Page 145 of Reaper and Ruin

“Uh…” I stared down at the ground beneath me that spun in dizzying circles and clenched the branch a little tighter.

Levi squinted up at me. “What do you mean ‘uh’? Get down.”

“I can’t.”

“You gotupthere!”

“Yeah, well, that was when I was fueled by adrenaline and the belief I was going to rescue my girlfriend from certain death! Now I know she’s fine, and my heroic purpose has been stolen from me, and I’m just some fat raccoon in a tree!”

Whip groaned. “You’re not fat, but youarea raccoon.”

“Thank you. That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

Levi pinched the bridge of his nose. “Just climb down.”

“I would love to, Sergeant Sass, but I have a medical condition.”

“What condition?”

“Severe and sudden onset of Don’t-Wanna-Die-itis.”

They ignored me and went back to talking about bomb squads and trap layouts like I wasn’t clinging to bark and my dignity in equal measure.

The police arrived with lights and sirens, men and women in uniforms convening at a safe distance, a few of them peering up at me curiously.

“Nothing to see here, fellas.” I lowered my voice so only I could hear it. “Just your regular old, completely average psychopath, trying not to piss his pants.”

Although it could be funny to watch urine drip down onto Levi’s and Whip’s heads, since they were doing literally nothing to help me out of this tree. But I really did hate the smell of piss, even my own, so I clung on.

Ten minutes later, the rumble of a fire truck echoed down the street.

“Oh, you didn’t.” I glared down at Levi as two firefighters in full gear hopped out.

“We can’t leave you up there,” he said flatly. “You’ll either fall and break your neck, or I’ll let my intrusive thoughts win and start shaking the tree to speed things up.”

“I will land on you out of spite. I swear I will, Levi!”

The firefighters positioned a ladder, clearly fighting to keep straight faces.

One of them called up, “Just swing a leg over and come toward me.”

“I don’t swing my leg over for just anyone, pal.”

“X,” Levi warned.

I sighed theatrically, inching toward the ladder. “If I die, tell Violet I fought bravely. And if she asks why my hands are bleeding, say it’s from combat. Donottell her it’s from a particularly aggressive pine cone.”

43

VIOLET

Nyah and I sat huddled in our pit, as far away from Francine’s dead body as we could.

Despite assuring Levi I was fine and not to come in here, all I wanted was to see his face. I wanted Whip’s strong, reassuring arms around me. I wanted X’s bad jokes in public, and then his fingers around my throat in private.

The worst part was, I could hear their shouts from outside and I couldn’t get to them.

It took what felt like a lifetime for the bomb squad to clear the house of the shrapnel-shooting devices Travis and Francine had set up. There were so many of them, it was a miracle Whip had been the only one injured. But I was also aware I’d lost all concept of time, and every second felt like a year, when all I wanted was to get out and check that the people I loved were okay.