Standing before the girls’ bathroom mirror, I ignored my audience and stared at my reflection as medium runes coiled and spread up my arms and neck. I tried not to cringe. They crept up my cheeks and head, my scalp tingling. If circus freaks or mutants were in, I would be their poster girl.

“You look hot,” Andris said. He was seated on the edge of the counter, arms crossed and a cup of caramel macchiato in his hand.

Of course, he would think a freak was hot. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. I was busy trying to focus on engaging the right runes.

“Maybe not as hot as him,”—Andris angled his head and did a slow trek down and then up the guy behind me—“but you know me. I like variety.”

I met Syn’s eyes in the mirror and tried not to laugh. Most guys would have been insulted that Andris was coming on to them, but not Syn. The Grimnir was so comfortable in his masculinity he tended to ignore Andris. This was not the first time they were hanging out with me in this bathroom on the top floor of my school. Sometimes Echo was around to make sure the souls behaved, and other times it was just Syn. On the Valkyries’ side, it was usually Andris. I was an equal opportunity medium since prom night when souls needing closure had come to our aid and helped us with their evil brothers and sisters.

“You can’t handle me, Valkyrie,” Syn said in his smooth sexy voice.

Andris shrugged. “You have no idea what I can handle or dish out, Grimnir. I once had this Nubian lover who taught me amazing tricks that could rock anyone’s world. She—”

“Shhh. Stop showing off. She’s ready,” Syn warned.

I’d already put on my gloves and opened the notebook. I picked up the pen and glanced to my right at the line of souls. They stared at me as though I was their last hope, and I guess I was. They didn’t see the runes the way Mortals and Immortals did. To them, the black runes glowed and dazzled, drawing them to me the same way runes on a reaper’s scythe drew them. The difference was reapers could turn their scythe into a weapon and disintegrate a soul. I’d never hurt them.

A year ago, I was just another ordinary high school girl vlogging about hot guys when a jealous Immortal etched medium runes on me and turned me into a magnet for the dead. Fear had landed me in a psych ward, but I grew stronger after that. Now that I knew how to use the runes to stabilize possession, I could listen to a soul’s last request without fainting.

The short balding guy first in line was dressed in custom-made gym clothes. His shoes were designer and even the class rings on his fingers said he’d belonged to some exclusive secret society before he died. He looked like he was in his sixties, yet he had the body of a thirty-something, which meant he was bound for Asgard, where souls of athletes and soldiers resided.

Behind him stood a girl in silk pajamas and a bad perm, her eyes flashing with rage. She was so thin and emaciated she must have been ill before she died, which meant she was bound for Helheim, home of the souls of the sickly and those dead from old age. I wanted to hear her story, but I had a rule I lived by. I treated all the souls the same. Young or old, rich or poor, whatever the race, it was a first-come-first-serve basis. Word had spread about what I could do, so now I dealt with long lines during each session. Today, the bathroom was packed.

I smiled at Baldy and extended my hands toward him. He stepped forward and blended with me. A shiver crawled up my spine as my body adjusted to the invasion. The medium runes made the possession easier, but they didn’t completely stop my stomach from roiling or the slow energy drain. Souls sucked on energy of those they possessed, even mediums like me.

Are you dying?

I blinked when the question drifted into my psyche. Souls rarely asked me personal questions. They tended to be self-absorbed.

No.

You are not going to stop helping us?

Of course not. Whatever gave you that idea?

Silence.

Who told you I was dying? I asked.

Instead of explaining why he’d asked, he started talking about what he wanted me to do. Sighing, I wrote. Sometimes souls conveyed their thoughts so fast I had to tell them to slow down so I could catch up. Others were hesitant to share their intimate moments, and I either had to reassure them or scold them. A few times, I cried for the ones with painful pasts. Whatever the case, I validated their feelings, justified or not.

Baldy had instructions for his lawyer, his girlfriend—I didn’t judge—and his three children: two daughters and one son. I didn’t do wills, but I could help with the rest of what he’d requested.

He moved out of me, and I studied the letters—one for his children, one for his girlfriend and soon-to-be-born son, and the last for his lawyer. It turned out his wife had died and his girlfriend was expecting. His squiggly handwriting was barely intelligible, though. I might have written down his thoughts, but the handwriting wasn’t mine. Even the signature at the bottom was his. Any forensic expert would not prove he hadn’t written the letters.

I passed them to Andris, who shoved them into envelopes and wrote the names on the outside. He didn’t bother to wear gloves like I. He didn’t care if they tried to find where the letters came from and found his fingerprints. Soul reapers were hundreds of years old, Immortal, and used runic magic. He had no problem making people forget things, including him. I, on the other hand, couldn’t afford to leave evidence behind. I didn’t deliver the letters either, not after that first time. People asked way too many questions.

“Over here, Dunbar.” Andris waved at the empty stalls. “When Cora is done, you’re leaving with me.” He glanced at the remaining souls in line, his eyes narrowing on a woman. “I promised to take her with me. She’s Svana’s, and so is the dude in the ill-fitting suit. How many can you do now?”

“Twelve. Maybe fifteen.” Surprise flashed on his face while Syn frowned. I usually only managed to help half that number of souls during lunch. “I’m skipping first period after this.”

“Why?” Syn asked, straightening.

“We have a substitute teacher this week. A total creep. Plus, it’s a writing class, and I’m done with my piece.”

“Creep how?” Andris asked.

“What has he done to you?” Syn added.

“Down, boys. He hasn’t done anything to me or I would have dealt with him by now.” I hadn’t learned cool runes only to have them fight my battles. Besides, Ockleberry hadn’t done anything to deserve letting these two loose on him. He just liked staring at cleavage a little too much. I wasn’t sure what runes to use on him yet, but he was going to wish he never did that again.

“You have the addresses?”

Andris looked at the letters. “No, but I know where to find his people. I’ll be invisible, so they won’t see me coming or going.”

I focused on the skinny girl and gave her a smile, but her expression didn’t change. Most souls looked confused right after death, but these weren’t recently departed. They were runners hoping to communicate with their relatives one last time and were usually angry. Before I started helping them find closure, they’d try to fix things their own way with little results.

I allowed her to possess me. The first emotion to hit me was rage. It was more than usual. I waited until the runes dampened the effect of her emotions.

“What’s wrong with you? You don’t look sick or like you’re dying, drifted into my thoughts.

No, I’m not sick. Jeez, why do you souls think I’m dying?

Rumors. I hope they are mistaken, because I need your help, and I’m not leaving until my killers are exposed and stopped.

Her name was Jenny, and she was fifteen, not as young as I’d thought, and she had a lot to say. The more she talked, the more pissed I got. I didn’t realize I was crying until a tear fell on the book. I’d written several pages of everything that had happened to her, including the names and the addresses of the girls responsible.

Anything else? I let the thought drift through my head.

Tell my reaper I would have possessed those bitches and driven them crazy, but I chose to work with you because I knew you’d help me. I’m counting on you, Medium. I want them stopped before they do to other girls what they did to me.

Jenny was bossy, but I forgave her because she’d been through a lot. She and I separated.

“What happened to her?” Andris jumped off the counter and offered me a handkerchief. Only Andris would accessorize his outfit with a handkerchief. Syn was in the process of pulling wads of tissue and stopped.

I wiped at my cheeks. “Jenny was a student at an elite boarding school. Unlike the other girls, she was on scholarship, not one of the paying girls or children of the founding fathers, who bullied her constantly. They called her fat, so she tried to fit in. First, she became bulimic. Then, she ended up being”—I waved toward the skinny girl—“anorexic. All to fit in. They mocked her hair, so she changed it. Or tried to. Her clothes. Everything about her was just never good enough. The bitches did it at school and online. There’s a website where these private prep schools socialize. They posted her pictures there and basically terrorized her. When she thought she was in and started dating a boy at a neighboring school, it turned out it was all a bet to see if he could get her in the sack. He posted intimate pictures of her online.”

“Punk,” Syn ground out.

“The bitches paid him, Syn. They are just as responsible for Jenny starving herself and the prank that ended her life. They locked her in an old building as part of some stupid initiation into a society and left her there for two days. When she tried to escape and found the stairs, she tripped and fell to her death.” From her expression, Jenny was following our conversation. “Jenny said the leader of the pack is a senior and the daughter of one of the founding fathers. The girl keeps an online diary chronicling the things she and her friends do to the undesirables like Jenny, girls who don’t belong in their school.” I gave Syn the pages. “That’s the log-in information. I hate bullies. If Raine were here, we would visit the girls and make them pay.”

“I’ll take care of this,” Syn snarled, folding the papers. He was usually an easygoing guy, so seeing this side of him was interesting.

“I’m going with you, Grimnir,” Andris said. “Making Mortals squirm is my specialty.”

“Jenny doesn’t want to be reaped until this is over,” I said.

Syn looked ready to argue. He beckoned Jenny forward and peered into her face. “We’ll get them, Jenny. Today. And you’ll watch.”

Jenny nodded.

“Just don’t do anything to them that attracts the attention of the Norns,” I said. “I don’t want to be on their radar. Ever.”

“You won’t,” Syn said. “I like computers. There’s so much damage I can do with them.”

“I knew there was a reason I liked you, Nubian,” Andris piped in. “You know, other than the obvious. Life around here had gotten boring since Torin got hitched and we dispatched the dark souls.”

“Uh, that was last week,” I reminded him.

“So it’s been a boring few days. I need to be stimulated. You and I, Nubian, will be vigilante reapers. Blondie can find us victims—or should I call them the perps?—and we’ll finish them off.”

“First, don’t call me blondie. I hate it.” Eirik had used it whenever he wanted to piss me off. “Second, you are not allowed to kill Mortals.”

“I was speaking metaphorically,” Andris said. “We’ll punish them. Make them confess and fix things. Any thoughts on how we can do this, Grimnir?”

“I have plenty.”

While they plotted mayhem, I moved on to the next soul. Halfway through, Andris opened the jar of Twizzlers and offered me some. I munched as I worked.

“That’s enough for now,” I said when I reached the fifteenth soul. Andris had his three while Syn had the rest. “We’ll continue this evening. Tell your friends I’m not quitting,” I reminded the ones I hadn’t helped. Syn and Andris looked at me questioningly. “Almost all of them asked me if I was sick or dying. Strange.”

The Grimnir placed the bag with my lunch and ice tea bottle on the counter.

“Echo said that’s your favorite brand,” he said.

“Thanks, Syn.”

“It’s no problem.” He reached inside his trench coat and pulled out a small sickle. The second he lifted it, runes appeared on his arm, hands, and fingers, and connected to the ones on the sickle. It elongated into a scythe. The souls I’d helped stared at the blade with morbid fascination while the ones who still needed my help disappeared quickly.

Andris stared at the scythe and rolled his eyes without reaching for his artavus. The Valkyries’ artavo had the same effect as a scythe when the light from it was used to control or disperse a soul, but I was finally seeing why Grimnirs used the bigger scythe. They reaped and controlled ten times the number of souls as the Valkyries. Their targets included criminals, who tended to run from reapers. I’d listened to enough of them to know their reason for running was always revenge. I opened the lid of the ice tea and chugged.

“How can you stand eating in here?” Andris asked, looking around.

“I don’t intend to. I’m going to the beach house. Besides, no one dares to use this bathroom anymore.”

“Ah, there are rumors going around your school that it’s haunted. Flickering lights and electronics acting crazy. One even reported a voice on her phone asking her personal questions.”

I grinned. Dev tended to get carried away. “How did you hear about it? Are you dating a student again?”

Andris grinned. “Are you and Dev having fun?”

“Always. Dating a student?”

“Several. Like I said, variety spices life.” He glanced at Syn and sighed. “Fine, sour face. Let’s go cause some mayhem. Like Blondie, I hate bullies.” He threw his coffee cup in the garbage. “Will let you know how it goes. Come along, souls.”

They opened a portal and disappeared through it, Syn leading the way with Jenny and his group of souls following, while Andris took the rear. A few souls wandered into the bathroom while I collected my things, but I shook my head. They understood what that meant, yet they still lingered and watched me. Their presence no longer bothered me. They were here when I arrived and would stay when I left, sometimes refusing to give up their places in line. The smart ones headed to the mansion, where I helped them after school. A few times, I helped some at my farm by the apple trees. It all depended on my mood.

I opened a portal to Echo’s beach house in Miami and waved to the souls staring at me with woeful expressions. The students were right about that bathroom. It was haunted. I headed to the pool deck and lifted my face to the sky. It was going on three, the weather perfect for being outdoors. I settled on a lounge and ate my food. Alone.

I missed Raine. I would have gone to the mansion for lunch if she weren’t on her honeymoon, or we would have come here if she hadn’t quit school. I hated the Norns for forcing her to quit school and to get married secretly. At least they hadn’t come after me.

I had a feeling Echo was responsible for that. He’d shielded me from them so well I was invisible, and I wanted it to stay that way. He was my protector, the one constant person in my life now. Someone I could count on no matter what. I could count on Mom and Dad, too, but they were my parents and keeping an eye on me was their innate responsibility. Echo chose me and adored me despite all my imperfections. It was time my parents knew the truth about him.

* * *

“Later, Cora,” Kicker called out, and I waved without looking.

Kicker and I had been on the swim team together since freshman year, but we’d become closer the last few months. I wondered what she would say when she learned I didn’t plan to finish my senior year at Kayville High. She’d probably demand to know why and where I was headed, which I couldn’t tell her. She would never know I led a double life as a regular student during school and a medium for the dead whenever I could. Or how my friends and I saved the students from possession by evil souls during prom last weekend, or that our school had souls drifting through the walls and loitering on every floor and classroom. Sometimes I worried about the angry ones possessing students. After all, they were here because of me.

I grabbed my backpack and headed for the foyer, passing a few along the way. Did Raine ever worry about things the way I did, or did she just face one problem at a time and keep going? She’d just gotten married to her soul mate and was planning to finish her senior year at Mystic Academy, a private school for people with gifts like her. Witches and Immortals. I wanted to go with her, but I needed to deal with a few problems before I could commit.

First, my parents didn’t know I wanted to switch schools. Heck, I hadn’t told them I could see the dead. Second, Echo and I wanted to get married, and I still hadn’t told my parents our plans. Mom adored him, and Dad respected him, but my stomach churned with dread just imagining how they’d react to what I planned to tell them. Everything. Including what he was. I couldn’t do half-truths with my parents.

Students in the foyer stepped out of my way to let me pass. When their gazes went outside, I knew Echo was around. He had that effect on people. They tended to try to stay out of his line of vision while studying him on the sly. Some even tried to imitate his Grimnir style, but no one had the guts to ask me who he was. They just knew he was my boyfriend. The souls standing by the windows and staring outside knew he was a reaper, and I was the only one stopping him from reaping them.

I stepped outside and saw him by his SUV. He’d bought a car just so he could pick me up and drop me off at school. Classic rock vibrated the windows and pulsed through the air. From the lack of reaction from the other students, no one could hear the music except me, thanks to the dampening runes covering the black exterior.

Echo’s wolfish eyes stayed locked on me, so I knew he wasn’t really listening to the music. My stomach flip-flopped as I got closer, and my heart picked up speed. Even after dating him for almost a year, I still got flustered when he looked at me like I stole his breath away and he couldn’t wait to have me in his arms.

“Cora-mia,” he whispered and opened his arms.

I stopped and crossed my arms. “Stop being mean to Dev.”

He growled. “Now I can’t even get a hug because of him?”

“Oh, you’ll get your hug. I just want you to be nice to him. Turn off the music.”

“He talks too much, sings like a toad, and”—he pinned me with narrowed eyes—“I hate that he’s permanently a part of our lives.”

He sounded so frustrated my instinct to ease his dark mood kicked in. I closed the gap between us and kissed him. He let me initiate it, but took over, showing me he was in charge until he was all I breathed and tasted.

He lifted his head and smiled. “Want to open a portal, ditch the car, and go to our cottage?”

“Don’t you mean ditch Dev? No, hun. We can’t. He and I are going to the hospital.” After I talked to my parents. “Did the furniture arrive?”

“Every last piece you ordered. I spent the afternoon making the cottage perfect.”

He’d bought a house at the edge of town so we had a local place where we could entertain our friends.

“I want to see it, but I have a promise to keep.” I reached around him and lowered the volume of the radio. “Hey, Dev.”

“A rún mo chroí, how was school?” he answered through the car speakers.

He’d just called me a secret of his heart. Echo growled at the endearment, but I ignored him. As long as he kept reacting like that, Dev would keep flirting with me. They were like two dogs with a bone. Echo might be the love of my life, but he had to learn to share me. Dev was my charge, a soul searching for redemption, and I was his only hope.

“I can’t wait for the semester to be over. You okay in there, Dev?” I asked.

“Good. Do we still have a date?”

Echo stiffened beside me, and I sighed. I pulled him away to the hood of the car so Dev wouldn’t hear us.

“He’s supposed to help anchor the soul of a coma patient so the man can wake up and talk to his family. Remember Mr. Reeds from Moonbeam Terrace?”

“The old man who’d flirt with you or the captain?”

“The flirt. He had a heart attack and slipped into a coma. I need Dev to anchor his soul and give his family closure.”

“He doesn’t need you to anchor a soul,” Echo griped, then pulled me into his arms and rested his forehead on mine. A sigh escaped him. “He’s been doing this soul-cleansing thing on his own for weeks.”

“And struggling. But he doesn’t know who Mr. Reeds is.” I lowered my voice as I continued. “Dev cannot slip back, Echo. The longer he stays inside a person, the stronger the urge to take over completely. He needs me to draw him out if that happens, and nothing works on souls like my medium runes.” There was something off about Echo. He seemed restless. “You okay?”

“Couldn’t be better. The golden dragon is in Asgard, and things are back to normal in the hall.”

I frowned. He rarely discussed Helheim, the realm of the dead, or the goddess he served. “Golden dragon? As in a real golden dragon?”

“Yep. You should see him. He can be a real pain, and we’ve gone on some really amazing adventures the last few weeks, but”—he scowled—“he’s in Asgard now and things are back to normal. That’s a good thing.”

I reached up and stroked his cheek. His voice and his words didn’t match. “You miss him.”

“Hel’s Mist no. He’s a pain in my ass. The adventures were nice, but that was not who I am. I’m a reaper.”

He was so cute when he tried to act indifferent. “Are you sure you should be telling me this? You said you can’t share things that take place over there.”

“I know.” He pressed a kiss on my temple. “I hate not sharing everything with you.”

I hated it, too. I planned to marry him and had to accept that I’d only see him when he was on Earth. If something were to happen when he was in Hel, I wouldn’t know about it unless another reaper told me, and I wouldn’t be able to visit him.

“Do you think after we marry the goddess might be more accommodating? After all, you are her favorite reaper.”

He grinned. “We’ll see. She’s changed because of the dragon, so she might change her mind about reapers bringing their Immortal wives to Eljudnir. I plan to talk to her after we set a date, which means—”

“Telling my parents the truth.” Something I wasn’t looking forward to. I glanced at my watch. I needed to get home and get it done. “Are you driving or am I?”

“I am.” Grinning, he scooped me up and walked around to the front passenger seat. “That way you can distract me.”

I laughed and kissed his chin. Instead of closing the door, he tilted my chin and studied my face, his smile fading.

“If the goddess says yes, would you be willing to spend time there with me? My quarters are spacious, and you’d never have to see her.”

Panic coursed through me. The little I knew about Goddess Hel said she was not a nice person. She had the power and the authority to detain anyone who entered her realm, dead or alive. What if she insisted I stay there forever? Even Raine, who’d adored her father, was reluctant to visit Hel’s Hall to see him.

“Of course, you don’t have to,” Echo said and pressed his lips against mine. It was a featherlight kiss, filled with love and patience, which made me feel terrible. Echo loved me, yet I couldn’t agree to a simple request out of fear. He would protect me.

I created space between us. For Echo, I would face anything and anyone.

“Yes, the place has been your home for hundreds of years, so yes, I’d love to visit if she’s okay with it.”

This time, he crushed my lips with his, letting his passion show. He was volatile and unpredictable, but he felt things deeply. Having me with him meant everything to him, but would his boss think so, too? Grinning, he closed the door and moved around the hood, his leather trench coat flying behind him.

“I’m happy you agreed,” Dev said from the car radio. He sounded serious, which was unusual. “I could feel his soul shrivel with every second you stayed silent. If you’d like, I can come with you and watch your back.”

I chuckled. “If you can, why not? Just remember, there’s nothing you can do that Echo can’t.”

“I’m a soul, doll-face. I could slip in and out of places he could only dream about.”

Echo caught the last part of Dev’s sentence when he opened the car door. “Out of my stereo,” he barked.

“What did I do this time?” Dev asked, sounding bewildered.

“Out. Now.”

Dev slithered out, sat on the hood of the car, arms and legs crossed like a genie, and neatly blocked Echo’s view.

“He thinks he’s funny. That’s the last time you try to seduce my girl behind my back, you bodiless smog.”

Oh brother. I placed my hand on Echo’s arm. “We were talking about visiting Hel’s Hall. He offered to come with me and keep an eye on things. I told him there was nothing he can do that you can’t do.”

“Damn straight.” He peered at Dev. “What you don’t know, Casanova, is that in Helheim, you will become solid and Goddess Hel knows everything that goes on there, including the presence of unwelcomed visitors. And who said you can go with us?”

Dev pointed at me with two fingers and smirked. He was such a goofball.

“He can come, right?”

“No, he can’t. You are Earth-bound, Dev. Get out of here. I need a moment with my girl without you butting in.”

Dev lay across the hood as though he planned to stay there forever and gave Echo the finger. I laughed.

Echo cursed. “Fine,” he snarled. “Go to the cottage and find something to do there.”

Dev grinned. He loved the place. It was spacious with a lot of land and very few neighbors. He could sing along with the radio without starting a neighborhood riot. There was something about hearing his own voice that kept him sane, he’d told me. We also had a smart TV with enough online movie channels to keep him busy.

“Behave while there, or you will be uninvited indefinitely,” Echo added.

Dev floated upward until he was standing on the hood and saluted Echo. Funny how dark and formless he’d looked when we first met. Now I could see his features, and the smoke clinging to his form was growing thinner with each person he helped. He had a long way to go, but I was determined to see him redeem himself.

“I’ll come get you when it’s time to go to the hospital.” He nodded and floated away. Echo smirked. I didn’t understand his relationship with Dev. He cared about him, but he was always being mean to him, which Dev ignored or responded with a finger. “Why can’t you try to be nice to him?”

“That was me being nice.” Echo nudged me closer until my head rested on his shoulder. He started the car and eased out of the parking lot. The smile disappeared from his face. “He can never go to Hel, Cora. The portal is one directional for souls.”

“Oh. I didn’t know that.” I sighed. “Dev needs a purpose, Echo.”

“Once Mystic Academy begins, he’ll be okay.”

Dev wanted to teach there, but how could he without a body? He’d have to use electronics. “He needs a body, but that’s impossible.”

Echo laughed. “Actually, it’s possible. I knew Druids who could bring the dead back to life if a body was still fresh and the soul hadn’t moved on.”

“Really? That’s awesome. So we need to find a fresh body for Dev?”

“No, we don’t. Rhys kept his body and preserved it using magic. All we need is someone with the ability to anchor a soul to a body.”

“Can my runes work? Medium runes make it easy for souls to possess a body.”

“And that’s because you have a life force, which souls borrow. That’s why you always feel drained after a possession. A dead body has zero life force. We need a healer, a life force manipulator. Unfortunately, I haven’t met a Witch with ergokinetic abilities in the last several centuries. And even if they have it, they wouldn’t tell anyone. It is a powerful and rare gift, which can be exploited by both magical and non-magical people. Those who have it guard it and keep it a secret.” He sighed. “At least one good thing will come out of starting Mystic Academy. We’ll know who has what powers. We might get lucky and find someone who can help him.”

I wanted to go to that school so badly I could taste it. I hoped there would be people like me who weren’t born with abilities, but were willing to acquire them through runes. I’d love to mentor future mediums. I had to talk to my parents. Today. I also wanted to go to Hel for Echo, no matter how scared I was.

“I’ll talk to my parents before I go to the hospital, and you should talk to the goddess about us. No more secrets. What do you think?”

“I’m on board.” He glanced at me and grinned. “Distract me.”

I kissed his neck and slipped a hand under his shirt to caress his chest.

“You can do better than that,” he challenged.

I could and did. He veered off the road and almost crashed through the fence into the Melbecks’ vineyard. Luckily, we were closer to the farm and traffic was low. I was still laughing when we parked outside our house. Mom’s truck was parked beside Dad’s SUV and my Elantra, which meant they were both home.

“Well?” I teased.

He kissed me. “You are an evil woman.”

“You issued a challenge, and I accepted it. What did I get in return? You almost crashed the car.”

He laughed. “I’m crazy about you, Cora-mia.”

“Good, because I’m crazy about you, too.” God, I hoped my parents would be okay with what he was.

“What is it?” Echo asked.

“I’m still worried about Mom. Something is off with her.” Her erratic behavior had started on Saturday, the day of our high school prom. She’d looked like she’d been crying while I’d slept off an energy drain from a possession. Then she’d burst into tears the second she’d seen me. Mom was not the crying type. Dad had to take our prom pictures instead of her, and he kind of sucked at it.

“Have you tried talking to her?”

“Several times, but she keeps saying she’s okay. Do you think she knows about my abilities? I’ve caught her staring at me with a weird expression.”

“I don’t know, Cora-mia, but if you want me there while you talk to them, I can come inside.”

“No, I’ll be fine. If they need further proof of your world, I’ll show them. I mean, I can do everything you do.”

He scoffed at the idea.

“Hey.” I smacked his arm. “I can move fast now that I have speed runes, become invisible, open portals, and talk to a soul better than you. You yell and threaten them, while I just stand there like a saint. No, like an angel, and they flock to me. I might not have a size-changing runic scythe, but my body is a magnet for souls, so we are even.”

Laughing, he leaned in and stole a kiss. “I have almost a thousand years on you, sweet cheeks. Now get your lovely ass out of my car before I open a portal to my bedroom and show you who can do things better.”

“You have a one-track mind.”

“Yet you still love me.”

“Like I said, I’m a saint.”

He laughed. “Sweetheart, you may have the face of an angel, but sainthood is not for you.”

“And who corrupted me?” I got out of the car. “A certain reaper who won’t be getting any.”

His door swung open, and his head appeared on the other side of the hood. “You can’t be serious.”

“Bye.” I wiggled my fingers and laughed when he growled. He was still staring at me with a lost puppy expression when I reached the patio. I blew him a kiss and disappeared inside. The playfulness disappeared when I saw my parents.

Mom’s eyes were red, again. And Dad wore a helpless look as he cleaned his glasses, something he did when he got emotional. I dropped my books on the table with a thud and moved closer to his writing nook where they stood, worry and anger colliding inside me.