Page 122 of Grim Tidings

“No one,” I answer, watching as Gabriel moves closer. I try to force a smile—try to force my shoulders to relax—but I’m playing a part I have no stage direction for.

“Hey!” My voice warbles and breaks. I swallow, and try to cobble myself together. Pretend, Darcy. “I’ve got this under control, okay? You don’t need to be here.”

Gabriel doesn’t slow, still walking toward me with a stony expression. “What the fuck are you doing here, Darcy?”

I flinch.

Nate shoves his hands in his pockets and rocks back on his heels. “What are any of us doing here, am I right?”

He chuckles, side-eyeing the scythe in my hand. I told him it was a prop for a Halloween costume and he bought it, but doubt entered the equation when Aelia came storming over the hill with a massive blade of her own.

“Darcy said she had something to show me in the graveyard. Thought it was a little suspect, it being Halloween night and all, but figured it couldn’t hurt!” Nate turns to me, looking for reassurance. “Is this some sort of secret, undead rave?”

I scratch lightly at my eyebrow. “Um—”

He bumps his shoulder against mine. “It’s cool. You can trust me. Wish you would have told me, though. ’Cause I keep glow sticks in my car.” He eyeballs the scythe again. “That thing looks super realistic. Where did you get it?”

He goes to touch the blade, but I move it out of reach. I would have avoided bringing it out altogether, if I could. But I needed to summon Gideon.

Which I would not have done if I had known Gabriel, Aelia, and Tater Tot were on their way.

Another figure appears at the top of the hill, out of breath, holding a bunch of flowers. Frank teeters between two massive stone angels, looking like he’s one gentle breeze away from rolling down the hill.

“Oh my god,” I mutter.

Aelia’s eyes narrow. “Who is that man and why does he keep following us?”

“He followed you here?” I ask.

“Ran into him at the gate,” Aelia answers. She’s finished with her Skittles and moved on to a box of Nerds.

Gabriel drops his head back, mutters a curse to the heavens, then turns and starts to stride back up the hill. “Frank!” he calls. “I told you to get in your car!”

“You don’t tell me shit,” Frank yells back, easing his way over the slope.

Gabriel grumbles something under his breath, reaching for Frank’s arm as he helps him over the uneven ground. Tater Tot nudges my thigh with his nose, and I stare down at him.

“Couldn’t have stayed home, could you? Couldn’t have kept everyone else away? Just this once?”

He drops back on his haunches, giving me a goofy, but pleased look. I love him so much it feels like my chest is overflowing with it, this strange, scraggly creature I found in the alley. The first thing that ever loved me back, scythe and all.

My eyes dart to Gabriel. He’s staring right at me with a searching expression, looking for an explanation I don’t have. I feel unzipped by that look on his face. Like he can see down to my very bones.

Next to him, Frank wheezes out an unsteady breath. I frown at the flowers in his hands.

“Are those the daisies I killed?”

He shrugs, rearranging them so they’re no longer crushed by his arms. “Didn’t see the point in throwing everything away.”

“But they’re dead,” I point out.

“Hm.” He huffs, his bony shoulders rising to his ears. “Still beautiful, though.”

The words echo like a church bell. Around and around again, clanging in the cavern my heart used to be.

Still beautiful, though.

My magic pricks awake in curiosity, and I try to silence it.