Page 21 (2/2)

All my fault I should have sent hione

Death was right I eak and selfish

I turned away, lying withmy mind back to the last moments I’d seen Jack As if I were in thatthe water, punches to en intensified his attack

Flattened like a sandcastle

Had Jack even made it to shore with Matthew? My bottom lip treh watering eyes, I stared out at the veil of water, like the one at the cave entrance where Jack and I had been together

That perfect an to spill, and I couldn’t stop the, I tried to muffle the sound As

“Ah, the sound of that” When Death chuckled, I glared over ht, Fauna” With a s in the night “This is much better”

22

DAY 264 AF

BUMFUK, EGYPT, FOR ALL I KNEW

“I can feel your eyes on my ass, perv,” I said over my shoulder For the past six days, whenever Death’s heler in his expression How could he be so disgusted with ainst attraction?

I twisted around to find hi his horse, an ill-huen on foot and Lark on horseback

Sure enough, Death’s ed shoeless and parka-less over a stony flat My bare feet were sliced Yet if my blood revived plants, they yellowed and withered, because I was still flagging

All this abuse he’d dealtcatch-up to regenerate I’d already fallen twice this ether so I couldn’t break my falls My shoulders were nuht my breath for the better part of the last week

Death raised his brows, unashautless harlot doesn’t ht be immortal, but I’m still a red-blooded male”

Attributes? Was that why he’d kept , I had asked hi to kill ht by the fire, Death used the tip of one sword to carve barbs in that flattened h I had no idea why, he seeaze at?

“Harlot? Who talks like that? Father Ti you were roundly defeated and all your people were lost”

I gritted ainst a scream The idea that he bore my friends’ icons burned inside loves, so I hadn’t seen the en’s hands were clean

“I have suffered loss,” I told him “But at least I knohat it’s like to have had those relationships I had trust and caring” Love and passion with Jackson I would hold those meht prove “And you—you’ve got Ogen”

Hearing his name, the Devil lumbered closer to en looked like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to sleep with me—or suck the marrow from my bones His foul appearance was equaled only by his stench

“You believe you had trust?” Death scoffed “Arcana rule number one: trust no one”

I stopped to face hiood at this ga about me Take care that you don’t provoke my wrath” With a last sneer, he rode forward

Death would soon regret his decision to spare me so far For the last several months, I’d wanted to kill hi e, one that would make the red witch proud

If I couldn’t take out this trio by ured I had two options

Catch Death without his aret help In that case, ht have worried that Death would just read hts and foil any attempt But I believed the link between us had been broken Severed with Matthew’s passing Don’t cry Don’t give him the satisfaction

So far there’d been no opportunity to get away It wasn’t like I ever had privacy Lark acco us like chain-gang guards When I was alone with her, she always looked like she wanted to tell ? But I hadn’t yet been able to bite back bile and cozy up to her

“Yo, boss,” Lark said, her eyes going red Falcon-caan to thicken Soon I could hear the sound of rushing water With each step closer to this unseen river, Ogen grew antsier I’d learned the Devil was more afraid of bodies of water than Matthew had been I doubted the beast could swie of the rapids; all four of us ca at the surreal scene The violent currents carted along pieces of houses, a huge satellite dish, and acar A red Volkswagen rocketed past us, the steering wheel spinning as wreckage hit the tires

Taking Ogen’s teht on I vote im it”

He whimpered “No swiue, and he shut up

“Well, aren’t you a good wittle doggie, Ogen?” I said “You kno to sit, stay, and hush even better than Lark’s wolves”

He stared, disbelieving that I’d just insulted him like that “I am the DESECRATOR! I sit upon Lucifer’s knee!”

“That makes total sense, Scooby”

With a puzzled expression, Death said, “You taunt hi to do? Kill noring both of us, Death said, “We cross there”

I followed his gaze to a suspension bridge above, so high it was nearly cloaked in clouds Connecting two canyon walls, it looked charred and rickety, as if those support cables could snap at any second

Lark nodded eagerly “Good idea, boss”

“Ass kisser,” I said, earning a flash of her fangs

Up the muddy trail, she and Death rode their horses I had to cli sucked down in the calf-deep e I’d jump, Last of the Mohicans their asses!