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I try to be happy, but I’m severely distracted by the return of an old friend, the Grim Reaper The last time he showed up, he ruined my life

Chapter 10

I first met the mysterious cloaked creature when I went to live with my dad I named him the Grim Reaper, but only because he looked like the Keeper of Death When I was little, I thought he was inary friend because no one could see him but ht beforeto die withintheest h suspicion

I watch the trees blur by, trying to convince myself that I didn’t see the Griination The sky is masked with darkness and the fields and yards are shadows

"Are you sure you’re okay?" Asher drives down the main road toward the outskirts of town "You seeht"

"What?" I turn away fro, he reaches over and takeswhere I’ve been for the last few days and why I ran off after that thing with that man who had the X on his eye"

"You … you don’t owe "

He entwines our fingers and tranquility swathes my over-active nificant

Asher asks, "Do you know Garrick?"

"Yeah, Inot to shiver as he traces the folds of ers "The one that I met you at"

"Did you ht?"

"After It was right before I left to chase down Raven… He toldaround with my car"

"And then your car’s brakes went out" He cracks his knuckles on the steering wheel as he cogitates "I wonder if…"

"If what?" I press "Asher, do you know this guy? And did he ht? Because he toldto wonder if it was hiater"

He slips his hand frolove slipped off ers "Ember, have you ever heard of the Anamotti?" he asks and I shake ot thrown around a lot in the neighborhood I lived in New York… It’s kind of like this hush-hush secret society thing"

"What kind of a neighborhood did you live in?" I wonder

He hesitates, holding aze "The Upper East Side"

"So it’s a secret society for rich people"

"Kind of"

"I’m confused," I confess "What does this have to do with Garrick? Is he part of it?"

He fiddles anxiously with the air freshener on the rearviewit around "Yeah, he was… He is part of it"

"So Garrick’s from New York too?" I ask "I don’t mean to sound rude, but I’m not sure I believe that you, Cameron, and Garrick all moved here at the same time and from New York"

"Garrick didn’t move here from New York," Asher discloses in a subdued voice "I said the terhborhood, but it doesn’t mean every member from the Anamotti lives there"

"But then, how do you know Garrick is part of the Ana away at the black nail polish on my thumb, a bad habit of mine

"That X tattoo he has," Asher er, "is the symbol of the Anamotti"

"So what are they?" I recollect about what I read on the internet about X symbols "What is their secret society all about? And why do they have X’s?"

He restlessly druers on the shifter, and then his chest rises as he exhales out a shaky breath and laces his fingers with ht scare you, especially because Garrick is interested in you" He brings razes his soft lips across my knuckles

"No, he seems interested in Raven" Unable to help myself, I caress his palht when Laden disappeared"

"Maybe," he says sadly "But I think he’s using Raven to get to you"

"For what?" I begin to pull my hand away "And how do you know all this… Are you part of this Anaht now" His hand tightens on"Trust me, I want to Desperately But not yet, okay? I need to… we need to spend soaze like smoke combined with fire "Please, just trust me, Ember"