She sticks her head out of the kitchen door. ‘Yeah?’

‘Can you come here please?’

I immediately panic, wondering what she’s done wrong, but Dev doesn’t seem concerned as she shuts the door of the washing machine with her knee and turns it on. I make sure she goes first, following her down the stairs. As we stroll back into the bookshop, Esen is leaning against the counter, looking bored, as always.

‘There you are,’ Deborah says, peering at us over her glasses as we walk around the counter to stand by Esen.

‘What’s up?’ Dev asks with an eager smile.

‘I need you to go to the Pier.’ She pulls a Post-it note from the top of the pad and hands it to her. ‘Drowning.’

‘Another one?’ Esen doesn’t look amused. ‘What’s going on today? We’ve had, like, three reaps already?’

Deborah shakes her head. ‘Must be something in the water.’

‘Literally,’ Dev chuckles, holding up the Post-it note, then turns to me. ‘Let’s go, Ash.’

‘No,’ Deborah says, holding up her hand. I look at her with a frown. ‘You can’t swim, can you, Ash?’

How did she know that?

‘Besides, we have three at once.’

She pulls another Post-it note from the pad and hands it to Esen, and another to me.

Esen looks at me, then at Deborah. ‘She’s not ready.’

‘It’s been almost two weeks. You did your first reap by yourself within twelve hours,’ Deborah reminds her.

‘Yes, but you forget, I was already dead inside. Dying just made it official.’

Deborah chuckles, looking at Dev, who is standing next to me in the middle of the shop, her lips parted. ‘Dev, you said that Ash has been doing well, right? That you haven’t had any issues.’

Dev looks at me, but when I raise my eyelashes to meet her gaze, she looks away.

She nods at Deborah and Esen stares at her, her eyes wide, as though she’s just been slapped across the face. When Esen recovers she turns back to Deborah, her hands pressed to the counter.

‘She’s not ready,’ she says again, her voice lower. Firmer.

‘Well, we have three at once in three different parts of Brighton, so now is as good a time as any,’ Deborah tells her, handing her one of the Post-it notes. She holds up the other one to me. ‘Well, come on, then.’

I walk over to the counter, aware of Dev and Esen staring at me as Deborah hands the Post-it note to me.

‘Saltdean? That isn’t our patch,’ Esen says, reading it before I do.

Deborah looks down at her notebook. ‘Katrina’s busy with another reap so asked if we could help.’

‘Get someone else to do it. Ask Danica. I’m sure she’d do it.’

‘Ash is ready.’ Deborah looks up at me with a firm smile. ‘Aren’t you, Ash?’