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“Go on,” I said, keeping my eyes trained above her neck intently. “Most people don’t expect it to be cold around here.”
“Where is here?” she asked, narrowing those pretty eyes perceptively.
“Too much to explain now,” I said impatiently as my own eyes darted around. “We gotta move.”
“Listen, I have had a real bitch of a night,” she said defiantly. In fact, she nearly growled. “My boyfriend dumped me when I should have dumped him, I worked a double shift, and now… I wake up drugged or whatever with—with—God, what is even your name?”
“Look, you can call me Gabriel, Gabe, whatever the hell you want, but you’ve got no other choice but to follow me,” I said, my voice barely above a hiss. Something else clicked and moved along the shoreline of the lake. Something big. There was more than one kind of creature that hung by the river of the dead, waiting for fresh damned souls to come stumbling out. They might have varied in species, but those waiting creatures all had one thing in common.
They were hungry.
Not to mention the fact that Lysandra had her feelers out for me at all times. She was supernatural with her precision, and there was no way she didn’t know I was back. And if I was back, she was definitely going to assume I’d brought her a living soul. Shit, I’d even told her as much before I went to snag Beck.
“Gabe,” she repeated with a little hmph sound. “Why do you look like an extra from American Horror Story or something? Or, like… super into Dia de los Muertos or something. I mean…” She sighed. “Okay, that sounded culturally insensitive, shit. I just mean… Okay, I don’t know what I mean.” She gestured to my face. “I’ve seen Coco before, is all.”
What the hell was she talking about?
“Ma’am, um, Miss,” I said, trying my best not to say her name. “I have no idea what hot cocoa or some kind of horror book has to do with this…”
She tittered out a nervous, abrasive laugh. “Of course. I got kidnapped by a homeschool kid with zero pop culture knowledge.”
For a second, I froze. She’d come uncomfortably close to something truthful about my life, but, boy, she didn’t know the half of it.
“Miss,” I reiterated, biting back all the ways she was getting under my skin. What an obnoxious, gorgeous creature. “We really need to get out of here.”
“I am not going anywhere,” she said stubbornly. “You said someone else might come by? Well, maybe that someone else will help me find the police.”
“No police,” I shook my head. “Only the Guard, and they aren’t… they aren’t helpful. They’re a little less Barney Fife and a little more Gestapo.”
“Was that an Andy Griffith reference?” she said as she wrinkled her nose. “Man, you are weird.”
I shrugged. “Don Knotts is a big deal around here.”
“Ugh,” she grimaced. “You’re like a grandpa.”
I bit back several retorts. What a maddening, infuriating woman. I could hardly get a word in between her questions, and when I did, she still found a way to take a jab at me.
Although, sure… I guess I was about as old as a grandpa might be… would be.
She marched forward, away from the shore, and plopped down next to one of the scrubby trees. “I’ll take my chances here. You aren’t exactly comforting, and you were waiting here for me to wake up. That’s a major red flag.”
“Unless you want to be alone, I don’t think you have much choice,” I shot back. “Now, you can either stay here and deal with whatever’s comin’ our way, or you can come with me to find some damned shoes.”
For good measure, I turned away and started to stroll up the rocky incline. There were a few moments of silence behind me, and then I heard her get up and scramble. Small rocks and dust fell down the incline in her wake.
“Wait!” she yelled, and I spun around to face her. She eyed me up and down. “I’ll go. I—I don’t want to be alone. But please, where the hell am I?”
I winced at her choice of words. “That’s just it, darlin’. You are in Hell.”
Her eyes widened for a second, and then her face collapsed in on itself. For a moment, I thought she was crying, but after a second, I realized she was actually laughing.
“This is… you’re insane.” She chuckled. “Holy shit, you’re crazy, and I’m stuck with you. Awesome, just… just knock me out before you chop me up into little pieces or make a skin suit out of me.” She shook her head, and a tear dripped down her cheek despite the bitter smile on her face. “Amazing, let’s just… let’s just go. I don’t have any other choice.”
“I’m…” I began. I wanted to say I was sorry, but the word felt too small and hollow. I was sorry, but I had no idea how to convey that to her. Behind my bravado and her attitude, we were two people up to their necks in a bad situation.
I’d thought I was fixing things, but I’d only made them worse. Typical. Every time I tried to do good, it blew up in my face. I’d done it when I was alive, and now I’d done it when I was dead. I was not prepared for the absolute avalanche of bullshit that was going to be heading my way.
“Marnie,” she grumbled as she stepped carefully on the stony ground.
