Heather screamed and ran at Alexander. She swung a sledgehammer into Alexander's knee, putting her whole back into it. There was a loud crack and Alexander's entire leg broke and bent backwards, and Alexander screamed and fell to the floor. Heather dropped the sledgehammer and staggered back until she was resting against a wall, panting. Like Jenny, she was beaten, torn, and bitten all over, blood soaking the tattered remains of her clothes.
The falling ax couldn't be stopped, but Heather's blow had knocked him aside just enough that the ax head bit deep into the muscle and sinew between Seth's neck and shoulder. Seth gave a surprised yell and dropped to the floor next to Alexander.
Jenny crawled toward Seth. “Seth, are you okay? Seth?”
“He is not,” Alexander hissed. “We are all damned, all of our kind, Jenny.”
Jenny helped Seth lift the ax from his shoulder. The white glow of Seth's skin grew brighter, and the ax wound healed instantly.
Seth turned to face Alexander.
“Kill me if you want,” Alexander said. “I'll be back again, and again.”
“Dead-raiser,” Seth's voice rang out, and it was not his usual voice. Jenny knew what it was: the ancient, powerful voice of his soul. “The plague-bringer does not belong to you anymore. We only belong to each other. Remember that, if your memories remain in your next life. And remember that she may be your complement, but I am your cross, and I will destroy you.”
Seth raised a hand, which glowed so bright Jenny could barely look at it. He seized Alexander's throat, and he squeezed.
Alexander convulsed, his fingers scrabbling across the floorboards, his entire body shuddering so fast it seemed to vibrate. He levitated off the floor a few inches, then crashed down again, and he ceased all movement.
Alexander's entire body had turned bleach-white, even his hair and the pupils of his eyes. He looked almost like a plaster mold of himself, a discarded shell.
“Is he dead?” Heather asked, from where she leaned against the wall.
“Dead,” Seth said. “Gone from this earth.” He looked at Jenny, and then both of them looked at Ashleigh.
The girl was kneeling on the floor, coughing more glops of yellow fluid. Jenny had seen that before, when she spread Ashleigh pox through the crowd of pregnant girls on Easter, breaking Ashleigh's spell. That was Ashleigh's golden bonds dissolving.
Jenny pushed herself to her feet and approached the girl.
“No!” the girl shouted. “No, please. I am not Ashleigh.”
“Then who are you?” Jenny asked.
“I'm Esmeralda. See?” She hooked a finger under her necklace, then snapped the strand. Beads showered onto the floor. “The little bones. That's how she stayed in touch with me.” The girl broke the beaded bracelet she wore, then lifted the cuff of her pants and broke an anklet there. The beads scattered everywhere. “Don't hurt me, please.”
“You're Alexander's opposite,” Seth said. “You're the channel she used to come back from the dead.”
“Who is Alexander?” Esmeralda asked.
Seth glanced at the white husk of Alexander's corpse. “He's nothing, now.”
“Please, you have to understand,” Esmeralda said. “I didn't want any of this. There's a boy, Tommy—I came here to be with him, not Ashleigh. Ashleigh's magic tricked me. I feel like I've been wrapped up in a golden cocoon this whole time. At first, it was pleasant, but...”
“But then you realize you're her slave,” Seth said, nodding.
“Yes. So please.” Esmeralda rose to her feet, looking at the dead bodies all around them. “Please let me go.”
Then she turned and ran down the stairs.
“Should we go after her?” Seth asked Jenny.
“I don't see why,” Jenny said. “She's just one more of Ashleigh's victims. Let her go pick up whatever pieces of her life Ashleigh didn't ruin.”
Jenny helped Seth to his feet. “You really wiped out those zombies,” she said. “My hero.”
“Ha. I didn't know I could do it.”
“Should we keep going with our plan?” Jenny asked. She picked up Esmeralda's purse, which was stuffed with Power Bars. “Oh, yum. I'm so hungry.”
“I'm starving. Give me one,” Seth said.
“We have to. Homeland Security is still after us.”
They both looked at Heather, whose face was pale, her eyelids drooping.
“Heather, are you okay?” Seth asked.
Heather looked around at the twisted and dismembered zombies, the colorless corpse of Alexander, and slowly shook her head. “I'm still just trying to adjust to all this. Zombies. Ghosts. Paranormal teenagers.” She sighed. “You know, the world just isn't the kind of place I thought it was.”