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He nodded

"Good Now, be a good boy and don’t lose your heart"

Nick pulled back from the scene with his stomach knotted and his fury hot How dare the coach make a pact like that And for what?

Vanity?

He’d never understand it

Kody sighed, drawing his attention to her "Well, noe kno it all began"

Nick opened his es started playing through his head They came fast and furious, as they’d done in the mirror And just as in the mirror, he had no control over them It , he lay on the floor and pressed the heel of his hand to his eye, trying to alleviate some of misery It felt as if his brain would literally explode

"Nick?" Kody sucked her breath in sharply as she watched hi? What should she do?

She didn’t sense hi, and yet that’s what he acted like Had she accidentally unleashed soht terrified her

"Nick?" she tried again

Again he didn’t respond

She thickened her protection in the roo could breach it She pulled Nick’s head into her lap and held hiirl’s voice in his head Julianne … She was talking to hih-pitched and painful

Free ed hio to o away? It’s been so long, and I’irl Devus had h his veins It wasn’t like the other times when his powers had seized him This was different For once, he felt like he had control of it Like he could channel and direct it

Closing his eyes, he tried to focus

Kody gasped and pulled away as she saw an orange aura engulf Nick’s entire body It was a demon’s essence, and it made the hair on the back of her neck rise

When he opened his eyes to look up at her, they were no longer blue They were a vibrant lavender The kind that didn’t belong to a human

"You have to teach me how to raise the dead" His voice was low and deep, and sounded nothing like the Nick she knew

She blinked twice as her mind wrapped itself around his request "It’s forbidden"

His voice calmed down to its normal cadence as he pushed himself up to face her "No, it’s not It’s ill advised But the only way to stop this is to let the girl confront her killer She wants to be free, and I think we should let her"

Kody shook her head "We can’t do that, Nick You’re not strong enough, and you have no idea what doors that will open Doors that don’t shut easily"

She’s lying to you

Nick groaned as an unfamiliar voice filled his head "Who are you?"

It didn’t say

But he’d felt it and honestly, he was tired of having Grand Central Station for a head People, things, animals Keep out! The station was closed for business Go haunt somewhere else

Kody put her hand on his forehead to check for a fever "I’ave her a no duh look "I wasn’t talking to you I hear voices in ainst his ear in an effort to try to clear it "I can’t explain it exactly I … My powers are slipping I can feel theroan as his insides twisted until he couldn’t breathe

Kody panicked as she saw his eyes changing again His skin wasfast or she’d lose hinored her

She had to calhts to focus on soht, she kissed him

Nick shuddered at the sensation of Kody’s mouth on his And as he tasted those full, soft lips, an inexplicable cal Cupping her face in his hands, he let the warain

In one act, she’d cured his headache and grounded hi back, he stared at her "Thank you"

She inclined her head "Anytime Now, can you explain to me what you heard?"

"No Not really At first it was the irl, Julianne"

She appeared less than convinced "Are you sure it was her?"

"What do you mean?"

"It’s extremely simple for a dey, and it’s an easy way to uise of a loved one or child, and they’ll doyou bid them Think of it like a cheat code"

Nick didn’t care for the thoughts of that, but at least he understood what she was getting at "You’re right She could have been lying But I don’t think so One thing I’ve learned inis ever easy And the irl’s heart I’irl whose death started it"

He could see the reluctance in her eyes before she banished it "You’re right In order to undo things, you usually have to go to where they started But…"

"But what?"

"You’re talking about necro to play with, and it’s not so you learn in a few hours or days Necromancers are a different breed entirely"

"How so?"

"To do what they do, they lose a part of their soul every ti about the darkest part of evil It’s not just the reaniain You have to reunite the soul, which one to And if it’s been reborn … I don’t think anything or anyone can touch it But again, I don’t know I don’t go there For real good reasons"