Sexy stranger at the prom had turned into psychopath Seth, a dark reaper bent on killing me. Which he did, using a reaper blade after rolling his convertible down an embankment hadn’t done it. I’d woken up in the morgue that night to hear Barnabas arguing with another light reaper as to whose fault it was I was dead. They’d been there to apologize and keep the black wings off my soul until I got to my “reward.”
But everything changed when Seth showed up at the morgue as well. Seems he wanted to throw my soul in front of someone to “buy his way to a higher court,” whatever that meant. But only Barnabas and I knew that last part. For some reason Barnabas had thought we shouldn’t say anything about it to Ron.
And then I’d stolen Seth’s amulet, and the fact that I’d been able to do that at all and remain here was a mystery to everyone involved.
Ron rubbed his ear like he had a nervous tic. “Taller than you by about a hand?”
My stomach clenched. “Yeah,” I mumbled, “that’s him.”
Barnabas’s feet shifted in the grit as a long exhale escaped Ron. “I should be blessed by baboons!” Ron muttered, then started pacing within the confines of the shade. “That was Kairos,” he said tightly. “He didn’t give you his true name. God, if you ever loved me, open my eyes for me when I’m being this stupid!”
“But he lookedmy age,” I protested. Great, not only had I kissed the man who killed me, but he was older than the pyramids, too.Yuck! Now that I thought about it, he had been too good at both dancing and kissing to be seventeen.
“Kairos gained his position unusually early, long before his predecessor intended.” Halting, Ron stared into the parking lot. “Hasn’t aged a day since acquiring the amulet now around your neck. Pretty prima donna. I bet he’s not happy about growing older again. I’d wager a timekeeper’s amulet is the only divine stone you could have claimed that wouldn’t blow your soul to dust.”
“Because I’m dead?” I guessed, and Ron shook his head.
“Because you’re human. Just as timekeepers are.”
“So it really isn’t my fault then that I couldn’t keep her alive,” Barnabas interrupted. “I can’t best a timekeeper.”
“No, you can’t,” Ron said, giving him a look that said to shut up. “And if Madison has bonded with Kairos’s stone, the only way he can reclaim it is if she’s dead.”
“But Iam dead,” I protested, hands clasped about my drawn-up knees.
Ron smiled faintly. “I mean, your soul destroyed. He’s got your body, I presume. Someone has it. And as long as you exist in some fashion, the amulet is tied to you. That you were able to claim it at all from him is a miracle.” He glared at Barnabas when the reaper tried to interrupt. “You need to stay away from him,” he said, turning back to me.
“Not a problem,” I said, scanning the sky I could see. “Just tell me what cloud he lives on, and I’ll make a note of it.”
Ron resumed pacing, his robes moving elegantly and his slight form staying in the tree’s shade. “He lives on earth, same as me,” he said distantly, clearly too preoccupied with his thoughts to get the joke.
“Sir,” Barnabas said, making me nervous when he turned his back on the sky.Shouldn’t someone be watching? “If Kairos hasn’t come after her by now, maybe he won’t.”
“Kairos give up on his quest for immortality? No. I doubt that,” he said. “I’m guessing he hasn’t come after Madison yet because until today, no one knew he’d lost his amulet. He was undoubtedly taking the time to make another one. The longer he spends on it, the better it will be—though he’ll never create one that matches the power of the one he lost. No, Nakita has probably told him Madison has it. He’ll be looking for her now. We will have to hope I changed your resonance fast enough.”
“Timekeepers make the amulets?” I asked, surprised, and my attention fell on Ron’s own black amulet, almost lost in the folds of his robe. “Can’t you make me a new one and I can give Kairos his amulet back?”
Ron blinked at me as if startled by the thought. “I make them, yes, and give them to angels who are stirred to take action and choose to become something they’ve never been before. Not everyone is happy with the way things are, and this is one way of many to make a difference. But you’re dead, Madison. I can’t create a stone to keep the dead alive. Trying to use one I’ve given to a reaper will burn through your human mind. I say since Kairos killed you, you have the right to keep his. Of course, the seraphs may think differently.”
I bit my lower lip worriedly when Barnabas moved his attention to the road at the top of the hill as a car went by. Seraphs. They had the clout to make big decisions. Reapers were below them, and guardian angels lower. Barnabas talked about seraphs like they were spoiled children with power. Scary. “This is bad, isn’t it?” I offered softly.
Ron’s bark of laughter died quickly. “It’s not good,” he said; then, seeing my pinched brow, he smiled.
“Madison, you claimed Kairos’s stone. It’s yours. I’ll do my best to see that it stays that way. Just give me the time to get the political machine working.”