Not flashy. Not fancy. Just worn dark wood, its edges softened by years of use. The kind of object someone opened a lot. Something personal. Intimate. Itfeelsimportant.
I reach for it.
And forget I’m not solid.
My hand slips through the lid like I’m made of mist. Just dips into it, smooth and effortless, like I’m haunting the damn thing.
It’s wild how one minute I’m struggling to phase through a door, the next I’m melting into furniture, and sometimes, apparently, I need to screw a six-foot-something walking weapon just to access my powers at all.
Being reborn is… kind of a bitch.
Anyway.
I glance back. Empty corridor. No movement, no sound. I shut my eyes and will myself solid again. It works instantly. It's ten times easier than turning ghostly. So that’s something.
I crack open the box.
Inside, nestled in faded velvet and the dull gleam of tarnished metal, is a necklace. Small. Delicate. A heart-shaped locket. Cliché. Innocent. But the moment I see it, Ifeelit—the wrongness baked into the silver like dried blood under a manicured nail.
There’s a photo inside.
Black-and-white.
A little girl. Smiling.
Etched on the back, in neat, obsessive cursive:
“My first.”
Oh,hellno.
My hand jerks. I nearly drop the thing.
My stomach flips. My power lurches inside me, rippling like it wants to scream. This was her sentimental object? Not her last. Not her favorite.
Herfirst.
The one that started it all.
God.
I snap the locket shut and shove it into the inside pocket of Cassian’s pants before I can lose the nerve. If I could, I’d kill her again. Whatever punishment the Department of Life has planned for her soul, it better bebiblical.
The taste in my mouth is sour. I move to the window across the room. From here, I can see Cassian’s car, tucked behind a hedge. I squint, searching for his face. Can he see me?
His posture hasn’t shifted much, but his head is tilted, just slightly, toward the window.
I lift my hand and wave.
His gaze snaps up, direct, locked on me.
And then something shifts.
His body tenses. Chin dips. He glances down toward the base of the house, then back up.
He doesn’t wave.
Doesn’t nod.
