“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Hale muttered. “Because I’m of no help here.”
Yeah, I hoped I knew what I was doing, too.
When we entered, I noticed three things at once. Donn could laugh. The donut guy must have said something funny. That was the first thing. The second was that the donut guy was a beloved, which meant I’d found my first one in the wild. The problem was that Donn found him first. The third thing I noticed was two older women standing just out of Donn’s sight in another room, with the door between the rooms open. They seemed to know something was amiss, though I doubted they’d figured out what.
The man behind the counter had blond hair with natural highlights. He wore a white apron. Either he wasn’t the baker, or he changed aprons when helping customers, because the apron was clean. He handed Donn a paper cup with a lid.
Hale leaned in toward me. “He’s a witch.”
Donn’s presence was about finding a beloved. That he was a witch on top of it made him more dangerous to Donn’s agenda than most other beloveds. Donn needed the witch out of the way. If we had wards up against him, his demons couldn’t get us.
The ladies came out from the back. They had flour on the fronts of their aprons. They seemed to be witches, too. Or, if they weren’t, they had the vibe.
They eyed Donn with no small amount of suspicion.
None of the three witches seemed to notice Hale and me, which meant the cloaks made us truly invisible. Donn knew we were there, though. I could tell by the way he stiffened.
He thanked the man behind the counter, then turned toward us and smiled.
“I found him first.”
And that was all it took for me to freak the fuck out. I did the only thing I could think of. I grabbed Hale’s hand and pulled him with me as I ran through the bakery toward the beloved. There was a half-door that kept customers from going behind the counter. I unlatched it and ran at the man, yelling, “I’m not letting you hurt him!”
Donn watched us with curiosity, sipping his coffee with a good deal of amusement.
The three witches must have heard me, because the old ladies started and clutched each other’s hands before chanting something.
The man behind the counter’s eyes widened. “What the fuck was that?”
I grabbed his arm.
Just as Donn reacted, darkness swallowed us. The next thing I knew, I was standing in a dark space with the baker and the office gossip.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Ossy
Icouldn’t help everyone, but I reaped four souls before promising to return and escort them. Most souls were sympathetic when I explained that the love of my life was in danger. I was sure they would question the truth of that when I entered the bakery. Without context, they would probably assume I craved a donut.
The guys showed up, which was a relief. Azriel and Tan went to work, ferrying the rest of the souls. Man, I wish I could reap souls all at once. Bulk reaping—Costco style.
Donn left the bakery. His face was red with anger. Two old ladies followed him out. They wore identical scowls. They seemed more confused than anything else. They held hands as if seeking solace in each other.
I crossed the road and did the stupidest thing I’d ever done. I got in Death’s face. “What did you do to Phin and Hale?”
“Where is Cameron?” one of the old ladies asked. She had silver hair falling to her shoulders, pulled back with barrettes. Flour dusted her apron, and something pink smeared in one corner. Her nametag read Eleanor.
“And what about the boy upstairs? His ghost keeps walking around down here, scaring our customers. Somebody needs to do something about him.” They must be able to see me because her gaze landed on me. She pegged me for a reaper. The cloak gave that away. That they could see me at all was baffling. Most people couldn’t, and I wasn’t sure why they could, but that was a problem for another day. She didn’t seem to know who Donn was, though.
The other old lady scowled at Eleanor. “I think Cameron being here or gone is a much more pressing issue.”
“We can’t forget about the dead, Sylvie.”
Donn smiled. “That is exactly my sentiment.”
“We haven’t forgotten about the souls. We’ve been ferrying since we defected.” I didn’t understand why Donn thought we had stopped.
The wheels were turning in Eleanor’s mind. She eyed Donn with a fair amount of suspicion.
