“Donnie Death... Oh God, why am I calling him that?” Morgana shook her head as if to shake the words from her mind. They might as well have splattered on the wall. “Donn is in Hollowbrook? Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. How could I not be sure? Last time I saw him, he went into the bakery.”
Joel chuckled from the other room. Even Morgana seemed amused by it. Everybody had lost their minds.
I had no patience for it. “Where is Phin?”
As soon as Morgana winced, I knew I wouldn’t like what came out of her mouth. “Phin and Hale went to town.”
“To look for a witch,” Ezul supplied.
“Why would they look for a witch in Hollowbrook?”
“Because the town is called Hollowbrook. For fuck’s sake, if there’s not a witch in this town, then witches don’t exist except for Hale.”
She had a point. It was a sort of supernatural name. There had to be something here besides death bringers.
“I assure you, they do.” Ezul smiled in that creepy way he sometimes did. It was only creepy because it was his face. He just relished being right. He got off on it—the prick.
“Can you find Cael for me?” Cael was the Donnie Death whisperer. He was probably the only one who could save us from Tech Duinn. I, for one, did not want to go back there, especially not without Phin.
I didn’t wait for her to answer but teleported into town.
Souls collected on the sidewalks. As soon as they saw me, they headed my way, beelining straight for me. One crossed the road just as a car drove by. If he were in his living body, he would have been run over, splattered like a bug on a windshield. But the car drove right through him.
Before I knew it, souls surrounded me. One after another, they came, all wanting transport. I couldn’t move. Panic set into my chest, restricting my lungs.
I was surrounded by thirty-plus souls when I saw Phin and Hale walk into the bakery. The same bakery I’d seen Donn enter.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Phin
To say Donn’s presence shocked me was an understatement. The only reason Donn would be in Hollowbrook was that he had an agenda, and the only agenda that served him was to get rid of beloveds.
I had never seen Donn outside the Soul Management Bureau. The shock left me paralyzed, standing on the sidewalk, holding Hale’s hand. I knew my grip was punishing. His was tight on mine, too.
I met Hale’s gaze. His mouth hung open, and his eyes were wide.
“We gotta do something.” I wasn’t sure why I whispered. It wasn’t like anyone besides souls could see us. It just seemed appropriate for the moment, as though Donn could somehow hear me from outside on the sidewalk, which was impossible, even for a god. Still, he scared me enough that I didn’t want to draw his attention.
The thing was, Donn had always been a good boss. He was down-to-earth for the god of death. You’d think he’d have a little arrogance, but there wasn’t as much as I expected. The rumoraround the office was that he treated everyone with respect and kindness. That had been my experience with him, too.
So what was all this? What was he doing in Hollowbrook?
“I think we’re going to have to go in there and confront him. He’s in the bakery for a reason. There might be a beloved inside.” Hale was right.
“That’s a terrible idea.” Every disaster scenario crossed my mind at once. Like, what the hell was I going to do in Tech Duinn with the world’s biggest office gossip? Hale was going to drive me up the wall. I loved Hale, don’t get me wrong, but he could be a lot, especially when he speculated about why Crazy Betty from the second floor was locking herself in the bathroom. There was an office betting pool and a ton of speculation. I had never wanted to know, and thank the gods, I’d never found out. But I did have ten bucks on her watching porn on her phone.
What if there really was a beloved we couldn’t save? That was the worst scenario. Everyone deserved a chance at love if they wanted to find it, but love wouldn’t happen for the beloved or their reaper if people couldn’t find each other.
“Don’t let go of my hand, Hale.” We headed toward the entrance.
“I’m not planning on it.” Before we entered, Hale stopped me. “Do you know how to use this thing?” He scanned my cloak-covered body with his eyes.
I teleported us into town, didn’t I? But I knew he was really asking whether I could use the cloak with even a small measure of skill. “Sort of.”
I’d stayed away from magical garments. Magic seemed like something I didn’t need to try on. Call me cautious, but it was a little scary. Desperate times meant I had to be braver than usual.
