Page 122 of Death and Do-Overs

My arm lifted on its own, raising my blade to Otis’s chest.

He did the same. In his panicked, sad expression, I found the trust I couldn’t have found under different circumstances.

He’d told me he was sorry, back when I was Nie. I wanted to tell him the same thing now. I was sorry I hadn’t believed him sooner, sorry I’d made him kill me as Nie, sorry there wasn’t anything I could do to stop this now.

“Marshmallow.”

Levi appeared, somehow, in the hall with us.

He couldn’t be here. This couldn’t be real.

I had to be imagining him.

“Don’t do this,” he said.

“We’re not in control of our bodies,” Otis responded, turning his gaze to Levi.

Which meant Otis could see him, too. He was real. How was he here?

My vision blurred. My mind raced.

I really wished Imogen was here, too. Maybe she could stop this. I was helpless to stop my body from killing Levi’s best friend. And if he didn’t move, I’d end up killing Levi, too.

“Get out of the way,” I told Levi.

“No,” he said. “Fight this.”

Both Otis’s and my blades lifted to Levi’s chest.

“I won’t let you go, Marshmallow,” he said, completely focused on me.

This was his chance to grab his best friend in the entire world, the one person he cared about most, and save him. But Levi was focused on me.

I tried to lower my blade. I fought for control with everything that I had.

A tear rolled down my cheek.

My arm moved, completely beyond my control.

The blade stabbed between Levi’s ribs.

CHAPTER 27

MARNIE

Tears blurred my vision.

Levi collapsed to the ground.

A sound escaped me, loud and sharp, foreign to my ears.

I fell to my knees. My weapon clattered beside me.

I lifted Levi’s head onto my lap and pet his hair, praying I’d been wrong, praying that none of this was happening. He shouldn’t be here, how was he here?

I could hear Otis speaking as he knelt beside me.

It seemed the kitsune had released us both, because devastation made for better entertainment than carnage alone.

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