“Perhaps. Could I see them?”
“Sure. Yes. Hold on.” I had taken them from my closet and brought them with me when I left my house. There was no way I was leaving Bathin at my house with the scissors if I wasn’t there to keep him away from them.
I jogged out to the car and after gathering up the wooden box, I stuffed an extra bag with a clay pot, some random boxes and bags, until thethis, this, thistug in my chest settled down and went silent.
Spud was in doggy heaven as Than’s long fingers rhythmically scratched and smoothed along his ears.
I opened the box and pulled the bag out of it. Than leaned forward just an inch and his hand rested on the arm of the chair.
I tugged the cuff of my sleeve down over my palm and fingers, then tipped the scissors out onto my sleeve-covered hand.
They didn’t fall out of the bag so much as slide onto my hand like poured silk. Gold and deadly, the metal glinted as if it were fashioned around a fiery core that still burned.
“May I?” Than extended his hand. I nodded.
He plucked the scissors off my palm using only a finger and thumb. If it were possible, his eyes went even darker.
I waited. I wasn’t sure what he would decide. Maybe that he wouldn’t do it, maybe that he couldn’t. Maybe that the scissors were a fake, a fraud, and I would have to go back to square one to save Delaney’s soul.
“Can you?” I asked. “Can you use the scissors to save Delaney’s soul?”
His gaze finally shifted to meet mine. “There will be consequences.”
“For Delaney?”
“That is yet to be seen.”
“To her soul?”
“No.”
“But you can do it? You can cut her soul away from Bathin?”
He stood, tall that man, tall that god, and held his other hand out for the spell bag.
“Myra Reed,” he said as he dripped the scissors into the velvet, “I am the god of Death. Even on vacation, there is very little that I cannot do better than a creature of the Underworld.”
“Okay.” This was it. This was our chance to get Delaney’s soul back.
A part of me was crowing with the victory almost in our hands. Another part of me knew this would mean saying good-bye to Bathin.
Forever.
There was no place in Ordinary for demons. No matter what my heart wanted.
I exhaled through my mouth. Calming. Preparing. “Don’t interfere, okay? I want to lock Xtelle away on my terms.”
He tipped his head in a nod.
“Good,” I said to Than, to myself, to that little part of me shattering into a million pieces. “Let’s do this.”
~~~
Step two: Contain the demon in the kitchen.
I marched into the kitchen, Than silent behind me, Spud on his heels.
Xtelle’s gaze flicked to me, then stopped on Death.
