To any self respecting Necromancer a basement was one of if not the best location to live. Cool and dark for easy parts storage. Considering the other creatures one would take in the darkness was good for them. These conditions did not apply to Wayne is not a normal necromancer.

  Wayne’s Master or as he liked to be called the Grandmaster was a tried and true necromancer. He was old, which afforded him certain privileges. One was that when they moved to town he got to pick where to live. It just so happened to be an old decrepit place on the edge of town. Wayne would have been fine with that cheaper was better. The problem was that it was a luxurious mansion with acres of land.

  The Grandmaster’s taste always cost an exorbitant amount. It always fell on Wayne one way or another to take care of those tastes. So much so that his own options for research nearly completely revolved around saving options.

  Today he was in a good mood. Research data on golems, especially when in action against a paladin, were rare. His own special blend of clay, metal, and the dead had shown flaws. These flaws were where he’d find improvement and the next interactions would be even better. He mused about making an entire car into a golem. For the convenience of it.

  His Car MK.2 had only used parts of cars. A new iteration with the design integrating an entire car could be worth the cost. It could double as a transport saving even more money. Scrounging a car from the junkyard would be difficult but doable.

  The old wooden desk he called home was scattered with designs. Where to place the balancing magic, how to attune a certain type of metal to the spirit, and how the clay would stay adhered to the body. He set out to find the problem locations disassembling the golems as he went.

  They were both made in haste to take on the paladin. He was never one to waste even one part and was putting that into practice. The two had been broken down from a previous build of a much smaller project that had acted as his thesis. The magic control plate he’d designed, still set on the table as a point of reference and encouragement.

  In the middle of disassembling the Car Mk.2. His master entered the room. Looming tall in the doorway he wouldn’t step inside. The mess ,that was made out of four different disassembled scrap cars and a half dozen lawn mowers, filled the space with an oily musk. The master was old school. He wouldn't mess around with stuff like this. At the same time he never once told Wayne it was bad to do so.

  “I think your fate has changed.”

  The master's voice was not old and scratchy. Nor was his voice incredibly harsh. It was a soft, melodious tone. He’d stripped the vocal chords from a famous actor or actress. Wayne had known their name once but it didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

  “Did it change for the better or worse?”

  Wayne asked seriously. The master didn’t speak about fate lightly, so it was best to never treat it that way.

  “You have set into motion many things. If I had not changed my calculations I would not have been able to account for your fight today. Please remember that the town is to be left as unmolested as possible.”

  “Master. I didn’t damage anything. I even saved some people. Their deaths could have set your calculations off even further.”

  He protested knowing full well that such words mattered little to the Grandmaster. To Wayne it was surely the case that dead teens would lead to more of an outrage than a Paladin on the loose. Not to mention the murders.

  “You would be right. Had their times already long since been severed, but now ties that bind come. I doubtless have little in the numbers to find their numeration. I will set into action what must be done.”

  Wayne gave up on his master's ramblings. He had been taught by the man for nearly forty years, and he still didn’t know what the calculations were. Something about astrology or Fate. It wouldn’t help him anyway, that wasn’t his research focus. It would just worsen his spells and monsters to dwell on the matter.

  “Did you forget something?”

  The master hadn't finished speaking. His words pulled at some corner of his mind. Had he forgotten something? Something that was important?

  “The murder case must be solved. You will need a helper. Do not ruin this one.”

  A piece of his long robes fluttered into the room as he took off. Oil filled with the souls of the dead reached out begging to be brought along. As their grubby oil slicked hands reached toward the robe they burned with a white hot fire. A small pop sounded as they extinguished altogether.

  ***

  Inside the Flick-and-Go Nate's wound oozed blood. Mandy tried desperately to staunch the flow. She pushed down hard on the largest of the gouges torn wide in his back. His attempt to grapple Paladin Wood had not helped the wound and it festered. His only saving grace was he couldn’t feel the pain.

  The bayonet lay on the floor coated in a pool of Nate’s blood. It drank away at the blood slowly diminishing the pool. It looked to sate itself on the blood. The normal out pour of blood staunched. Nate watched it as Mandy fussed over his wounds.

  He couldn’t feel the pain, but the light headedness from the blood loss did not feel good. Casting his gaze around he watched the scene of the battle outside. The flurry of blows and then the fleeing Paladin. Those weird tentacle-like appendages that were destroyed only a moment later. The other man seemed to pay no mind to anything else and took off into the dawn's light.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “We need to go to the hospital.”

  Mandy was shaking as she spoke. Her normal lovestruck attitude went away as nervousness and urgency took over. Following his gaze to the monitors she let out a small breath. Pulling Nate along she placed him into the back of her broken car.

  Nate could do little to protest his body was bruised and cut all over. He couldn’t feel the pain. He had limited movements he could make from the damage that zapped his energy. The soul in his body was frantic, nearly out classing Mandy. It shot around his body the similar cooling effect passing here and there. It did not seem to do anything from what he could feel. Its effort was at least appreciated.

  As they raced against the brightening sky Nate faded in and out of consciousness. Had he known that he’d become such a burden he’d have called the number on the card sooner. His mind wandered. Giving up sooner would have protected Mandy. He had put her in harm's way.

  Nate was secure in the back seat. With luck when she tried the car the engine had rumbled to life. For a moment she hesitated. Nate was a minor they would call his guardian. She swallowed hard and wanted to ask Nate what to do. She wanted him to be the one to end his charade. That was not going to happen. He was going to die!

  Her momentary internal battle of what he would want and what would save him ended. Even with the whole left side dented the car still ran and she sped away. The hospital wasn’t far. There was no time to get caught up in decision paralysis.

  Mawe Hospital was the only one in the town. It wasn’t underfunded, in fact it could be said the amount of money that came in each year was higher than city hospitals. What they were was understaffed. There weren’t many people anymore who were old enough to be doctors. On the other end many had long since aged out. If they were lucky they’d get an influx in a few years.

  The car shrieked in front of the emergency room entrance. Mandy hadn’t looked back the whole time. It had taken her complete focus to get them there safely. Her hands shook and tears stung her eyes as she looked back at his body. Her seats were sticky wet with blood. His face was paling under the glow of the car lights.

  The staff responded quickly pulling him inside. From there Mandy became helpless. They would come every so often to give updates, but his wounds were deep. Her fingers jittered together, nails clacking against one another.

  A few times she thought of calling Teddy. They had met a few times. She wasn’t sure if he’d remember her. It had been sometime since then. Her thoughts were a mess. Finally, the cops showed up questioning her.

  When they showed up she realized she just needed to make one call and everything would be settled. The call would come at a great cost.

  ***

  Light streamed into the hospital room warming the bed where Nate lay. Wires and tubes ran out from all over his body as his eyes scanned the room. It was on the upper floor of the ICU. He looked at his hand.

  Mandy was laid on the side of the bed with their fingers entwined. He could feel the lines she’d formed on his hand from squeezing tightly. She’d thought he might die, and he felt like he should have. With everything that happened he was happy just opening his eyes.

  A nurse walked in, seeing his eyes open she gawked in surprise. Before rushing out of the room to gather the doctors. Gently he woke Mandy. His voice was hoarse.

  “Mand, wake up. It's time for school.”

  He had woken her up like this before. Unlike the rest of the delinquents, the two of them had been responsible enough to attend school. Just not responsible enough to be at home in the morning.

  Blurry eyes looked up at him, a moment of false recognition. It was just like the old days. She gave him a feigned smile like she was actually awake. Closing her eyes she laid her head back down. It remained there only for a moment as she shot up, ram rod straight.

  Tears filled her eyes as she touched his face. She caressed his cheek like it was a miracle he was alive. In this case maybe it really was. The doctors walked in while she was crying.

  Each of the doctors wore faces of profound surprise. The patient had been unresponsive and with a large amount of blood loss. They thought he might have gone brain dead. Inspecting his body he found he was wrapped like a mummy.

  They set about taking measurements, and running tests. After a long half hour process the head doctor entered. An Asian woman in her 30’s she was particularly fit and gave off an approachable feeling. The other doctors shuffled out and she sat down next to him opposite Mandy.

  “Mr. Cotton. Can you understand me?”

  “Yes, how bad am I Doc?”

  She made a pained face. It was poor bed side manner but Nate wouldn’t blame her since he was alive. If anything he was already worrying about his bills. All the money from the first house would be going out the window. He might lose the house if it was really bad.

  “Well, Your condition when you came in wasn’t that far off from a major car accident. From what your, um, What Miss Baker told us. You were pinned between her car and the assailant.”

  “Yes, that does sound right, but I’m a bit hazy on the details.”

  If that's the lie that Mandy was using then he’d gladly use it. The doctor's wording felt odd to him. What else could be wrong with him?

  “Right. Well, we were able to address your injuries. They were extensive but you probably got off easy given they hit you. It's just about what we found during your x-rays and other tests.”

  She was nervous as she picked her next words carefully. Pulling out several documents the doctor handed over to him. He moved into a sitting position much to the doctor's surprise.

  “ Please remain lying for now. If you look here. It shows that nearly all of your muscles have been ripped or torn in some way. There you can see that many of your bones have broken and not repaired quite right. We would only see this type of damage in someone into extreme sports, or dead person. It's a surprise that the shock hasn’t killed you. We are recommending a lot of things. It will take time and be painful.”

  The words were left unspoken but Nate simply smiled at her. She didn’t know he couldn’t feel it. He hadn’t even realized how injured he’d been up until now. Has all that work done this to him?

  “Sorry, I should inform you I’m actually unable to feel pain.”

  The doctor had a face of realization and nodded gently.

  “I will come back in a bit after we adjust your treatment.”

  Mandy was also shocked at the news. Since it had been a more recent development she’d never heard of it. He still kept secrets from her. Now she had a secret of her own.