“I’m so sorry about Skye,” I told Drea, who nodded, tears filling her bloodshot eyes.
“Tell her I’m here or I’ll touch your legs all night long with my ghosty fingers while you sleep,” Skye warned.
I squeaked. “Skye is dead but she’s a ghost and I can see her. She’s standing right behind you,” I blurted and then covered my mouth.
Drea froze, slowly turning to look over her shoulder and only seeing a shocked Dash.
“Tell her you know about her dream of opening a nail salon and the crush she had on Dash all last year,” Skye said.
I looked at Dash but stayed silent. If that was true, I didn’t want to call Drea out in front of him.
“Tell her!” Skye pressed, stepping closer to me. “I need all my besties to know I’m still here. If I have to follow you for the next who-knows-how long, I want everyone to know I’m around.”
I bit my lip and looked at Drea: “Skye says to tell you I know about your dream to open a nail salon and…” My gaze flicked to Dash, and I winced. “And that you had a crush on Dash all last year.”
A grin swept across Dash’s face as Drea’s cheeks pinked. “That hag! She told you to say that?”
I grimaced, and then Drea started to laugh. “Only Skye… she’s the only one I told those things to. But how—?”
“I’m Apollyon’s daughter, so I think I can see dead people.” Hopefully only select dead people, because this was not a new gift I wanted to embrace.
Drea spun, looking in the wrong direction of where Skye was. “I love you,” she whimpered. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you.”
Skye went very still, nodding slowly. “Tell her the angels in Avalon are super hot and I’ll be fine.”
I relayed the message and Drea chuckled. “I miss you already,” Drea said, and I could see relief wash over her. The tears dried up and she seemed okay with the situation. She was definitely handling it better than me.
“Let’s back up to the part where you had a crush on me.” Dash grinned and eyed Drea.
Our team leader rolled her eyes. “Last year.Soover it now. You’re like a brother to me.”
That comment did little to wipe the grin from Dash’s face. Drea’s cheeks got redder by the second.
Skye suddenly cocked her head to the side and looked at me. “I gotta run an errand. Oh, by the way, Gage isn’t dead.”
She poofed out of existence then, leaving me reeling.
Gage isn’t dead.
I swayed on my feet as the realization of her words settled over me.
She went to Avalon. She saw Gage.
Gage isn’t dead.
CHAPTERTHREE
Gage isn’t dead. Gage isn’t dead. Gage isn’t dead.
It was my mantra all through dinner with Gran, and all night as I once again slept next to the cracked wall in the sanctuary. I told myself I wasn’t going to camp out in the sanctuary anymore, but in a heartbeat Skye’s words changed everything and I couldn’t help myself.
The entire school was in mourning for Skye. The flag was flown at half-mast, and her parents had been notified and were coming in for the funeral. Aurelia, Drea, and the rest of our crew all secretly knew that Skye wasn’t exactly gone, so it was hard to really feel fully sad. In fact, I felt a prickle of annoyance that I hadn’t gotten to properly question Skye about her mission to help me when she’d “run an errand.”
What ghost runs errands?
Cael was vague with his missions, that much I knew from experience, so she probably wouldn’t even answer me if I asked. Still, I wanted to interrogate the crap out of her when I saw her again. Especially about the Gage isn’t dead part!
“Skye!” I whisper-screamed into the empty sanctuary when I awoke the next morning. No response. She was probably already on a date with some hottie Avalon angel.
