Page 120 of In Between Death and the Devil

“That’s not all of them.” Everyone turned to look at me. “A trainee went missing the day I started training with Fen.”

Bea paled. “That means there could be more. If they were servants, hardly anyone would notice. I only looked into it because one of the people who went missing was a friend of mine.” Tears lined her eyes.

“You said yourself: there’s no way you could have known.” My tone was gentle, but Bea flinched like I’d snapped at her.

“But someone should have. Those poor souls.” She sniffed and Daphne pulled her into a side hug.

Biting my lip, I looked away from them. I wanted to say something to make her feel better, but I didn’t know what. She’d taken my comments as a criticism. Given our last interaction it wasn’t surprising, but I didn’t want her to be unhappy.

“You said you were going to look into it,” I said to Fen. “Did you find anything?”

“I confirmed they haven’t been returned to the World of the Living, but that was as far as I got. Anything else required access to Death’s castle, and that ended when she attacked you and you fled.”

I nodded. Not only did we not have access, I had no idea how to trace a soul here in the In Between. “What do you think happened to them?”

“They could still be in the In Between,” Daphne said. “There are plenty of places they could be hidden.”

“For what purpose?” Marcus asked.

“I don’t know.” She frowned.

“They could have moved on to the After,” Fen said. “Though I don’t know why Death wouldn’t just say so.”

“Do you think their souls could have been shredded?” I asked.

Bea looked on the edge of tears. “What? Why? How?”

I regretted having suggested it, but no one answered her. “Death is the only one who could shred a soul. If they saw something⁠—”

“That’s not true,” Fen said, his expression tight. “A soul can also shred itself.”

I froze in horror. There was only one reason I could think of that they knew that.

“It’s not that common,” he said.

“It didn’t used to be that common,” Daphne said, her voice hard. “We’ve lost four souls that way this month. They come to us broken by the weight of their sentence and there’s nothing we can do to give them back hope.”

Marcus and Titus looked grim.

“Gods,” Bea said, a tear slipping down her cheek.

Daphne’s words sat heavy in my chest. I’d been so focused on the realm falling apart I hadn’t thought about the impact on the souls traveling through. “Do you think that’s what happened to them?”

“No,” Fen said. “It’s not something that would go unnoticed.”

My shoulders slumped in relief.

“Nor do I think Death shredded them,” he continued. “She might be unhinged, but she’s not stupid. Going around shredding souls would attract attention. I think it more likely they’re hidden somewhere, though I have no idea why.” He ran a hand through his hair.

“You could sneak us over there so we can search for them,” Titus said.

“Too risky,” Fen said.

“I can search,” Bea said.

“No,” Fen and I said at the same time.

Bea looked at me in surprise.