Page 61 of Death and Do-Overs

This time when the urge to reach for him struck, I didn’t fight it. I grabbed onto his shoulders. “We will find the person responsible. We will make them pay.”

His lips curved upward on one side in a sad, half-hearted smile. “Under that tough exterior, you really are made of marshmallow.”

I went to pull back, but he caught me and tugged me to his chest. Caught completely off guard, I stiffened. Despite my reluctance, as his arms wrapped around me, I couldn't deny the warmth spreading through my chest.

It was as if the heat of his body seeped into mine. It was as if I could feel safe with him. All the nameless emotions no one was supposed to make me feel—he was making me confront them. It was terrifying.

And he’d said I was made of marshmallow.

“I’m not,” I whispered against his shirt. “I excised every ounce of softness with a scalpel years ago.”

“You missed a bit. Don’t fret over it, though. It makes you stronger.”

Softness was a strength? That made absolutely zero sense, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t focus on rationality while our bodies were pressed together. He felt too good. Instead of pushing him away, I laid my hands on his stomach. The muscles beneath were firm, his skin warm.

This was the first hug I didn’t remember hating.

Ever.

Still, I couldn’t hug him back, which was well enough, because all too soon he released me.

The softness in his expression was gone.

He said, “I have to see him before a clean-up crew takes him away.”

Himthis time definitely referred to his friend.

I asked, “What clean-up crew?”

“Without The Library’s interference in supernatural affairs, Nevermore has its own set of rules.”

“And what are those exactly?”

“The relevant rule to this situation is that muckwarts are allowed to take bodies so they aren’t left to fester in the streets.”

“Take them where?”

“You don’t want to know.”

Levi started walking back the way we’d come. It was a dismissal of my questions, of me.

I refused to be dismissed.

“Even if I don’t want to know, Ihaveto know,” I said. “The rest of Nie could have been taken by these muckwarts. Where do they take the bodies, Levi?”

“To their lair. They eat them.”

He said the words so matter-of-fact, exactly as someone would deliverthe washing machine is doneorpineapple doesn’t belong on pizza.

My stomach twisted with a violence that made me feel like I might barf.

I didn’t say anything else as I followed Levi back to the hotel. He didn’t say anything either.

The basement door was still open. We stepped back into the dark space, and found the body exactly where we’d left it, thank goodness. He was facedown, with a colorful shirt that made me think of Imogen.

Along with that thought came a flash of guilt for sneaking off while she napped.

Levi knelt down, took a breath, and rolled the body onto its back.

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