To hold it, just for a little while.
And finally, he seemed to get it. “You want me to take her soul?” he asked, and I nodded, relief washing through me so quickly the edges of my vision went black.
I grabbed Nash for balance and concentrated on maintaining my song.
“Why?” Tod asked, shrugging when Levi shot him a questioning glance.
But I couldn’t explain until he took the soul so I could stop screeching. I made more frantic gestures with my arms, and he finally nodded in concession. Then he opened his mouth and sucked in Bana’s soul. In seconds, it was gone.
I closed my mouth and the room went silent, but for the awful ringing in my ears, which I knew from experience wouldn’t fade completely for a couple of hours.
Tod wiped nonexistent soul crumbs from his mouth, and I shuddered.
“That was…surreal,” I said, my voice as scratchy as an old record player. I stumbled, weak from exertion, and Nash caught me. He half carried me to the couch along the far wall, which was when I realized John Dekker was gone. He’d
slipped from the room while everyone else watched me scream, and the front door still stood open.
Outside, tires squealed on the street and headlights faded from the front window. The limo we’d seen out front was gone. As was Regan’s soul.
I whirled on the Page sisters, my eyes wide. “Did you catch the hellion’s name?”
Addy shook her head slowly, angrily. “They never said it.” Her features darkened with tortured disappointment and she glanced at her sister. “Do you know his name?”
Regan shook her head silently, offering no excuses.
“Great. So, what was all that?” Addison asked me, wrapping one arm around her sister’s shoulders. Regan only stared, too shocked to form a coherent question.
I knew exactly how she felt.
“Could they see any of that?” I asked, rubbing my throat.
Nash shook his head. “Tod, explain what you can. Kaylee’s losing her voice. I’m gonna get her something to drink.” With that, he kicked the front door closed and headed into Addy’s kitchen, face flushed in barely controlled anger.
Addy didn’t seem to notice.
“Bana was a grim reaper,” Tod began, guiding both stunned sisters to the empty couch opposite the one I sat on. “Like me and Levi.” He nodded toward the boy still standing in the corner, small hands once again hidden in his pockets, evidently content to watch and listen for the moment. “Only she was…bad. So Levi fired her.”
“You mean he killed her,” Addison said, obviously struggling not to stare at the corpse on her carpet.
“Well, technically she was already dead.” Tod shrugged.
“So he really just finished the job. And Kaylee was singing her soul song.”
“That wasn’t singing.” Regan’s nose wrinkled like she smelled something awful. “That was a vocal
slaughter
.”
If my throat didn’t feel like I’d just swallowed barbed wire, I would have laughed. I totally agreed.
“It wasn’t a song like you think of music.” Nash emerged from the kitchen with a glass of ice water. “It was a call to Bana’s soul. Kaylee suspended it long enough for Tod to…take it.”
“Speaking of which…” Tod sat on the other couch, as close as he could get to Addison, their legs touching from thigh to knee while Levi watched with an odd expression I couldn’t interpret. “Why did I take her soul? Does this have anything to do with all your reaper questions in the car?”
“In fact, it does,” I said, after one long sip of the water. My throat still hurt, but my voice had decent volume, considering what I’d just put it through. “We’re going to barter with Bana’s soul.”
Nash’s brows arched like he was impressed, and the sudden light in Tod’s eyes said he understood at least part of what I was getting at. “You said a reaper’s soul is rarer than a human’s.” I shifted my focus from Tod to his boss. “Am I correct in assuming that makes it more valuable?”
Levi nodded, and now his smile showed a line of small white teeth. They were all there, fortunately. If any had been missing, he would have been too creepy to look at.
“As valuable as, say, two human souls?” I glanced at the Page sisters, then back at Levi, whose brows arched in surprise.
“She’s smart, this one,” he said. “Of course, I can’t officially condone what you’re thinking, so I’ll take my leave now….”
“But I’m on the right path?” I asked as he knelt next to the dead reaper.
“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Levi winked at me, still grinning. Then he picked up Bana in both arms as if she weighed nothing, though she had more than a foot on him, and they both disappeared.
“What is going on?” Regan finally demanded, impotent fists clenched at her sides.
I smiled gently, trying to set her at ease, though those eerie, empty eyes creeped me out. “We’re going to trade Bana’s soul to the hellion. For both of yours.”
“S
HH
,” I
WHISPERED
to Nash as I closed the front door softly, wondering what the chances were that my father had fallen asleep early and hadn’t noticed I was late. The living room was dark, and in the kitchen, only the over-the-sink light was on, so it was looking pretty good so far….
“Kaylee, get in here. Now.”
Or not.
Nash squeezed my hand and followed me into the living room, where my father’s silhouette leaned forward in the lumpy armchair, outlined by what little light penetrated the curtains from the street lamp outside. I stood in the middle of the floor, staring at the dark spot where his eyes would be, Nash’s chest pressed against my back. “Why are you sitting in the dark?”
A shadow-arm reached up and to the left. The floor lamp clicked and light flooded the room. My dad still wore the flannel shirt he’d worked in, and his eyes were red from exhaustion. “Why are you an hour and a half late?”
Technically, it was only an hour and twenty-four minutes, but he looked even less eager to be corrected than I was to discuss my whereabouts.
“It’s not even midnight.” I tugged Nash forward and he took that as his signal to intervene, though that wasn’t what I’d intended.
“Sorry, Mr. Cavanaugh. We didn’t realize it was so la—”
“Go home, Nash.” A muscle jumped along the line of my father’s jaw. “Your mom’s waiting for you, too.”
Nash’s eyebrows rose, and he frowned. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Kaylee,” he said, already turning toward the front door with my hand still clasped in his, our arms stretched between us.
“That remains to be seen,” my dad snapped.
I grinned, hoping to lighten the mood. “You gonna ground me from school?”
He was un-amused. “Good night, Nash.”
“I have to drive him.” I probably should have taken him home first, but I was hoping my dad would be asleep and we could discuss our next move, in light of that evening’s failure. I dug my keys from my pocket and turned to follow Nash, but he shook his head with one look at my dad.
“I’ll walk. It’s only a few blocks.” As the door closed behind him, I suddenly wished we didn’t live so close together.
“Where were you?” my dad asked as I sank onto the couch on his left. “And before you start, I know you didn’t work tonight, and you clearly weren’t with Emma.”
Great.
“It’s not whatever you’re thinking.” I could virtually guarantee that. But I couldn’t tell him where I’d really been, because he’d like that even less than the thought that I was out drinking, smoking, or sleeping with Nash.
“Then where were you?” He crossed both arms over his
chest, and I thought I saw his irises swirl just a little, though that might have been the flicker of a passing headlight on his eyes.
“Out driving.”
Mostly.
When he leaned forward to peer into my eyes, I realized his irises really were swirling. Weird. He usually had better control over his emotions…
“Is Nash going to be a problem?” My dad’s voice was deep and rough. Worried.
I fiddled with a frayed spot of denim over my knee. “Why would he be?”
He closed his eyes briefly, and when they opened, his face held a new resolve and the colors in his irises had stopped moving. He’d regained control over…something. Something I didn’t understand and he didn’t seem ready to explain. “Kaylee, I know you like him, and I know he’s…not a bad kid. And we all know he was there for you when I wasn’t, and I’m sorrier about that than I could ever explain. But I don’t want you to…”
He hesitated and rubbed his forehead, then started over. “It isn’t a good idea for you to get too involved with him. You’re so young, and…Damn, I wish your mother was here to explain this….”
Sudden understanding flooded me and blood rushed to my cheeks. “Dad, is this about sex?”
That time he blushed, and I almost felt sorry for him. Fulltime parenthood was new for him, and we were still feeling our way around in some areas. Like curfews, and apparently that mortifying after-school-special talk.
“It’s not just about sex….”
“Okay, please stop.” I held up both hands, palms out, and rolled my eyes. “This is just weird—”
“Kaylee…”
“—and it’s really none of your business—” I gestured with one arm.
He stood, frowning down at me. “This most certainly is my business—”
“—and I don’t need you stepping in to tell me what I can and can’t do!” I stood to put us on equal ground.
“That’s my job.” His mouth quirked up in an ironic smile, but I refused to see the humor.
“Well, you’re not very good at it!”
His smile collapsed, and his eyes swirled slowly. Sadly.
I felt guilty immediately. He was trying so hard. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I know.” He exhaled heavily. “But you’re still grounded. For coming home late—not for hurting my feelings.”
Great.
I closed my eyes, trying to think quickly. I knew how to deal with my aunt and uncle, but with my dad, I was in mostly unexplored territory. “Okay, but this is really kind of a disastrous time for me to be grounded.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Can’t we work something else out? I’ll do the dishes all week. And the laundry.” Of course, I already did most of the clothes, anyway, because he kind of sucked at sorting.
“Did Bren and Val really go for that?” Anger edged his voice now. I was nearing some kind of boundary, and I really had no desire to cross it. My dad was actually pretty laid-back for the most part, and I didn’t want to trigger whatever auto-lockdown mechanism most parents have hardwired into their brains. Even recently returned itinerant parents.
“No.” They’d rarely actually grounded me; Sophie was
usually the one in trouble. Though, I couldn’t remember them actually grounding her, either, come to think of it…. “But I have something important to do this week.”
“What?”
My entire body felt heavy with guilt. “I can’t tell you.”
“Like you can’t tell me where you were tonight?”
“Kind of.” I exhaled heavily and met his gaze. “Dad, I need you to trust me. This is really important.”
He held out one hand, palm up. “Give me your phone.”
My hand snuck into my pocket, curling protectively around my cell. “Seriously?” He couldn’t mean that.
“Yes. One week, no phone.”
“No!” Spikes of righteous anger shot up my spine, tingling all the way into my fingers. I was trying to help someone! If he’d been around long enough to get to know me, he’d know that, even without the details. “It’s not safe to run around without a phone!” Especially for someone so deep in hellion business she’d have to look up to wave to the devil.
“Well, that won’t be a problem, because you’re not going anywhere. Give me your keys. You can take the bus to school tomorrow.”
“This is ridiculous!” I shouted, reluctantly digging my phone from one pocket, my keys from the other. “And completely unwarranted. It’s not like I was out drinking and sleeping around.”
My dad rubbed his forehead and sank back into the armchair, looking as weary as I’d ever seen him. “Kaylee, I don’t know what you were doing, because you won’t tell me!”
“Fine.” I slapped my phone into his waiting palm. “But my reasons for not telling you everything now are just as im
portant as your reasons for not telling me anything over the past thirteen years. And it’s completely messed up that you expect me to trust you when you’re not willing to return the favor.”
My jab found its mark and my father flinched again. “I’m tired, Kaylee, and I don’t have the energy for this.” He set my phone on an end table and rubbed his face with both hands. “Give me your keys and go to bed. Please.”
And what was I supposed to say to Addy and Regan?
Sorry, I can’t save your immortal souls, because I’m
grounded?
I dropped my keys on the kitchen counter, then plodded down the hall to my room, sorting through possible ways around this new complication. How were we supposed to find the hellion without a car? Walk all over the Metroplex?
With my bedroom door open, I sank cross-legged onto my bed and listened as my father locked up, then plodded down the hall to his own room. Fifteen minutes later, his snores echoed in the hall and a bolt of irritation lanced me. Our first real fight hadn’t interrupted his sleep in the least.
Still irritated, I crossed the hall to use the bathroom and brush my teeth, then changed into a halter top and baggy pajama pants before collapsing onto my bed again. I had chemistry homework to do, and I was too mad to sleep, but I’d left my books in my car and couldn’t get to them without my keys.
“You okay?” Tod asked from the wing chair by my headboard, and I almost jumped off the bed in surprise. “Sorry.” He grabbed my arm to steady me.
I was tempted to yell at him, but resisted because for once his intrusion might actually come in handy. And because I didn’t want to wake my dad up. “How much of that did you
hear?” I waved one arm in the direction of the living room to indicate my fight with my dad.
“Just the last bit. Nash asked me to check on you.” He waggled both eyebrows and donned a mischievous grin. “Don’t worry, I turned around when you changed.”
I couldn’t help a laugh. Tod might flirt with me to bug Nash, but he obviously really cared about Addy, beyond whatever crush they’d shared in school. “I’m glad to hear you’ve retained at least a little moral fortitude since your unfortunate demise.”
“I reserve it for special occasions. And people I like.”
I threw my pillow at him.
“So is this all because you’re late?”
“That, and because I wouldn’t tell him where I’d been. I’m grounded for a week.”
Tod frowned. “But you’re still coming after school tomorrow, right?”
I cocked my head at him, eyes narrowed in mock confusion. “What part of ‘grounded’ don’t you understand?”
“The part where it gets in the way of my plans.” But I knew from the serious cast of his scowl that it wasn’t really his plans he was worried about. It was Addy’s soul.
Since we hadn’t gotten there in time to stop Regan from selling out or even to identify the hellion who bought her soul, we were back to plan A: hoping someone at the Demon’s Breath disposal facility would be willing to help us. But we had to get there first, which would be difficult without a car.
At least now we had something to bargain with, once we found the hellion. Fortunately, Tod could hold Bana’s soul much longer than a reaper could hold on to a lungful of
Demon’s Breath. Not that I was exactly eager to enact that particular part of the plan…
“Look, it’s your fault I’m grounded,” I whisper-hissed at Tod. “None of this would have happened if you hadn’t dragged me into this in the first place. What do you want me to do?”
“Sneak out.” He shrugged, as if that should have been a no-brainer. But that was easy for him to say. He was dead. What else could they do to him, take away his birthday? “If you get caught, I’ll make it up to you. I swear. Please, Kaylee. We can’t do this without you.”
“Yes you can!” I switched to a whisper again, in case my father woke up and heard the single most incriminating words I’d ever spoken. “You have Bana’s soul. You can make the deal on your own.”
His face fell, and he stared at the pillow in his lap for a moment before meeting my gaze again, frustration flaring like flames behind his eyes. “No I can’t. I’m still a rookie reaper, Kaylee. I can only carry a limited amount of cargo to the Netherworld at a time, and I’ve already got Bana’s soul to deal with. Even if I can take Addy, too, I need you to bring Regan. And Nash. I have a feeling we’re going to need him.”
I felt my eyes go wide, and my reflection in the mirror looked as terrified as I felt. “Can I do that?”
“Can’t you?” Confusion flitted across his features. “Isn’t that what my mom’s supposed to be teaching you?”
“I don’t know! She hasn’t shown me a syllabus. Can she ferry people?”
“Yeah.” He nodded firmly. “And you have to get her to teach you how. We can’t do this without you, Kaylee.”
I sighed, and the bleak weight of responsibility settled
almost physically over me. I had no choice. But my dad was going to kill me when he found out, and the collateral damage would likely include both Nash and Tod. And Harmony, when he discovered her unwitting assistance. But hopefully that wouldn’t be until after we’d returned Addy’s and Regan’s souls to their rightful bodies.
“Fine. But you owe me. Starting now.”
“Absolutely.” Relief half relaxed his features, and the reaper leaned forward in my chair. “Whatever you want.”
“Can you get my phone out of my dad’s room without waking him up?”
“No problem.” He was gone before I could warn him to be careful.
Several seconds later, as I sat frozen on my bed, irrationally afraid to move in case the squealing springs woke my father, Tod popped back into my room, cradling my slim red phone in one palm.
He shot me a crooked grin, blue eyes sparkling with mischief. “Did you know your dad sleeps in boxers?”
“Ew. Thanks for the visual.” I grabbed my phone and scrolled through the menu to check my missed calls. Five from my dad and four from Emma. We must have hit a dead zone on the highway, and I hadn’t checked my messages.
I selected the last voice mail Emma had left and held the phone to my ear, one hand on my hip as I glanced at Tod. “I need my books from my car, then I’ll need you to put this back wherever my dad left it.”
Tod gave me a mock bow. “Anything else? Can I fan you with a big palm leaf? Feed you grapes while you write your homework in my blood?”
“Shh!” I hissed, waving him off as Emma’s voice spoke to me from my phone. “You said you owed me!”
He frowned and popped out of my room in time for me to hear most of the missed message. “…tried to cover for you, but he called the theater first, and they told him you weren’t working. You better call him and do some damage control, Kaylee. I’ll see you tomorrow….”
The phone beeped in my ear as her message ended. She’d tried to warn me.
Tod popped back into my room holding my chemistry text and a notebook as I pressed a button to call Emma back. She answered on the third ring, and I gestured for him to set my stuff on my desk.