Page 67 of Finders Reapers

“I don’t get to finish my pancakes?”

“Reaper 101 starts now,” Maddox said, holding out his hand.

I knew what it looked like, holding hands in a Denny’s and rushing to the bathroom with a hot alpha guy that looked like he could bench press my entire body without sweating.

I tried to ignore the looks as we crossed the checked floor, and Maddox pulled me into the corridor outside the restroom.

Maddox gestured to my phone. “Pull up your screen.” He demanded.

I exhaled sharply. “Bossy Boots,” I muttered as I held out my phone. If Maddox was offended, he didn’t show it. The death app was still on the screen.

“There’s an idiot-proof screen for creating a doorway.” he continued, speaking to me as if I was slow. “You can’t use a doorway all the time. The magic only works if you’re on the job or coming home from one.”

To be honest, I needed the instruction—I haven’t even had a chance to get my head around using the death app, let alone exploring its features. As soon as I clicked the button for the door, a sigil flashed on the screen. It was a circle, with two lines down the middle that met and curved around like a knot with two tangled strings.

“Dva Ra Karam Boesh,” Maddox stated.

I glanced around at the doors, but nothing happened.

Maddox reached into his pocket and pulled out a blood draw stick. “Close a door, hand on the handle. Say with intent.”

It took several tries. My tongue just wouldn’t roll around the harsh guttural syllables. I expected Maddox to lose patience with me, push me to the side, and just do it himself. Instead, he waited, corrected me once or twice, until the door snicked and I opened it. Instead of the disabled stall, a supply closet filled with rolls of blue paper towels and other cleaning products.

I didn’t know what I expected. A jumping hug and an exuberant congratulations. Instead, Maddox nodded once and stepped through the door. When I didn’t follow, he glanced over his shoulder and gave me an expression that simply said, ‘are you coming or not?’

I couldn’t help but laugh, though the sound was derisive. Directed at me, more than at Maddox. I pressed my chin to my collarbone and stepped forward, feeling a tingle of magic rush from my toes and upwards as I was thrown from the bathroom of Denny’s directly to a supply closet across the city. The little red arrow on the app told me exactly where we were.

“Children’s hospital,” I said with slow realization, my feet stopping until I collided with Maddox in the doorway. The force of the collision sent me careening towards the door. Maddox’s arm looped around my waist, and the momentum of my fall swept me against his chest as he stopped me from face planting.

My eyes were wide, and my chest was heaving as a panic attack waited on my periphery.

Children. Children. Children.

“I don’t want to do this,” I whispered.

I expected Maddox to get military on me. To start barking orders and to push me through the door.

I was closer than I had ever been to him. I saw the scar on the edge of his eye, no bigger than the length of a dime. His almond-shaped eyes softened, and I didn’t like the look of pity that I found there.

We were close enough that I felt the puff of air as he exhaled. Caught in a spell that neither of us understood.

“Death doesn’t have to be a screaming, frightening, bloody mess,” Maddox whispered, tilting his head closer to mine. “Sometimes death is an old friend. Coming home after a long trip. Welcomed with quiet acceptance and even joy. The end to the pain of living.”

I blinked and found that my eyes were burning. “It’s all been bloody,” I croaked.

“Come on.” Maddox lifted his hand and smoothed my hair away from my face. His fingers brushed my cheek. “I’ll show you.”

My teeth clicked together, and I wanted nothing more than to place my hand on the door of the supply closet and chant demonic magic words until I was far away from here, but I couldn’t. I had to suck it up.

Oddly, I didn’t want Maddox to be disappointed in me.

It took longer than I wanted to admit, but I finally forced myself to step forward and push open the door we had just walked through.

The world veiled almost immediately. At first, I thought I was seeing things. The edges of my vision blurred with shadows—as if I was exhausted and needed sleep even though I knew that wasn’t the case.

The constant beep of machines and the buzz of fluorescent lights markedly ‘hospital.’ Familiar but strange at the same time.

Maddox seemed to know where he was going as if he was being pulled along by an invisible thread.