Page 94 of Bones

“Day before last.”

She froze and skewered me with a look of barely restrained suspicion. “And you’re just now coming here?”

I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth before sharing, “I have a really, uh, unsettling scar that he’d just seen for the first time.”

“Ahhh,” Lilith drawled. “So you thought he left to?—”

“Make whoever was responsible rue the day until they wished they were never born,” Juno finished.

“I was going to say get the supplies to treat the wound.”

“Oh. Yeah. Boring, but probable.”

“I actually thought he was grossed out,” I admitted.

Juno’s face softened like she knew what it was like to be unwanted. Since she was gorgeous—all three of them were—I highly doubted it.

“Anyway,” I continued, “I gave him time, but then I started to get worried. I thought maybe those soul-stealers had returned, and he’d come to help.”

“Nope. It’s disconcertingly quiet here.” She sighed before tacking on a dramatic, “Unfortunately.”

Denny made a murmur of disagreement, but Lilith was on Juno’s side. “Waiting sucks. I’m ready to kick ass.”

It didn’t take long for Denny to come around to their way of thinking. “It would be nice for the other shoe to finally drop. I haven’t been able to see Lula at all. And it’s been too long since we’ve annihilated anyone.”

A proud, maniacal smile spread across Juno’s face.

“Murder?” I whispered.

“Catch Phrase. It’s a game.” Denny gave a wistful sigh. “My bestie and her husband throw awesome game nights, and teaming up with her to dominate is the best part. I miss them, but it would be too risky to hang out right now.”

“So he saw the scar and…” Juno’s gaze dropped.

I followed her line of sight to see I was touching my sternum—something I kept doing without meaning to. It was where the scar was, yes. But it was more than that. The ache that’d formed there seemed to be growing worse and worse with each passing second.

Her line of questioning changed. “What were you doing at the time?” At my likely flustered face, she shook her head. “Never mind, got it. As gross as this is to even think about, I saw the way he looked at you. Scar or not, he wasn’t leaving voluntarily.”

“He saw it, started to say what the fuck, and then he just disappeared,” I shared.

“Wait, hedisappeareddisappeared? Like poof, gone?”

I nodded.

“Does it feel like he’s super far away?”

“Yes.”

And it makes everything hurt.

At that, she started putting the supplies back. “Why didn’t you say so?”

“What? You know where he is?”

“Yup. Heaven’s corporate offices.”

I wanted to be reassured that he hadn’t fled from the sight of the ugly blemish, but him being in Heaven didn’t sound good. “He’s in Heaven? Is he dead?”

“Their corporate office. Boring place. He’ll be back in a few days. Time passes differently there.”

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