longer booming.

“I think you freaked him out,” John said.

“I’ll let go if you agree to give the rocks a rest for a while,” I said, my voice tight.

“They aren’t moving, are they?” the giant yelled.

I released my grip on his soul casing. Everyone breathed heavily around me, still crammed in the small tunnel with no desire to leave.

“You could’ve really hurt us.” I stood on shaky legs and stepped around the rock Donovan had kept from ramming into us. Adrenaline filled my body again, thankfully standing in for my wavering courage.

“You’re trespassing,” the giant said.

“This mountain is not owned by you. It is state property. You’re trespassing.”

“Please do not pick a fight with the incredibly powerful giant on his home turf,” Jack said. “I do not want you all to join me in this fucked-up plane of existence.”

“It’s not that bad after a decade or two,” Chad said. “Better than the beyond. At least here we have some purpose.”

“You’re not helping, brother,” Jack replied.

“Squatter’s rights,” the giant said, and there was no trace of humor in his words.

I chuckled anyway. “You got me there. Fine, we trespassed, and you really could’ve hurt us but didn’t. Are we square?”

“What are you?” the giant asked.

“He’s gripping his chair pretty hard,” John said. “Don’t let his tone fool you; he’s still freaked out.”

“I’m a Spirit Walker. Your people call it a Soul Stealer. I’m sure you’ve heard the stories about what I can do.”

“My people?”

“Yeah. Magical people. Our people, I guess. I don’t know. I didn’t grow up in the magical world.”

“You are lying.”

“Nope. I might look rich and polished now, but it wasn’t always the case.”

“You don’t look rich or polished right now,” Bria mumbled. “Without Aubri on the trip to help style you, you keep making weird clothing choices and don’t know how to do your hair.”