Chapter 28
Sebbie
Corbin’s arm was around me, and we were back at his house, which was basically pack headquarters now.
Everyone was bustling around, getting food—because they always seemed to be eating—talking on the phone, or working on computers.
They were no closer to sussing out any danger to the sheriff, and I couldn’t tell them why I’d even said what I’d said.
I knew, without a doubt, that the sheriff was a good man.
He’d be a good passenger on my boat. I just didn’t want him there, because that would mean he was dead.
No one wanted the sheriff dead.
And then I’d be sitting there, listening to someone talk or just snuggling with Corbin, and I’d sort of zone out and images would just pop into my head.
It was like I told Corbin—snapshots. Me standing over the son in that house, something in my hand, and the knowledge that I was going to take him instead.
Me standing next to the guy in the ER, something in my hand again, looking down at him.
I don’t remember feeling anything at all, just deciding that I was going to take him instead.
Instead of what?
I didn’t know. I blew out a breath, and Corbin gave me a squeeze. He was talking to Wilder, but his attention was always a little bit focused on me. It made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. I wasn’t alone. Corbin was with me. I could take him anywhere with me, and I wouldn’t be alone.
It eased some burden that I’d been carrying.
I felt… funny. Not quite myself. I wanted to be back to cheery, happy, carefree Sebbie. I wanted to have a party boat across the river. I didn’t want to deal with people who were trying to cheat death, or make decisions about who should live and die.
I closed my eyes, leaning against Corbin.
Everyone seemed to know I needed a little space today, and I appreciated it.
Although, I had seen Toby playfully wiggle his eyebrows across the room.
It had brought a smile to my face, which had made him grin wickedly.
Yes, we’d definitely have to have a guy’s night soon where we gossipped about hellhound knots and tails.
I had the thought that us regular humans—Josh, Toby, Q, Aiden, and I—all needed to stick together, but then I remembered I wasn’t quite one of those regular humans. I was something else.
They wouldn’t care, though. I knew that, too. My friends wouldn’t treat me any differently. They’d love me no matter what.
And pretty soon, Paul would probably be added to that list, because no one seemed at all in doubt that the sheriff was Jude’s mate.
Paul. Sheriff Paul.
Crow cawed from Corbin’s room. I turned my head, and time stopped.
Literally, it stopped.
All sound stopped, like there wasn’t even air anymore. Everything was still, and everyone was frozen in place. Mid-sentence, mid-walk—it didn’t matter.
It was creepy.
I stood up, and I felt my cloak sway around me.
I turned to look at the couch, and my body was there, frozen in place.
Corbin was frozen, too, but he sort of looked at me, and I reached a hand out to him.
He took my hand in his, only his hand didn’t exactly move?
It was like a second Corbin came out of the first Corbin.
I pulled him up next to me, and he looked me up and down. I looked down at myself—I had on a black cloak, and a large scythe was in the hand that wasn’t gripping his.
Huh. That was kind of cool. A little dark, though. I mean, okay, I was apparently a grim reaper or whatever, but did it have to be so… foreboding?
I watched as the black slowly faded into a pale pink color. I looked over at my scythe, and it lightened from black into a pretty, sparkly, silver color.
Corbin grinned next to me. “Yes, that’s much more you, little reaper.”
I smiled. I felt… lighter.
Crow cawed again, and we walked into the bedroom, where she flew onto Corbin’s shoulder. I smiled even more broadly.
“You both came!” I said. My heart felt light and airy, joy running through me. “You’re both here.”
“Of course we are,” Corbin answered. Then he asked, “Umm, where is here, exactly?”
I looked around, Corbin’s hand still in mine. He was so warm, and his hand was a solid presence in this place where nothing was ever truly there.
“I’m not really sure. I can remember now that I’ve been here before, but I really didn’t like coming here. I think I came here when we were in the basement, and I think after that, too. But I didn’t like it here,” I answered. I knew I sounded a bit like a little kid, but I hadn’t liked it here.
“Why not?” Corbin asked.
I thought about that, trying to pin down the feeling. “Hmm. It was lonely. No one else was ever here, not really. And I knew I was here to work, and I didn’t always want to do what needed to be done.”
“Then why come here?” Corbin asked.
“I couldn’t help it. After the first time, in the basement, I couldn’t help coming here. I had to. It just sort of… happened, and I was here. The memories are still a little hazy, but it feels real now, with you here,” I answered.
“Why do you have to be here, Sebbie?” Corbin asked.
I turned toward him, a little surprised he didn’t know. “Because Sheriff Paul is about to die, and I’m not going to let him.”
Corbin’s eyes widened, and I felt his entire body tense. “When? Where? We have to get there!”
I patted his arm with the hand that was holding the scythe, making sure to keep the pointy parts away from him.
“Eh, when is irrelevant. Time and space have no meaning here. We’re not on the mortal plane anymore, and we can’t influence things there.
They can’t influence us, either, though.
Not that I care to stick around,” I continued.
“It’s kind of eerie how quiet and still it is, right? ”
Corbin looked around, seeming to really notice things for the first time. “Yes,” he said slowly. “None of the elements are here. I can feel… nothing.”
I nodded my head. “Exactly.” Then a thought occurred to me. I’d been so happy to have Corbin with me that I hadn’t even considered his feelings. “You know, you don’t have to stay here. I know it feels kind of awful and weird and uncomfortable, and I can put you right back in your body.”
Corbin pulled me into a hug, and I swung my scythe arm out, making sure not to nick him. He squeezed me tightly, saying, “Of course I want to stay. I want to be with you, no matter where that is. Always, Sebbie.”
Aww. He really was so freaking sweet. I pulled back and smiled at him. “You know, I think I’m going to be okay now. I didn’t feel that way before, but now, with you here, it all feels a little better, you know?”
“I’m glad, little reaper, because I want you to bring me with you wherever you go. I love you, no matter what.”
Warmth flowed through me, and I realized how cold I always was. Corbin always made me warm, though.
We pulled apart, and for the first time, I noticed a tarot card on the ground. The whole deck was scattered on the floor like it had fallen, but one card was face up, and it seemed brighter than anything else in the room.
It was a heart pierced by three swords. It was cloudy and raining, and the bright red heart stood out against the gloom. I looked over, and Corbin was staring at the card, too, his face grumpy.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Apparently my mother’s deck has something to say even within this plane of existence.
It’s the three of swords. It symbolizes painful memories, sadness, and sorrow.
It isn’t all bad, though, because it signifies that if you accept these emotions, then you can heal.
It shows the importance of cleansing these sorrows from your heart. ”
Wow. Okay. That sounded really freaking fitting. Apparently, I needed to deal with my painful memories or sorrow or whatever it was.
I noticed another card face up, further back. This had a guy in a green tunic standing on a pretty field—because the guy was the biggest part of the card—and he was holding a star or something in his hand.
“What about that one?” I asked Corbin.
Corbin looked where I pointed, and he muttered, “Cheeky deck,” under his breath.
Then he explained, “That’s the page of pentacles.
It’s showing a connection to the earth that he’s standing on, but his gaze is focused on the pentacle.
He has vision and can achieve what he sets out to do.
It means you should listen to your intuition and let it guide you. ”
“Huh,” I said. “That’s really freaking cool. I just wish my intuition would tell me exactly what I need to do.”
Corbin put his arm around me, surrounding me in warmth. “You’ll figure it out, Sebbie. I have faith in you. You’re not alone.”
I took a deep breath. He was right. Crow gave a little coo, and I looked at her. She ruffled her feathers, as if to remind us that we had somewhere to fly to. “Yes, let’s not dawdle. I don’t love being here, either, but we have work to do.”
With that, we were standing outside a rickety old house, and then we were inside. I could sense Jude—and wasn’t that weird?—not too far away. It didn’t matter. He wouldn’t make it in time.
The sheriff was in the process of turning around. He’d just checked underneath a baby blanket in the crib and seen the drugs there, and the man behind him had pulled a knife. The two of them were frozen in a sort of dance. Sheriff Paul was turning, and the man was stabbing the knife up and forward.
It was going to go straight into Paul’s chest. There, it would stab into his aorta, causing massive trauma. The man would stab a second time, furthering the trauma, although Jude would be there to prevent a third stabbing.
It wouldn’t matter, though. It would be too late for the sheriff.
Corbin was looking at the scene, horror on his face.
He moved forward and tried to pull the knife out of the man’s hand, but the man might as well have been a concrete statue. He tried to shove Paul next, but that didn’t work either. I watched, sadness running through me.
“We can’t exert any influence on the mortal plane,” I told Corbin. “We can’t stop what’s about to happen.”
“But he can’t die. He’s Jude’s mate,” Corbin said. “We have to be able to save him.”
“That isn’t how it works.”
How did it work, then? Corbin stared at me, like I had all the answers. I probably should have all the answers, since I was the reaper, after all, only I didn’t.
“There are rules. I know that, although I’m not sure how I know.
Reapers exist here, and they cannot influence the mortal realm.
They can only reap souls that are near death.
They sever the last connection between the physical body and the spiritual one.
Reapers cannot bring anyone back, and they cannot choose to let someone live who is supposed to die,” I stated.
Corbin looked at me. “But you’re not a normal reaper, are you?” he asked.
No, I supposed I wasn’t. “I know I can’t save him, but Corbin, I feel like I can save him.”
“Then you can,” Corbin said simply.
I wanted to laugh at his confidence in me.
“I have no idea what I’m doing. I didn’t even know all this alternate plane stuff until we were here, even though I’ve apparently been here before.
I’ve blocked out almost everything to do with being a reaper, even though most of the time I was reaping people who I cared about so I could take them on my boat. ”
Okay, well, I hadn’t really known that until I’d just said it. But it made sense. No one unfamiliar ever appeared to go on my ferry.
“You’ve saved people before, little reaper,” Corbin told me.
I sighed, exasperated. “Yes, but you guys weren’t supposed to die in that basement.
Really, no one was supposed to die, I don’t think.
I made the decision to reap their souls anyway because of what they were doing.
I shouldn’t have even been able to do that.
So I wasn’t really saving you guys from death, because you weren’t actually supposed to die. I just put you back where you belong.”
“No, Sebbie. Not that time,” Corbin said, coming over and taking my hand.
I looked at him curiously, not understanding what he was talking about.
“The woman and the baby, Sebbie. The woman and her baby in the hospital. You told me they were going to die, and then they didn’t. You saved them. Somehow, you saved them, and you’re going to save Paul, too,” Corbin assured me.
Well, talk about putting pressure on a guy. I blew a breath out, even though the air didn’t move and I didn’t even think there was really oxygen here.
How the hell had I saved the woman and baby?
I had no idea, and if I couldn’t remember, then Sheriff Paul was going to die.