Page 56 of The Girl Who Only Died Once

And the child’s mother must live in one of the tiny houses.

“In my defense I’ve seen other demons set up safe houses in literal hovels,” Killian speaks up from behind her, and she startles. “Caves, dark spaces in tree roots, and much worse.”

“I wasn’t judging,” Chloe says, blinking over at him. “I definitely lived out of my car for a year.”

“That is absolutely worse,” he says, then raises his chin, some sort of evaluation of her.

Chloe stares right back, as challengingly as she can.

“Though my friend has one that’s a corner apartment in a high rise in…a big city,” Chloe says, stopping herself from divulging too much. “Apparently, it's huge.”

He squints at her.

“And some castle in like Germany or somewhere,” Chloe continues. “Lots of books and a temperature-controlled library.”

Finally, the corner of his mouth tilts upwards, and she realizes it just may be the most honest expression he’s made. “I used to have more. You didn’t sleep.”

“In my defense, I slept for thirteen hours,” Chloe says, then shrugs, not quite embarrassed but skating along the edge of it. “They say it’s a side effect of the necromancy.”

“Right. The necromancy,” he replies, something tugging at his mouth, like it’s still a taste he’s getting used to. “How did you die in the first place?”

The question prickles over Chloe’s skin, and she shakes her head, almost out of instinct, and he lifts his hand in an almost reconciliatory way.

“Mere curiosity,” he says, before he throws a nod towards the research. “What do you need to lay siege to an abandoned base?”

This, this is something she can grab onto. Something to distract herself with. “I’ll bring my bag. All of it.”

“Including the handful of rocks at the bottom?” he asks, almost warm. “You carry rocks around?”

The answer to that is yes, but she just rolls her eyes. “How do you think we broke into Toronto?”

There’s a stillness around him, at those words, the ever-present fear almost palatable, before he visibly shakes himself out of it, turning on his heel and beginning to roll up her scrolls.

Once more, something prickles at Chloe’s neck. He’s always afraid, and right then, she felt that it was at her.

“My nearest teleport point to the base is in Minneapolis,” he says, not facing her, voice neutral. “I am not one who can teleport sight unseen to a new place just because I know where it is.”

Ambra is, and Chloe just knows that it’ll amuse her to know she has a skill up on this demon.

“It’ll be a two-hour trip from there by train,” he continues, “and the college owns the railway in and out of that town.”

“Oooh, fun,” Chloe replies, and he shoots her an odd look. “I can drive, you realize, if train hitchhiking isn’t your jam.”

The human face doesn’t change, not substantially, but the shadowy face underneath it does, almost out of an odd shock. Like he’s able to control the body he’s in but not his true expression.

“Because I, unlike demons, can actually manipulate machinery,” she says smugly.

“They’ll watch the roadways,” he says, but the shock is replaced by something else, something closer to hunger.

Eagerness, she realizes. He’s eager. Just as eager as she is.

All without it showing on the dead body’s face.

All at once, a thrill snaps down Chloe’s back. They’re doing this, they’re going to get somewhere, they’ll succeed, they’ll…

“Then we go about it carefully,” Chloe says, then bounces on the balls of her feet. “Get as close as we can, then figure it out.”

It’s a different sort of breaking and entering, one she can’t help but relish in, and she grins up at him.

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