Pulse

Chapter 42

Lucie

I squinted down at the inked characters on the notecard in my hands, turning the paper over this way and that. I was alone outside, seated on my front stoop, the dry air whirling around me. Sunlight beat down on my skin, the heat humming in crashing waves. A few lonely cars slowly drove by.

651 Redmane Dr.

I managed a rueful grin, though only I was there to see it. "This could be it, Dempsey."

"What could be it?"

I almost cursed, but drew in a long inhale instead, turning to see Vinny, who—you guessed it—had magically "poofed" himself beside me. I guess I should've known he was there, the cause of the goosebump-initiating cold I was suddenly surrounded with. I rubbed my shoulders to warm them, shaking my head at the ground. "Vinny, you can't keep doing that."

He gave me a sheepish grin. "Sorry. It's kind of in my nature. Are you okay?"

I crumbled the paper and shoved it in my pocket, folding my arms instead. Vinny's lip twitched, but he said nothing. "I'm fine, Vinny. Where's Cian?"

"He got a call from someone and told me to go outside," Vinny answered, looking towards the city skyline in the distance. He placed his cheek in his hand, glittering eyes focused on the spires of faded, gray skyscrapers. I glimpsed him then, and couldn't get over how young he looked there: knees bent on the steps to my front door, slightly downturned lips as he averted his eyes from me. What went on in his mind, I wondered, when he saw the world? The world that didn't know him, didn't notice him, left him behind with each passing second?

I looked away. "Who do you think it is?"

"Probably Caprice. Besides us, that's the only other person he talks to."

"I don't like her."

Vinny scoffed. "Who does? But, you know, she is the only other angel of death in this area. Their relationship's kind of unavoidable."

"Yeah, I guess," I murmured, picking up a nearby stick and starting to whirl it around in the grass. I could feel Vinny watching me. "Sorry, by the way. About earlier."

"Hmm?"

"The mouth-mashing."

"Oh," Vinny said, then rolled his eyes, sitting back and straightening his legs out. He placed his hands behind his head and squinted up at the sun before quickly looking away again. "I mean, I am still a little bit scarred, but otherwise I have made a full recovery. It's not important anyway...Lucie?"

I hadn't realized I'd zoned off, but I had. At the sound of my name, my eyes came back into focus, the stick slipping from my hands. In the grass I'd scrawled Eden's address at least six times, mindlessly so. I groaned.

"I know you're apprehensive."

"I'm not."

"You are as horrible a liar as my brother," commented Vinny, with a breathy laugh. "Jesus. Look—it's okay! Like you said, this is the closest we've ever come, and I know that worries you."

I said nothing, just kept staring at the numbers I'd written over and over again. Vinny's gaze was the only thing tangible about him; I felt it like someone's breath down my neck.

"You're thinking it's another dead end," Vinny went on. "Or...no. No, that's not it, is it?"

The expression I turned towards the ghost was both a warning and a sign of confusion. "Vinny?"