Grim Crush (Grimly Ever After) Read Online Free PDF Page B

eyes studied me. “There’s something about you I haven’t figured out yet. But I will. Even if I have to pry it out of you.” He grinned.
    I responded with a nervous smile, swallowing. Then I ran away until I had a clear place to teleport from.

 
     
     
     
    Chapter 5
     
    “Shilah, I’d like you to meet my best friend, Jayza,” I introduced, giving my friend a gentle push. She stiffly stumbled a baby step forward. Good gracious, this girl acted like the living would bite.
    Shilah stuck out his hand. “Hi, nice to meet you.”
    Jayza’s eyes widened, and she gave me a look. I gave her one back that said, see, I told you .
    Jayza turned back to Shilah and jerked out her hand, as if she were a robot. Shilah shook it, and my friend cringed when his hand didn’t pass through hers. I’d warned her not to react that way.
    Shilah didn’t seem to notice. “So, Jayza, is it just me, or does Xia act weird to you?”
    “Uh…” Jayza looked just as uncomfortable as I had when I first talked to Shilah. “Yes, she’s definitely weird. Like, beyond weird.”
    I glared at her as Shilah laughed.
    “Girl, you are just as weird as me,” I reminded. “You’re from Italy too.”
    “Italy?” Jayza questioned, a confused look on her face. Then she nodded. “Oh, yeah. Right. Italy.”
    “Anyway,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Jayza has been wanting to meet you, so I brought her here today.”
    “Oh,” Shilah said. “So you talk about me?”
    “Not a lot, Mr. Ego,” I muttered as Shilah grinned. “Jayza just wanted to know who I go see.”
    “I wonder if Jayza will tell me things that you won’t.” Shilah turned to my friend. “Like, where does Xia go all the time? Why is she so busy?”
    I bit my bottom lip and glanced uneasily at Jayza. She answered, “Xia’s father is very demanding of her.”
    Shilah lifted his eyebrows at me. “You work for your dad?”
    “Yeah,” I replied reluctantly. The Angel of Death was my boss, too.
    “What do you do for him?”
    Reap dead souls . “I collect…stuff…from people.”
    “And you’re not going to tell me what you collect, are you?”
    I shook my head. “I can’t. I’m sorry.” I didn’t want to lie to him if I didn’t have to.
    “So, yesterday, you suddenly remembered you had to collect something for your dad?”
    “Yes. This girl needed to give him something.” That girl had wanted to give up her soul. I had responded to a suicide, which was why it had been unscheduled. “I would’ve gotten in big trouble if I didn’t do it.”
    Jayza nodded in agreement. “Yeah, there are major consequences if we don’t do what we’re told.”
    “So you work for Xia’s dad too?” Shilah asked.
    “Yep.”
    “I see.” Shilah didn’t look like he believed everything coming out of our mouths. I thought we sounded pretty convincing, since most of what we were saying was true.
    Jayza turned to me. “Well, Xia, I should get going. I have to go to a fire to pick up–”
    Panicking, I made gestures telling her to stop what she was about to say.
    “–my…brother-in-law,” Jayza said instead. I winced.
    “Fire?” Shilah repeated, his eyes large.
    “Uh, she means fire department ,” I lied. “Her brother-in-law is a fireman. Jayza gets confused with the English language sometimes, so she forgets to say certain words.”
    Jayza narrowed her eyes at me. “Hey, my English is fine, thank you very–”
    I cut Jayza off, placing my hands on her shoulders and pushing her forward. “Right, well, you should get going to that fire department .” I leaned close and whispered, “Remember, don’t teleport till Shilah can’t see you.”
    “I know that,” Jayza growled, shrugging me off. She stopped and turned to face me. “You just remember to meet me back at base later so we can talk to our superiors about this.”
    I glanced over at Shilah standing ten feet away. “Look, I am going to talk to them, but I just need to do one more thing