Page 58 of Haunted By the Shadow of Death

“These deaths that keep occurring around me—”

“I don’t know why Zetti passed, but it wasn’t you,” he said. “Nor the last two.”

“How do you know?” I asked. I knew Death had done it, but how did he?

He leaned back, looking more serious. “Death leaves marks upon the people around them, and I can sense from that whether you had any part in their passing. They didn’t leave a stain upon you.”

“But what if something was channeling what I can do? Is there a way to block that?” I clasped my hands in my lap, trying to appear calm even as my mouth grew dry and my pulse hammered.

“What could channel your gifts?”

As soon as he asked the question, I knew he wasn’t going to have any answers on how to rid myself of Death. This trip had been for nothing. I hadn’t had much hope, but now it was completely gone.

“I don’t know. It just seems odd the way they died,” I said. If he couldn’t help me, sharing what was happening only opened me up to more problems. It was one thing for him to repeat that I spoke to the dead. It was another if he ever divulged that Death was using me to kill people.

“Be at peace. You didn’t kill those people.”

“Thank you.” I tried to smile, pretending he’d helped, even as I scrambled to figure out what would come next.

I was barely off the stoop when Kicks crossed the street toward me. He motioned toward a small house across the street, then walked into it without knocking.

“Whose house is this?”

“No idea.” He shut the door behind us. “Did you get any answers?”

I ran through what Fifo had said, and Kicks didn’t look any more relieved than I felt. Although Fifo might’ve had some interesting theories, in the end he’d been useless to me. Other than thinking I wasn’t ultimately responsible for the deaths, he had nothing that was going to fix my situation.

Kicks let out a long sigh. “We’ll figure something out,” he said, as if to fill the silence.

He didn’t look too optimistic, and I definitely wasn’t. There was only one thing left to do. It was time to cut ties before the situation got worse. I wouldn’t do it here, though, and I wasn’t going to slink off in the middle of the night. He deserved a goodbye at the very least.

“If you don’t mind, I’d rather not stay here tonight. These people don’t want me here, and I don’t want to be here.”

Kicks immediately tensed. “Did someone say something to you?”

“Not at all. I just want out of here.” After how Nix had acted, as if he were doing us a favor allowing me here, I didn’t want anything from them. I’d rather be sleep deprived than stay here another minute.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Consciousness came slowly wrapped in my cocoon of warmth, the sun streaming through the trees and the birds chirping. It was so nice I didn’t want to fully wake, but to stay in this feeling forever. Reality wouldn’t let me, as Kicks’ scent breached my peace and caused a well of panic to burst through me.

I realized why I was so toasty and comfortable and quickly rolled away, getting to my feet. “What are you doing? Why were you snuggling with me?”

Kicks sat up, stretching. “You were curled up into a ball, shivering. What was I supposed to do?”

“You should’ve let me freeze. How many bodies do you need to see turn gray? People drop like flies around me. You can’t do that!”

“Your teeth were rattling so loud it was keeping me awake.” He got to his feet, cracking his neck, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “You won’t kill me,” he said on a yawn.

“And why are you so sure?”

“Because you like me.” He smirked.

I wasn’t sure if he remained untouched because I liked him so much or because she liked him. If it was her, that could change in a second. Death struck me as a fickle bitch.

“This isn’t a joke. I could’ve killed you.” I looked down, making myself busy looking for embers to smother in a fire that had been dead for hours.

“Pips, it’s okay,” he said, shedding the teasing tone. “You’re not going to hurt me.”

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