Grim Reaper 01 - Embrace the Grim Reaper

that one. Is the white noise machine still in there?”
    “With the button set to ocean waves. Off you go.”
    Eric didn’t look like he could get out of his chair. Casey hesitated, then offered her hand to pull him up. He lurched out of the chair, stopped from falling only by Casey grabbing his arms. He stepped back. “Sorry.”
    Casey patted his elbows and headed toward the stairs, Eric padding along behind her. Solomon greeted them at the upstairs landing, where he sat directly across from Casey’s room.
    “He want in?” Eric asked.
    Casey shook her head. “Watch.”
    She opened her door, and Solomon arched his back, his tail growing to twice its normal size. He hissed, spat, and raced down the hallway.
    “Whoa,” Eric said. “What are you keeping in there?”
    “Oh, you know. Creepy things.”
    “I guess so.” He looked down toward the other rooms. “See you in the morning, then.” He stopped at the second room and opened the door. Solomon scampered inside. “Well,” Eric said. “Seems I’m not creepy.”
    Casey snorted, and went into her room.
    “I am not creepy.” Death perched on the window seat. “I’m impressive . Scary I can take. Or frightening. Even immobilizing. But I am not creepy .”
    Casey ignored this and walked into the bathroom, slamming the door.
    “I can still see you, you know!”
    “So shut your eyes.”
    A minute later Casey opened the door. “Don’t you have someplace else to be?” she said around her toothbrush. “Isn’t someone dying somewhere?”
    “Oh, Casey, you refuse to understand, don’t you? I can be in more than one place at a time.”
    Casey spat into the sink. “You’re getting that annoying tone of voice again. Your patronizing one.”
    “If I could only be one place at one time I’d never get everything done. Like Santa Claus.”
    “You are not like Santa Claus.” Casey’s throat tightened. She had never gotten a chance to decide whether or not she’d let Omar believe in Santa.
    “That’s true. Santa’s not real. But in every other sense we are the same.”
    Casey got a T-shirt from the wardrobe and went back behind the bathroom door to undress and pull it over her head. “Yeah, you’re so jolly and happy. And like to dress in red.”
    “I can’t help it I look best in black.”
    “The sleigh with flying reindeer?”
    “My coach has white horses. And while I don’t like them, I have to admit they can fly.”
    “Delivering presents?”
    Death laughed. “What’s better than receiving your eternal reward?”
    Casey stalked back out to the bedroom and yanked down the covers on the bed. “Now listen. I am going to get good sleep for the first time in three days. No bad dreams. No interruptions. You leave me alone.”
    “I’ll just sit here quietly.”
    “No, you won’t. You will go away and let me sleep in peace. For once.” She climbed under the down tick and pulled it up to her chin.
    Death came over to the side of the bed and reached out to touch Casey’s face. She flinched.
    “Come now, child. You know you like me.”
    “Liking you and wanting to go with you are two entirely different things. And since you refuse the one, I certainly won’t do the other.”
    “Now you’re getting confusing.”
    “So go bother someone else who will make it easy on you.” She reached over and turned out the lamp by the bed.
    And waited. There was no sound. No movement.
    “Are you still there?” she finally said to the room.
    No response.
    She snuggled further down into the bed, sighing with pleasure at the feel of the clean sheets and soft mattress. The hum of the furnace made her cozy and warm, and she wrapped her arms around a pillow, pulling it to her.
    When she was almost asleep, her breathing even and her body relaxed, she felt it. A whisper of breath, a sigh, floating past her cheek.
    “Reuben?” she whispered.
    There was no answer.

Chapter Thirty-three
    A ray of sunlight snuck through the side of the curtain and pierced Casey’s eye. She groaned, rolled over, and tried to go back to sleep. It didn’t work. She opened her eyes all the way and saw the clock. She sat up. “Ten-thirty!”
    She lay back down, her head swimming. The smell of something delicious hovered in the air around her. Bread? Sausage? She couldn’t quite tell. Her stomach rumbled.
    “Okay, okay.”
    She pushed down the covers and swung her legs over the side of the bed, giving a huge yawn. Rubbing her face, she walked over to the window and flung