Chapter Twenty-Four
Ossy
As soon as I landed in Morgana’s office, I knew Phin wasn’t there. I could sense his absence.
Panic set in even deeper than it had when I saw Donn.
It went all the way to my bones. My hands shook.
Morgana never looked up from her paperwork when I teleported into the office.
You would think magically appearing in front of someone would startle them, but she was so used to it that it didn’t even faze her. “Donn is in Hollowbrook.”
Morgana’s gaze snapped up. That caught her attention.
Even Ezul raised his eyebrows.
Joel must have been in the living room because he came into the office. His eyes were wide. The whites were a little bloodshot, and the pupils were dilated.
“Donnie Death is in Hollowbrook?” Something about it made him giggle. He left the room, and as he did, I heard him yell, “Hey, Miles! Donnie Death is in Hollowbrook! The god of death is visiting our town! We’re fucking famous, man!”
Miles, being far more down-to-earth, had an appropriate response. “That is not good news, Joel. It means we’re all screwed. I, for one, don’t want to go back to that scary-ass place. Fuck the dark. And fuck Donnie Death.”
“I got a hellhound out of it, so whatever.”
The hellhound chuckled.
“One you don’t even like.”
“I like him... I like you. It’s not about that.”
I forced myself to tune them out. Those two were the most entertaining people I’d ever met, but we had bigger problems.
“Donnie Death... Oh God, why am I calling him that?” Morgana shook her head as if to shake the words from her mind. They might as well have splattered on the wall. “Donn is in Hollowbrook? Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. How could I not be sure? Last time I saw him, he went into the bakery.”
Joel chuckled from the other room. Even Morgana seemed amused by it. Everybody had lost their minds.
I had no patience for it. “Where is Phin?”
As soon as Morgana winced, I knew I wouldn’t like what came out of her mouth. “Phin and Hale went to town.”
“To look for a witch,” Ezul supplied.
“Why would they look for a witch in Hollowbrook?”
“Because the town is called Hollowbrook. For fuck’s sake, if there’s not a witch in this town, then witches don’t exist except for Hale.”
She had a point. It was a sort of supernatural name. There had to be something here besides death bringers.
“I assure you, they do.” Ezul smiled in that creepy way he sometimes did. It was only creepy because it was his face. He just relished being right. He got off on it—the prick.
“Can you find Cael for me?” Cael was the Donnie Death whisperer. He was probably the only one who could save us from Tech Duinn. I, for one, did not want to go back there, especially not without Phin.
I didn’t wait for her to answer but teleported into town.
Souls collected on the sidewalks. As soon as they saw me, they headed my way, beelining straight for me. One crossed the road just as a car drove by. If he were in his living body, he would have been run over, splattered like a bug on a windshield. But the car drove right through him.
Before I knew it, souls surrounded me. One after another, they came, all wanting transport. I couldn’t move. Panic set into my chest, restricting my lungs.
I was surrounded by thirty-plus souls when I saw Phin and Hale walk into the bakery. The same bakery I’d seen Donn enter.