Clark might have thought that I'd hidden long enough, but I didn't agree, which was why I took my sweet time as I made my way back to the room where I'd left Death and Leon.

I assumed that their meeting would drag on, especially if Leon intended to provide a full report on our first trip together. Therefore, I wouldn't have been missed. Besides, I couldn't go anywhere. In fact, as far as I saw it, the only place I might wander to in the afterlife that was remotely dangerous was Hell. I hoped the pair knew I had more sense than to pootle off to the underworld while Clark was doing everything in his power to keep me from doing just that.

The door was closed upon my return. The dense wooden structure was more than adept at keeping the noise inside, but it hit me like a train when I forced the door to give way without knocking. I figured either the pair had left, or they were long since finished with whatever discussion I wasn't permitted to hear.

I was wrong on both counts.

"– can't always be her babysitter!" Leon shouted furiously. "There! I said she would come back on her own!"

Leon's voice had come from the ceiling where he was held aloft by Death's supernatural power. His limbs were spread out and, like he was some horror movie starfish, he gritted his teeth and struggled fruitlessly to free himself. Death's bony hand was held out, invisibly pinning the Reaper in place. At Leon's announcement that I'd returned, Death turned away from Leon. The spell was broken, and the Reaper yelped when he dropped to the ground like a rock.

"I expected you to wait outside," Death said as though he hadn't almost killed Leon.

"You just told me to leave," I reminded him. "You didn't say where I should go."

Death paused. "I see. I suppose I could have been more specific in my instruction."

Leon staggered to his feet. "So, if I refuse to go look for her, I get thrown into the ceiling. She admits that she wandered off on her own, and you think you should've given better instructions?"

If Death had been in possession of eyes, I imagined they'd have narrowed in frustration. The skeleton flung out his arm and Leon was knocked back into the sofa. The whole piece of furniture was upended when it was struck, and Leon tumbled backwards over it to hit the floor on the other side.

"I got lost." I worked to keep my gaze affixed on Death rather than seeking out Leon, even though I was certain he was hurt from the way he groaned. "Clark found me."

"I'm glad to hear that at least someone was concerned about your whereabouts. I shall send my thanks to Clark." Death pressed his bony hand to his chest. "I offer my apologies. You must have thought me very rude when I snapped at you."

I had, but I wasn't about to tell him as much. I simply shook my head so that my tone wouldn't betray the lie.

"You are very gracious," he observed.

Silence pressed in around us for a few moments. Hesitantly, I asked, "Am I in trouble? For what happened during the collection, I mean."

"No. Leon has accepted full responsibility for his actions."

"His actions? I was the one who wandered off."

"And he acknowledges that he made a mistake in letting you out of his sight so easily. Any more such incidents and he will be severely punished for his negligence." Death turned to Leon, "I will be watching you both closely from here on out. Don't disappoint me again."

"Yes, Sir," Leon replied automatically.

My voice was stuck in my throat. It was just as well because anything I said would make the situation worse. It didn't seem right to me that Death blamed Leon for everything, nor that the Reaper had just accepted it. If I'd been in his place, I'd have been enraged by the injustice of it all. I guessed that Leon was just better at his job than I was which made sense since I'd only been at it for a few chapters. Death patted me heavily on the shoulder on his way out and closed the door in his wake.

It'd been settled in the frame for only a few seconds before Leon rounded on me and asked, "Are you stupid?"

"What?"

"Do you know what would happen if you took the blame for what happened? You'd be fired and sitting in the waiting room for an eternity."

"No, I wouldn't," I retorted stubbornly. "Death likes me."

"He likes Reapers who can do their jobs."

"So why did you take the blame? Who says that you won't get fired?" I challenged. "Are you special or something?"

"I can't get fired. I've got an eternal contract. I'm a Reaper no matter what happens."

"Okay, well, I didn't know that."

"Obviously."

I flushed. I'd honestly thought he was just being arrogant and angry, not that he was looking out for my best interests. It made me rather uncomfortable to realise that Leon – the self-same Leon who had been so adamant that I shouldn't be his partner in the first place – had done something to protect me at the expense of his own reputation.

Leon hastened to add, "Not because I like you. Because I'm tired of having new partners all the time. It's easier to have you working with me than training up someone as pig-headed as Jack again."

"Good. Because I don't like you, either," I agreed. "And I might not even go back for you next time Alistair shows up."

"As if I need you to come back for me."

"You needed me," I said. "You were all – you know – like a damsel in distress."

Leon snorted softly with laughter. "Me? A damsel? Weren't you the one who didn't know to put the pointy end of the scythe into the enemy?"

I pointed a finger in an accusatory fashion. "You were the one who said that was wrong!"

"Yeah, for the people we're collecting. If you're being attacked, then you try to turn your enemy into a kebab. Everyone knows that."

"Then I should have my own scythe," I said. "Unless you want to just hand over yours, that is."

"No. You're not ready."

"Mean." I pouted.

"I think we've already established that I am mean." Leon grabbed my hand and pulled me closer with a hard tug. Closing my fingers in his, he vowed, "We'll work together from here on out, okay? Partners. I'll teach you everything I know about collecting souls so you can earn your way to the other side. But you must listen to my instructions, and no more wandering off into danger. Deal?"

It was a fair exchange. Leon wanted rid of me, and I wanted to go to Heaven, so we both had something to gain from the partnership.

I nodded just once, squeezing his hand as tightly as I could in reply. "Deal."

***

Still, there was being cautious, and there was being ridiculous.

Death's threats had struck a chord with Leon. Rather than taking me back out into the field as any merciful Reaper would, he had insisted that I read through volumes of incident reports and registers left by his predecessors so that I would fully understand the risks that came with the job.

I'd been sat down so long that I couldn't feel my legs. I longed for the time when I could at least use things like having to go to the toilet as an excuse to escape the mundane and repetitive tasks of the day. I didn't even have a phone to distract me. Checking my social media pages would have been a wonderful distraction from the reams of information regarding Hell Hound attacks.

"Leon," I groaned after finishing the last page of book number – oh God – I didn't even know. I'd been at it for days. Maybe over a week. Now I understood why no one had watches in the afterlife, they didn't want to track just how many hours they were wasting with repetitive, brain-numbing tasks. "I get it, okay? Can we go somewhere? Please?"

"I'm not asking you to do anything that I haven't done myself," he replied.

"Seriously? You read all of this? Willingly?"

"God, no. Not willingly. And I skim read. I got the gist of it."

"The gist? You told me I had to take in every word!" I exclaimed.

Leon shrugged. "I know what I said."

"Know what? I don't even care that you're already dead. I'm going to club you into a second death with one of these books."

He smirked. "Irritated?"

"Like you wouldn't believe."

"I should probably take a walk, then," he decided. "I wouldn't want to be here distracting you from your work."

I slammed my hands down on the table. "You're going to leave me here on my own?"

"Yes. Is that a problem?" Leon asked in an innocent tone.

"Yes."

"I didn't think you'd be so desperate for my company," he teased slyly. "If you beg, I'll stay."

"I'd rather die. Again."

"Well, then," he stood from the sofa, "I guess I'll be going. Don't shirk off just because I'm not here. I'll be asking you some questions later."

As soon as he was out of the door, I dropped my head onto the table. A precarious stack of books near the edge took offense to this and thudded to the ground, falling open on various pages, the paper squashed and bent under the weight of the covers and the volumes which landed atop them. I let out a long, agonised groan against the table and closed my eyes.

If I'd known this was what was waiting for me, I'd have taken my chances in a waiting room over becoming a Reaper. I thought that Leon might break and take me back to Earth. Not because I was desperate to pick up souls or anything. Like, sure it was rewarding work. Important, too, given there were Hell Hounds all over the place waiting to drag innocent people to Hell. But I had another reason for wanting to return to the human world and it was completely selfish.

I wanted to find my family.

I wasn't stupid enough to think that I could talk to them. They wouldn't even know I was there. Clark had said that we all live on different planes and all that stuff, but it was a whole chapter ago and I couldn't remember his full explanation. What I'd taken away from his info-dump was that we were going to be apart forever. Still, that didn't make me yearn for them any less. Didn't stop me from wanting to check in with them now and again. I had no idea how much time had passed for my parents and sister while I'd been stuck doing homework on Leon's orders, but I couldn't just forget that their lives were moving on without me, nor could I erase the gaping hole their absence left in my life.

Well, death.

For all I knew, a year had passed for them. Maybe more. They could have had Christmases and birthdays without me. They might have moved on with their grief and found a way to cope since I'd died. Yet, for me, it was all fresh. Recent. Inescapably so seeing as everything in my present state was a constant reminder of my untimely departure from the world of the living and the people I loved.

With a shuddering breath, I closed my eyes, trying to force such thoughts out of my mind. There were only two ways that we were going to truly be reunited. Either I needed to make a miraculous recovery and return to being alive, or they had to die. The first was impossible, and the latter wasn't something I'd dare wish on them.

God, I hated feeling this way. Caught between a desire for my family to live long, happy lives, and the bitter envy and rage that I felt that I couldn't share in it.

Maybe it was best that he hadn't taken me into the field. With the way that I felt, I might just have run off again in some desperate search for someone I knew. I might even be tempted to linger on and fade away like the person I'd seen in the station at the end of chapter three. That is, if Alistair didn't find me first.

I reached out a hand and shoved more books onto the floor. The slams as they collided with their fellows didn't make me feel any better and Leon would only make me clean up the mess when he got back, but it was a momentary distraction from my grief. I folded my arms into a pillow and burrowed my head down into them. I might not have needed to sleep in death, but a nap seemed like the best way to escape from the bleakness of my reality, even if only for an hour.