I imagined the five little girls on my front lawn, waiting and wanting, and a shudder went through me. I could still see the face of the first one who’d turned to look at me—her worn overalls and the half-dozen sparkly barrettes in her short hair.
“How am I supposed to forget what I just saw?”
“You can’t, Lizzie.” His hands fell from my shoulders, and he sighed. “It was only a glance, not enough to bring them here.”
“So you’re just trying to scare me?”
“You should be scared.” He was angry now, his brown eyes locked on mine. “Promise me you’ll never go near that house again.”
I turned away. I’d had enough of being afraid, and Mindy had been trapped with her fear for decades. I couldn’t just leave her in limbo, now that I knew where the bad man lived.
I chose my words carefully. “I promise I won’t ever see those little girls again.”
Yamaraj stared at me a moment longer, but finally he nodded. “Thank you.”
With the anger fallen from his voice, he sounded tired. He was probably starting to think that I was a lot of work, like a student driver who keeps crashing the car in her first lesson.
At least I knew that the bad man was still alive. Mindy was safe, for now. We had Yamaraj to thank for that.
“It was nice of you to come and save me.”
The storm in his eyes lifted a little. “I’m not sure you needed saving.”
“Maybe not. But it was fun seeing you chase that guy off.”
Now a smile danced at the edges of his mouth. “I was wondering if you were going to call. My sister was certain you would.”
“Oh? Does Yami have an opinion about me?”
“She thinks you might become a distraction.”
“I hope she’s right.”
He nodded. “She’s always right.”
“Yamaraj . . .” I shivered a little, saying his name aloud again.
“Call me Yama. ‘Raj’ is only a title.”
“Really? What does it mean?”
“Prince, or perhaps lord.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You mean, I’ve been calling you Lord Yama all this time?”
He was fighting a smile. “You’ve only said it once or twice.”
“Yeah, but I’ve been thinking it in my head!” I groaned, feeling like a ditz. “Anyway, now that I actually know your name, will that work? I can call you and you’ll come?”
He nodded. “The name is important, but it’s like traveling to a place. There also has to be a connection.”
“You heard me tonight. So there’s already a connection.”
“There is.” He took a step closer. “But it could be stronger, just to be safe.”
“And how do we do that?” My eyes were drifting closed.
“Like this.”
As his lips met mine, something keen and buzzing flowed into my body. It bloomed in my chest, making my breath skid and shudder, scattering the fear this long night had left inside me. The kiss grew hotter, fiercer as I pressed my mouth against his, hungry for more.
The wind of the river turned sharp and dry around us, filling with pinpricks that played across my skin. My eyes opened for a moment and I saw sparks swirling past, like when Yama had appeared to save me, the air burning around his feet.
“Did you make those?” I murmured.
“Not just me.”
We didn’t say much more.
* * *
An hour later I left him and descended into my bedroom, safe and welcoming and familiar. My skin still tingled. My body felt lighter. The cold place inside me was almost gone, burned away by Yama’s lips.
There was just one little problem left. My mother was sitting there on my bed, staring at her phone.
After everything that had happened tonight, I’d forgotten her coming into my room just before I’d sunk into the river. She hadn’t seen me, of course, and I was still on the flipside, but I couldn’t stay here forever.
With Yama’s body against mine, I had felt boundless, powerful. But now I felt like a little kid about to get grounded. If I went outside and came in through the front door, pretending to have been taking a walk, how would my mother respond? After this week, she might flip out. Or worse, start checking on me every night.
I didn’t even know how long I’d been gone. And I couldn’t let her sit here any longer, not knowing where I was. I had to think of a reasonable explanation why I wasn’t in bed.
Mindy was gone, probably having scampered back to my mother’s closet after I’d sunk through the floor. Which gave me an idea . . .
I wasn’t an expert at walking through walls yet, but the door to my closet was open a little from when I’d changed into jeans. I slipped inside, and settled myself on some dirty clothes on the floor. My closet wasn’t as spacious as my mother’s, but it was big enough to huddle there and pretend to be asleep.
I took a few sharp breaths, making my heart beat faster, and soon my grasp on the flipside was fading. The slant of light coming though the closet door showed colors bleeding back into the world.
When I’d crossed over, I quietly slipped out of my jeans and hoodie, then let out a soft yawn.
After a long wait in nervous silence, I was about to yawn again when I heard my mother’s voice.
“Lizzie?”
I pushed the closet door open. It swung with a plaintive creak, revealing my mother’s astonished expression.
“Oh, hey,” I said sleepily. “What’re you doing in here?”
“I heard your voice, and I came in to see what was up. And you weren’t . . .” She shook her head. “For heaven’s sake, Lizzie. What are you doing in your closet?”
“Um, sleeping.” I sat up, blinking my eyes and stretching. “I had this really scary dream. And after I woke up, it just felt safer in here.”
The sorrow on her face made me feel awful. But a made-up nightmare was a better explanation than, Got accosted by an evil psychopomp, then went to visit an old serial killer’s house. Oh, and hooked up.
“Lizzie, I’m so sorry. Do you need to talk about your dream?”
I shook my head. “No big deal, no airports or terrorists. It was just . . . my feet were stuck in this black goo. I was sinking.”
“That sounds awful, kiddo.”
“Sorry I woke you up.” I crawled from the closet and stood.