Page 84 of Death Match

Apparently, I’m not the only one who has a hard time keeping my feelings off my face.

I’d keep his fear in the back of my mind. I was still weak and exhausted from the Trials and the ordeal of my failed Ascension. I wasn’t even sure how much of my power had transferred over. I may only have one shot in a fight against him.

“Of course, I gave you some time before that happens,” he said, gaze switching from my fists to search my face, “which, if my calculations are correct…is after the new year.”

I glanced around the cemetery, unsure what that even meant. When I had left the afterlife for Heaven, it had been the start of Fall. I’d stayed in the Holdings with Eli for a few weeks before my Trials started. Today couldn’t be much farther than that.

Since I couldn’t see most of the cemetery in the late hour, it was hard to gauge what time of year it really was, but there was a distant chill in the air and frost along the tombstones. No snow, as far as I could tell, so if I had to guess, it was mid-October, the latest. And that meant, I had been in the Trials for about four weeks.

Wow. It had felt like no time at all to me; although, I had been warned more time would go by in my absence. I just hadn’t expected an entire month.

Monnie peered at a nonexistent watch around his wrist. “That gives you… Hm, let’s see.” He tapped his chin as he pretended to count. Somewhere in the distance, a clock gonged once, twice…

He ticked the counts off in the air with his finger. Three times…four times… The clock’s bell continued all the way to twelve loud chimes, signaling the strike of midnight on the east coast.

“Ah, yes. That means exactly seven days now before the new year begins.”

I sputtered a cough at that. Did he say…seven days?

“Th-That’s impossible,” I choked out, mentally counting backwards from January first. “That’d mean it’s…it’s…”

Monnie held out his arms and tossed his black hair over his shoulders with a shake of his head. “That’s right! Merry Christmas, my dear!”

Monnie definitely was no Santa Claus, and this wasn’t the kind of Christmas gift I wanted, that’s for sure.

He was fucking with me. He had to be.

That would mean I had been in the Trials formonths.There was no way.

“It is officially Christmas day,” he continued, most likely because of the confusion on my face. “I know I probably should have told you about this a bit sooner, but you’re a very difficult person to get ahold of, you know.”

I couldn’t find my words. They were lost in a mind that was still struggling to wrap around the idea of losing months of time instead of weeks.

Christmas day?

Holy crap.

“Speaking of,” he started, “where have you been, Jade? Gaining a special sword, perhaps?”

My sword. Bertha.

My gaze swept the cemetery around us, but there was no magical sword that I could see. Then I remembered dropping her during the random attacks of pain, right before I had blacked out and lost my memories.

No Eli. No memories. No sword.

I was in serious doo-doo right now.

I turned to Monnie again. His delight was all over his face.

This can’t be happening.

“Looks like I pulled you out just in time,” he said, emphasizing each word.

Yeah, like that had all been an accident.

Now I knew why Monnie had always been so nice to me, his true motives unclear. He’d had his own plans in the background.

But I was still wondering why. Did he want me out of the way so that Heaven would have a disadvantage? That was the only thing that made the most sense to me. By claiming my soul, he could kill me or lock me away. The Archangels would be forced to fight without me.

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