be much older.
“Hi, Lexie,” she said.
Stunned, I sat down on the arm of the sofa. “Huh?”
She smiled, understanding warming her face. “I thought you’d like to have some questions answered.”
I nodded, still gaping. “You’re … you’re my …”
“I’m Mila. A Reaper.” She sat down on the sofa. “First of your line, yes.”
I shook my head, my mind completely blank. “Uh … um … shit.”
She smiled. “We don’t have much time.”
I shook my head. “It’s just … you’re a Reaper.”
She nodded. “But I’m still your many-times great grandmother. And I’m worried about you.”
“You are?” I asked, still trying to grasp who she was.
She moved a little closer. “Lexie, Jadis isn’t done. You know that, right?”
“Well, considering we haven’t gotten her yet, yeah,” I muttered.
She took my hand. “She’s going to come for you.”
I narrowed my eyes. “How do you know?”
“I’m watching,” she said.
I shook my head and looked at her with my brows drawn. “Why? Why didn’t you come to me sooner? Why didn’t you tell me what I was?”
The lines of her face softened. “I wasn’t allowed. As a Reaper, I’m not supposed to interfere with the living. I’m supposed to barely be a ripple in the surface of the world.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “All very poetic, but what changed? Why now? I’ve needed help so many times. Why now?”
Her eyes grew shadowed. “You’re approaching a crossroads here, Lexie. Your aura is getting closer to the line that separates the living and the dead.”
“What does that mean?”
“You may have an important decision to make very soon. I want you to know all your options. So you can make an informed choice,” she said in a low voice.
Stunned, I simply stared.
“You’re running out of time, Lexie.”
I tried not to focus on the crossroads thing but on what I wanted to know. “How strong of a necromancer am I? How dangerous is this going to be for me?”
She pressed her lips together before answering. “Your bloodline is … a strong one. If you make it to twenty-five, you’ll be able to raise probably a hundred zombies at once if you pushed it.”
I shook my head. Pushed it? Why would I push it that hard? “Why? What good is that for?”
She tilted her head to the side as her eyes softened. “There’s a reason and a purpose for it to exist. You just need to find it.”
I surged to my feet. “Oh, bullshit.” I walked across the family room and turned back to her. “There’s a reason for it? There isn’t a reason. Life is random. Fucked up and painful. People make their own lives, so don’t give me ‘it happens for a reason.’”
“You don’t believe in fate?” she asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. Ask someone who’s held up at gun point. Was it fate who put them there? Sometimes there just isn’t a reason for the shit that happens to someone. It’s just a product of other people’s choices.”
She eyed me. “Good.”
I grew still. “Why do you say good?”
“Fate doesn’t ease the fear of someone as they fight for others. They’re there by choice.”
I shook my head, not quite grasping what she was saying. “Why aren’t the Reapers helping?”
She sighed. “You know the answer to that. We’re the only truly neutral primal power left in this world. We’re the cogs that make the world work. We have to keep it going.”
At least that part made sense. “So, we’re on our own? There’s no help from you guys?”
She nodded slowly. “Afraid so.”
Fear took hold of my heart. “Someone’s going to die. Right?”
“It’s a possibility. But you have options others don’t.” She met my gaze. “You can continue as a Reaper.”
I met her gaze as my promise to Ethan ran through my mind. I couldn’t leave him alone. “Tell me what it’s like.”
“You’d have more powers. More responsibilities,” she began. “You’d be walking people to the Veil, at least those that can’t make it on their own.”
“What about my off hours?” I asked. “Would I get to have a life?”
She shook her head. “Not really. It’s a lot of work to keep the balance.”
“Then what’s the benefit?” I snapped.
“You’ll have the ability to pop in to see those you love in their afterlives. You’d be able to visit, talk, love …” Her smile grew teary. “You’d be able to see them.”
That did sound nice. “What about Ethan? Is he going to grow old?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
I shook my head. “I’d want to have a life.”
Her lips pressed together in