Page 166 of The Girl Who Only Died Once

“I think,” Chloe says, the words mealy in her mouth, metallic with the bite of all the magic in the air, “that maybe I know more than you.”

The man’s brow furrows, and he opens his mouth to shoot something back, but Chloe grabs the battery in her fist and transforms it into the simplest thing she can think of, a blade.

Just a blade, with barely enough room for Chloe to grasp, and she flings it.

Not at the man, not that close to the spirit fox. Not to the demon with black blood lining his mouth and terror in his eyes.

But at the leash.

It snaps, taught, and the demon reels back, scrambling away from Killian, flashing a hand up to his neck before jerking his head up to stare at Chloe.

The man makes a noise, something disgruntled, something dismayed, and the other demon stiffens, his back straightening.

Killian stumbles back into Chloe and she catches him, his back slick with blood.

Her knees buckle underneath him, falling both of them to the ground, but his hand clutches her arm, just as real as before.

He’s okay, he’s okay, his chest is rising and his eyes are focusing and his jaw is slack and—

“You can’t—” the man starts, before the other demon clenches his fist.

The man’s neck cracks, head slamming backwards and twisting.

Chloe flinches, but the man’s body just slumps against the chair, his hand going lax against the spirit fox’s fur.

And the fox streams out from underneath his hand, pouring away from him in one smooth motion, before flinging herself at Chloe’s chest, hitting her with all the force in her five pound body.

And.

And all at once, the spirit fox attempts to burrow into Chloe’s jacket, hiding her nose underneath the fabric, and tears spring up in Chloe’s eyes.

Killian reaches up to her face as she sits on the floor, half-laying across her lap, while the fox presses as close as she can, her fur trembling.

The other demon straightens, staring at the body of the man in front of them, before turning and casting that same stare onto Killian.

Who tenses, as if he has to prepare himself for another fight.

“I don’t ever,” the demon says, just as tonelessly, “want to see either of you again.”

With another heaving breath, the other demon disappears, leaving them with the dead body.

The fox flinches at the obvious expense of magic, her tail sparkling from where she’s tucked into Chloe’s jacket, and hand shaking, Chloe reaches down and strokes her soft fur.

“I got you,” Chloe whispers, and Killian blinks up at her, still injured, still visibly shaking, but she leans down and presses a kiss against his forehead as well. “I got you.”

Epilogue

The spirit fox takes to Seanna like a kitten to a new house. Skittish, terrified and hiding, until abruptly not.

Until one day Chloe comes back from helping the Wights to find Seanna and the fox fast asleep, curled up together on the couch, while a movie plays muted on the television.

Chloe backs up out of the room, tapping the oft used silencing spell on the faded wallpaper, before carefully setting her backpack on the small table.

“They’ve been that way for an hour,” Killian says, and she didn’t feel him teleport in, but it’s long since stopped frightening her.

“That’s new,” Chloe murmurs, turning to face him.

He’s in a new body, one he found a few days ago, but his smile remains the same underneath it all.

“The Wights think that the college is gone for good,” Chloe says, as his hand comes up and cradles her elbow. “Thinks that Atlanta was truly the last straw.”

She lets herself be tugged into a hug, until his chin rests on her head and she can hear his heartbeat.

“You think that’s true?” The question rumbles through him, and Chloe lets the sound of it wash over her.

“Do you?” she asks, not pulling away. “Things are never so easy.”

But as she watches her friend, curled up so securely, in a house made safe, she lets herself hope.

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