Page 57 of The Girl Who Only Died Once

“You’re insane,” he murmurs, before nodding, as if fitting himself better into the skin. “Let’s do this.”

He teleports them into an alleyway,the snow and ice grimy against the pavement, and Chloe barely stumbles that time.

Instead, Killian breathes in, like the air is refreshing, tilting his head up to stare at the high rises.

Almost immediately, Chloe’s phone beeps, loud, and she fumbles to pull it out of her pocket.

DELINA (9:32 AM): We got it! The alarms worked!

MAISON (9:33 AM): It says you’re in the outskirts of Minneapolis? Is that right? Near a Denny’s?

Chloe wouldn’t mind some Denny’s coffee.

AMBRA (9:34 AM): If you encounter the demon who rules the city, offer them artwork.

MAISON (9:34 AM): What?

AMBRA (9:35 AM): I’m serious. They collect artwork.

And Chloe’s in the same town as Ambra’s apartment, where her and Gurlien stayed on their adventures, so she would know.

Chloe points at her phone to Killian. “Alarms worked.”

CHLOE (9:39 AM): Yup, Minneapolis. Starting point.

“Your friends are certainly talkative,” he says, then straightens, as if bringing up the body to its full height makes him feel better. The body still wears the faded blue henley, the sleeves rolled up, but the chill doesn’t even seem to register to him.

Meanwhile, Chloe digs around in her bag for her rain poncho, before shaking it out and twisting it into a woolen coat.

“The demon around here likes art, apparently,” Chloe says, shrugging it on. “If we need a bribe.”

“I’m not planning on staying long enough to need a bribe,” he says, almost severe. “And their territory barely extends beyond the river.”

“Do you have territory?” Chloe asks, and he blanches before getting his expression under control. “My friend says some demons do, some don’t.”

“I have pockets of land,” he says firmly, before starting to stride away, the snow swirling around him, not seeming to land on his skin. “I used to have more.”

The last bit is said almost in a murmur, like it’s not for her to hear.

And Chloe’s gonna figure that out if it’s the last thing she does, but even she knows when to stop from prying.

So she follows after him, merging in among the throng of people on the sidewalk, turning up her new collar to the wind.

It’s a bit odd, following a demon who does not interact with the world quite like she does, where she gets bustled around by the crowd and he flows seamlessly through it, but it’s just a few blocks until the crowd thins and he falls back, walking shoulder to shoulder with her.

And before she can think to stop herself, she reaches out to tug on the sleeve of his shirt, nodding in the direction of a coffee shop.

He startles at the touch, like it’s just as unfamiliar to him.

“I’m gonna get some food,” Chloe says, as authoritatively as she can, after they had been walking in complete silence for almost half an hour. “Then we’ll find a car to steal and get there faster.”

His mouth quirks up, unguarded, before the expression disappears. “You definitely don’t follow human mores, do you?”

“Rude,” Chloe says cheerfully, then ducks into the coffee shop, a bell tinkling deep in the back.

It’s a welcoming sort of shop, with clean brown counters and a display case of homemade pastries, and Chloe sheds her coat the moment she steps through.

Killian follows her in, almost as an afterthought.

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