Page 19 of Death and Divination
“I don’t know.” I threw up my hand, the one not holding leftover baked ziti, in exasperation. “What are you getting at, Lucien? Maybe my sensitivity to them has increased as I’ve become older and grown more powerful. Maybe he switched territories with another reaper and I just happen to be able to see this particular one. Maybe the first time he saw me he fell desperately in love with me and that’s why I can see him.”
Why had he kissed me? Was that some seal-the-deal kiss? A I’m-taking-part-of-your-soul kiss? Or was it a kiss-kiss? I was really hoping it was a kiss-kiss.
“Okay.” Lucien stepped aside but eyed me with a narrowed gaze. “But if you see him again, I want you to tell me. Or Cassie.”
Good grief, they really were a pair. Both of them bossy as all get out.
“Fine. I’m going to swing by the hospital, then drop this off at the fire house, then go home. And I will definitely let you or Cassie know if I encounter any reapers along my way.” I pushed past him and headed out the door, unreasonably angry.
No, not angry. I was flustered. I was scared. I’d almost lost one of my sisters, and I’d just bargained away my life. I was going to die. Maybe now, maybe tonight, maybe Monday, but I was going to die. And although I’d made the bargain in good faith, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I was terrified.
I put the baked ziti in the trunk of my car, then went around to the driver’s side, yelping in fright as I slid into the seat and saw someone sitting beside me. It was the reaper. And he seemed just as unnerved as I was.
“What the hell…?” I sputtered. “Is this it? Are my sisters going to find me dead in my car in front of Cassie’s house? Because I think I just had a fatal heart attack here.”
“Sorry. I wasn’t sure where to go. I’m not sure what to do…what’s going on. All I know is that I have to be near you.” He stared at me a moment then looked down at his hands. That’s when I realized that for the first time since I’d begun seeing him, he looked like a normal guy. I mean, he was just as hot, but he didn’t have that ghostly reaper-ish pallor.
I sighed. “Of course you have to be near me. Just give me a head’s up when it’s my time, okay? And don’t sneak around like this.”
He glanced over at me, and his expression was so confused, so forlorn that I felt sorry for him. A reaper. There was a reaper sitting in my passenger seat following me around and waiting for my imminent death, and I had an urge to hug him and make him a cup of hot cocoa.
What had happened to cool, calm, collected, and confident? Was this the first time he’d done this sort of bargaining deal? A life for a life? Perhaps he had gotten a bit attached to me over the last few years and was bummed our little thing was coming to an end. Maybe he was regretting he hadn’t taken me up on my dinner offer before I signed my life away.
Could I date a reaper if I were dead? Was there a diner or hibachi grill in the afterlife we could go to? The thought of never seeing him again made me just as depressed as the thought of my death.
“What was your name again?” I asked. “I’ve been calling you Nash because I couldn’t remember.”
“Nirnasha. But I would like for you to call me Nash.”
I started the car. “Okay, Nash the reaper. If I’m not about to die in the next hour or so, here’s my agenda. I’m going to the hospital to see my sister, then I’m going to swing by the fire station and drop off this baked ziti. Then if I’m still alive, I’m going home to catch some z’s because today has just drained all the life out of me—pun intended.”
He didn’t reply. In fact, he remained silent the entire drive to the hospital. It made me a bit nervous to be driving around with a reaper in my passenger seat, and I couldn’t think of anything to say to him, so I turned on some music. I’m kinda old school at heart, so I found a classic rock station which unfortunately was playing “Stairway to Heaven.”
Grimacing, I turned the radio off and just resigned myself to drive in silence. Once at the hospital, Nash followed me inside. He waited patiently while I found out what room they’d admitted Sylvie to, then trailed after me down the halls and into the elevator.
“Stay here,” I told him once we were outside Sylvie’s room. “I don’t know if Sylvie saw you while she was dead, and I don’t want to freak her out. Either way, I don’t want to answer a bunch of questions from Cassie about who you are and why I brought you with me to the hospital.”
He hesitated and for a second, I thought he was going to argue, but then he meandered across the hall to a little sitting area, plopped into a chair, and picked up a magazine.
I went inside, a little worried about the wisdom of leaving a reaper unattended in the hospital. He’d said he didn’t have power over life and death, but Sylvie had basically been resurrected, so I didn’t have much faith in the truth of that theory. What if I came out of Sylvie’s room to find that he’d reaped the souls of everyone in the hospital? A mass casualty event, and it would be all my fault because I had a reaper following me around. Maybe I should have just insisted that I die in Cassie’s driveway.
Once inside the room, I put all thoughts of Nash from my mind and concentrated on Sylvie who was looking…well, like she’d had a near-death experience.
“Gorgeous, huh?” She smiled weakly at me. Dark circles tinted the skin under her eyes, and she seemed thinner and paler than before. One of her hands was bandaged—the one that had been burned.
“Yes, you do look gorgeous.” I crossed the room and kissed her cheek. “Where’s Cassie?”
Sylvie shot me an impish smile. “I sent her down to get me ice cream. I didn’t get to have mine at the house.”
“None of us got to have any.”
Her smile faltered. “That’s my fault.”
I sat down in the chair and put my hand on her shoulder. “No, it’s not. It’s an old house. The wiring was bad. We’re all just thankful that you’re okay.”
“Or that the house didn’t burn down.” She forced a laugh. “I’m a luck witch, Ophelia. This isn’t supposed to happen to me.”
“It’s probably a good thing itdidhappen to you. Luck witch means you’re still alive. If it had been Glenda or Adrienne or any of us who’d gone to microwave the hot fudge, we might not have made it.”
