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“The only way through those gates is with a pass. Or a code, I guess, if you’re old enough to have one. Which you’re not.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Bunny pondered their options, which, admittedly, really only boiled down to one. “So if I die anyway for not fulfilling my quota,” she said, leading into the part of her idea she was sure he wasn’t going to like, “can’t you just kill me a little bit? Bring me back to life later? That way, I’ll be able to get beyond the gate just temporarily.”
He was silent for so long that she was eventually forced to sit up and look, only to find that he was staring at her like she was mad. Shit. Maybe she was.
“You know it doesn’t work that way, Bunny.”
“I’m just… desperate. You know?” She took a deep breath, using it to steady her swirling thoughts. “Now that we actually have some kind of lead, I need to go down the rabbit hole and find out where it takes me. Can’t blame a gal for asking,”
“I cared very much for your mom. She was the only friend I’ve ever had,” he told her. His voice was low and smooth, like the last dram of whiskey left in a bottle. The celestial hesitated before he spoke again. “I care about you, too.”
The statement caught her completely off guard. She blinked, heartbeat quickening on reflex, eyes darting in his direction. “You do?”
“Of course,” he replied. And for once his expression seemed more genuine than she had ever noticed it being. It was softer, more concerned. Humanity looked good on him.
“Well, thanks,” she replied, a smile working itself slowly onto her lips. She nodded in his direction, standing up. “Likewise.”
“Where are you going?” he asked as he sat up, his voice tinged with alarm.
“I need some air,” she said over her shoulder, heading for the door.
* * *
Traffic zoomedin and out from under the Jackson Street Bridge in downtown Atlanta, oblivious to the celestial being pondering life—and death—above. Bunny had parked Morticia down by the library nearby and walked up to stand on the pedestrian access way, leaning her butt against the guardrail so that she could embrace the wind barreling down the parkway into the city center. She had a decision to make. A big one.
She didn’t know how long this gift had been in her ancestral line, but it was long enough that both her mother and grandmother had served their duties to it. It was obviously important to them, and she didn’t want to disgrace their memories by not upholding it herself. But wasn’t it the right thing to do to sacrifice things for the ones you loved?
Ever since childhood, Bunny wasn’t the sort of person who could stand idly by. It’s why she’d been grounded for kicking Freddie Pickens, among many other things. And deep down in her heart, she knew she couldn’t stand idly by now, either. Even though it was literally her life on the line. If only that life had come with instructions.
A code.
Her mind flashed to the glowing blue numbers, splintered into pieces on the shards of the picture frame the crow had smashed. From there, her mind leapt to the curious metal keypad she had seen on the gate. It was a long shot, she knew. But if that was her key into Purgatory, she was going to grab it with both hands.
She got home in record time, relieved to find that she was alone in the apartment. The last thing she needed was Death trying to stop her from what she was about to do. Tipping the paper bag full of glass pieces onto the kitchen counter, Bunny rearranged them once again so that the glowing numbers were visible. And then she snapped a photo of them with her cell phone before securely putting the shards away again.
It was time to kick some demon ass.
