“You’re not a dark reaper,” she said. “You’re the dark timekeeper! You’re Madison? I heard about you! You gave Grace a name!”
I nodded, not wanting to say anything aloud and make Shoe or Ace any more aware of what was going on than they already were. Barnabas was a reaper, not a miracle worker.
“Just as well,” the chiming ball of light said. “She wasn’t very good at it.”
A soft sound of affront slipped from me, and I stared at her.
Paul had gotten to his feet, and he stood next to Ace as if not quite knowing what to do. “You wanted him dead,” he said, but he sounded unsure. “Ron was right.”
I began to pace between the desk and the open window. “Ron is a shortsighted idiot,” I muttered. Spinning, I pointed to Ace, now smiling as he dabbed at his nose with the hem of his shirt. “Do you know what that fine piece of work does now that you’ve given him a get-out-of-death-free card? He’s going to go on and do it again, deluded and thinking it’s a kick. He thinks it’s his only way to make a mark on the world. He’s dead, Paul,” I said. “You may have saved his life, but his life is worthless. I had a chance to get him to change, but now he never will.”
Edging away from Ace, Paul said, “You don’t know that.”
I arched my eyebrows at him. “I do. I saw it. Congratulations. You did real well on your scythe prevention. Saved him and everything.” What was the difference between this scythe and my last one, where I had saved Susan on the boat, the first time I’d met Nakita? I’d changed her future with nothing more than showing her a near-death, and it hadn’t even been hers. She had been marked because she was going to live her life distorting the truth to ruin people’s lives just for the sensationalism. Seeing the reality of how precious life was and the tragedy of it being cut short had shown her what really mattered, and she had changed. But Ace…he knew his actions were going to end lives—and he didn’t care. Except for what he could gain from it.
Ace was laughing, pulling out more tissue from the box by the bed. Making a happy sigh, he fell back onto the pillows. “I’ve got a guardian angel? Cool!” he said to the ceiling.
His guardian angel didn’t seem very happy, if the gray blob on the mirror was any indication. I was pacing again; I couldn’t help it. I was not going to let things end like this.
Paul was edging to the window, and Shoe was trying to wipe his fingerprints off the hospital entrance card. “You were going to end his life,” Paul said slowly, and I glanced at Ace.
“I was trying to save it. But why, I don’t have a clue.”
Shoe had turned his back on us, and his fingers clicked over the keys. Rummaging for a blank disc, he slid it into the burner and clicked a button. “I’m not taking the blame for the hospital,” he said emphatically.
Ace laughed from the bed. “You can’t stop me. I just got me a guardian angel.”
From the mirror, the ball of light sighed.
My temper was cooling. Shoe was probably burning a patch. Clearly he was having the same thoughts I was, since the hospital entrance card was now shoved into his back pocket. We could break in and upload the patch. There was just the lingering problem of Ace. The moment we left, Ace would call someone.
I turned to Paul, the beginnings of a plan in me. “You guys never stick around to find out what the people you save do after you bless them, do you?” I said sourly. What was done was done. Fate, I thought, wondering if I was wrong about choice being stronger than seraph vision. Paul was still looking at me, and I snapped, “Just leave, okay? You did your thing. I’ve got work to do.”
Paul’s expression became worried, and he looked at Ace. “What are you going to do?” he asked. “He’s got a guardian angel.”
“The people at the hospital don’t,” I said. “And you call me a murderer? Open your eyes!” I turned to Shoe, glad to see a determined slant to his expression as he popped the disc out of his computer and glared at Ace. “Is that the patch?” I asked, and he nodded. From the bed, Ace sat up.
“What are you doing?”
Shoe handed it to me, saying, “She’s going to put the patch in for me while you and I sit here and play some WoW. If you want to call the cops, go ahead, but I’ll break your fingers if you try it before that patch is in place. I’m not going down with lives on my conscience.”
“You wouldn’t,” Ace said, wiping his nose. Blood smeared his face and his fingers, bits of tissue sticking to them.
Smiling grimly, I pushed Paul aside as I moved to the window. “You’re a good person, Shoe. I’ll do what I can.” How was I going to do this? I didn’t know a thing about computers.
Ace threw his tissues away. “You think Shoe can keep me here?” he said, moving to sit in Shoe’s chair as if it were a throne and twisting it back and forth. “I got a guardian angel. Once that freak of a girl leaves, I’ll have your mom in here. Then I’m calling my mom. I’m telling her you hit me and stole her entry card.”
My jaw clenched, and Shoe, waiting by the door, frowned. I glanced at the guardian angel sitting on the edge of the mirror, and she made a little chirp of a sigh. “Damn it,” I muttered. Maybe if I knew how my amulet worked, I could stay and Shoe could go, but I didn’t.
Shifting nervously, Shoe said, “I didn’t know angels could swear.”
Paul made a face, looking as if he were eating something sour. “She’s not an angel.”
“I’m just dead,” I said. Frustrated, I looked at Paul. He met my gaze, his expression holding a hint—the barest whisper—of guilt. Barnabas and Nakita were nowhere to be seen. I so needed some help. I just needed to know how to use my amulet.
Use my amulet…
“Will, ah, you do me a favor?” I suddenly asked Paul, and it was hard to decide who was more surprised, the guardian angel, now a bright silver, or Paul, staring at me.
“Excuse me?”
I glanced at Ace, then back to him. “Will you just…watch him for a while?” I asked. “So Shoe and I can fix what we can?”
A curious look came into Paul’s eyes. “I don’t understand you, Madison.”
Hope zinged through me. That hadn’t been a no. The guardian angel clearly thought it was a great idea, darting about the ceiling as if she were a pixie high on a double espresso. “My dad doesn’t understand me, either,” I said, smiling. “Will you do it? Try to make up for screwing this up?”
“I didn’t screw it up. I saved his life!” he said hotly, then looked at Ace staring at us with a murderous look. “Yeah. I’ll do it,” he added. “But you owe me.”
“You think you’re tougher than me?” Ace said as he stood up, and I tensed.
Paul reached for his amulet, and I shivered as something went through me when he touched the divine. The guardian angel let out a yelp when Ace collapsed. Damn, that had been fast. “Wow,” I whispered, totally impressed.
Shoe nudged Ace in the ribs with his foot. “I’m glad I’m on your side,” he said, then pulled Ace’s truck keys from his former friend’s belt. “They have a camera on the hospital gate,” he said in explanation as he edged past Paul and toward the window. “I don’t want my car seen there.”
He slipped out the window, leaning in as he said, “Cover for me if my mom knocks, okay?”
Paul nodded, looking both scared and excited.
“Can you change memories yet?” I asked him, aware of Shoe outside the window, but I really wanted to know.
“No,” Paul admitted, looking almost chagrined, as though he’d tried and failed.
“Me neither,” I said, feeling a surge of kinship. Smiling, I sat on the sill and swung my sneakers outside. It was cooler, and I shivered. Maybe I’d failed to save Ace’s soul, but I could save the lives of some innocents. “Thanks, Paul. You’re not so bad.”