Page 144 of The Girl Who Inherits the Dead

“This’ll be difficult for you, won’t it?” Delina asks, after a long soothing silence, where the only noise is Chance chattering at the snowflakes falling outside the window.

He doesn’t bother to ask for clarification, just nods, playing with the tip of her ponytail.

“I’d lock you up until it was done, but I can’t figure out a way past the fire trap without the necromancy,” he says wistfully, and she tilts her head up to look at him. “It’s proofed against alchemy, it’s proofed against demon powers, I just…don’t think they’ve been able to proof against necromancy.”

Gurlien had suggested so much, in the long drives.

“I can guide, I can protect you with my entire self, but I can’t…I can’t get us over that trap without you.”

“You totally would lock me up, wouldn’t you?” Delina asks, and he nods, fervent.

“If the choice is between pissing you off and saving your life, I’m gonna save your life every time,” he vows, and she believes him. “I’ll deal with you being angry later, when you’re still alive.”

“Hmm,” Delina says, and he pokes her in the side at that reaction. “What, I’m still coming to grasp with the fact that I’ve had a bodyguard for years, it’s weird to think about.”

“It was a lot easier when you weren’t a walking flare,” he grumbles, but it’s good natured, and he presses a quick kiss against the top of her head. “Inside the Toronto Base, with all the demon traps, might be the one safe place for you to raise more than one thing.”

The thought strikes her, like a cloud disappearing in the wake of the sun, and she blinks through it. “Well, I hope I don’t have to do too much of that,” she says, but the idea is still way too alluring. “Besides, I’ll be bringing those dead bugs to jack you up, not to raise them.”

“They still bothering you?” he asks, almost lazily, despite the seriousness of the conversation.

“Bother isn’t the right word, but they’re easier to ignore.” Chance the cat suddenly races across the couch, sprinting down the hall, then back, skidding in front of the window once more with a loud meow. “After…after this, think we can hide your mom with my cousin?”

“It could be a safe place to start,” he says, and she can hear the same creeping hope in his voice, like he’s almost too afraid to even think it. “I texted with Alette over there, she’s terrifying.”

Delina cracks a smile at that.

“She’s apparently so enmeshed with the Wight community there that they view her as one of them,” he says, like it’s the gossip he would have of his work friends back in Arizona, and she loves it. “The Necromancer is dating—actually dating—an actual demon that she actually raised from the dead and I do not understand it.”

This time, Delina pokes him in the side. “Think about that,” she says at his faux outraged noise. “Think about that for one more second.”

“Hey.”

“So that’s how she’s safe,” Delina says, moving along, and he nods. “So wait, I can get tips from her.” She sits up, reaching for the cheap burner phone on the coffee table. “She knows how to use all of this, she can help—”

“I asked, she’s never killed someone with it besides demons,” he interrupts, then twists his face. “God, she’s killed two. I can’t even imagine that, apparently they all avoid her now because she’s just so good at killing them.”

Delina raises an eyebrow. “I definitely need to get tips.” She pulls the phone to her, and even flipping to the phone number entitled Alette gives her heart a pang.

DELINA (5:21 PM): Can I have the other Necromancer’s number?

There’s no immediate answer, but she props up her phone, her mind racing.

“So I can defend myself, so you won’t have to be as scared,” she says, and he rolls his eyes. “I can actually know some things, they all knew my bio-mother, and we can be safe. That’s a win win.”

“You’re not going to be in danger of demons in the next few days,” he replies, which she knows, but he takes the moment to stretch out his legs, before standing up. “Come on, let’s do some actual practice, Gurlien and Chloe won’t be back for another few hours. I want to drill you on the wards again.”

Delina rolls her eyes, but stands anyways.

Delina senses Gurlienat the door a split second before he opens it, his wrist pain almost a signature.

“They’re shoring up their demon protections, it’s gonna be difficult,” he says, before he even sheds his jacket, then pauses, looking at the relative disarray that Delina and Maison have caused by practicing grasping the magic that runs naturally through the condo. “Alright, didn’t anticipate that.”

“Which protections?” Maison asks, dusting off his hands. Chance the cat pokes his head out of the other room at their voices and gives a little meow, before wandering in and butting his head against Gurlien’s leg. “Internal concrete or pathway?”

“Pathway,” Gurlien says, then slings off his backpack, pulling out an honest-to-god scroll of paper. “I got a friend to mark where.”

Maison straightens, squaring his shoulders. “Do you trust this friend?”

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