Kevin stepped back, looking around frantically. “Aphrodite?”
“Oh, shit. Sorry,” she said from beside him, still looking like he could reach out and touch her. “I should’ve warned you. I look like me, but since I’m actually, well, dead, I’m really just spirit and spirit doesn’t have a physical body—at least not here it doesn’t.”
Kevin ran his hand through his hair. “I guess that makes sense.” Then he stood there helplessly, not sure of what he should do next.
“Hey,” she spoke softly and moved closer to him. “It’s okay. I know this is weird for you, but I’m still me—and I still love you.”
Automatically, Kevin started to reach for her again, but he caught himself and instead fisted his hands at his sides. “I love you too. Goddess, I’ve missed you so damn much.”
Her expression was so filled with love that Kevin’s heart squeezed. “I love you too, and I know you’ve been in pain. I wish I could help. I tried, but I don’t know if it did any good.”
“You mean when the champagne bottle popped!”
“Yeah,” she nodded, calling his attention to her thick mane of haphazardly curly hair that framed her face and swept down her back.
“I thought it was you! Grandma Redbird told me to expect a sign and you actually gave me one. Did—did you hear me talking to you too?”
“I did that night. I do hear you sometimes, but I think it depends on where I am in Nyx’s Realm. It’s a big place.”
Kevin was studying her, trying to memorize every inch, and as he did he realized that many of those inches looked different than when she was alive. Her hair was the first difference. It was way more relaxed than he’d ever seen it. Actually, it looked kind of wild and messy and even a little frizzy. As far as he could tell she wasn’t wearing any makeup—at all. Her clothes were super different. She had on a long skirt made of layers of pastel fabric mixed with what he was pretty sure his g-ma would call vintage lace. Her shirt was a simple aqua-blue tee that was just a shade lighter than her eyes and she had it tied up so that he caught a glimpse of skin. She wasn’t wearing any jewelry or—he realized with a start—shoes.
“Hey, just because I don’t always hear you doesn’t mean I don’t listen for you. I want you to know you can talk to me for as long as you need to. And I’ll try to send you little signs.”
“Okay, uh, thanks.” He wiped a hand across his face and started over. “Sorry, it’s just … you look different. Good, but different,” he added quickly.
She glanced down at herself and shrugged. “I don’t pay attention to the things I used to obsess over.” When she looked up at him, she grinned impishly with more cheeky joy than he’d ever seen before. “This no-shoes thing is obviously new to me. It makes you even taller.” Then she peered around him. “Is that why Stark is back there gawking at me with his mouth flopped open?”
Kevin looked over his shoulder at Stark, who hastily closed his mouth. “Dude, are you staring like a tourist?”
Stark scowled and walked to them. “To not be a tourist here means something very permanent. Uh, hi,” he said to Aphrodite, nodding awkwardly. “You look good. Different, but still good.”
“Thanks. That’s what Kev just said. You don’t look so great. You’re bleeding.”
He grimaced at his bloody mess of an arm. “Yeah. It’s the cost we paid to get here. At least it doesn’t hurt right now.”
She lifted one of her shoulders. “Well, Bow Boy, every choice you make in life has a payment and a consequence. The difference here is that you knew the payment first. Wonder what the consequence will be?”
“Hopefully, that we stop the Neferets from ruining our worlds,” Stark muttered.
“You’re no less grumpy than I remembered. That’s a shame.” Then she refocused on Kevin. “So, you being here has something to do with Neferet?”
“You don’t know why we’re here?”
“No! I just felt your call. I thought you were dead. Here’s something you won’t hear me say often—I’m glad I was wrong.”
“But would that be such a bad thing? We could be together then.”
“Hey, I want you to listen to me closely—I do not want you to die young. I want you to live a full, long, happy life. I want you to love passionately and often—to form your own kind of family—to experience the world and to fulfill your destiny. Do you hear me?”
Kevin stared down at his feet. “I hear you. It’s just—don’t you miss me at all?”
“Kev, look at me.”
His gaze lifted.
“I don’t know how this is possible, but here’s the truth. We take love with us when we die, but it’s like our souls get washed of all the bad stuff and when that happens, we no longer feel sadness or longing. We love without all that other crap. So, my feelings for you haven’t changed—actually, if anything they’re deeper than they were when I was alive—but I don’t miss you. It’s just love here—always love.”
“It’s hard because it’s not like that for the people you leave behind.”
“I know. And I’m really sorry. But you know what makes the missing easier to bear?” She didn’t wait for him to answer. Instead, Aphrodite smiled and continued, “Loving again. Living a life full of adventures. Putting yourself out there. Promise me you’ll try.”
“I promise,” he said softly.
Stark cleared his throat. “Even though a ghost will probably label me grumpy. Again. I gotta remind you that the clock is ticking and Neferet is ahead of us. Can we please get going?”
Aphrodite flipped back her hair. “I am not a ghost. And you are grumpy. Dying would definitely help your attitude.”
Stark blanched chalk white.
Aphrodite rolled her eyes. “Oh, for shit’s sake—I’m just kidding. I’m good, but I can’t cause your death. And I wouldn’t even if I could. Relax and take
