I hung up the phone and stared down at it for long moments. It was good to hear her voice. After that vision I was so afraid I was going to lose her. When I pushed her out of the way of the gun, her future must’ve changed. Hopefully, that meant her life was no longer in danger.
I turned from the phone and began gathering up the tags from my new clothes when the door opened behind me.
“I think Hobbs should give up his current line of work to become a personal shopper,” I said, smiling as I turned.
My smile faltered when I saw it wasn’t Dex. It wasn’t the nurse or the doctor, either.
It was a man, a man dressed in black slacks and a steel-grey button-up shirt. He wasn’t a big man and although there wasn’t a wrinkle on his face (he was kind of bony-looking though), I knew he was old.
At first, I thought he was just here to visit someone else and he came into the wrong room. But that theory was shot down when he said my name.
“Ahh, so wonderful to see you out of that hospital bed, Piper. What a time you have had.”
“Do I know you?” I said, glancing at the door, which already closed behind him.
“I’m here as your Escort.”
Escort. Isn’t that what Dex said he was? A Death Escort.
I took a step backward and reached behind me for the call button to signal the nurse. This wasn’t some harmless old man.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he said, watching me move. “We wouldn’t want anyone else to get hurt.”
“What do you want with me?” I asked, even though I already knew. Dex was supposed to kill me. He didn’t. This guy still wanted me dead.
I watched as he came forward, smiling. If I didn’t suspect what he was here for, I wouldn’t even be alarmed. He reached into his pocket and pulled something out and held it in his palm.
“It’s nothing personal, really. It’s just death.” He spoke like he was talking about visiting a friend for dinner, or going out to watch a movie. Did he think death was so trivial?
I watched as he reached out and laid something on the bed. A light-colored stone. A chill ran up my spine. This guy was creeping me out.
“Come along, then,” he said, crooking a finger at me like I’d just follow after him.
“I’m not coming anywhere with you.”
He sighed, rather dramatically, and spoke like he was speaking only to himself. “This is why I always just touch them. No drama in that.” Then he speared me with eyes that seemed to grow very cold. “Death has come for you. I, the Grim Reaper, have laid claim to your life. There is no getting out of it. If you run, I will follow. If you hide, I will hunt you down. Usually, I just touch the people I want to claim, but you, you are lucky.”
I was lucky? Really, I didn’t feel like I’d won the lotto.
“You can come with me now to where Dex is waiting, and I will give you the chance to say good-bye or I can touch you.” He extended his fingers toward me and wiggled them. “Here. Now. And you will die. Instantly.”
Those were my choices? Die now or die later? That was hardly fathomable. Yet, when I looked at this man with his bony features and almost jolly presence, how could I not believe it? Only something this bizarre could be true. And besides, hadn’t Dex tried to explain something like this to me earlier?
“How do I know Dex is where you say he is?” I asked.
“I am a lot of things, young lady… Grim Reaper, Death dealer, fate sealer… but I am no liar.”
“So if I come with you, you’ll let me say good-bye to him?”
“Oh yes. It will be quite the show.” He actually clapped his hands together.
“Okay, I’ll come with you. But don’t touch me.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it. Not yet anyway.”
The door to the hospital room opened, but instead of seeing out into the hallway like I should have, all I saw was white. The man who called himself the Grim Reaper motioned for me to go ahead and so I did, very slowly. When I walked past him, I made an effort to stay as far away from his hands as possible. My muscles tensed when I stepped into the white of the doorway, but I felt no pain. I felt nothing really, and then I was stepping completely through and into a whole other place.
* * *
It was an office—a rather large one with the usual furnishings and an entire row of closets. I didn’t really take the time to notice my complete surroundings because the man sitting in the room was the same man that tried to kill me the night before.
I gasped, stepping back slightly, the bruises on my neck throbbing.
“Watch it there. You don’t want to accidently bump into me and die,” The Grim Reaper said jovially. If I hadn’t known he was serious, I would’ve thought he was joking.
I jumped forward like a scared cat and landed on a thick sand-colored rug.
The man in the chair laughed. “I knew we would meet again,” he said.
“Your face is bleeding,” I said with satisfaction. Clearly, whatever made him bleed wasn’t a threat to his life, but I still liked to see him suffer a little.
That seemed to wipe the smug look off his face and he glanced away from me toward the Grim Reaper. I could only assume he was employed by this man to kill. He probably did the same job they wanted Dex to do.
“What happened to your face? And where is Dex?” The Grim Reaper demanded.
“Turns out he didn’t want to hang around and wait for you to come back,” the guy answered. He was sprawled in his chair, but his eyes weren’t as relaxed as his body appeared.
“You let him leave?” There was disapproval in his tone.
“I didn’t have much say in the matter.”
“Don’t give me that,” The Reaper retorted. “You and I both know you have advantages over him. You’ve been quite greedy with the powers you have collected over the years. In fact, isn’t that why you are invested here, now, in this girl?” He motioned toward me.
“Me?” I said. “What could I possibly have that you want?”
“Nothing,” he said, looking at the floor.
“Don’t I have a right to know why I’m going to die?”
“Why, yes, you do,” The Grim Reaper said, causing me to look at him. “You have the gift of vision. It’s a gift that could be of use to my Escort.”
So I was right. The guy who tried to kill me—the guy bleeding, presumably at the hands of Dex—was an Escort for the Grim Reaper. A killer.
“You want to kill me so you can take my ability to have visions? What could you possibly need it for?”
“All my Escorts have particular talents, something that makes them very good at what they do. Charming here has certain specialties in his field.”
“How can you have a specialty in death?” I scoffed.
The Grim Reaper threw back his head and laughed. “At last, Charming, someone who seems to be blind to your skills.” Then he shook his head. “Such a shame she must die.”
I swallowed and glanced around for something I could use as a weapon. I was thinking if I came here I would see Dex and we could fight out of this together.
But he wasn’t here.
My stomach was in knots trying to decide what that meant. I had a very bad feeling it meant he really didn’t care I was going to die. Maybe everything he said at the hospital had all been part of his plan to get me here… to get me closer to death. I almost preferred death by the Grim Reaper. At least he didn’t play with his prey before he disposed of it.
I forced myself back into the conversation, wanting to buy myself some time. “So what is this special skill you have?” I looked at the man in the chair.
“His name says it all,” The Reaper said as he made his way over to a little cart with glasses and a decanter of dark liquid. As he poured himself a drink, I turned toward the man called Charming.
“That’s your name? Charming? You’re kidding.”
“That’s me. Charming. So good with the ladies they changed my name.” He got up from the chair and rose to his full he
ight. He was good-looking… even with all the blood on his face. I watched as he found a tissue to wipe away some of the blood.
“Charming is the best Escort I have at getting lonely heiresses to fall madly in love with him, signing over their riches, and then killing them so the company can seize all their assets.”
I looked at Charming. “You seduce women and then kill them for their money?”
“Not just women,” Grim said snidely.
Charming made a face like his stomach hurt. But then the sour look smoothed away and he said, “Relax, princess. It’s only the really rich, and they usually have more than just money that we want.”
That knot in my stomach grew. This was disgusting. These people were horrible and I was sorry to even know there were people out there like this.
“I don’t understand how having visions could make you any better at what you do.”
“When I mentioned earlier that you were the only one that was resistant to his, ah… charms, that wasn’t exactly accurate,” Grim said, taking a seat on the couch. “It seems Charming here might be losing his touch. He isn’t as charming as he once was.”
“Yes,” Charming growled. “I am.”
Grim made a tsking sound. “You have two failed jobs this year. You used to have none.”
“They weren’t failed, because I killed them,” Charming said, making another sour face.
“True, true,” Grim offered. “If you hadn’t managed to kill them, I would have recalled you on the spot. But still, we didn’t collect the money we should have.”
Charming didn’t say anything and the Grim Reaper kept talking.
“So, we thought giving him the ability to have visions,” Grim began, “might help us know if his certain charms would work before he put in the time and effort.”
They wanted to use my visions to pick and choose people to rob and kill. They wanted to kill me to make it easier to kill even more people. I felt tears sting the backs of my eyes, but I pushed them back. I wasn’t going to show weakness in front of these two men who talked about life and death as if it were something as trivial as which shoes to wear. How could anyone have so little value for life?
Without thinking, I turned toward Charming. “I get why he cares so little about life—he is the Grim Reaper—but why… why don’t you?”
He didn’t reply right away and Grim stood from his seat and changed the subject. “This has been fun, but duty calls. Where is Dex?”
Charming shrugged. “He went to the hospital. He went to destroy the stone.”
A sharp gust of wind swept through the room and the crystal glass in Grim’s hand shattered. “What did you just say to me?”
Just like that, the jolly air around him transformed into something sinister and absolute. His eyes glowed with an electric spark and his skin turned paper thin and stretched out over his bones. These things made him look scary and a little crazy, but it was the lightning from his fingers tips that seemed to spark out and rain down onto the carpet that was truly terrifying.
This was the man that claimed death with a single touch. This was how I envisioned someone like the Grim Reaper.
“You allowed this little conversation to go on when you knew what he was up to? You knew he was trying to break my claim!”
When he spoke the wind around the room blew, picking up the papers on his desk and sending them flying. The massive chair behind his desk began to spin rapidly with great whipping circles.
“I knew he’d never be able to do it,” Charming said, but there was fear in his voice. He knew his charm wouldn’t work on the likes of Grim.
“This betrayal will not go unpunished,” he said, taking a shuddering breath as another doorway appeared. This one I could see through, and on the other side was my hospital room. I didn’t wait for an invitation or for an order. I ran at the door and jumped through.
Unfortunately, Grim was right behind me.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
“Recall - to cancel, take back, or revoke.”
Dex
The nurses tried to talk to me when I burst through the second-floor doors. I ignored them and rushed past the desk and the slowly moving patients to Piper’s room. I slammed through the door, the handle banging against the wall when I flung it open wide…
Then I stopped, cold.
The bed was made.
The room was empty.
Not wanting to accept what I saw, I hurried into the bathroom only to find it vacant too. The nurse came in behind me and shifted nervously.
“Where is she?” I demanded, breathing hard.
“We thought you might know. She was all set to be released and then when we brought her papers to sign, she was gone.”
“Damn it!” I yelled. The nurse flinched.
I held out my hands and tried to steady my voice. “I’m sorry. Could I have a minute?” I dug my phone out of my pocket and held it up. “I’ll try to call her and let you know if I get ahold of her.”
The nurse nodded and quickly left the room, shutting the door behind her. I think she just wanted away from me. I figured I had about four minutes until security showed up.
I paced the room, gripping the phone, trying to think about what my next move would be. G.R. had her. He was going to kill her. Then I stopped mid-pace. He wouldn’t kill her until I was there to watch.
I pivoted around and looked at the table beside the bed. Empty. I looked at the traveling tray. Empty. I looked at the chair I sat in all night long. Empty.
Then I looked at the bed.
Bingo.
It would be easy to overlook because the pale color of the stone blended with the white of the sheets, but I saw it. That crack called to me like a kindred spirit.
I dropped my phone, ignoring when it broke into pieces at my feet, and hastily scooped up the stone. It was ice cold, smooth, and heavier than one might think. But the weight made sense because it was carrying someone’s life.
With all the force I had, I threw the stone at the white tile of the floor. It made a sharp cracking sound and I looked down, expecting to see it in pieces.
It was still whole. But the tiles in the floor were busted. I picked it up and threw it at the wall. It bounced off, landing on the bed, still frustratingly unbroken.
I knocked it onto the floor where it skidded to a stop in the middle of the room. I looked around for something, anything that would have the strength to break the stone—to break the claim that the Grim Reaper had on Piper’s life.
Nothing seemed strong enough.
I let out a frustrated wail.
You alone possess far more strength than even you realize. Hobbs’s words whispered in the back of my head, and I understood their meaning. At the time I thought he meant I had the strength to turn away from the deal I’d made. And in a way, that’s what he meant, but this—this—was the only true way to get out of that deal.
I went around the bed and toward the stone. I stood over it, looking down at how it landed: cracked side up.
I smiled and lifted my foot.
On the other side of the room, movement caught my eye. Piper stumbled into the room through some open doorway and she was closely followed by G.R.
“Dex,” she called, tears on her face.
“It’s going to be all right, Piper,” I said and looked back at the stone.
“No!” G.R. roared and rushed past Piper, but it was already too late. I brought my heel down as hard and fast as I could to land on the stone. Then I ground it into the surface of the floor for good measure.
G.R. had stopped in front of me and was staring down at my shoe and what could possibly lie beneath it. I could see the doubt creep into his features, and I knew then if this stone really was broken, then his claim on Piper’s life would be too.
I looked at her and then looked down at my foot and slowly… slowly… lifted it away.
G.R. and I stood staring down.
The stone was broken. Cracked into four pieces and lying amongst some
fine white dust.
I gave a shout of joy and rushed across the room to scoop Piper up into my arms. I don’t know if she completely understood what that broken stone meant, but she laughed anyway and wrapped her arms around my neck.
I spun her around in circles. The knowledge that she was free made me want to dance. Then I stopped and she pulled back, just slightly, to stare into my eyes.
“You’re safe now,” I told her, reaching up to touch her cheek.
Recalled Page 26