These weren’t regular Zombies.

  They felt different, almost like they were echoes of Zombies, which was probably why I hadn’t noticed them. At first I thought that I might be feeling Touched, but I was getting nothing from either Fyga or Theo, so that was out as a possibility. Plus there was the unmistakable certainty that the chill of death that my skin was feeling was coming from that ship. As was all of the fog.

  I looked at Fyga to ask her what it was, but she silenced my question with a shake of her head.

  We sat where we were for at least a half hour. It was like the ship was a giant monster that was looking for us, waiting for us to make a sound so it could send the army of undead to claim us.

  Then without warning, the ship started moving. The cloud pulled away from covering the moon and the air began to get warmer. It was another half hour before I couldn’t see the ship anymore, as it headed away from the island. I was glad that it left because if it had started moving around the coast, I would have started running back to the camp. I remembered Captain Snallygast had said something about the island being haunted and I wondered if this had been what he was talking about.

  I had only been with the Bokor for fourteen years, but in all that time, I’d never heard of Zombies on a ship. While it was possible that this was a situation like the Master, where an old Touched was able to give Zombies simple tasks to do, the Zombies on the ship felt different, almost like the magic in their heartstones was being fed on by something. I wasn’t sure how to describe what I felt, but I knew that it wasn’t something that I’d ever heard of or seen before.

  “That was close.” Fyga let go of the other man and stood up.

  Theo pulled his legs up into his chest and hid his face. Something told me that as soon as the new Touched had been able to feel how wrong the Zombies on that ship felt, she hadn’t needed to restrain him.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “What was that?” I eyed the black-haired woman.

  “That.” Fyga brushed herself off, then adjusted her thin-rimmed goggles. “Was the Ghost Ship that everyone was talking about.”

  “Those things were Ghosts?” I motioned in the direction the ship had sailed. “They're real?”

  I fought Zombies almost constantly, which meant the idea that the dead could be reanimated wasn’t a ridiculous concept, but I’d only heard horror stories about Ghosts, not any actual testimonies about them. But until a week ago, I had Elves in the category of fairytale, so I was starting to wonder about what other fantasy things were real somewhere in the world.

  “Sort of.” Fyga looked over at the ball Theo had collapsed into and sighed. “Those were Revenants.”

  That was something I hadn’t heard of.

  “What are…” I grabbed her arm as she started to walk by. “What is a Revenant?”

  “Think a smart Zombie.” The blue-eyed woman locked eyes with me. “They usually stay away from the Bokor areas since they’re smart enough to know better. They don’t have magic like the Touched, but everything gets cold when they’re near and their bite is nasty.”

  “Wait, so can you talk to them?”

  The shorter woman pulled her arm away. “You want to try to talk to them?” She realized where my mind was going. “Those things won’t just kill you like a cat playing with a mouse! They keep you around for weeks slowly draining your life away!” She shook her head. “They try to torture humans so much that they leave a ghost behind to make more of themselves. The only reason they haven’t taken over is because killing them is something the Touched and Bokor agree on!”

  I watched her stomp off. There was more to that story than the outburst that I’d gotten, but I wasn’t going to chase after her and make her tell me the rest. I trusted her enough that if she said there was no reasoning with the Revenants, I would treat them like any other Zombie.

  “Hey.” I looked over at Theo. “If you don’t want me to leave you here, then we need to catch up with her.”

  This time I wasn’t worried about Theo lagging behind. I’d barely taken three steps when I heard him get to his feet and hurry to follow me. Maybe that had been enough of a scare to earn us some silence for a while.

  Rating, Review, Follow, Favorite, or Comment does wonders to boost my morale. If you want to help support my writing or check out advanced chapters, head over to my .

  Immersive Ink

  RR Writer's Guild