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Chapters (86)
  1. Title Page
  2. CONTENTS
  3. Love
  4. Before
  5. One
  6. ONE
  7. Two
  8. TWO
  9. Three
  10. THREE
  11. Four
  12. FOUR
  13. Five
  14. FIVE
  15. Six
  16. SIX
  17. Seven
  18. SEVEN
  19. Eight
  20. EIGHT
  21. Nine
  22. NINE
  23. Ten
  24. TEN
  25. Eleven
  26. ELEVEN
  27. After
  28. One
  29. ONE
  30. Two
  31. TWO
  32. Three
  33. THREE
  34. Four
  35. FOUR
  36. Five
  37. FIVE
  38. Six
  39. SIX
  40. Seven
  41. SEVEN
  42. Eight
  43. EIGHT
  44. Nine
  45. NINE
  46. Ten
  47. TEN
  48. Eleven
  49. ELEVEN
  50. Twelve
  51. TWELVE
  52. Thirteen
  53. THIRTEEN
  54. Fourteen
  55. FOURTEEN
  56. Fifteen
  57. FIFTEEN
  58. Sixteen
  59. SIXTEEN
  60. Seventeen
  61. SEVENTEEN
  62. Eighteen
  63. EIGHTEEN
  64. Nineteen
  65. NINETEEN
  66. Twenty
  67. TWENTY
  68. Twenty-One
  69. TWENTY-ONE
  70. Twenty-Two
  71. TWENTY-TWO
  72. Twenty-Three
  73. TWENTY-THREE
  74. Twenty-Four
  75. TWENTY-FOUR
  76. Twenty-Five
  77. TWENTY-FIVE
  78. Twenty-Six
  79. TWENTY-SIX
  80. Twenty-Seven
  81. TWENTY-SEVEN
  82. Twenty-Eight
  83. TWENTY-EIGHT
  84. Eleven Months Later
  85. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  86. Copyright

‘That’s true,’ she concedes. ‘But how do you think she knows who’s going to die? She must have a direct line to someone and if she tells them about this, what do you think is going to happen to you? To Poppy?’

I don’t even want to contemplate it.

‘I’m not going to tell her,’ I say through my teeth. ‘I’m just going to subtly ask her what’s going on.’

Esen scoffs at that then throws her hands up and turns to Dev. ‘I give up.’

‘Ash, listen. You can’t.’ Dev tries this time, her forehead creased with concern. ‘You can’t risk it.’

‘She’s the only one who can tell me, Dev. Who else can I ask?’

‘What do you even want to ask Deborah?’ Esen says, unable to help herself, as always. ‘You know what’s going on.’

‘Yeah, but maybe—’

‘Yeah, but maybe nothing.’ Esen points her finger at me. She takes a step towards me, and looks me right in the eye. ‘You want to ask Deborah if there’s a way around this, don’t you? If you can stop it.’

She’s right, but I ignore her, uncrossing my arms and turning to look down at Poppy who is still sitting on the bench looking up at us. ‘Let’s go, babe.’

I half expect her to refuse, but to my surprise, when I hold out my hand to her, Poppy takes it. I feel her tremble as our palms touch and with that, we’re both completely calm as she stands up to face me.

‘Ash, please.’ Dev tries again. ‘Please think about this.’

I don’t want to think about it.

I want to know what this means.

So Poppy and I walk and keep walking, out of the graveyard and back to the bookshop, while Esen and Dev follow, trying to talk me out of it. We’re approaching the Komedia when Esen finally reaches for my arm to stop me.

‘For fuck’s sake, Ash,’ she spits, when I shrug her off. ‘Do you know what’s going to happen if Deborah finds out that your girlfriend can suddenly see you again?’ She tips her chin towards the light of the bookshop ahead of us. ‘That Poppy knows you’re a reaper?’ She looks back at Dev then at me again. ‘That we’re all reapers.’

I stare at her, Poppy’s hand in mine, warm and familiar. ‘I don’t care.’

‘You should care,’ Esen barks. ‘No good can come of this. You know that, right? I appreciate that you’re in shock, but you must know that.’ When I don’t respond, just squeeze Poppy’s hand, she waits for me to meet her gaze then shakes her head. ‘You’ve been doing this long enough to know that there are no happy endings here, Ash.’

Actually, that feels like dying all over again.