The blue spirals in his own eyes tightened in response, and anticipation tingled up my spine. “And where should we go?”
“You know the place.”
“Do you think that’s safe?” He glanced over my shoulder into the living room. “Leaving them here?”
“Nothing is safe. But we’ll be just an autodial away, thanks to the miracle of cell phone technology.”
“I’m convinced.” But then his gaze narrowed on me, studying me. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Considering the circumstances? I’m as okay as I’m ever going to be.” I dropped onto the balls of my feet so he couldn’t see how very true that was. “Let me tell them we’re going, then I’ll pick up a snack and meet you there in twenty minutes.”
“I can get food. What do you want?”
I shook my head. “My treat this time. I insist.”
His brows rose, but he didn’t argue. “Okay. I’ll see you in a few...” Then he disappeared.
I ducked into the living room and told the three couch potatoes that I’d be at Tod’s for a while, and that they should text one of us if anything...happened. Sophie pretended to gag. Luca shut her up with a kiss. And Emma gave me such a wistful look that I almost changed my mind, so I could keep her company. I owed her that.
But I had to talk to Tod in private. And time was running out.
Chapter Twenty-One
The fact that I hadn’t actually lied to Tod didn’t ease my guilt as I blinked into his mother’s home. The house felt strange and too quiet without Nash and Harmony there. I missed the hum of the dishwasher, the scent of baking chocolate, and the video game sounds usually emanating from Nash’s room at the end of the hall.
My shoes squeaked on the linoleum while I searched the kitchen, and I bruised my knees climbing onto the countertop so I could check the upper cabinets, but I didn’t find what I was looking for there, or in the bathroom, or the living room.
Walking into Harmony’s room while she was suffering in the Netherworld felt like violating a shrine. Her closet was open and her bed was unmade, like she’d just gotten up, but the truth was that she hadn’t been home in more than a day, and she wouldn’t come home at all if I didn’t get what I’d come for, then do what had to be done.
Avari’s clock ticked in my head as I searched her drawers and her bedside table, and a countdown of my own added to the pressure when I glanced at her alarm clock and saw that twelve minutes had already slipped away from me. Tod would expect me in eight more. If I was too late, he’d text. Then he’d come looking for me.
I finally found what I needed in a shoe box at the back of Harmony’s closet. Eleven vials, neatly labeled in her all-caps print, along with a handful of disposable plastic droppers sealed in cellophane and a small notebook full of notes to herself. Most of the sentences were incomplete, but the dosages were clear.
I wondered how she’d been testing them. Then I decided I didn’t really want to know.
I slid the vial I needed into my pocket, along with one of the droppers. Then I took another dropper, just in case. After I’d closed the box, pushed it back into place, and double-checked to make sure I hadn’t left anything else out or open, I blinked out of Harmony’s house and into Levi’s office.
“Kaylee.” Tod’s boss blinked at me in surprise then hopped down from his rolling chair. His chest barely cleared the surface of his desk. He couldn’t have been more than eight years old when he’d died, and I found little else in either world creepier than an undead child. “I’m in the middle of a meeting.” He waved one small, freckled hand at something behind me, and I turned to see two reapers I didn’t recognize sitting in chairs at my back. I’d appeared out of nowhere between them and Levi’s desk.
“I need a favor.” Don’t look at his letter opener. Don’t look at his letter opener.... If he’d noticed the missing incubus soul, I couldn’t tell, and I wasn’t about to alert him to the loss.
“If memory serves, you’re already in my debt in that regard.” He’d restored Tod’s afterlife after I’d died. “And did I mention that you don’t have an appointment?”
“She’s not even a reaper,” one of the men at my back said.
Levi crossed tiny arms over his little-boy chest, half covering the Gap Kids logo. “I’m aware, David.”
“What is she?” the other reaper asked.
“Out of line. That’s what she is.” Levi planted both palms on his desk and glared up at me. It was like being scolded by a kindergartner. A kindergartner with an old soul and a corpse’s eyes. “Kaylee, see my assistant and make an appointment. I think I have an opening around noon tomorrow.”
“This can’t wait. Please, Levi. I need help.” I clutched the vial in my pocket and held his gaze, letting desperation show in mine, even though he probably couldn’t see the motion in my irises. “Five minutes, max. I swear.” That’s more than I could afford to spend there anyway.
Finally he exhaled and looked past me to the other reapers. “Wait in the hall.”
When they filed out the door without arguing, I realized that Tod was probably the least compliant employee Levi had—much like me in Madeline’s service.
The door clicked closed at my back. Levi gestured to one of the chairs in front of his desk, and I sat. “Is this about Tod?”
“No. Not directly, anyway.” My feet bounced on the floor, and I couldn’t make them stop.
“Good, because he’s used all the favors he’s going to get—most of them on your behalf—and he’s been dead less than three years.”
I swallowed a lump of guilt over that. But if this went well, he wouldn’t have to worry about me getting Tod in trouble anymore.
“So, what can I do for you, Kaylee?”
I took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. “I need you to tell a lie.”
Levi frowned with pouty child’s lips, and his freckled forehead wrinkled below a mop of bright red hair. “Maybe you better start from the beginning.”
It took almost five minutes for me to explain what I needed and why, and another two minutes to persuade him that my lie was necessary, and that he had to be the one to tell it. I then spent one more precious minute convincing him that I hadn’t lost my mind and that I would actually go through with my part of the plan.
By the time I shook Levi’s hand, unsettled more by the grim respect in his gaze than I was by the reality of what I was planning, I was seven minutes late to meet Tod, and he’d texted twice.
And I still had to pick up the drinks.
While I waited for our cherry limeades, I texted Tod to tell him I was on my way. Then I practiced controlling my pulse and slowing my heartbeat. Letting my true fear show in my eyes while hiding my guilt over what I was about to do.
This is about the war, not the battle, Kaylee. Sacrifices had to be made.
When I blinked into his room, Tod was squatting in front of the minifridge that served as his nightstand. When he saw me, he stood with the small carton of ice cream we’d opened the day before.
“No, thanks.” I set the limeades on top of the fridge and held his gaze. “I’m not here for the ice cream.”
His eyes widened. “I may not be the sharpest scythe in the shed, but even I can read those signals.” He kissed me, and I nearly forgot my own name.
“Mmm...” I said, when his mouth trailed over my chin and down my neck.
“Why do you taste so good?” he mumbled against my skin.
“Cherry limeade.” I reached back to hand him his. I’d gotten us each a small, because I needed him to drink as much of his as possible.
Tod took a long drink, then set his cup down. “I love those.”