Getting dumped butt naked in the middle of a smoking car crash isn’t exactly what I’d call a gift. But I guess Big Daddy Death and I have very different definitions ofbestowal. That’s what he called it, right? Or at least, what he implied.
That making mefeelhuman again would help me handle the wraith.
At first, I think it’s just Death's twisted little “lesson.” A cruel joke dressed up like wisdom. Because let’s be honest, reverting me to factory settings doesn’t sound like much of a solution.
The wraith is dangerous because she’s stronger than a Grim Reaper trapped in limbo. She can teleport, vanish, match the speed of a car going full throttle. She can drain a Reaper’s energy, and regular weapons don’t even touch her.
So yeah, it would make perfect sense if Death turned me human just for the punchline.
But then I try to move. And unfortunately, Idofeel it.
The asphalt beneath me is freezing, unforgiving. It scrapes my palms and bites into my knees as I push myself upright.
My body, my actualhumanbody, hurts.
This isn’t that distant hum of Reaper pain, where agony feels more like an echo than an experience. It’s not that metaphysical tug in my core, like being summoned by a memory instead of a body.
No. This is raw. Brutal. Nerve-screaming.
It’s a sharp, unfiltered kind of pain thatfeelslike living. The bad kind.
I suck in a breath, and my lungs burn. Smoke. Gasoline. Blood. All three hit the back of my throat like a punch and curl into my chest, branding me from the inside out.
And suddenly, violently, I’m aware.
Ofeverything.
The way the cold air stings my skin. The way my damp hair sticks to my forehead like it’s trying to choke me. The sound of sirens in the distance.
And most of all?
The way three serial killers are staring at me like I just clawed my way out of the grave, rolled in glitter, and slapped on a bowtie.
Cassian. Nathaniel. Talon.
Each of them blood-soaked, wide-eyed, and not even blinking.
Nathaniel watches me with a beautiful kind of frown. Like part of him still can’t believe what he just saw. Did I blink into existence, naked? Rise from the ground like some unholy little hellspawn? Or maybe… literally fall from the sky?
You’d believe all three, judging by the look on his face.
Cassian’s mouth is slightly parted in disbelief, too, as if he’s, just like Nathaniel, not sure whether this is his wildest dream come true… or his worst nightmare.With tits.
And Talon—
Talon looks like he’s two seconds away from licking me to see if I’m real.
I should run.
Or maybe play dead.
Honestly, I have no idea which survival instinct applies best when you’ve just turned human again, and three murderers are staring at your completely naked body.
So all I do is push my fingers against the concrete as the first tangible signs of embarrassment flood my system. My heart—my verymortalheart—is pounding so loudly I can hear it.
The hands braced against the asphalt are sweating.
Adrenaline floods my veins like wildfire.
