Shame turns my cheeks hot, though part of me is screaming,What do you call the last few days?But he is technically correct. In that moment, all I can remember is the ice cream he bought me on the pier that day when I couldn’t stop crying about the woman who had fallen out of the Ferris wheel because of what I’d done to her husband.
Guilt gnaws at me, and I release the strands connecting me to Beecher and the others. I can feel their anxiety reverberating back to me now. They felt something, though they’re not sure what.
“Why are you here?” I ask, careful to make it a question and not an accusation.
“I came to congratulate you.” His voice is soft, the consonants rounded in an accent I’ve never been able to identify.
“Congratulate me for what? Surviving? Thank you for theheads-up, by the way.” Again, my tone is calm, even. I’ve learned how to not agitate him.
Death does not get angry. He goes cold, stony with silence, and then people keel over. Once, when a box truck blew a red light as we entered the crosswalk in the city, Death looked up, and the driver collapsed over the wheel. His truck smashed into a Kia SUV, sending it straight into the glass windows of a cafe. Six people dead in a matter of seconds.
“You should not have needed one,” Death says.
The penny drops, pieces clicking into place. “This was a test,” I breathe.
“It is a test, yes. More of a… proving ground, if you will.”
I stare at him, mouth hanging open. “You named me as your successor to see what would happen?” I ask when I’ve recovered some of my wits.
“It is not my fault,” he says, holding his hands up in a gesture of innocence. “You are the one who has been so resistant to my efforts to educate you. The others have children fighting to be closer, to win their favor.”
“You did this to motivate me?” I ask, stunned. “You already had someone who wanted the position. You sealed her up in a tomb.” An act that ended up drawing me to the same place.
His smile is bright, cold. “Yes, that was unfortunate. Despite my best efforts, Nova was not… a good candidate. She would not have won for me. I did not foresee that she would awaken in that way and confront you herself.” He gives an unbothered shrug. “But you acquitted yourself admirably.”
His words sink in. “Wonwhatfor you?”
He cocks his head to one side, as close as he comes to looking surprised. “It was a challenge, of course. From War.”
Nausea swirls in me. “A challenge. You mean a bet.” With Carter’s grandfather. The sire of his line. And War had, in turn, sent his spawn to keep an eye on the proceedings and sway the outcome, if possible.
Manipulation and more manipulation. For what?
Death waves a hand dismissively. “The meanings of words change over time such that—”
“You made a bet,” I say. “About me.”
“Yes, and I won. You should be proud. I am.” He reaches out as if to chuck me under the chin.
But I reel back, out of his reach.
“You succeeded, just as I knew you could.” He looks at me with genuine warmth, or as close to it as he can come. It’s like watching ancient machinery attempt to come to life, rusted parts and all.
“What was the prize?” I make myself ask.
He frowns. “What do you mean?”
“What did you win?” I ask. “What would you have lost if I’d failed?”
For the first time, Death appears uncomfortable. The life vanishes from his expression, leaving nothing but coldness and sharp edges. “It’s nothing. A trivial token from years past. Nothing you need to concern yourself with.”
Fury roars in my ears. “You think that makes it better?” I demand, anger outpacing my fear for the first time. “Peoplediedhere. Innocent people who didn’t deserve to die in that way, most of them kids.” Lennie. Izzie, Jack, Emile, and the other Foreign Language House kids. The guy whose car Nova stole, too. His name was Tyson.
Impatience flickers in Death’s expression. “Not so many of them. And they’re just humans. You avoided killing any spawn,except for Nova and only then because it was necessary. An admirable accomplishment in one way, perhaps, but a weakness when viewed from a different angle.”
His angle. The Old Ones’ angle.
Fuck. Him.
