The doorbell rings at six o’clock sharp.

I haven’t spoken to my parents since I came home, despite their frequent attempts to lull me out of my room. I’m not sure what else I would say to them if I did open that door. I’m literally speechless. You hear that expression tossed around a lot but I can genuinely say this is the first time in my life I’ve ever sincerely felt what it means to be speechless.

I stare at myself in the mirror, scanning my outfit from head-to-toe. What the hell does a girl even wear on a date with a god?

Well, it’s too late to change it now. A blue sundress and hemp sandals will just have to do.

As I step out into the hallway, I hear the front door open downstairs. Voices murmur from the foyer and I focus my hearing to try and make out the words.

“Hello, Mr. Mackenzie,” Ari greets my father. “It’s been a long time.”

“Yes, it has,” he replies. “Come on in.”

“Thank you.”

His voice feels like nails down my back. The reaper’s come to claim his prey.

Just three dates and it’s all over.

I silently move down the hall and linger at the top of the stairs as I see my mother joining them by the door.

“Ari, it’s nice to see you,” she says, churning my stomach. “Again, I mean.”

Ari smiles. He stands in a black suit with his hands folded politely in front of him like a gentleman. “It’s nice to see you, too, Moira. You’re looking well.”

“I’m sure Tannis will be right down.”

His eyes flick in my direction and I twitch. “I have all the time in the world,” he says.

Nope. Wrong.

You’ve got three days.

I begin my descent down the stairs and my parents finally notice I’m here.

“See, there she is!” Dad says, gesturing at me.

My mother’s head tilts slightly as she admires my outfit. “Oh, you look beautiful, honey,” she says.

I reach the bottom. “It’s just my blue dress, Mom,” I say.

“Well, it looks great,” she says, giving me a purposeful stare.

“It does,” Ari agrees. “You look amazing, Tannis.”

I don’t say a word. I just look at them — all of them. My parents and the god they sold me to.

Super normal.

“Ari.” Dad clears his throat. “Would you like to stay a bit for a drink?”

“Not tonight, sir,” Ari says, keeping one eye on me. “I’m afraid we’ll have to leave soon if we expect to be on time.”

“Well, you better get going, then.” My mother shifts toward the closet and grabs my jacket. “Have fun, Tannis.”

I take it from her with a glare. My parents are becoming harder and harder to read. Are they acting so accommodating because they’re happy? Or scared?

I slip on my jacket and Ari opens the door.

“I’ll have her home at a decent hour,” he says.

They smile and nod. Dad wraps an arm around Mom’s shoulders and they admire me like some kind of princess. I hate it. I hate every second of this.

Doesn’t this bother them?

This man is a damn stranger and they’re grinning like idiots?

Fucking help me.

“Tannis.” Ari pauses by the open door and gestures outside. “After you.”

I swallow hard, giving my parents one last begging glance but they do nothing.

I’m on my own.

I walk out onto the porch and Ari follows behind me. He closes the door and pauses, letting out a stiff breath as his lips curl.

“Well, that was awkward,” he says.

My eyes roll as I plunk down the porch steps.

“Oh, come on, Tannis,” he says with a chuckle. “This night will be very, very long if you don’t lighten up.”

I continue toward the black car. “Sorry if I don’t find forced servitude as amusing as you all do.”

“You think you’re a slave?”

“I know I am.”

An ice-cold hand grips my arm. I shudder from the chill as Ari turns me around with fire in his eyes.

“Believe me, Tannis,” he says. “If you were a slave, I would have silenced you long before now.”

I narrow my eyes. “Is that a threat?” I ask, standing up tall.

His lips twitch. “I didn’t mean for it to be but it did come off that way, didn’t it?”

I scoff and easily slip free from his light grip.

“Laugh, Tannis!” he says. “Please. Just once.”

I yank the back door handle but it doesn’t open. “No,” I say, reaching for it again. Still, the door won’t budge. “The deal was for dates. Not smiles. Or laughs. Or even conversat—” I grunt with frustration. “Why the hell won’t this door open?”

Ari takes the handle and easily pops the door open. I glare at him and he smiles as he holds it for me.

“My security system is very good,” he says.

I bite down hard and lower myself into the backseat. I slide all the way until my shoulder presses against the opposite door. Once again, the driver’s seat is empty but the engine turns as Ari sits down beside me and closes the door.

I sit back as we reverse out of the driveway and take off down the street. My neighborhood rushes by and I feel a dark dread growing inside. The place I grew up. The setting of every late-night walk and memories of trick-or-treating. I’ve always taken it for granted until now. I wish I realized before how much it means to me.

I glance at Ari to find him scanning the streets as well. He’s had front row seats to my life for twenty years but I know nothing about him except that he’s a god.

What does that even mean?

“What do you do?” I ask him.

He looks at me. “What do you mean?”

“You’re Death, right? The grim reaper?”

“I go by many names.”

“Okay, so, how does everything actually work?” I ask. “Do you cast judgment? Are there pearly gates involved? Is there a heaven? Or a hell? Or is it a limbo kind of thing?”

Ari laughs. “Bit heavy for first date conversation, don’t you think?”

I stare at him, expecting the answers I deserve.

He nods in acceptance. “I am no judge,” he answers. “Nor am I jury or executioner. I’m merely an escort.”

“People die and you take them... where?”

His eyes narrow. “Are you sure you want to know?”

“Do you always answer questions with questions?”

“Would you be as open about your private business as you now expect me to be?”

I close my mouth.

“Tannis, I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but the inner workings of this world... they’re not for you. Not in your current state.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing insulting, I assure you. The answers you seek will come to you in time, but not tonight.”

I sigh. “Fine.” I stare forward, suddenly realizing I’m not sure where we’ve gone. I don’t recognize this street. “How many people die a day?” I ask.

He releases a breath between his smile. “One-hundred and fifty thousand,” he answers. “Give or take.”

“That’s a lot.”

“It is.”

“And you escort all of them to... somewhere?” I ask.

“I do.”

“Then, why do you have time to be here with me?” I ask. “Shouldn’t you be working?”

“I am,” he says with a shrug.

“Right now?”

“Yes.”

“Right this second?”

He chuckles. “I’m a god, Tannis. Being in two places at once is little more than a parlor trick. Don’t be jealous, though. You have my full, undivided attention.”

I tilt to face him. “What else can you do?” I ask.

“I can pull a rabbit out of a hat,” he quips.

“Seriously, what can you do?”

“Anything you want.”

“Can you move a mountain?”

He shrugs. “Sure.”

“Can you stop time?”

“Not in the way you think.”

“What do you mean?”

“Time, for you, is seconds on a clock,” he says. “When, in essence, time itself is everything but.”

“That makes no sense at all.”

Ari laughs as the car comes to a slow stop. “We’re here,” he says.

“No, wait. I wanna know.”

He pushes his door open and steps outside, ignoring my request. I stare out the window and my annoyance quickly fades as my jaw drops at the famous landmark about a mile away from our parking spot.

“Is that...” I pause, utterly confused.

The Eiffel Tower?

Ari extends his hand to help me out. “Come on,” he says.

Without thinking, I take it. His cold grip tingles up my arm as I slide off the leather seat and stand on trembling ankles.

“Where are we?” I ask, my ears perking toward the foreign crowd.

Ari closes the door and buttons his jacket. “Paris,” he answers.

“Paris, Ohio?” I ask.

“No. Paris, France.”

I shake my head at the tower in the distance. “That’s not possible.”

He smirks. “Are you sure?”

“We were in the car for ten minutes!”

“Were we?” he asks, playfully.

“Yes!”

Ari reaches into his pocket and passively tosses the keys to the valet driver I somehow didn’t notice standing beside me until now. He says something in perfect French and the man replies with a nod before hurrying into the driver’s seat.

“Come,” Ari says, twitching his finger at me and spinning around on the sidewalk.

I follow him closely, the only semi-familiar face in a city of lights. A doorman opens the entrance ahead with a smile and Ari leads me into a restaurant. My nose instantly points up, taking in the delicious scents of whatever the hell they serve here. My stomach growls in response as we make our way toward the hostess at the front.

She smiles at Ari and greets him as if they see him every day. Ari responds with something long-winded and I swear I see the young woman blush before turning around and gesturing us to follow her.

I stay silent with my arms folded, absolutely positive that I’m a little under-dressed for a place like this. Surely a blue sundress, a denim jacket, and hemp sandals go against their dress code.

We reach our table-for-two and a man appears behind me with hands presented.

“Uh,” I murmur.

Ari leans closer. “He wants your jacket,” he whispers.

“Oh!” I slip it off my shoulders and hold it out to him.

He takes it with a smile and disappears just as quickly as he arrived.

Ari pulls out a chair and hints for me to take a seat. I lower into it, feeling more awkward than I ever have in all my life as he slides it into place beneath me and rounds the table to sit across from me.

A server appears beside us with two wineglasses and a bottle. He quickly sets them down and fills them with dark red liquid before I can mention I’m not of legal drinking age. Then again, this is Europe. I think.

Ari rattles off another few lines of French and the server smiles, giving a quick nod before he rushes off again.

“I hope you don’t mind me ordering on your behalf,” Ari says as he reaches for his glass.

I shake my head. “I don’t,” I say. “I didn’t take French, so…”

“I know.”

I sigh. “Of course, you do.”

I raise my glass and bring it to my nose to take a whiff. I’ve never tasted wine before but I guess an impromptu trip to Paris is as good a time as any.

I take a sip, jolting slightly from the strength of it. As I set my glass down again, I notice Ari staring at me with that now-annoying amusement plastered over his pretty face.

“What?” I ask.

“You really do look beautiful tonight,” he says.

I look down, trying to hide the blood invading my cheeks on its own. “I’m sure you say that to all the mortals,” I say.

He chuckles. “She cracks a joke.”

I sneer as I close my mouth.

Ari scans the restaurant with a blissful expression. “Nice place, right?” he asks.

I scoff. “Is this supposed to impress me?” I ask.

Ari bounces his shoulders once. “Doesn’t it?”

“Not exactly. Honestly, it seems like you’re just gloating.”

He fingers the stem on his glass. “No,” he says. “I didn’t bring you here to impress you, Tannis. I brought you here to show you.”

“Show me what?”

“The life I can offer you.” He looks around the room. “Tonight, it’s Paris. Tomorrow, Vienna? Rome? Tokyo? Wherever you’d like. Every single night. Forever.”

“Okay, so you’re not gloating. You’re bribing.”

He exhales. “Tannis...”

“You pretend to know me so well but you obviously don’t. If you did, you’d know that I’m not this shallow,” I say.

“I wouldn’t dream of saying you are. In fact, I think quite highly of you.”

“Then why pull the fancy billionaire routine if you think so highly of me?” I ask.

His jaw flexes briefly. “You know what, you’re right,” he says. “This was misguided.”

“Thank you.” I glare around the restaurant, still feeling painfully annoyed.

“Tannis.”

My eyes flick in his direction. “What?” I ask.

He studies my face with soft, pensive eyes. “May I ask you a question? It’s personal.”

I bite my cheek in hesitation. “Fine,” I say.

Ari leans forward slightly, his gaze never straying far from mine. “Where do you see yourself in five years? Ten? One?”

“Is this a job interview now?”

He doesn’t answer. He sits still, waiting for a response.

I exhale hard, giving in. “College,” I answer. “Grad school, maybe.”

“What would you study?”

“Psychology,” I say, feeling foolish. “I thought it’d be nice to help people.” I scoff. “No wonder my parents didn’t want me going. There was no point in throwing away money on a degree their daughter would never use.”

“Or, perhaps, they thought to wait out for a better teacher,” he says.

“Who? You?”

“Yes,” he says. “What if I told you that you had the entirety of the world’s knowledge at your fingertips? Every fact, every text. Everything you could ever dream to learn was right there waiting for you? And not only that, you had eternity to pick through it bit-by-bit. Would you like that?”

“Sounds nice but it’s not the same,” I say.

“Why not?”

“Because...” I shake my head. “It’s not just knowledge, Ari. It’s experience. I wanted to go away to school and make friends and skip classes and go to parties and all that stuff.”

“That stuff doesn’t matter.”

“It does in the moment,” I argue. “I wanted to carve my place in the world. To earn it. To find myself — just like everybody else does.”

“And you’re sad now that you think you can’t?”

“Sad?” I repeat. “No, I’m not sad. I’m pissed off.”

“Why?”

“Because—” I bite down. “For twenty years, people have told me that I could be anything I wanted to be. Teachers, books, every goddamn movie told me that if I really wanted to be something, I could do it. Just believe in yourself, Tannis, and the world is yours. Now, I come to find out that... they were never even talking to me.” I swallow hard. “It would have been goddamn nice to know earlier that my life has no purpose.”

Ari’s face shadows with sympathy. “You think your life serves no purpose?” he asks.

I look at the table instead of answering.

“Tannis,” he says, his voice soothing, “I have seen with my own eyes what a life without purpose looks like and I can tell you, with great confidence, that you are wrong.”

“And what purpose do I serve, Ari?” I ask. “Your playmate?”

“You think that’s why I chose you?”

“Why else?” My eyes sting with tears. “Isn’t that why we’re here? Because you want to get into my pants?”

“If that’s what I wanted, I would have taken it a long time ago,” he says.

“Then what do you want?” I ask him. “Please. Just out with it already. What do you want from me?”

Ari slowly fixes his jawline for a moment as a server pauses beside our table. I sit back and they rest a small plate between us full of snails and brilliant green garnish.

“Escargots a la Bourguignonne,” she says with a wink.

As they leave, I fix my stare on Ari again and he smiles.

“Bon appetit, Tannis,” he says, refusing me an answer.