Soul Screamers, Volume 1

Tod huffed over the line. “I work twelve hours a day. I don’t have to eat or sleep. What else am I supposed to do with the other half of my afterlife?”


I leaned against the headboard and shoved tangled hair back from my face. “I don’t know. Go see a movie. Sign up for some classes. But stay out of—” I sat straighter, glancing at my own surroundings in suspicion as something occurred to me. “Have you been in my room?”

A soft, genuine laugh rang over the line. “If I knew where your room is, we’d be talking in person. Unfortunately, Nash doesn’t have your address in his phone. Or written down anywhere I could find without waking him up.”

“Small miracle,” I mumbled.

“He does have your last name, though. Ms. Cavanaugh.”

Crap. With my last name, and his convenient pooflike travel method, it wouldn’t take him long to find out where I lived. Maybe Uncle Brendon was right about reapers.

“Don’t you want to know why I called, Kaylee Cavanaugh?” he taunted.

“Um…yeah.” But I was no longer sure the information was worth dealing with Tod-the-reaper, who seemed more and more “grim” with each word he spoke.

“Good. But I should probably tell you that the terms of our agreement have changed.”

I bit my lower lip, cutting off a groan of frustration. “What does that mean?”

Springs creaked over the line as he settled deeper into whatever he was sitting on, and I could almost taste his satisfaction seeping through the earpiece. “I agreed to look at the list in exchange for your last name. I’ve done my part but no longer need the agreed-upon reimbursement. Fortunately for you, I’m willing to renegotiate.”

“What do you want?” I asked, pleased to hear that suspicion was just as thick in my voice as delight was in his.

“Your address.”

“No.” I didn’t even have to think about it. “I don’t want you sneaking around here spying on me.” Or revealing himself to Sophie, whose parents didn’t want her exposed to this brave new Netherworld.

“Oh, come on, Kaylee. I wouldn’t do that.”

I rolled my eyes, though he couldn’t see me. “How do I know that? You were in Nash’s house tonight.”

“That’s different.”

“How is that different?” I tugged my covers up to my waist and let my head fall back against my headboard.

“It…doesn’t matter.”

“Tell me.”

He hesitated, and hinges squealed softly again on his end of the connection. “I knew Nash a long time ago. And sometimes I just…don’t want to be alone.” The vulnerability in his voice resonated in my heart, only further confusing me. But then his actual words sank in.

“You’ve done this before? What, do you hang out there?”

“No. It’s not like that. Kaylee…you can’t tell him!” In spite of the earnestness of his plea, I knew Tod wasn’t afraid of Nash. He was afraid of embarrassment. I guess some things don’t change in the afterlife.

“I can’t not tell him. Tod, he’s supposed to be your friend.” At least he used to be. “He has a right to know you’ve been spying on him.”

“I’m not spying on him. I don’t care what he’s doing, and I’ve never—” He stopped, and his voice grew hard. “Look, swear you won’t tell him, and I’ll tell you what I found out about the list.”

Surprise lifted my eyebrows halfway up my forehead. He was willing to pay me to keep his little secret? Terrific. But… “Why would you trust me not to tell?”

“Because Nash said you don’t lie.”

Great. A grim reaper was holding me to my honor. “Fine. I swear I won’t tell him in exchange for what you found out about the list. But you have to swear to stay out of his house.”

For a moment, there was only silence over the line—Tod obviously wrestling with his decision. What could be so important about hanging out at Nash’s house? Why on earth would he need to go back?

“Deal,” he said finally, and I exhaled silently in relief. For some reason, I was sure he would keep his word too.

“Good.” I tossed back my covers. I was awake, so I might as well be up. “So did you get a look at the lists?”

“I caught a bit of a break there. My boss was out of the office for nearly an hour dealing with some kind of complication in the northern end of the district. And since I happen to know his password—”

“How do you ‘happen’ to know his password?” I sank into my desk chair and plucked a blue metallic pen from a clay jar I’d made in Girl Scouts a decade earlier, then began doodling on a purple sticky pad.

“Last month he accidentally locked himself out of the system, and as the only reaper in the office who actually lived during the digital age, I’m kind of the de facto tech guy.”

Oh. Weird, but I’d take it. “So what about the lists?”

“They weren’t there.”