Page 80 of The Girl Who Inherits the Dead

Delina and Maison glance at each other, and he shrugs.

“You grew up with these people,” she says.

“Don’t put this on me, they were weird before I met them,” Maison says, and they share a brief, ridiculous smile.

“Statistically, you are far weirder than either of us,” Gurlien informs him, watching as Chloe wanders over to the door, tracing her finger along the seams. “There are probably hundreds of alchemists, maybe two thousand spell weavers, and what, nine Half Demons? Ten?”

“Depends if you count the hybrid attempts like Terese,” Maison says, but genial, like they’re actually friends. “Then there’s much more.”

“I definitely don’t count them, only what, two or three of those survived? Including Terese?” Gurlien shrugs, too casual. “And now there’s a grand total of two necromancers alive and in existence, so both of you are the weirdos.”

Maison turns to look at him, his eyes narrowed in just the way they do when he’s about to get very, very competitive, and Delina raises an eyebrow. Competitive Maison is rare, but usually fun. “Only two former magicians who have lost their magic.”

“I guess,” Gurlien replies, with a twist of his face. “That’s unfair, I wasn’t born like that, you were.” Then he smiles, actually smiles, like this strange conversation is actually fun. “You’ve actually died and come back. That’s exceedingly weird.”

Delina coughs out a laugh at the put-out expression on Maison’s face.

“You’re in league with two or three other undead people, plus a cat, apparently.” Gurlien grins, bouncing on his feet. “How does it feel to be in the same category as a cat? A cat that I’ve heard is stupid?”

“Is this how you two talked all the time?” Delina asks, a bit amazed, and they both ignore her.

“You’re the one who irons his dress pants before going on a hike,” Maison shoots back. “You can actually control that one, that’s far worse.”

“Just because I have class—” Gurlien starts, but Delina laughs at that out loud, “— doesn’t mean I’m weird.”

“You’re the one who was camped in an abandoned cabin,” Delina chimes in, and Gurlien wrinkles his nose at her. “And you keep a gun on a side table next to a couch.”

“You dropped your entire life because of an insane letter from your mother,” Gurlien points out, which is fair. “For all you knew, the cabin might not’ve even existed.”

“Yes yes, you’re all strange,” Chloe calls out, where she’s pressing her fingertips against the metal of the door. “Wanna help me with the locking pins?”

All three of them look at each other.

“I always help,” Gurlien says, as if that could get him out of it.

“I wouldn’t know what to do,” Delina says, but tromps over to join Chloe by the door, and Maison watches her like a hawk, all traces of fun and friendship immediately gone from his face.

She misses it. He’s never one to make friends easily.

Chloe hands her an honest-to-god lockpick. “I’m gonna transform this into a four-pin lock, so you can hold it open once I do. You know how to use this?”

“Definitely not,” Delina responds, but Chloe’s already turned back to the door.

The air shimmers around the lock, and…absolutely nothing happens, but a satisfied smile still sits on Chloe’s face. “Here,”she says, grabbing the lockpick back and jimmying it into the lock with a click, then holds it at an angle. “Hold here.”

Delina does, and Chloe immediately starts poking the lock underneath it.

“This way, it’s easier to transform them back, so if someone does come back, they won’t know I’ve been here,” Chloe says with a grin, her eyes alight. “That way, any alarms don’t sound as easily.”

“Is that how you broke out of Toronto?” Delina asks.

“You broke out of Toronto?” Maison interrupts, stalking closer. “How?”

Chloe gestures towards the door, one handed, “Exactly like this.”

Maison crosses his arms over his chest.

“Look, it’s their fault for training me to be a tomb breaker, then put me in a magical locked tomb,” Chloe replies, but she’s still smiling, like doing this is the best thing ever. Like she’s the most alive by prodding this old, dusty door.

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