Page 69 of Death and Do-Overs

Imogen gasped. “There are dead people down there. It’s a perfectly reasonable place for a reaper to have business.”

She wasn’t wrong.

The three of us approached the ledge. Just as we’d expected, we found a cliff that led to the water. There was also a footpath that led down to what looked like a cave about ten feet above the crashing waves.

As we headed down the cliff, Levi said softly, “You’re on a first-name basis with the grim reaper.”

It wasn’t exactly a question.

I answered anyway, “Yes.”

“You’re full of surprises, Marshmallow,” he said.

“Marshmallow?” Imogen whispered.

I didn’t answer that one.

The mouth of the cave loomed like a black maw in the cliffside, swallowing the last glimmers of daylight. The already cool air grew frigid as we entered.

Cackling echoed in the darkness, just like it had in the hotel’s basement, only tenfold.

Goblins are only dangerous if you stumble into their lair.

Caspian’s warning came back to haunt me. What if I didn’t stumble in, but purposefully invaded, with the intent to poke around and steal the meaty treasure they coveted. That’d be safe, right?

A shiver raced down my spine.

I blinked in rapid succession to force my eyes to adjust.

A large pile of bones lay in the center of the floor. At the far side of the cave, goblins gathered around the body of their newest body.

Bernadette stood near them, facing the wall. The goblins ignored her completely.

Instead, their focus was divided between climbing all over their new find and glancing toward Levi, Imogen, and me.

A translucent figure materialized in front of Bernadette—a man, covered in swirling gorilla-like fur and wearing Otis’s shoes.

Bernadette spoke to him. I couldn’t make out what she was saying. But there was no question in my mind that he was the ghost of the dead guy we’d followed here, the one who’d kidnapped Nie’s head and cut it in two.

Bernadette took the gorilla’s hand. They took a step forward together.

And both disappeared.

A foot lay rocking on the floor where they’d been standing, back and forth, until it stopped on its side.

Had Bernadette dropped it or had it been there the whole time?

If she’d dropped it, I needed to know if it was mine. Even if she hadn’t dropped it, I had to check it out. Nie and Otis could be in this cave. We couldn’t come all this way and leave without learning anything.

I slowly unzipped the pocket in my bag that contained Rose’s potions. I reached in and took one gingerly into my palm.

What had she told me about using it? Don’t get in the smoke? I figured lobbing the thing as hard as possible was probably a good plan.

Then again, I only had three potions.

There were three goblins. What if I missed one?

I looked at Imogen and Levi. Both wore intense expressions. We were as ready for a fight as we’d ever be.

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