hers, rubbing it to warm her. I try to ignore the sound of the wind beating against her house and the memories of Minos accusing me at knifepoint.
“I was there. In the back.”
“I didn’t see you,” I say.
“I saw Randy.” She turns to me at this, and her eyes dig into mine, but they look odd. Like her pupils are tiny dots in the center of giant, oversized irises. Irises so big they should touch the boundaries of her eyes. But there’s white all around—encompassing them. I remember something I heard once about white showing all around the eye. Something about violent death.
My heart skips a beat, and I’m afraid to look away. Like Chloe might vanish on me or something. Sink down right now into the ground and be swallowed up. “Randy’s dead,” I say. “It was his funeral.”
And Chloe cannot be seeing ghosts.
But Chloe shakes her head so furiously, I’m actually happy. It’s the first bit of emotion she’s shown since her near-death experience. “No! I saw him there. He was watching. Listening.” And she grips my hand with such force my knuckles feel like they might pop.
Her mom walks back in the room right then and sets two cups of steamy coffee down on the table. She gives me a small smile, but then a boom of thunder hits. We all jump, and Chloe’s mom bumps her hand into one of the cups, splashing coffee over the side. I pull my hand away from Chloe’s and reach for a towel to wipe it up.
Chloe’s mom mouths me a silent, “Thank you.”
I nod in response, and then she leaves the room.
Chloe takes a long sip of coffee and then rubs her hands together, warming them. “So what’s going on Piper?”
This is it. I can tell her about everything. Reese. Shayne. The Underworld. I can warn her to stay far away from Reese. But as I go over the phrasing, it just feels so off. I’m walking around in a world of mythology; who is going to believe that?
Outside, there’s a groaning, like a giant metal monster has just woken up. Chloe and I both jump at the sound because it sounds like something is going to crash in on us. I look to the window, but she has the shades pulled. And then the sound stops.
I wait for my breath to return. “I’m not sure where to start,” I say.
Chloe gives me a smile. “Start anywhere. I feel like I’ve lost the last week.” It’s like it’s the old Chloe. She’s back. And Death has left her behind.
I scoot closer to her and relink my fingers with hers. Her hands have warmed up again, and her tattoo is normal. I look to mine and see they match. Black and solid.
For some reason, Minos’s words come back to me.
I start with something easy. “My mom got back today,” I say, grasping for straws. “She said my father wants custody.”
“Custody?” Chloe’s voice echoes my own amazement.
“Yeah. Weird, huh?”
The metal outside groans again though not as loud. I think the wind must be hitting against the metal beams.
“Totally weird. You’re eighteen. Parents don’t get custody at eighteen.”
“That’s what I thought, too.” And then I lean closer though no one is around to hear. “I have to admit I’m a little curious, Chloe.”
She moves her fingers until our thumbs press together. “About your father?”
I nod. “I might get to meet him. And he wants me in his life.”
Chloe purses her lips. “I don’t know, Piper. He got convicted as a terrorist.”
“That’s what my mom says. But maybe she’s lying. Maybe she’s just been keeping me away from him.”
Chloe doesn’t answer. She knows if it were up to my mom, I’d live with her until I was a hundred years old.
“Seriously, Chloe. I want to meet him.”
Chloe doesn’t seem to hear me. Or she chooses to ignore me. “He was so sad, Piper.”
“My father?”
Chloe shakes her head. “Randy. His father beats his mom. And his little sister. Did you know that? She’s only seven.”
The blood freezes in my veins at her words, and the chill that runs through me knocks the wind out of me. How could Chloe possibly know Randy Conner’s final sorrow? How could she know about his abusive father? I lived next to him for four years, yet I had no idea.
“He asked me to help. Wanted me to do something.” Chloe looks away, and I can finally blink when her enlarged eyes leave mine.
I believe her. She’s talked with Randy Conner’s spirit as surely as I’ve gone to Hell. “What can you do?” When I say it, I’m not really asking her. I’m asking Shayne, but I know he won’t answer. His realm is the Underworld, not abusive dealings of the world above. He’s made that clear.
Chloe sighs, but she doesn’t answer. She wraps her arms back around herself, and turns away. “I did it again, Piper.”
“Did what?” I ask. At this point, I have no idea where Chloe’s disjointed conversation will take me. And I realize she’s not ready for me to tell her anything about my life just yet.
“It was this weird urge,” she says.
“Weird like how?”
Chloe actually lets out a laugh; there’s not an ounce of humor in it. “I cut my sheets into thin strips.”
I try to hold my face steady and act like maybe this is a normal thing. “Oh. Why?”
Chloe shakes her head, making her brown bandana fall askew. But she doesn’t straighten it. “They felt so dirty. I washed them but it didn’t help, so I cut them up. But I still can’t sleep on the bed, Piper, so I moved to the floor.”
My breathing has stopped, but I manage to get words out. “Why did they feel dirty?” Out of nowhere, I imagine Chloe sleeping with someone on her bed and then needing to wash the sheets afterward. I know Chloe’s slept with two guys before, but there’s no one I’m aware of at the present.
Chloe doesn’t turn to me and doesn’t reply.
“What’s wrong, Chloe?”
In profile, I see a tear creep into the corner of her eye, but her lips stay together. I’m tempted to press her—to ask her again. But the wind slams into the house again, and this time, it hits the window and sends glass scattering into the room. I jump up but Chloe doesn’t even move. I hear her mom from the kitchen calling in to ask what happened.
“Are you going to be okay?” I ask.
She nods. “You need to leave, Piper.”
Hurt runs through me. I start to ask why, but she talks again.
“Now, Piper. Just please leave now.”
Chapter 28
Retribution
I nod and stand up and wipe the tears that spring into my eyes. Chloe acts like she’s two different people. But she is right. I need to get out of here. I need to get out of the city. The metal groans again, and all of a sudden, I know what it is. They are opening the growth slats on the domes; they’re going to try to grow the glass. Even though the domes haven’t had time to regenerate, they’re still going to try.
I take a step for the door, but Chloe doesn’t even look at me. Maybe the sheet ripping thing was just like the
