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I raise my hand in the air for a high five. “Up top!” I yell. He high fives me. I move my hand lower and yell, “Down low!”

Aiden presses his lips together. “I’m not doing it. Once was enough.”

I drop my hand and stare at him. “My god. You’re so—”

“Don’t start.”

12

HAVE YOU SEEN MR. INTIMIDATOR?

After we drop off our scythes to the Hell department, Aiden teleports us back into his office, just as the door bursts open. I dart my eyes in that direction, watching as Director Taevian walks in, his face stoic. I can feel the anger rolling off him in waves. If looks could kill a reaper, Aiden would be imploding. I scoot away from Aiden so that I am nowhere near the direct line of fire.

Aiden raises his hands in the air. “Taevian—"

Taevian points a finger at him, and Aiden immediately stops talking.

He scolds, his voice laced with rage as he says, “You are being charged with breaking the most sacred rule in the Reaper’s Code of Conduct. A rule that no reaper has ever broken. The court ordered you to do desk duty, so you tell me…” Without giving Aiden a chance to reply, Taevian continues by yelling, “Is hunting souls what you should be doing?”

I pipe in, “In his defense—" Taevian turns to me, shutting me up with one look. Yeah. This is something I should just observe from over here.

With a hard edge to his voice, Taevian informs me, “I’ll get to you in a second.” I shouldn’t have opened my mouth. But I mean…we did catch like half the souls. That’s way more than everyone else. If I’m anything, I am most definitely competitive. Aiden knew exactly how to track the souls and we got it done quickly, saving the other reapers time. He should be thanking us, if anything.

Director Taevian turns to look back at Aiden. “Not only did you go against my direct orders, but you brought Joyce with you in your reckless escapades.”

Aiden points at me. “I told her to stay here, but she started making all kinds of threats, so I had no choice.” That rat bastard. I peer at him bitterly. I just tried to defend him, and then he snitches on me. I motion my thumb across my throat, signaling that he’s dead meat. He smirks. I stop when I feel the room get fifty degrees warmer under the weight of the director’s anger.

Taevian looks between us two and in a low, threatening tone, says, “You both think this is funny?”

“No, sir,” Aiden and I reply at the same time. We make eye contact, both our lips twitching.

Director Taevian points to me and accuses, “You’re his lawyer, isn’t it unethical for you to aid your client in doing something the court ordered him not to do?”

Now may not be the best time to be a know-it-all, but I just can't help myself. “I mean technically it’s not against the court order. The court said he cannot engage in the collections of passing souls. The souls we collected have been dead for a while now,” I reply.

He shakes his head in disappointment. “It seems as though you both need to learn a lesson.” He points at me. “Those mimosas you drink in the morning,” I gasp in shock. No! No, he can’t! “Yes, I know about them—don’t bother looking for champagne. It will all be gone for five days.” I grab my chest in pain. Not physical pain. But soul wrenching pain. That’s so unfair.

The director turns his finger to Aiden. “I am also suspending your teleportation abilities for five days.”

Aiden’s mouth drops open and he shakes his head. “Wh-what? No, I use it to get food from the Living World.” I stick my tongue out at him. Aiden glares at me.

“Guess you’ll have to settle for whatever is here. I don’t care. You guys decided to disappear for five hours, so deal with the consequences.” On that final note, he turns and walks out the office, the door slamming behind him.

I look at Aiden and glare at him. “This is all your fault. I told you we should’ve minded our business.”

He looks at me, his eyes filled with annoyance. “No. You should’ve minded your business. I would’ve been quicker without you.”

“That’s complete cow shit. I helped you. You would’ve taken forever without me.”

He crosses his arms. “I’m not doing this back and forth with you.”

I cross my arms too. “Then don’t.”

“Fine,” he replies.

I stick my nose in the air. “Fine.”

The door to the office opens, and Yirah pops her head in. She shoots us a lopsided grin as she looks between us. “Another lover’s spat, I see.”