Page 27 of To the Grave

I climbed over Otis since he was the soundest sleeper.

“You okay, sunshine?”

I turned around and found Wolf looking at me through the dark.

“I’m good,” I said. “I think I’m going to make some tea.”

“Want company?” he asked.

“It’s okay,” I said. “Go back to sleep.”

“Let me know if you change your mind. I’m here.”

The words caught me by surprise.

I’m here.

Two simple words and yet I hadn’t realized until I’d moved in with the Beasts that I’d been alone before. Notalonealone — my dad had been there, and Ruth — but I hadn’t felt close to my dad in ages, if ever, and Ruth had been a kid. It had felt like it was my job to be strong for her.

But Wolf and Otis — and Jace before he’d died — had always been there for me, whether for a cup of tea in the middle ofthe night or dragging me back to the land of the living when I’d fallen so far into my depression that I hadn’t seen a way out.

They also knew when to leave me alone, and I was glad that Wolf let me go. Maybe it was the fact that I’d been looking at Blake’s phone right before I went to sleep, or maybe it was the fact that I’d been woken up out of a dead sleep, but I felt unsettled. I didn’t want to make small talk over late-night tea.

I let myself out of the room and made my way to the back staircase, the one servants had used to ferry food up and down the stairs when the house was first built. It was strange to think about a time when my mom’s family had lived here with a full staff of servants occupying the third floor, waiting on them hand and foot, but there was nothing I could do about that now.

Life was weird. Time was weird. Progress was weird.

The old grandfather clock ticked in the downstairs hall, the pendulum swinging steadily back and forth. I’d gotten used to its on-the-hour chime, its rhythmic passing of time.

I didn’t bother turning the light on in the kitchen. The moon was full, casting enough of a glow that I could easily make my way around the familiar kitchen. It was hard to remember a time when the house had seemed foreign, my three roommates like enemies.

I filled the kettle and set it on the stove, then pulled a mug from the cupboard. I hunted through our supply of tea while I waited for the water to boil, finally settling on chamomile lavender from Cassie’s. She was always trying new teas in the coffee shop and it had been one of my favorites.

The kettle started to whistle and I turned it off fast, before it could wake up Wolf or (more unlikely) Otis. I filled my cup and replaced the kettle on the stove. I was turning back to my cup when something caught my eye in the shadows of the kitchen.

I froze. Adrenaline flooded my body. My heart beat wildly in my chest.

Someone was there. I could barely make out the form, a darker smudge in the shadows.

But it was there.

I gripped the edge of the counter. I’d already replaced the kettle on the stove. I had nothing to use as a weapon except the measly cup of tea in front of me. Hot, but not exactly a deadly weapon.

“Who’s… who’s there?” My voice sounded stronger than I felt. “I’m not alone here.”

I’m not alone here.

It was true. Wolf and Otis were upstairs. One or both of them would come running at the first sign of commotion.

The shadow shifted and I braced myself for… I don’t know, an attack, I guess.

“You can leave.” Now there was a note of fear in my voice. A note of desperation. “I haven’t seen your face.”

There was a beat of silence before the voice, deep and familiar, came from the shadows. “I’m not going to leave, princess.”

And then the figure stepped from the shadows into the moonlight.

Shock tore through me. I shook my head. “It can’t… You can’t…”

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