The Windhaven Witches Omnibus Edition : Complete Paranormal Suspense Series, Books 1-4 by Carissa Andrews (graded readers txt) 📕

large brick wall at the edge of the cemetery. Dressed from head to toe in white, it becomes glaringly obvious that it’s a person.

“What is it? What do you see?” Wade asks, stepping up beside me.

“Did you see that?” I say, refusing to even blink until the person is no longer in view.

“See what?”

I take a deep breath, finally looking Wade’s direction. “You were right to be concerned. There was someone in the cemetery with us.”

Chapter 9

A Home For The Dead

I might be supernatural, but even that doesn’t prepare a person for coming face to face with zombies. Real, flesh-falling-off, scary-as-all-hell… zombies.

The thing is, even with all the stuff I’ve learned at school, zombies have never come up. And I’ve been learning a lot of stuff about my craft and my abilities. You’d think it would be a pretty big deal.

Hobbling over to the computer section of the Windhaven Academy library, I take a seat at one of the computers and cast a sideways glance to Wade. “How is it zombies are real, but they’ve never come up in our coursework? It’s like no one wants to talk about them.”

“We’re also kind of newbies to this whole school thing. As much as we’ve seen, we can only consume so much information at once. I’m sure there’s info out there—we just gotta know where to look,” Wade says, sliding into the chair beside me.

I nod, bending down and rubbing at my pulsing ankle. “Thus, the library.”

“How’s your leg?” Wade asks, quirking an eyebrow.

“I’ll live. It just aches a bit,” I mutter, setting my hand in my lap. The truth is, it’s painted a lovely shade of black and blue, but at least I can walk on it now.

“Good.” Wade says, eyeing me suspiciously before turning back to the computer. “The way I figure it, there’s probably a lot of stuff out there we don’t know about. But if we can dream it up, it probably exists. I mean, the ideas for some of the modern entertainment stuff, like zombies, had to have come from somewhere. Don’t you think?”

“Good point,” I say, turning to the computer screen. Quickly, I enter my login details to get into the school’s vast archives of the magical, paranormal, and straight-up supernatural. After a few seconds, the search bar pops up and I quickly type in “zombies,” then press enter.

Wade leans in, placing his left hand on my right thigh as we wait. It doesn’t take long before the results come back.

“There’s only four,” I say, making a face. “Does that seem right to you?”

“That does seem odd,” Wade says, narrowing his gaze. “Open the first one.”

I click on the link and it opens a small landing page with a reroute.

Zombies > see also Revenants.

We exchange a glance, but I click on the link for Revenants. Something about the word reminds me of a conversation I had last semester, but I can’t remember who it was with.

As the first page loads, I read the details out in a hushed voice, “Revenants are animated corpses and/or remains that have been revived from death to haunt the living. The word revenant is derived from the Old French word, revenant, meaning the ‘returning.’ See also the related French verb revenir, meaning ‘to come back.’ Instances of revenants, both in name and in reality, have declined since the 1700s. This is believed to be thanks to the rise in scientific exploration, as well as the implementation of supernatural schools across the United States. Academies, such as the Windhaven Academy in Massachusetts, channel supernatural talents in a constructive manner, avoiding some of the darker elements of magic, such as revenants.”

“Well, I guess this explains why we haven’t heard much about them,” Wade mutters, shifting back in his seat.

“Yeah, for starters, everyone uses a different name,” I say, chewing on the side of my lip.

“Yeah, but I’ve never heard of revenants. Have you?” Wade chuckles. “I mean, there was that one movie with Leo DiCaprio—but that wasn’t even about zombies. Granted, he was kinda left for dead…”

“I must have missed that one,” I say, shaking my head. “Well, okay, so basically, we know zombies can happen—but we don’t really know why or how.”

“Obviously, someone’s behind it. It says they’re revived to haunt the living. So, spellwork has to be involved in it.”

“Who in the world would want to do something like this?” I say, unable to hide the disgust in my voice. It just seems ludicrous to me.

“Someone with an agenda…and the power to pull it off,” Wade says, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Should we go to the police? I mean, tell them what happened to us in the cemetery the other day? Now that we know this part, maybe they can help?” I offer.

Wade looks doubtful as he places a curved hand over his mouth. “I dunno. I’m really torn about it. People already think I’m involved. If we go to the police, even the supernatural ones, will it just bring more suspicion? It says there, it’s a darker element of magic. What if there are laws against this sort of thing.”

“But you’re innocent. That has to stand for something, right?”

Wade sighs, running the back of his hand across my jawline. “And that’s why I love you so much. You really do think everything works out in the end.”

“You don’t?” I say, quirking an eyebrow.

“I want to,” he says, his eyebrows flicking upward. “I’m just more realistic than that. Good people get hurt. Bad people sometimes win. When you bring in the supernatural, I’d wager those odds go up.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because power corrupts,” he says, casting me a knowing look and standing up. “Having abilities, no matter how slight, can give a person a superiority complex. Especially if they’re already a tad on the unstable side. Don’t you think?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

Wade looks up at the clock on the wall. “Lunch is nearly over. We better get moving. I don’t want to miss Powers and Technology. It’s been a good class so far. You coming?”

I