Page 9 of Death Wish

Released.

The only way to get out of being a reaper.

When I had been thrown into this job, I had protested at first. I hated not having a choice in my afterlife. Simon had assured me everyone felt that way when they started, even him, but leaving Styx Corporation was way worse. Being Released, either voluntarily or by force, was something no one ever wanted to do.

When I had asked about the reaper before me, the one I had replaced, Simon couldn’t tell me much, only that he was an older man who had been reaping longer than him. They hadn’t talked much, but one day he was gone, Released, with no warning or explanation why. No one saw him again. Not in any of the afterlife dimensions. Not in Styx Corp.

It was as if he had suddenly ceased to exist.

And now Simon was facing the same fate. Because of me.

Did I consider Simon a friend? That was a good question. Did I? He was the first person, besides Azrael, I had met after my death. He had taught me the ins and outs of spirit doors and portal travel. He’d worked for six long months making sure I knew what I was doing with this reaping business, and I sure as hell didn’t make it easy for him.

Besides all that, what I appreciated even more was that Simon was the only person to encourage me with anything I had struggled with. And I struggled a lot. Still did. Even now, his teachings echoed in the back of my mind, telling me it would be okay. Everyone made mistakes. I would get the hang of it eventually.

Hearing he had gone a step further and had vouched for me to Azrael only proved his kindness and confidence in me. He didn’t deserve to be punished because of me. If I had known, I would have tried harder.

Azrael’s threat had been loud and clear. I couldn’t mess up again.

I repeated it to myself as I took the portal outside Styx Corp. to downtown Fairport and opened a spirit door just outside Oh! Kay’s Pastries. There were two reasons I visited the waterfront town in Virginia often. It was a city with two faces. An old-timey downtown with cobblestone roads, Navy ship museums, and grand brick-faced houses, and on the opposite end, skyscrapers, bustling streets, and big businesses that could rival New York. Not sure why but the city had a pretty dense supernatural population, and I had been here a few times on assignments. The other times were to visit.

That brought me to my second reason Fairport was my go-to city. My only connection to the living world lived and worked here.

Kay was a Medium. She could see and talk to spirits, hence why she could see me when other humans and supernaturals couldn’t. Over the last few months, we had made a bit of an arrangement. I got rid of pesky haunts that had managed to pass through the veil and wouldn’t leave her alone, and she gathered information for me, since I couldn’t touch anything on the living plane.

Unlike with Simon, I didn’t need to question if Kay was a friend. She was. We had met during one of my earliest assignments along the harbor. Being a Medium made her a beacon to the dead, and I had found Kay being harassed by an annoying old lady who insisted she pass a message to her son. A few quick convincing words and a cross through a spirit door solved that problem. And that became the start to an unlikely friendship.

The sweet smells of freshly baked goods and sugary icing hit me before even stepping inside the corner shop. My mouth watered, like it did every time I visited, as did the strange wave of sadness that followed from knowing I would never be able to try one of her handmade pastries. They looked delicious from behind the glass case, all bright colors and decorated with dainty accents. Macaroons, cupcakes, Danishes—anything fattening and drool-worthy, Kay made it.

Against the tall windows were a few tables and chairs, set for two with china teacups and crocheted doilies. Even the walls were painted a pale shade of yellow, reminding me of springtime. All things cutesy and innocent. Just like her.

She wasn’t in her normal spot behind the counter, but that made sense because of the late hour. She was about to close for the night, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she was in the back preparing tomorrow’s special orders or cleaning up. Besides me, the place was empty. The last wave of her typical college student customers must have left hours ago.

As I drifted to the curtained-off door leading to the kitchen and office, a storm of angry whispers sounded just beyond it. I recognized Kay’s voice right away; it was climbing higher as her annoyance grew. The second was a male’s, raspy and coming off as equally frustrated.

“Can you just leave me alone? Please? I told you I can’t help you,” Kay said. There was a clatter of noises, as if bowls or something metal had fallen onto the floor.

“You need to,” the man snapped back. “I need to know who killed me. I bet it was Frankie, that bitch. She always said she was going to kill me, but I didn’t think she’d ever have the guts to do it.”

It didn’t take long for me to figure out what was happening. I must have impeccable timing or something.

Speaking of perfect timing, Kay threw open the curtain at that moment and stepped through. When her gaze found me, she jumped back, gripping her chest and breathing hard.

“Jade! Christ, you have to stop doing that to me!” She shook her head, her mass of tight curls bouncing as she struggled to calm down. “We gotta put a bell on you or something. You’re going to give me a heart attack.”

I laughed. “Like a dog?”

She wiped her shaking hands on her flour-dusted yellow apron and glanced over her shoulder toward the curtain. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m just a little jumpy tonight. It’s been…a weird one.”

“It sounds like you have another pest problem.”

She looked behind her again and nodded. “Can you get rid of him? I had two others this morning, but I was able to convince them to leave. This one is relentless.”

Two more? That was a lot.

Contrary to what some humans believed, spirit crossovers—or haunts—weren’t common. The veil between the living and nonliving world only thinned enough for spirits to wander through twice a year, during the solstices, and since it was only the beginning of June, there shouldn’t be too many spirits hanging about. Certainly not enough for three to bother Kay in one day. That was just odd.

“I’ll handle him.”

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