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all the souls just get trapped here on earth?”
    “Not if I can help it,” he said. “Backup plans are in place, don’t you worry about that.”
    Lex scoffed at the answer that wasn’t really an answer, leaving Driggs to jump in. “Why Necropolis first?” he asked. “Why not Croak?”
    “Because the portal in Necropolis is one of the biggest in the world—if the Afterlife can withstand the kickback from its destruction, then it’s likely it can handl
    Lex shook her head in disbelief. “What kind of a weapon is powerful enough to destroy a friggin’ portal?” she said to Driggs.
    “Oh, there’s only one thing on earth that’s capable of that,” Uncle Mort said with a cryptic smirk, stuffing the last of the many mystery items into his bag—any one of which could be the thing that would sever Cordy from Lex’s life forever.
    Lex shivered.
    Two sharp noises blared from outside, followed by one long, dying goose–like honk. If Pandora wasn’t physically sitting atop the car horn, she was at least giving it everything her bony elbow had.
    “That’s our cue,” said Uncle Mort, zipping up his bag.
    “Wait, wait,” Lex said. Everything felt as if it were unraveling—although, really, it had unraveled already. Now the unraveled bits were unraveling even further, until there would be nothing left but wispy threads of utter bewilderment. “I thought all we had to do—all
I
had to do—was destroy Grotton, and
that
would fix everything.”
    “It will—but we have to seal the portals first. The Afterlife needs to be stabilized.” His eyes were serious now, his voice steady. “This has all been in the works for years, Lex.”
    “But you said I was the one who started the war.”
    “Let me put it this way: I built the bomb. You lit the fuse.” He shouldered his bag and headed for the door. “Now it’s time to blow shit up.”
    ***
    “What in blazes were you doing in there?” Dora said as they all piled back into the Stiff. “Poppin’ peas?”
    “Oh, just gathering together an arsenal that could rival that of a small country,” said Driggs, settling back into the Designated Coffin Area.
    Bitter, Lex held up her weapon. “See? I got a hole punch.”
    “Careful with that!” Uncle Mort scolded, pushing it down to the floor of the car. “Lex, please. There is a time and a place.”
    “What, like a regional sales meeting?”
    After a couple more spurts of fire to keep the townspeople away, Pandora pulled onto the road and headed toward the center of town. Lex tried not to look at the Field, but she found that to be impossible. The melted snow around the Ghost Gum was a grisly reminder of the events that had transpired there. Whatever remained of the body had been removed, but that’s where she’d Damned Heloise. And now her soul was who knew where, blindly suffering in unending agony.
    She deserved it
, a small part of Lex thought.
    But did she? Really?
    They passed the Bank as well, cold and unfriendly in the reflected light of the snow, not at all the cheery place it was in the daytime. All the buildings were dark, the citizens either holed up in hiding or part of the mob. Other than the ruins of the bombed fountain, the streets of Croak were empty—so empty that the passengers of the Stiff just stared out the windows in silence, probably remembering all the happier days they’d spent there. Lex certainly was. She touched the window as they passed the Morgue, wondering if she’d ever get to taste Pandora’s tasty onion rings again.
    Pandora was evidently wondering the same thing. She cleared her throat, then swished Grotton’s ghostly form out of the way and looked at Uncle Mort. “Where to, boss?” she asked, her voice more gravelly than usual.
    Uncle Mort narrowed his eyes and made a badass face, one that didnin t Chat asked, t fit at all with the words that came out of his mouth next.
    “The Happy Spruce Inn.”
    ***
    Uncle Mort wouldn’t say another word about the next phase of the