Page 98 of Death Wish

“She did. And it’s done.” Xaver huffed. “Come on. Let’s go, reaper.”

“Wait, Jade. No…” Cole reached for me, but I stepped back. If he touched me now, I might lose my nerve, and I couldn’t afford it.

The wounded look he gave me was enough to make me second-guess everything, so I looked away.

“There has to be something else we can do,” he said. He swung his backpack around and ripped the zipper open. Fumbling through the contents, he mumbled to himself angrily.

It was a wasted effort, though. We both knew it.

“What?” Kay chimed in. Her gaze passed from Xaver to me. “What’s going on? Jade?”

“She traded her life for ours,” Cole said, still searching through every one of the bag’s pockets.

“All of ours,” Sean added.

Xaver growled in irritation. “Come on, reaper. Or the deal is off.”

I tossed my gun onto the ground and stepped toward him.

“Jade, please!” Cole sounded desperate now.

His pleas stabbed at my chest, and I didn’t know why. Maybe it was because I would never know the secrets of my life before dying now. Or maybe it was because I knew, deep down, I would miss the friends I’d made. All the things I was never going to experience.

I had to do this, though. I had to. To save them all.

Meeting Xaver’s stare, I said, “Let’s go.”

I was ready now.

He gestured to the Hell pit. “Jump on in.”

After walking over to the edge of the crater, I looked down, seeing nothing but darkness. The distinct rotten-eggs smell of sulfur wafted up, and I gagged. An eternity of that smell? Yuck. That sounded like Hell, all right.

One last glance over my shoulder, and I saw all my friends—new and old—standing there, watching me in silence. Wyatt saluted me, but all I could offer him in return was a sad smile.

I was never good at anything emotional. Especially goodbyes. So, instead of facing the sorrow in their stares, I turned around and confronted my fate, telling myself I was doing this for all the right reasons. This was the right thing to do.

Sucking in a deep breath of clean night air for the last time, I closed my eyes and jumped.

---