I lay in my bed staring at the ceiling.

I should be worried. I should be wondering what Crystal is telling Cupid and Cal right now about Charon.

And I am wondering. A bit, anyway...

But mostly I'm just trying to fight the grin that keeps threatening to spread across my face as my mind goes over what just happened.

You're my girlfriend, right?

Yes.

Warmth spreads through my body. After spending the past weeks in some weird kind of dance, not speaking about what we mean to each other, we've finally said it. We've finally spoken about what's been on our minds.

I look to one side of me – my stuffed bunny sits on the dark pink pillow. My grin spreads as I remember Cupid teasing me about him that night he stayed over.

I wish he was here now.

My grin falters as I think about what he told me – about the girl from his past. There are so many things I should have asked him before I was distracted by his mouth on mine. Who was she? Where is she now? And why did Crystal seem so concerned about her?

But even now, the mere memory of his lips moving against mine sends heat flooding through my body and consumes my thoughts. I rub my face, bring myself back to reality, and I turn on my side to look at my bedside table. My cell phone sits on its surface.

Cupid said Crystal had interpreted the Morse code on Charon's computer. He should be in touch soon to let me know what it said.

I stare at it for a while, though my thoughts are elsewhere. Finally, it buzzes.

Hurriedly I jolt upright, swipe if off the table, and open the message on the screen.

Lovebug, I'm forwarding you an email.

This isn't good...

Cupid.

I frown, my heart starting to beat fast. I pull my laptop from under my bed, open my emails, and find the one from Cupid.

Transcript from the Ferry Log is written in the subject line.

I click it and read the text on the screen.

October 14.

Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!

The ferry has been overrun!

Forgive me!

I frown and look at the next instalments.

November 19

Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!

They have turned the ferry around. I have been taken captive.

We are no longer pointed toward the underworld.

December 28

Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!

Some of the dead have taken life rafts.

They have used the obals to pay the toll to get back to the world of the living.

Many more are here.

I cannot fight them.

I bite my lip, my breathing quickening.

January 14

Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!

We are halted at the barrier between the living and the dead.

They cannot get the ferry through.

It holds.

For now.

I scroll down to the last message.

February 2

Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!

If they find a way break this barrier.

God help us all.

Coldness seeps through my veins. I read the last message again.

If they find a way break this barrier.

God help us all.

My pulse races and I shiver, pulling my sheets closer to myself. With a tremble in my hand I reach pick my cell phone up and I call Cupid.

He answers immediately.

"He's keeping all his zombies on Charon's ferry," I say quietly.

"Yes," says Cupid.

"Do you think that's where he's keeping Morta's shears, and Cal's thread?"

"I think so."

"He's trying to break the barrier between the living and the dead. That's what he's going to try and do on Valentine's Day, isn't it?"

"It looks like it..."

I bite my lip, my pulse racing.

"Why? What the hell are we going to do?!"

There's a pause.

"Crystal has an idea," says Cupid. "I'll pick you up after school tomorrow, OK?"

***

During our classics and history class the next day I tell Charlie about the messages from Charon. And I tell her about my new boyfriend.

Boyfriend.

I like the way that sounds.

She makes a loud squealing sound as I tell her, which causes the rest of the class to turn around and look at us, and Ms. Green to frown. Instantly Charlie turns the squeal into a weird kind of cough.

"Um...sorry...just something stuck in my throat..."

Ms. Green shakes her head then goes back to talking about some old vases in a museum or something and Charlie leans over to my desk.

"Tell me everything," she whispers dramatically.

I go over our talk in the car, how we'd kissed afterwards, and how he stopped me just before I went inside.

You're my girlfriend, right?

Yes.

"I don't know who this girl from his past was though – I didn't get chance to ask him."

"Too busy kissing," says Charlie, wiggling her eyebrows in an exaggerated fashion.

"Oh my God! Stop that right now!" I say.

She wiggles her eyebrows again and we both burst into laughter causing another stern look from Ms. Green.

Charlie leans over again.

"Have you googled it?" she asks. "Like...googled whether he had a girlfriend or something?"

I shake my head.

"It's not a nice thought, but I'm sure he's had a lot of girlfriends in the past...how would I even know who it was?" I say. I think about Selena, the siren from Club Elysium, "I mean I've already met one of them. Plus, I'd prefer for him to tell me himself, anyway."

She shrugs.

"I suppose. But there might be something in some old myth that might be some use here."

We fall silent as the class continues. As the bell rings for lunch Charlie grins at me.

"I have an idea," she says. "Follow me."

I give her a look.

"Charlie? Seriously?!"

But she's already thrown on her satchel and is walking over to Ms. Green's desk. I hurry after her while everyone else is barging out of the doors. Ms. Green looks up at us in question.

"Do you have any books on mythology?" she says.

Ms. Green looks somewhat shocked at Charlie's apparent interest in her class.

"Yes...What kind of mythology?" she replies.

"Anything about... Cupid?" says Charlie.

She shoots me a sideways grin and I raise an eyebrow at her, folding my arms across my chest.

I don't like this – it feels like spying, somehow. But then a thought occurs to me.

"Anything about Charon could be useful, too," I add.

Ms. Green looks at us confused for a moment, then shrugs. She brings out a pen and scribbles a list of books down onto a sheet of paper.

"These should all be in the library. If you're interested in mythology these are the ones I'd start with."

We head out of class with the list.

Charlie catches my unimpressed with her look.

"It's just for research purposes!" she says.

I roll my eyes.

"Fine...but I think we've already established that myths aren't quite the same as we've been told, anyway. I mean Mino isn't half man half bull, Morta and the Fates keep their life threads on a computer system, and well...Cupid..." I think at how I'd laughed when Cal had first told me about Cupid back in the Matchmaking Service, "he's not entirely how I'd imagined..."

Charlie shrugs.

"Speaking of which," she says. "Have you got your outfit ready for the cupid themed dance on Friday?"

We continue to chat as we make our way to the school library.

***

Cupid is already in the parking lot when I finish school. He's leaning against the hood of his car, and picking up a number of admiring looks from some of the female students as they pass him by. Unlike the first time I met him, though, he doesn't seem to notice.

I linger in the exit to the school building for a moment to watch him. I don't blame them for looking. He looks good.

The black eye Valentine had given him a few days ago has healed already, and he's looking more like his usual self. He's dressed in a long sleeved black top, dark jeans, and black combat boots, playing about casually with his cell.

As I'm watching him he looks up suddenly. His eyes immediately find mine and a grin spreads across his face.

Why do I suddenly feel a bit nervous around him?

I have a flash back to last night, his hand on my leg, his mouth on mine.

You're my girlfriend, right?

Yes.

I feel a flush of heat in my cheeks.

I shake it off then make my way across the parking lot toward him. As I do, I notice Chloe, one of the girls from class, watching him with interest by her car – but he doesn't take his eyes off mine.

"Hi," I say as I approach.

He takes a step toward me, puts his hand on the side of my face, and leans down to lightly brush his lips against mine. My stomach clenches and warmth floods my body.

He pulls back, his grin widening.

"Hi," he says.

Somewhere to the side of me I hear Chloe's car door shut – clearly realizing that she has no chance with Cupid.

But my focus is fully consumed by Cupid.

"So, how was my girlfriend's day today?" asks Cupid with a sly grin.

I roll my eyes at him but can't help but grin back.

"It was fine. Just school, you know?"

He nods, the grin spreading, his hands firmly on my arms – his warmth engulfing me even in the cool air.

I want to just bask in it, bask in him, for a moment.

But then reality hits me.

Valentine has somehow managed to hijack Charon's ferry of the dead, he needs me to carry out his plan, and we don't have much time to stop him.

I sigh.

"Shall we go?" I say.

Cupid nods – opening the car door for me.

Soon we're on the road – heading back to the Cupids Matchmaking Service to find out what Crystal's plan is.