Hed been touching her in private since the very day we broke up.
Sabine lifted both brows at him. You expect me to believe that if someone threw a pie in your face at a funeral you wouldnt lick your lips?
If someone threw a pie in my face at a funeral, Id... Nash frowned. Well, thatd be really weird.
Weirder than seeing yourself buried? Tods hand slid into my grip, his fingers curling around mine, now that there was no one near enough to see me holding hands with empty air. No one except Sophie, my real cousin, and her boyfriend, Luca, who watched us from the other side of the open grave. They knew all about Tod. In fact, my undead reaper boyfriend hardly even registered as strange to Sophie anymore, considering that her own boyfriend was a necromancer. And that Luca and Sabine were the only ones among us whod never died.
Nashs death was classified information, available on a need-to-know basis, and so far, his mom and brother didnt think anyone needed to know. Including Nash.
Emma and I had both died twice, and for me, that second one actually stuck. Now I was a resurrected American, better known, in colloquial terms, as life-challenged. Or undead. Or the living dead. But Im not a zombie. Im just a little less alive than your average high school junior.
No, Nash said, in that short-tempered voice he seemed to save just for his brother. Having a pie thrown in my face at a funeral would not be weirder than seeing myself buried.
Then Em wins this round. He glanced around at the last of the mourners, including my father, who leaned on his crutch, chatting softly with Harmony, Tod and Nashs mom, and his own brothermy uncle Brendon. Lets get out of here. Ive had enough death for one day.
That really means something, coming from a reaper.
You okay? I tossed Emma a T-shirt from my dresser, and she pulled it over her head. We were nearly the same size, now that she was Lydia. Which meant that the clothes wed snuck out of her moms house no longer fit her.
Yeah. She kicked one of Styxs rubber dog bones out of the way and stepped into a pair of my jeans. I dont know what happened at the cemetery. I mean, its not like Im really dead, but as soon as my mom started talking to you, I just lost it.
That was true. Shed been staring at her mother and sisters for two straight days, at the viewing the day before, the funeral today, then the actual burial, and she hadnt lost it once. Not until her mother was within arms reach.
Dont worry about it. Youve been through hell this year, Em. Id be worried about you if you werent upset. Though actually, I was worried about her. Very worried.
Emma sat on the edge of her bed to pull on a pair of sneakers, and if Id reached out from the end of my bed, I could have touched her. Wed given up nearly all the floor space in my room for the extra twin bed, and Id had to get rid of my beanbag chair, which was a real shame, considering we didnt actually need a second bed. Emma could have had mineI hadnt slept in it once in the nearly two weeks since my birthday/her death-day, in part because I no longer needed sleep, though Id discovered that I did need rest.
But telling my father that I was spending most of my nights at Tods place, whether or not my reaper boyfriend was actually at home, would have been...
Well, that wouldnt have been a pleasant conversation. Even if my dad had his suspicions about how physical our relationship had become, I was in no hurry to confirm them. I may have been practically grownand technically deadbut I would always be his little girl. Hed made that more than clear.
And I loved him for it.
More comfortable in our regular clothes, Em and I met everyone else in the front of the house, where Sabine had helped herself to a soda without getting one for anyone else. All Im saying is that Emily and Emma are practically the same name. No offense, Em, she added when we walked past my fathers chair, where the mara was perched on the arm, hopelessly wrinkling the black slacks she only wore to funerals. And, truthfully, she only wore those because Nash had insisted black jeans werent good enough.
None taken. Em headed into the kitchen and took a seat at the bar, where she rested her forehead on her folded arms.
At least she wasnt named after a can of soup, Tod said, and Sabine shot him a scowl. Her last nameCampbellhad come from a hungry worker at the church where shed been abandoned as a toddler.
Emma and Emily are pretty similar. Nash sank into my dads armchair and wrapped one arm around the maras waist. Wouldnt you rather pick something different? I mean, you could be anyone you want. It could be fun. None of the rest of us got to pick our names.
Em didnt even look up.
We called her Cynthia for three days. Tod shoved a pillow over so I could sit with him on the couch. She couldnt remember to answer. Calling her Emily is just easier.
Who cares what you call her? Emma is still Emma, and thats all that matters, right? That she survived. Sophie shrugged in her spaghetti strap dress, leaning against the wall by the door like she wanted to stay but needed to be near an exit, just in case.
I could tell she was trying to say the right thing. To be useful and insightful. Shed been doing that a lot since she and Luca got together, which seemed to show her that she had more in common with me and my freak friends than she would ever again have in common with her fellow dancers and teen socialites. But when filtered through the lens of narcissism through which my cousin viewed the world useful and insightful usually came out sounding more like pointless and trite.
Sophie had come a long way, but the journey was far from over.
Yeah, I survived. Em sat up and glared at her over the half wall separating the kitchen from the living room. Unless you count the part where my neck was snapped by a hellion who wanted to wear me like a perpetual Halloween costume. And the fact that my permanent address is now plot number 436 at the Grandview Cemetery. You think Zappos delivers to burial plots? If so, you must be right! Nothings changed! So what if Im now a brunette, and a B-cup, and an Emily? At least I survived, right?
I was just trying to help. Sophie blinked back tears that probably had more to do with her own frustration than with sympathy for Em. I almost died, too, you know. We all did.
Almost only counts in beauty pageants. Emma slid off her bar stool and pulled a can of soda from the fridge, then took down a tall glass and the bottle of whiskey my dad had confiscated from Nash a couple of weeks earlier. No one said anything when she poured generous helpings of both into the glass.
Were going to get him, I said through clenched teeth, struggling to hide my anger on her behalf while she drained a quarter of the glass. Were going to get them all.
She didnt deserve this. It was my fault Emma had lost everything shed ever had, except for a best friend whod failed to protect her. It was my fault, and it was Avaris, and he was going to pay for what happened to Em and to everyone else hed hurt.
Sure we are. Emma rolled her eyes and took another drink. Were going to sock it to the immortal hellions capable of squashing us like ants on the sidewalk. So what if they cant be killed, or caught, or even hurt, as far as we know. Maybe we can kill them with kindness. Or maybe theyll see us wearing our big-boy pants, all ready to take them down, and theyll die laughing. Thats the only way were going to get them. I know nothing about the Netherworld, but I know that.
I have a plan, Em. A good one.
I know you do. Im sorry. She shoved limp brown hair back from her face and sat, still holding her glass. I just... I attended my own funeral today. Theres just no way to improve a day that started with throwing clods of dirt on your own coffin.
I know. My hand tightened around Tods. I hadnt seen myself buried, but I had been...well...murdered. Sacrificed, in fact. As a virgin.
Cliché? Sure. Painful? Hell, yes.
Reversible?
Nope.
Well, at least youre compatible roommates, Sabine said as Luca headed into the kitchen. Kaylees dead, but pretending to live in her own body, and Emmas alive in someone elses body, but faking death. Your living situation was meant to be. Unlike mine. The mara threw an angry glance at my cousin.
Since her foster mothers death, Sabine had been staying with Sophie and my uncle Brendon, whod officially applied to be her new foster parent, to keep her within the fold. Because in spite of obvious attitude...issues, shed proved useful.
Also because if we tried to get rid of her, shed only claw her way back into Nashs life, stepping on everyone in her way. Shed certainly done it before.
Sabine had a unique perspective on boundariesshe refused to recognize them.
Sophie stepped away from the wall shed been holding up and adjusted her black silk dress. Hey, Luca, I told my dad wed put in an appearance at the reception, she said, but we all saw through thatshe looked more comfortable in her three-inch stiletto heels than in my house. Are you ready?
Yeah. Just a sec. Luca looked up from the kitchen peninsula, where he was talking softly to Emma with his back to the rest of us. He said something, and she actually chuckled. When he tucked a strand of hair behind her earLydias earthe look Sophie gave them should have boiled the blood in their veins.
Em and I were supposed to go to the reception, too, but when Id told my dad how shed reacted to her mother at the funeral, hed agreed that we should probably forgo any more close contact with Ms. Marshall until theyd both had a little time to adjust to Emmas death.
Luca? my cousin repeated.
He stood and gave Emma one more smile before joining Sophie in the living room. Hey, I was thinking maybe you could give Em a hand with her hair before school tomorrow. He tried to take his girlfriends hand, but she pulled it firmly from his grasp. His smile faltered, but he barreled forward, and I was impressed by his resolution in the face of imminent temper tantrum. Shes never had to work with thin, fine hair before, so
Are you saying my hair is limp? Sophie demanded.
No, your hair is beautiful. He tucked a long blond strand behind her ear and ended the gesture with his palm cupping her jaw. I could practically see Sophie melt. I was just thinking that Ems a little insecure about her new look, and youre good with stuff like that, and shes your friend, so...?