“I trust you, then,” I say. “If you want to stay here, be our guests.”
And so there are two more humans who know Grim Reapers exist, two more souls I have connected with during my time on the mortal plane.
I show them around the hospital for a while after that. I make a clear distinction between the bottom floor and the basement, where we are going to hold all three murderers, and I tell them not to ever go down there.
After that, I leave them alone, hoping they will not live to regret their choice to stay.
I hope I will not regret it either.
The next order of business is talking with my men. Just like the talk with the girls, it cannot wait. I have too much to relay, and I cannot shake the feeling that my time is about to get cut short.
That fear needles at me even more when I return to my room for a jacket and catch sight of dark figures beyond the window. Rhea and her girls are waiting in the nearby woods, keeping watch for the moment we finally kill the ones whose deaths they have been promised. The ones I promised I would kill for them.
I grab the jacket and hurry back to the hospital’s main area. Instead of taking the stairs like a regular human, I slip through the floors and drift down from the ceiling, arriving just as Nathaniel stands at the kitchenette, cooking something that makes the stove hiss.
The second he catches movement in the corner of his eye, he drops everything and yanks a gun from behind his waistband.
“Jesus Christ.” I lift my arms as he aims at me. “I know we play three living men and one dead girl, but come on.”
Nathaniel does not lower the weapon. His knuckles blanch around the grip, his breath caught somewhere between shock and disbelief while the stove continues to spit and hiss behind him.
“Skye?” he says at last. “When the hell did you… I thought you were the wraith.”
“Not today,” I say, easing down until my boots meet the tiles. “Although that is probably the most flattering thing anyone’s said to me lately.”
He finally drops the gun, like his muscles have only just remembered how.
“When the hell did you get your power back?”
I brush dust off my sleeve like I am showing off a new manicure, all smug calm and mischief. That’s right, baby boy. I’m all-powerful again.
“Long story short?” I say. “Pain and I had a heart-to-heart while I was locked in the murderer’s van.”
“A talk fixed everything?”
“You can say so.” I tip my chin, letting the mystery hang there for now. “I’ll tell you everything later, promise. But right now I’ve got… somewhat of a problem.”
That does it. He exhales hard, the tension draining out of his shoulders as if he’s been holding it in for hours. He tucks the gun behind him again and settles it under his shirt. “What kind of problem?”
I glance into the pan and at the food he’s cooking because, for a second, I genuinely don’t know how to say this. I know I should hurry. I know I have limited time. Still, my brain catches on one stupid detail anyway.
Is that chili?
It looks like it.
“Rhea and the girls want us to kill the murder duo fast,” I say. “They’re lingering all around the hospital.”
As soon as the words leave my mouth, the first couple of crows land somewhere on the railing outside. After the stunt those birds pulled last time, I recognize the sound as easily as my own breath.
“Ah, yes. Don’t worry,” Nathaniel murmurs. “Cassian is preparing everything in the basement. If he gets impatient, he’s going to finish the job in a moment or two.”
No. That isexactlywhat I’m worried about.
My heart spikes a beat, and I only manage a single blink at Nathaniel before action wins over explanation. The moment my brain decides what needs to happen next, I’m already moving, floating through floors, slicing through the building like it’s made of fog as I hunt for Cassian.
Somewhere above me, I hear Nathaniel calling my name like he has completely forgotten I’m a living-not-living girl who can pass through things whenever she wants. I ignore him.
Like I said, I’ll tell him everything later.
