Page 156 of Finders Reapers

“I CAN’T!” Charon roared, pushing himself to stand.

The silence was loud. Too loud.

Jamal blinked.

It was one thing to think a horrible thought and another to be presented with undisputed evidence of its reality.

His anxiety often talked to him and told him to expect the worst. It didn’t make it any easier to hear.

He felt like he was dying. Like he couldn’t breathe.

Jamal stepped up to Rome’s side. “Fix her.” His voice broke with tears.

Charon slumped down, unable to look at any of the men before he hung his head in shame.

“I can’t.” He repeated in a broken whisper. “She’s gone. There is nothing inside of that skin. Drudes are incorporeal and can possess a body if it meets the right conditions. If she was too weak to return to her body, likely, she burned up when she took down the Bhakshi and the Shayati—the devouring beasts.” He clarified. “No one could survive such a heavy magic expenditure. I almost thought that my sister Mara had returned when I felt that familiar magic tear through the worlds and rip Oriax and those creatures into nothingness. Ifeltit. I knew why you were here the moment you walked back through the doors of the office. I knew what you would ask, and I knew that it was too much. I can’t bring her back.”

“You’re blind.” Maddox spat. “You’ve been running this office like it’s a side hustle for years. You didn’t take it seriously when the contracted souls needed to pay their debt. You didn’t take it seriously when Beezlebub has been filling sin city with his purgers like his own private Doordash army. You have been treating this job as a seat warmer until someone more powerful comes along and steps in, but newsflash, Charon, you need to step the fuck up!”

Charon didn’t reply; he just sank deeper into his chair.

Jamal wanted to scream. Fletcher looked like he was about to scramble forward and rip Charon’s copper hair right from his head. Rome looked like his world had died.

And Maddox?

Maddox looked like he was ready to start pumping Valentina’s chest to perform CPR if Charon didn’t wave a magic wand and bring her back to life—even after the ferryman had explained that she was gone.

Jamal hated those words. They scored a burn into his brain so deep that he wouldn’t be able to breathe without remembering those words and how they felt.

Gone.

Valentina is gone.

Someone knocked on Charon’s office door.

“Fuck off!” Maddox roared, stomping over to the broken door and wrenching it open, ready to unleash hell on whoever stood on the other side.

There was no one there.

No. That wasn’t quite right. Jamal lowered his gaze and saw a small child with platinum hair down to her knees and eyes so white that the black line around her irises looked almost like a cartoon. The girl couldn’t have been more than five, much too young to be a Reaper.

At first, Jamal thought she was a demon, and he could tell the others felt the same until Charon’s scrambled to his feet and bowed his head as if the Queen had walked in.

The child looked around, but there was something shrewd in her gaze. Finally, her eyes settled on Jamal’s.

When she spoke, her voice was legion. Thousands of different layers were interwoven. It made Jamal’s skin crawl and his ears sing.

“I’m sorry for your loss.” The child said as she padded forward and laid her hand on Valentina’s chest.

Maddox stepped forward, offended on Valentina’s behalf, and Jamal saw the moment that he intended to forcibly remove her hand from their girlfriend's body.

Charon moved so quickly that he was a blink. Something that Jamal would never be able to get used to.

“That’s theBalance,you fool.” Charon hissed, looking over his shoulder.

It took a moment for Jamal to place the meaning of Charon’s words and the title.

The Balance—the greater force that held them in place. When they talked about the universe and its plans, they referred to the Balance. The God that birthed all gods.