Page 29 of Death and Do-Overs

I looked over at Levi, checking to see if he was paying attention to what I was doing. He wasn’t. He was busy scanning the splatter like he could learn something else from it.

I slowly lifted the flap of my bag to see what was going on with Nie. Was I squishing her? Had she seen something through the holes I’d made for her?

Nie snapped her gaze up to mine.

“Die,” she said, in a voice that sounded just like mine. “Die. Die. Die.”

I held my breath for a moment, my eyes darting to where Levi stood.

“Shh.” I snapped the flap shut. As a flush of heat crept up my neck, I backed slowly farther from Levi.

He looked up at me.

My breath caught in my chest, trapped beneath the pounding of my heart.

Inside my bag, Nie continued her chant, barely muffled by the canvas. There was no way Levi couldn’t hear her, no way it didn’t sound like a homicidal chant filling the alley with my voice.

Levi said, in a completely normal tone, “I found something.”

He pointed to the ground, like he wanted me to come see whatever it was. Was it possible…did he not hear Nie?

“You want me to walk over there,” I said, unsure what to believe.

“Not if you don’t want to,” he said.

“Die. Die. Die. Die,” Nie chanted.

I blinked at Levi, watching for any kind of reaction.

He just looked at me, like everything was completely normal, waiting to see if I would come over or not.

I stared back in astonished silence.

People who hadn’t personally experienced magic couldn’t see it. Was this a case of that rule in practice? That was the only logical explanation as to why he wasn’t running away from me right now.

I treaded carefully around the garbage and dried blood until I stood beside Levi.

“Die. Die. Die. Die,” Nie said. “Here.”

My legs and lungs filled with concrete.

I looked down.

A black winter glove lay in the center of the spray, the only thing on the ground not covered in blood. A gasp escaped my lips.

I recognized the glove.

“Whoever committed the brutal attack that happened here owns that glove,” Levi said with complete confidence.

“No,” I said, equally certain that wasn’t the case.

No way would Nie physically harm another person. Tear them to shreds and drop them to their knees in tears with her words? Absolutely.

She could never do this.

“It was dropped after the attack. On top of the scene,” Levi said. “The glove belongs to the assailant.”

Why was he so sure? He shouldn’t be. Just like he shouldn’t be certain it was blood all over the ground.

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