‘The body of a teenage girl was found on the outskirts of Hucknall today by two dog walkers.’
I looked up at the TV screen. We lived in a relatively quiet suburb of Nottingham. I’d never heard of a body being found like that before, let alone one of a teenage girl. Hadn’t we had enough drama lately, what with a psychopathic necromancer trying to absorb the life essences of every magic user in town?
The TV cut to a field reporter. ‘Police are investigating the suspicious death of seventeen-year-old Tessa Barker, whose body was found this morning.’
I leaned closer to the TV. ‘Oh my god. Edie!’
Ben turned from his spot on the sofa beside me. ‘What? What is it?’
‘What?’ echoed Edie, stomping down the stairs with Tilly and Spectre in tow. Tilly’s white tail wagged with excitement. Spectre’s furry grey figure floated on to the sofa behind Ben and me, turning his attention to the TV. Edie watched, waiting to see why I’d called her. A photo of Tessa posing in front of a park filled the screen. ‘Oh my god.’
The news report didn’t give much away about Tessa’s death, which, I supposed made sense. Anything they shared could harm their investigation. But still, I wanted to know.
Edie put her hand to her mouth. Tessa had been bullying her for months with no repercussions. She’d even stolen Josh, Edie’s boyfriend and former best friend, from her.
All right, fine. It was more complicated than that. But Edie didn’t see it that way.
They were all due to take their A Level exams in just a few months’ time. And now Tessa would never get the chance.
Edie sat on the armchair in front of the sofa, her face in her hands. Tilly jumped up at her, but Edie ignored the little dog.
‘You OK?’ I said.
‘I don’t know. What am I even supposed to think? She was a horrible person, but to die so young? Nobody deserves that.’
The news shifted to show the reporter standing in front of a police cordon, a white tent in the background.
‘Why aren’t they saying what happened to her?’ Edie leaned back in the armchair as the screen switched to show the anchor on one side and the reporter on another.
Death had become a weird topic in our house, especially since Dominic had found out about Edie’s necromancy powers and manipulated her with his good looks and charm to get her to do what he’d wanted. After tricking Edie into hurting people with her powers, he’d killed me.
She’d resurrected me, but she hadn’t forgiven herself. It didn’t matter how many times Ben and I told her it wasn’t her fault, she was convinced it was because she’d fallen for his manipulation in the first place. She’d always thought she was too smart to fall for a guy like him. But was anyone ever as smart as they thought they were?
Her ability to give and take life was rare. It also came with huge consequences.
Dominic had been a necromancer too, choosing to use his powers to heal himself of an terminal illness. Of course, it never lasted. Magic couldn’t stop his body from turning against him.
When Ben’s sister, Lindsay, had found out what he was doing, she’d cursed him, taking away his active powers so that he couldn’t hurt anyone else. He’d killed her in return, breaking Ben’s family apart and convincing Ben his witchcraft was useless and incapable of helping others.
It was only because Dominic had killed me to steal my useless powers that Edie had realised he really was a monster. Dominic had been convinced that getting rid of me would make Edie more loyal to him, and that my powers would sustain him for longer because of my heritage. But it wasn’t that simple.
Edie had turned the very powers he’d wanted against him, stealing his life essence until he was barely alive. Then, we’d cursed him.
Now, he was in a state of suspended animation, inside an Ancient Egyptian sarcophagus for the rest of eternity. Or until someone else sensed he was alive and broke the curse. That was a rare skill, though, so I really hoped that wouldn’t happen in our lifetimes. He’d done enough damage to our family in the few weeks he’d been in our lives.
‘Do the police have any idea what happened to her?’ asked the presenter.
The reporter shook his head. ‘Not that they’re saying, no. All we know is that they believe the circumstances surrounding her death to be suspicious.’
Which meant they definitely knew more than they were letting on.
I massaged my forehead, the latest mystery in our lives making my headache worse. A weird, disjointed whistling sound had kept me up overnight. I’d woken up with a horrible headache that I hadn’t managed to shake all day.
‘Suspicious usually means it looks like murder and they don’t want to risk any leaks in case it harms the investigation,’ said Ben.
Tilly gave up trying to console Edie and joined Ben and me on the sofa instead. We both reached over and she automatically leaned into me, exposing her belly for a rub. I wasn’t sure who was more predictable – the dog or us.
‘At her age, it’s bound to be treated as suspicious until they have more details. Maybe she had an underlying heart condition. You never know,’ I said. I hoped.
‘Or she didn’t have a heart,’ Edie mumbled. I tried not to laugh. Edie looked horrified at herself. But, after all the horrible things Tessa had said and done…
‘They’ll know more than they’re saying,’ said Ben. ‘This feels more like the start of an investigation than a memorial.’
Edie turned away from the TV so that she was facing us. ‘I hope she’s not a ghost. Is that bad of me to say?’
‘No. She wasn’t a fun human. Can you imagine what she’d be like if we were the only ones who could see her?’ I shuddered. Even though I hadn’t had the pleasure of Tessa’s company as much as Edie, I knew enough to not want it.
‘I can’t believe she’s dead,’ said Edie. ‘Just like that.’
‘I can’t either,’ I said. ‘So young.’
‘Everyone at college is going to be super weird tomorrow.’
‘You think?’
The news, out of nice things to say about Tessa, moved on to another story.
Edie nodded, rubbing her hands together. ‘She was Little Miss Popular. Everyone knew who she was, even if she didn’t know everyone. Not to mention it happened so suddenly and so close to exams. It’s going to be the talk of college. I can’t see anyone getting any work done.’