Page 87 of Death and Do-Overs

How badly had Levi screwed up in the past? Why did he retreat? I wanted to know every single piece of the Levi puzzle.

“You’re here,” I said. “You’re being that person right now.”

His smile was soft, if touched with sadness.

I wanted to promise we’d find Otis, that he’d be all right, but that wasn’t a fair thing to say. Neither of us could know what we’d find when all of this was over.

We reached Bernadette’s house.

“This is the end of the track,” I said. “The picture was taken somewhere between here and the cafe, unless it happened to be in one of the alleys that all look exactly the same. I didn’t see any foxes along the way. Did you?”

“Unfortunately not. But we can head back and look again. Detour behind a few buildings, see how that goes.”

I didn’t have a better plan, so I nodded.

We walked for a while before turning down a small path to try a different route.

Sunlight streamed through the gaps between buildings, illuminating ivy-covered walls and highlighting the intricate carvings on old wooden doors. The warm beams contrasted with the bite of the cold air.

As I took in my surroundings, including the company of the man walking beside me, I realized what exactly had held me back from trusting Levi. It wasn’t the supernatural nature secret. It wasn’t that I didn’t know specific bits of his past or his present.

It was the very specific lack of information I had about his current circumstance. His friend was missing. That’s why he was in Nevermore. He was conducting an investigation, and while he had a plethora of knowledge about my search for Nie, I knew nothing about his search for Otis.

“Do you mind if I ask you a question?” I said.

“That’s a question right there, Marshmallow.” Levi’s lips turned up on one side. “You’ve been direct since we met, no need to walk back on that now.”

“Okay. When exactly did Otis go missing? When did he come to Nevermore, and why? If you were following your own leads to hunt him down, would it be better for you to keep doing that now, rather than help me with my quest?

Levi chuckled. “That’s quite a few questions.”

It was. How very Imogen of me.

“I’ll do my best to answer, but I need to tell you something,” he said.

“Sure.” I grimaced, a little nervous as to what that something might be.

“I knew who you were when we first met.”

As he spoke, a subtle tension crept into my chest. His words were wrapping around something important, something I wasn't sure I wanted to hear.

“At the midnight market?” I asked.

He nodded. “I should start at the beginning. The twenty-fifth, I received a cryptic message from Otis.”

The twenty-fifth was the day that Nie had died.

“What did it say?”

“It saidI’m sorry about the Lucky Charms.”

“Did that mean something to you?”

“Whenever he spent the night at my house as kids, he’d wake up before me and pick the marshmallows out of the whole box of cereal. Obviously the marshmallows are the best part.”

And he called me Marshmallow. I took a deep breath and attempted to dispel the wave of heat creeping up my ears.

“It felt…” He looked up toward the sky, like he could find the right words in the clouds. “Like goodbye.”

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