Dank sighed and sank down on my bed pulling me onto his lap. His blue eyes still held a trace of the glow that ignited in them when he took a soul at the body’s time of death. I wrapped my arms around his neck trying very hard to keep the serious expression on my face. When he was this close it was hard to think coherently.
“I told you that I’m not completely positive what Leif is exactly. All I know is he has no soul. That’s the only thing I know for certain.”
I tucked a lock of his dark hair behind his ear and decided to give pouting a try.
“Well, what do you think he is?”
Dank raised his eyebrows and a sexy dimple producing grin appeared on his face. “Pouting, Pagan? Really? I expected more from you than that. When did my girl go all underhanded on me...hmmm?”
I shoved his chest and stuck out my tongue, “That isn’t underhanded.”
His amused laugh sent shivers of pleasure down my spine. “Yes, Pagan it is. I don’t like for you to pout. You know that.”
“PAGAN, GET DOWN HERE AND EAT! YOU’RE GOING TO BE LATE,” my mother’s voice loudly carried up the stairs.
“Go eat. I’ll be outside in twenty minutes to pick you up,” he whispered in my ear before kissing my temple and standing me up. I put my hands on my h*ps to argue but he vanished before I could get a word out.
“Just because you’re Death doesn’t mean you can get away with being rude,” I hissed into the empty room just in case he was close enough to hear me.
With an annoyed humph, I headed to the bathroom to get ready.
“You’re not going to have time to sit down and eat breakfast if you intend on making it to first period before the bell,” my mother said frowning as I walked into the kitchen.
“I know, I’ll just take a pancake with me,” I reached for one of the pancakes she’d piled on the plate in the center of the table and felt instantly guilty for taking so long to get ready. She’d obviously went out of her way to make a nice hot meal for me to start my day and all I had time for was to grab a pancake and eat it on my way out to Dank’s Jeep.
“I’m sorry, Mom. I overslept. Thank you for this,” I said leaning in to kiss her cheek before picking up my book bag off the kitchen table.
“I need to get you an alarm clock,” she mumbled and pulled out a chair to sit down.
“I promise tomorrow I’ll get up thirty minutes earlier. Put the left overs in the fridge and we’ll heat them up in the microwave in the morning and enjoy them together.”
She didn’t smile but instead frowned into her coffee cup. Dangit, she knew how to make me feel bad.
Pulling out a chair, I sat down knowing I’d be jumping right back up in less than three minutes but I wanted to make her happy and I wanted to ask her about my dream.
“Do you remember when I was a kid and got lost at the Arts and Entertainment Fair?”
She set her cup down and her forehead wrinkled in thought. I hoped my forehead didn’t wrinkle like that when I got older. Other than the forehead thing though, I wouldn’t mind looking like my mother at her age. The short pageboy haircut made her dark hair look shiny and her legs were hot for an old woman.
“Um...I think so. OH! Yes, the time I had my hands full of books and you were supposed to be holding onto my skirt. God, that was terrifying. I remember the moment I realized your grip was gone and then I turned around and you weren’t there. My heart stopped. You probably shaved five years of my life off that day.”
So it had been real. Mom’s dark brown eyes peeped over the rim of her coffee cup as she took a sip. I wanted to ask more but the frown on her face stopped me. Her attention was fixed over my shoulder at the window. Dank was here. I hated her thinking my relationship with him had something to do with Leif disappearing. The fact was I’d never got a chance to break up with Leif. He’d vanished before I could. But telling her that would make things even worse. If I didn’t know that Leif wasn’t human then I’d be worried too but I knew the truth.
“I gotta go Mom. Love ya,” I called out heading for the door. I didn’t want to listen to her lecture me on being more concerned about the fact Leif had run away.
“It’s almost time”
I stopped and stood frozen on the front steps of the house. My hand reached out and gripped the cold iron railing. I knew that voice.
“Pagan.” Dank was in front of me instantly. Lifting my eyes to meet his I shook my head to clear it.
“Did you... did you see anyone or ...um, anything?” I stumbled through my words, still reeling from the voice spoken directly in my ear.
The blue color in Dank’s eyes went from their normal brilliant blue to flickering orbs.
“Pagan, your eyes,” he reached out and cupped my face with his hands as he studied me. Death wasn’t supposed to fear anything; yet I could see it in every crease of his frown. The fact that his eyes looked like blue flames meant something.
“What about my eyes?” I asked in a panicked whisper.