Page 86 of Saving the World and Other Bad Ideas (Grave Concerns 3)

“Because you accept neither part of yourself fully. You see yourself as either mortal or reaper, but not both.”

“What does that even mean?”

He pointed at my forehead, his eyebrow raised. The slight itch I’d ignored came back to me from where Grant had placed the mark, the spell, that protected me from the mist.

He can’t be serious…

But what did I have to lose?

Other than dying a horrible choking death and the world ending because I fucked up?

At least the stakes weren’t that high, right?

I sighed at my own stupid joke, especially because it really wasn’t a very good one to go out on.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath—what might be my last one if I was taking advice from a bad source. And really, my deadbeat reaper father was probably not the best person to put my faith in.

I walked back to my spot in front of Lilith, then reached up and used the palm of my hand to wipe off the ash, to do the one thing Grant had made me swear not to do.

The first of the mist that rushed into my lungs like frozen water made me regret the whole thing.

This was going to be an absolutely terrible way to die…

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