Summer walked back down the steps and took her seat on the bench with Tiffany, Dad, Troy and the rest of the Misfits, alternately smiling and crying the rest of the ceremony. As they came out of the chapel, Troy squeezed Summer’s hand. The sun shone brightly in the cloudless sky, keeping the fall day warm.
Pamela walked up to Summer and threw her arms around her. “Thank you for speaking today and for being such a great friend to Ashlyn. I’ve never seen her so happy. I swear, you’re an angel.”
Not quite, Summer thought. “If you ever want to talk about Ashlyn—about anything—give me a call.”
“I will.” Pamela looked over at a large group of people. “Excuse me,” she said, then headed toward the group.
“I just thought of something,” Troy said, running his fingers down her back and then hooking them around her hip. “You said you only see the end right before it happens. What made you so determined to meet Ashlyn all those weeks ago?”
Troy hadn’t given her any reason to not trust him, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell him about being a Cipher and exactly all that entailed. “I got a really strong feeling that I should meet her. One so powerful I couldn’t ignore it. I told you my intuition was good.”
“Like a message straight from Heaven,” Troy said.
Summer thought of the bubbly Gabriella, the messenger sent to her. You have no idea. The thought of Gabriella must’ve made her see things, because she swore she was seeing the Angel of Death standing a few yards back.
Summer blinked, but the image remained. It was definitely Gabriella. No one else looked quite like that.
Summer leaned in and gave Troy a quick kiss on the lips. “I’ll be right back.”
She wandered over to where Gabriella was standing, halfway hidden behind a tree. Keeping her back to all the people so they wouldn’t see her talking to air, she said, “Do you say goodbye to everyone you deal with?”
“I’m not here for her,” Gabriella said.
“Really? Someone’s going to die at a funeral? You guys have an odd sense of humor.”
“Yes, we sit around thinking of funny ways to die. It keeps us from getting bored.”
“Is that sarcasm I hear?” Summer smiled at Gabriella. “Maybe I’m a bad influence. Now, I’ve got you being a smart a—” she stopped herself in the nick of time. Gabriella might be using sarcasm, but Summer doubted she’d changed her opinion on swearing. “A smart alec.”
“I appreciate you editing. But I’m not here to take anyone home.”
Something about the way Gabriella was looking at Summer sent a sick feeling through her gut. “Oh no,” she said, taking a step back. “You said I’d have time.”
“Well, it so happens that someone in the area is going to need you. He’s not ready yet, but he’s going to be soon. And you’ve got your work cut out for you with this one.”
Summer’s stomach churned at the thought, but already she felt it. Knew someone needed her help. She groaned. “I hate this job.”
Read on for a sneak peek at Rift, book 2 in the Cipher series!
Chapter One
Bad news was on its way to ruin her life again. Summer could feel it in every inch of her body. The mix of apprehension and nausea? Nerves strung so tight her muscles ached? Classic signs. Every one of her Cipher senses was tingling, and as she climbed the stairs to her bedroom, she sensed Gabriella’s presence. As chipper as the Angel of Death was, her visits were rarely welcome.
Gabriella flashed her blindingly white, beauty-queen smile as Summer stepped inside her bedroom. “Hello, Summer Dear,” she said. As usual, she was dressed in all sparkly pink, her Marilyn Monroe hairdo frozen in place with enough hairspray to withstand a tornado. “Isn’t the weather lovely today?”
Summer swung the door closed in case Dad came home early—she didn’t want him to hear any of what was about to go down, even if he’d only hear one side. “It’s California. It would be more of a shock if it wasn’t lovely.”
Two creases formed between Gabriella’s eyebrows as she frowned at Summer. “No need to get all huffy. I was just trying to make small talk.”
“That’s the problem, though. You’re not really here for just small talk, are you?”
Gabriella pressed her bubble gum pink lips together, then shook her head. “It’s time, Summer. I’ve come to give you your next assignment.”
For two months she’d been on edge, waiting for this job to pop up like a demented version of jack in the box. Surprise, guess who’s dying now!? At one point, she’d wished Gabriella would just get it over with already. But now, Summer didn’t want to hear about it. Didn’t want to know that another person was going to die, but only after she’d gotten to know them and, with any luck, managed to resolve their problems with their family members first.
“I’m not ready,” Summer said. “My psychology class doesn’t start until tomorrow, and so far the grief counseling sessions I’ve been attending have only really shown me how much people cry.”
Gabriella stuck a fist on her hip. “Last time I came to visit, you begged me to give you the assignment before you went ‘wackjob crazy,’ whatever that means.”
Summer flopped onto the end of her bed, the weight of an assignment already pressing down her shoulders. “I changed my mind.”
“But you can feel it, right? So you know it’s time whether you’re ready or not.”
Ready or not, here it comes. Summer took a deep breath. “Okay. Rip the Band-Aid off.” When Gabriella looked confused, she said. “The job. Just give me the job.”
“His name is Liam Fry. He’s a freshman at SDSU. Only this time, you need to help him make peace with his dad. His dad, a man named Dennis Fry, is the one who’s dying.”
Summer rolled the name over in her head for a few seconds. Liam. He wouldn’t be dying, so surely this wouldn’t be as gut-wrenching as last time. Her heart gave one painful throb, a dull reminder of the emotional scar over her heart from her first Cipher job. “Okay, so I’ll work it through the son angle. Got it.”
“Good. But… there’s something you need to know about Dennis, and it’s kind of a big deal.” Gabriella tapped her finger to her lips, a gesture she did whenever she was thinking. “I’m prefacing this by telling you to keep in mind how much you’ve learned over the last few months.”
The apprehension coursing through Summer kicked up a notch. “That bad, huh?”
“Summer Dear, his father’s in a detention facility.”
“Like jail?” Summer’s voice came out in a high-pitched squeak.
Gabriella nodded.
“Did he do it? Is he guilty?” Summer stared at Gabriella, wanting her to say, Of course not. I wouldn’t be asking you to do this if he was guilty.
“He’s done a great deal of repenting, and he desperately wants to make peace with his son. He doesn’t know it, but he’s sick, so he’ll never make it to parole. Which is why it’s so important to get Liam to visit him now.”
Summer shook her head. “No. I don’t think I can do that. Did he kill someone?”
The hesitation was enough for Summer to know she was going to hate Gabriella’s response. “His actions did cause a few innocent lives,” Gabriella said softly. “We all make mistakes.”
Images from her mom’s death flashed through her mind. The convenience store. The man who’d pulled the gun. Mom and the woman she’d gone on a Cipher job to help lying dead on the floor. Everything inside her turned hard and cold. “There’s mistakes, and then there’s killing people. My mom is gone because of someone like that. You’re asking too much.”