Page 17 of Death Warden
“Good, good. Yeah, traveling the cosmos, making new friends. And then I pop back here and find things have changed.”
“How so?”
He smirked. “Oh, I can’t tell you that. That would be interfering with the natural order, which is totally taboo, by the way. You’ll just have to wait and see.” He leaned in slightly, dark eyes twinkling. “Things are about to get very interesting.”
“What? How?”
He raised his donut bag in an awkward salute. “I’ll see you around, Adi.” He walked off.
“Wait!”
“Haven’t you heard,” he called over his shoulder. “Death waits for no one.”
* * *
I’d met Death.Had tea with him. Okay, so he’d sipped his tea in my vicinity, but fuck it. That wasn’t how I’d tell it.
“Are we nearly there?” Fin asked.
“I had tea with Death.”
Fin was silent.
I looked down at him. “I did. I saw him at the rest stop, and we had tea.”
“Are we there yet?” he asked again.
“Seriously? You don’t want to hear about my experience?”
Fin sighed. “Fine, tell me.”
Usually I’d be put out and refuse to recount the event, but this was a meeting with fricking Death so I spilled the beans.
“Sounds to me like he just wanted a free cuppa and a donut,” Fin said once I was done.
“Have I told you how annoying you are?”
“Yep.”
He sat up in his seat as a sign loomed up ahead.
Frostgate ten miles.
“Almost there.” I tapped my fingers on the wheel. “You know, I’ve never heard of this place. I mean it’s in Grave Spirit territory and it’s a city, so how have I not heard of it?”
Fin yawned and then curled up in his seat. “Frostgate is different from other places. You learn about it when you need to, and once you do, then you find it.”
“Butyouknew about it.”
“I know a lot of things, Adi.”
“And now that you’re no longer gagged you can tell me.”
He sighed. “What do you want to know?”
“I’d like to know how you can successfully sound so bored all the bloody time, but I’ll settle for finding out how you got yourself bound to the Blackmores?”
He was silent for so long I thought he’d fallen asleep. I flicked a quick look his way.
