“Why do you do that?” he asked.
“Sorry,” I said quickly. “I won’t do it anymore. But… what do you mean?”
“You just did it again,” he observed.
“Oops. Um… did what?”
“You… stop yourself,” he said. “And then you apologize for it.”
“I’m…” I stalled, subduing the urge to apologize again. “I guess it’s just… habit.”
“Picked up from where?”
“Oh,” I said with a shrug, “I don’t know. Life, I guess. But then, that might be one less thing I’ll be worrying about soon.”
“Don’t talk like that.” The command in his voice had me snapping my jaw shut.
Silence surrounded us and, with each passing second, swelled big and loud.
“It bothers you when I joke about it,” I said, “but considering it’s you… I don’t know why.”
“Are you ready to go home?” he asked.
Home. Life.
Given that tomorrow was Saturday (I’d asked Johann what day it was) and I had to work, I’d better get back to the literal land of the living.
“Ready,” I echoed. “I’m not sure that’s the word I’d use.”
More silence. And then he broke it.
“Because you know what’s coming.”
“Because Idon’tknow what’s coming,” I said, turning to face him. “And if you want to get technical about it, neither, really… do you.”
“We both know what’s coming,” he corrected.
“Who knows?” I put my hands on my hips. “Maybe we don’t. Maybe fate got fed up with trying to find me and moved on. Maybe we’re fretting about a storm that’s already passed. Maybe I’m going to be okay after all, and I’ll live until I’m a hundred and eight. Like I tell my patrons all the time.Anythingis possible.”
“I have to loosen your soul again to take you out of here,” he said. “Here as in… the Netherworld.”
“Isthatwhat you did before?”
“I can’t move your physical form through a portal unless I have your soul in hand. I would have asked permission before,” he said, “but there was no time.”
“It’s fine,” I told him. “I… trust you.”
He shifted next to me, as if my words made him uncomfortable. But his disquietude didn’t make my statements any less true.
“You have things to do,” I said, “don’t you? I understand. I do, too. Affairs to put in order and business to finish up. I work in the morning… though I guess I’m not sure yet how I’ll get there. My car…”
Fiddling with my fingernails, I trailed off, because he’d been there. He knew.
“You’re still going to go to work?” he asked.
I frowned and fidgeted with one jack-o’-lantern earring. Because I could see his point. Why go back to work when I wasn’t going to need the money? Except, depending on how long it took for my projected fate to arrive, I low-keywasgoing to need to keep the lights on.
Sure, I could max out my credit cards checking off items on my bucket list, but then… what if I really did have hope I might somehow be in the clear? Or that I still could be?
