And now… they saved a life they shouldn’t have.
What the hell is my existence even turning into?
Time passes. I don’t know how much or how little, because time doesn’t exist here. Not the way it does in the human world. It stretches and folds, dragging me deeper into the abyss of my own horrifyingly unproductive thoughts.
But eventually, my anger simmers down. Not gone—just… idling. And then—something happens again.
The pull returns.
It's different this time, not as painful or urgent, but still just as relentless. It tries to drag me back to the world of the living, literally pulling me out of here. But I’m not even sure I want to listen to it this time.
Maybe I should just stay here, let the void take me. Let it erase everything—the anger, the confusion, all those stupid emotions I never asked for in the first place. Let it dissolve whatever’s left of me until I’m nothing. Just a wisp of existence. Just like Cassian said I was.
But the pull doesn’t give a shit about my wants and needs.
It yanks, steady and insistent, wrapping around whatever part of me still is and dragging me back to reality. Back to the world I don’t belong in.
Back tothem.
I blink into existence inside the abandoned hospital, plopped dead center in the main hall like someone just dropped me out of the sky. I feel heavy, like I’ve just been fished out of a lake and slapped onto dry land.
Pain flutters down from above and lands on my shoulder, his claws digging in slightly, like he’s scolding me for pulling a disappearing act.
Then I notice the three men staring at me.
Cassian is by the wall, arms crossed, eyes narrowed. Nathaniel stands near the center of the room, his piercings back in together with the murderous aura he has. And then there’s Talon—right next to him, casually holding my carved skull like a collector of particularly morally unhinged artefacts.
“Well,” he drawls. “That was dramatic.”
I glare at him. “Fuck you.”
He lets out a low whistle, his smirk so insufferable it immediately makes me want to punch something—preferably his face. And just like that, I feel myself start blurring at the edges again. Nope. I’m done. I don’t know why they pulled out my skull like this, but I don’t care.
I blink out.
And then—before I even fully hit the darkness—I’m yanked back again.
“Careful, Skye,” Nathaniel says. “We've just found out we don't like it when you disappear like that.”
“I don't give a shit what you like or dislike, asshole,” I spit at him. “Let me be.”
I try again. Blink.
It works—barely. I’m back before I can even settle into nothingness.
I narrow my eyes at them. “What are you doing to me?” My gaze snaps to Talon’s hands. “Drop my freaking skull and let me go into the darkness. I like it better than reality.”
“But we like you better in here,” he counters smoothly. “And sorry to break it to you, beautiful, but I told you before—you don’t have a choice. You do as we say.”
He presses his finger to the rune on my bone and brings the skull to his lips. There, he whispers something. I don't know what. I don't want to find out. The only thing I do want is to leave this godforsaken reality.
“I can’t watch my ex-husband anymore,” the words tumble out before I can stop them. “It’s not fun for me anymore. I keep feeling things. I’m angry. I’m grieving. I’m disgusted by the absolute bullshit injustice of this world.”
Where is this coming from…?
“And now I’m stuck with you guys, just like I was stuck with him—spine-deprived, decisionless, unable to control my own damn existence. And now what? Now I’m failing as a Grim Reaper, too?”
They stare at me.
