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Lee knew I hadn’t gone to work.

He showed up at my grandparents’ house.

How he knew which house to go to…

Benji appeared to my grandmother and Lee. Noah said, “She can see him. She can see the little dude.” She. Noah never said that Lee could also now see Benji. Because Lee had always been able to see him.

When Lee and Benji were having a stare-off… Benji knew.

Benji asked if he could come with me to Lee’s house. “He won’t let me, but maybe if you ask?”

I thought he meant Noah.

Lee and I talked about his ‘curse’. That had been his word. “...I think of anyone who’ll know about it, you won’t judge me.”

Every time Noah talked about Lee. “He was my best friend first. Even if he killed me.” Cassian had been confused, watching me. Not Lee. His body turned to stone when Lee said those words.

Noah threatened to turn Cassian’s insides on fire, he was slammed against a wall. “...Your little boyfriend won’t be able to hold me back forever.” I looked for Benji, but he hadn’t been there.

It had been Lee.

When my grandma was shoved back. That was Lee.

When I talked to Lee about my worries, that I had nowhere to go.

He said, “The issue isn’t me kicking you out. It’s going to be if you run from me.”

When I said, “The only thing that could make me nervous was if you told me you’re secretly a demon.” “I’m not a demon. ...I’m just like you.”

When Noah talked about the boundary around Lee’s house, when he said it needed to be reapplied. “It got reapplied.” He never said that he was the one to reapply it.

Cassian said, “...I think Lee threatened Noah. I don’t know what he said, but he backed up to the fence and said something. It sent a chill through me…”

Lee was on the phone with me, asking me where I was. Noah came looking for me at that same time…

Sabine said, “...he’s coming soon. He won’t let me near you. …your boyfriend is arriving.”

It was never Noah.

It was always Lee.

As if he could read my thoughts, Lee held my gaze for a moment. Regret shone from him until his face hardened. His jaw clenched. He took in the sight of my body, now trying to run into a connecting room. His eyes went black, pure black. Rage rose in him, and I could see it. It was like the inside of a volcano. Building at his feet. Rising. The dark cloud hung over him like a robe. Like he was a grim reaper, but he wasn’t a Reaper, at least for Livings.

He was the Reaper for the afterlife.

I didn’t know what he was, but he looked back at me. Agony burned through him. It came off him in waves, hitting me, jarring me enough to remember that I knew this boy. I had kissed this boy. The agony he was feeling was for me. Because of me.

I tried to swim to him. It was an odd way to explain, but it’s how I was trying to move. All of this was new. The air felt heavier to me. I was floating, like underwater.

“No.” His word held such command.

Noah stepped in after him, alarmed, and he looked around the room too until he saw my body. Skimmed over my body and stuck to where I was. “Oh, shit.”

Lee growled. “Grab her.”

Noah sped like lightning, but not for me. For my body. Where now I could see Sabine inside of me. She was behind the wheels.

Noah reached for her, but she laughed and smacked him back. “You can’t do anything to me. Not in this body. You wouldn’t dare.” She turned cocky. Haughty. “And you,” she sneered at Lee. “You’re going to let me do what I need to do or I’ll hurt your girlfriend. I can do that, you know. You don’t have power over her body, and I’m sealed in nice and tight. You can’t get to me.”