Because Addison had just died without her soul. His absence and absentmindedness had worried me. But I should have been worried about Nash.
“I should have followed him. I could have stopped this before it even started!” Tod ran one hand through his hair, and several curls fell over his forehead. And when he finally looked up, I couldn’t decide whether I was more surprised by his admission or by the guilt and anger churning slowly in his eyes.
I almost never saw Tod’s eyes swirl….
“Me, too.” I stared at my hands, still clenched tightly on the tabletop. “I should have noticed something was wrong. A pack of gum, and four weeks of school and back, shouldn’t have been enough to make me miss something this big.”
Tod sighed. “How did he get into the Netherworld this time?”
“You didn’t take him?”
“Hell, no, I didn’t take him!” Tod said, loud enough to draw several looks our way.
I leaned across the table and lowered my voice. “Then I have no idea. He was supposed to be here with Doug, but you said he wasn’t…?”
Tod shook his head in confirmation. “Not that I saw, and I was here when they brought him in. How did he get Nash’s…balloon?”
I sighed and took another sip from my bottle. “Emma found it in Nash’s bag during the party. I left Em in the car with the balloon. But she had to go to the bathroom.” As she’d explained while we watched the movie. “We think Doug went looking for her and found the balloon instead.” I sighed and stared at the table. “I wish we’d never gone to Doug’s house tonight. But we couldn’t let Em go alone.” I glanced up at Tod, searching for agreement in his expression. For some sign that this whole catastrophe wasn’t solely the result of my poor judgment. “Not with Everett bringing enough balloons to make a house float.”
“Everett?” Tod’s hand fell from his hair to land on the tabletop with a thud. “The dealer’s name is Everett? Are you sure?”
“Yeah. He’s tall and kind of angular. Nash says he’s half-harpy, which is why we can’t figure out how he’s getting his supply here from the Netherworld.”
“Everett. That damned pointy-looking, son-of-a-shrew,” Tod snapped. Then he met my gaze again. “I know how he’s getting it.” He clenched the cheap plastic saltshaker like it held untold secrets of the universe. “I swear I had no idea what I was carrying, but…I brought it over.”
20
“WHAT?” QUESTIONS TUMBLED in my head like shoes in the dryer, clanking painfully as they slammed into one another. Tod was ferrying Demon’s Breath from the Netherworld for Avari? “Have you and Nash both lost your minds? This is really a very simple concept—one that you taught me! Hellion equals evil. Period!”
Tod’s exhale was long, and low, and heavy. “Avari had something I needed, and he doesn’t take cash or checks. Not that I have either one, but I could have come up with some money.” The reaper shrugged. “But he already knew what he wanted from me. And Kaylee, I swear I had no idea what I was carrying.”
The numbness in my brain and body faded, replaced by a scalding anger. “Is that supposed to make it okay? That you didn’t care enough to ask what you were hauling? What did you think he was sending up? Fuzzy kittens and care packages for the children’s ward?” People were staring at us now, but I was so far beyond caring. “Isn’t working for a hellion a conflict of interest?” I demanded through gritted teeth, my open-arm gesture taking in the entire hospital, and the job Tod carried out there.
“It would be, if I were selling him poached souls, or something like that. But my business with him has nothing to do with my job, or with my abilities as a reaper.”
“Are you serious?” I shoved my chair back and my pitch rose so high on the last word that dogs all over the neighborhood were probably howling in sympathy. Or maybe in pain.
“Your reaper skills are what get you to and from the Netherworld. Without them, you wouldn’t have interested Avari except as a snack. Another soul to suck. You’re totally abusing your abilities. And because of what you’ve done, one kid is dead, one’s gone clinically insane, and your own brother is wandering around in the Netherworld like a protein bar with legs!”
People were starting to openly stare, so I looked at the table and counted to ten to get my temper back under control. When I looked up, Tod was wiping both hands over his face, the muscles in his arms bunched with tension.
“I hope it’s worth it, whatever he’s giving you,” I spat as softly as I could. “I hope it’s worth the three lives you’ve ruined.” Four, if you counted Emma’s, and five if you counted mine, because there was no guarantee I’d walk away from the Netherworld alive this time. Or at all.
Tod flinched, but didn’t break eye contact. “It’s Addison,” he said, his voice so low and heavy I wasn’t sure I’d heard it at all. “I traded my service as a courier for an hour a day with Addy.”
Huh?
“Tod, Addison’s dead.”
He nodded slowly. “Her body is. But her soul is alive and not so well in the Netherworld, and the only way I can help her is to give her an hour a day free from torture and humiliation. To keep her sane. It seemed like the least I could do, considering I failed to get her soul back before she died.” Tod’s jaw tightened, and he held my gaze, steadily. Unashamed. Yet I saw the flicker of pain and determination in his eyes.
I felt my heart splinter and thought for a moment that I could actually hear the cracks. How was I supposed to stay mad at him now? Tod had been ruining lives with his own postmodern, interdimensional version of chivalry.
Will all the real men please stand up?
“I swear I didn’t know what I was carrying….”
I wanted to ask if that would have mattered. If he’d known what he was really agreeing to, would he have considered five ruined lives—and potentially countless more—worth an hour of comfort a day for Addison? But I didn’t ask, because I already knew that where Addy was concerned, Tod had no limits. He’d been willing to let me die in the Netherworld to save her soul. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her. To be with her.
Even beyond the grave.
I sighed and rubbed both hands over my face. “Okay, so how does this work? You blink into the Netherworld and he lets you see Addison for an hour, then hands you a balloon bouquet on your way out?”
Tod’s brows rose in bitter amusement. “Do I look like a party clown? It’s just a canvas duffel bag with a padlock through the zipper. I could have broken it, or cut the bag open, but honestly, considering what Addy and I have to lose, it didn’t seem smart to stick my nose into Netherworld business.”
“I hate to tell you this, Tod, but you’re already up to your eyebrows in it. And thanks to you and Nash, so are Doug, and Scott, and Emma, and me.” Not to mention whoever else Doug might have introduced to frost. I couldn’t help marveling at the irony of both Hudson brothers playing separate, secret parts in whatever Avari was up to.
He leaned back in his chair and exhaled heavily. “Avari’s going to be pissed when he finds out I’m out of the drug-trafficking business, and he’ll probably take it out on Addison. But the more immediate problem is Nash. If we don’t get him out before I refuse the next shipment, we’ll probably never have another shot.”
“Alec says our best chance is tomorrow night. They’re having some kind of big party…” And I couldn’t help wondering what there was to celebrate in the Netherworld.
The reaper nodded, pale curls bobbing. “Yeah, I’ve seen them setting up for it. Creepy.”
“…and he thinks he can get to Nash during the commotion. He’s gonna call me back in about half an hour—” I glanced at my watch “—make that twenty minutes, to make plans.” I stood, and Tod stood with me, and we headed for the hall by unspoken agreement.