"Well, this bein the graveyard," said Nijon, his voice shaking slightly. Katie scowled at him and he cowered

"Yes I can see that. Now what do you want me to do in the graveyard," Nijon cleared his throat and looked over the fence.

"Jus'um, jump in there. We'll stay here and keep watch. If tha dead rise then ya be doin what you folk do,"

Brigid shook her head and sighed huffily.

"Jus go jumpn over tha fence Angel Katie and stay there. We be stayin here for ya," Katie nodded, swallowing nervously as she approached the fence. The lights from the road spilled out in a semi-circle across only a small portion of the graveyard. The rest was in darkness, the dark shadows of crosses and grave stones only visible because they were darker than the night around them. Katie climbed up and over the fence, her bare feet touching down on the slightly warm soil. She felt a slight tingle and a pulse as she landed and shivered, despite the warmness of the night. She looked behind her and at the nekos watching her. Brigid and her family gave her reassuring smiles and the council watched her, expectant looks on their faces. She turned back to the graveyard and looked about, hoping that the dead stayed dead for tonight. The wind was blowing through the grave stones and crosses, making a low whistling sound. Some dead leaves near her feet trembled. She frowned. Despite the whistling, no wind played at her hair or blew into her face. The night was very still.The whistling sound grew louder and she looked back over her shoulder at the council. They were looking even more expectant, but had shuffled backwards, slightly wary now. Katie felt her stomach clench with fear and looked back to the graveyard, backing up so that her fingertips touched the fence. She jumped forward again as it suddenly gave her a shock.

"What the hell!" she touched the fence again and with drew it sharply, "What the hell is this?" Nijon shuffled forwards slightly.

"Defenese. To keep tha dead in tha graveyard. It gets set off when they begin to wake up. Ya cannae get outta the graveyard till they be goin back into tha ground or until ya killed em all," Katie's eyes widened with horror.

"You mean I'm trapped in here with zombies?" she whispered. Brigid roared with anger.

"You get her out NOW. HOW DARE YA TRAP HER IN THERE. TAKE DOWN THA DEFENSES NOW!" Nijon cowered away from Brigid.

"I-I can't. They bein' permanent now, no one cannae take em down," Katie turned back to the graveyard slowly as sudden sounds of crunching came to her ears. She felt sick, her throat dry and her stomach churning. A scrabbling sound came from her left and she looked fearfully as earth was tumbling down in a hole in a near by grave. A loud snap echoed across the graveyard and Katie squinted as new dark shapes had appeared in the distance, moving shapes. She looked about fearfully and backed up as far to the fence as she could with out touching it. Her eyes darted this way and that as the shapes moved closer to her. There was a creak of bones and a hand, skeletal with leather like skin hanging off the bones, shot out of the hole in the grave near her. It scrabbled and drew more earth down, making the hole bigger. An arm emerged, just as emaciated as the hand, but with rags of moldy clothes hanging from the bones along with the skin. It began to heave the rest of it out. A shiny skull emereged through the hole, after a shoulder, some skin still stretched across the rounded dome of its head, half a cat ear flopping about over an empty socket. Katie screamed as it looked at her and increased its force of getting out the hole.

"LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT NOW!!" she tried to jump the fence but hit an invisible wall, bouncing back into the graveyard. Scrabbling to her feet she looked about desperately as more of the horrible skeletons shuffled towards her. Some hobbled, having lost a leg, others crawled, having no legs at all. None of them made noise, their voice boxes having degraded a long time ago. The one that had been breaking out of its grave was now crawling towards her, dragging its legs out of the hole. Shakily, and using its gravestone, it stood, its bones creaking, the grinning skull leering towards her.

"No," she whispered as it stumbled towards her,"NOOOOOOO," she screwed up her eyes and suddenly rocked backwards as an explosion of light flared around her, blinding her even through her closed eyes. It died down suddenly and she opened her eyes, blinking away the light spots still dancing in front of her. The skeletons were still there, but they had stopped. Some of them swayed, all looking at her. The closest stood no more than a foot away, causing Katie to jump back, cursing as she caught the fence.

"Erm...." she looked about at the silent and still dead figures, then back at the nekos. Brigid and her family stood shocked, while the council grinned. Nijon approached the fence, keeping his distance still though.

"Ah well done. They be listenin to ya. Mebe ya can tell em to go back?" Katie looked at Nijon wide eyed and then back at the dead, confusion and fear mingling.

"Erm, turn around," Katie jumped as the dead started moving, turning on the spot ever so slowly. Katie watched with slight bemusement as they kept turning in 360 degrees.

"Now, you should..." she was cut off as a sudden rushing filled her ears and white spheres of light erupted round her and began to orbit her. A disk of white light formed beneath her feet and she suddenly fell, a scream escaping from her lips. Solid ground struck her feet and she fell sideways, straight into a desk. The desk and chair clattered away as she hit the floor and lay there, slightly dazed.

"Owwww," someone moved nearby.

"Well that was dignified Miss Jones,"