The Eternal Tomb by Kevin Emerson Page A

order to undo the prophecy, you must be made whole with what was lost yet lingers. This can be done in the company of what was taken, but only before the Anointment has been completed .
    The firefly went dark. With a slight hiss, its wings shriveled, its body curling into a tight ball, and it fell into the box, dead.
    Oliver frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?” He looked at the silent insect. “I need more than that,” he said, then turned to the apparition. “Do you know what that means?”
    The apparition seemed to sigh. I have an idea, but I have to go now .
    â€œWhy?”
    It’s not safe .
    â€œNot safe?” Oliver repeated. “What’s not—” but then he noticed a hissing wind, growing louder. He recognized the sound and looked up.
    Plumes of smoke were rushing down from the bridge, spiraling toward the street, and re-forming as vampires. Boots, long black coats, lapel pins made of bone…Half-Light.
    â€œI have a reading! Behind the troll.” It was Leah, her palms swirling in the air.
    There were five of them, the kind of team that Sebastian used to lead. And there was one other among them: the tall, black-robed Reader with its single white eye.
    Oliver. The apparition sounded dead serious. They can’t find out that you know about me. …
    â€œSet up the binding net!” Oliver heard Tyrus barking from below. He looked down to see Yasmin and the others flanking the troll.
    Oliver scrambled to his feet. They’d be surrounded in moments. He backed up farther into the shadows beneath the bridge, spectralizing. There’s nowhere to go , Oliver thought to the apparition.
    Suddenly, another voice spoke in his head. Don’t worry, I’ve got you .
    Invisible hands yanked him backward, right out of the world.
    Oliver watched through a sheet of gray, like the world was beyond a dusty window, as the Half-Light vampires scoured the area where he had just been.
    Sorry I didn’t get there sooner .
    Oliver turned, looking over the small hand on his shoulder. Jenette stood beside him. The wide gray beach of the Shoals, and the lapping black ocean with stars beneath its surface, stretched away behind her.
    Thanks , said Oliver.
    Unlike in the physical world, where Jenette appeared as a misty presence wrapped in veils, here she had a small, delicate face and long chestnut hair that reached almost to her waist. She wore white flannel pajamas with tiny smiling frogs on them. She looked younger than Oliver by a year or two, and maybe a little too old to be wearing frog pajamas, but what Oliver was seeing now was Jenette’s wraith-self, a mix of who she was at the moment she’d died, and a reflection of the passage of time since. How long had Jenette been dead and roaming as a wraith? Oliver guessed that it hadn’t been that long, as ancient wraiths tended to look quite hideous, and Jenette was still—
    Cute?
    What?!
    Jenette’s eyes fell. Ah, sorry, I just hoped you were going to say “cute.”
    Um … Oliver tried to think of any kind of response.
    Jenette glanced up sheepishly, blowing her bangs out of her eyes. It’s okay. No worries .
    Where’s the apparition? Oliver asked.
    The what?
    You know, the —he tried to think of how to describe it— the glowy thing .…
    Oh, him, ha. Jenette laughed. Right. He’s here.He lives in the Shoals, after all .
    He does? Oliver frowned at her. You know what he is, don’t you?
    Well…kinda. Jenette smiled. I’m surprised you don’t, actually, but you vampires are funny. You pride yourselves on a larger understanding of the universe, but then sometimes it’s amazing what you don’t get .
    Something fairly obvious finally occurred to Oliver: The apparition had been wherever Bane had been, but Jenette had been wherever the apparition had been as well. She was also the one who knew to find Bane in the forgotten graveyard, and the