The remaining Keres fled, leaving Ever and Taylor alone in the sand dune. A gust sprayed sand across them, as if trying to scratch them from its memory. Ever stared through his hand. He tried summoning the scythe and was met with cold silence.

  He floated slowly across to Taylor sitting on the sand dune several feet away, head bowed.

  “Taylor,” he said, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. “How are–”

  “Don’t touch me!” She snarled. Once more, she raised her handless wrists. “Look what you’ve done.”

  Ever couldn’t help but stare at them. Rather than any viscera, the scythe seemed to have not only lopped her hands off cleanly, but also closed off the open wounds smoothly.

  “I… I was just trying to save you.”

  “Yeah well,” she looked away. “I wish I was eaten by those bird bitches now.”

  Ever felt heavy. Far too heavy for someone who wasn’t currently in a physical form. He floated idly for a moment, still numb from the ordeal.

  *Mentor.*

  There was no response. Not only that, it seemed that he wasn’t able to form a connection with Death at all, as if he had been blocked.

  He floated up, above the sand dunes and surveyed the area. The sky was still dark, but he could just make out that the blue was starting to blush a little lighter. Pivoting on the spot, he looked back towards the city, which he could make out in the distance with its small, twinkling lights. Like a lonely firefly, he started making his way towards them.

  “Hey,” Taylor called after him. “Where are you going?”

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  He stopped and answered without looking back at her. “I’m going to find your body.”

  “H-Hey!” She stood up, floating after him. “Wait for me!”

  —-

  “We’re too late,” Ever murmured. He stared at the spot where Taylor’s body had lay before. All that was left was the blood from her bullet wound, still glistening on the ground but dry enough that it didn’t flow anymore.

  “They’ve probably just bundled it into the back of a car or something,” Taylor said. With her arms crossed, she floated closer to where there was more activity, Ever not far behind. They passed some police officers huddled together in a group. One of them was barking rapid fire Spanish with the others furiously taking notes.

  Pausing for a moment, Taylor put her arm out, swinging it through the head of a note-taking officer. Naturally - or supernaturally - her handless arm passed through the officer’s head. He made a shooing motion with his hand in front of his face and returned to his note-taking.

  “Ugh lame,” Taylor said. “That was meant to be a bitch slap but you know…” she put her arms out. “Sort of got no hands.”

  A large vehicle whose back had double doors caught Ever’s attention. He floated towards it, through the doors, turning back into human form once inside.

  “Dude,” Taylor hissed, slipping through the door. “What are you doing?”

  “I told you,” Ever said, unzipping the body bag. “I’m looking for your–”

  Taylor’s body lay stiff inside. Whoever had put her inside had thankfully closed her eyes.

  “Damn,” Taylor said, bringing her ghost face close to her corpse face. “At least I left behind a pretty corpse.”

  Ever kept pulling the zip further down.

  “Could you not?” Taylor barked. “This is so disrespectful.”

  Ever left the bag half open. He inspected her arms. When he saw what he was looking for, the smallest of smiles graced his face.

  “Are you stealing shit from me?” Taylor spluttered.

  Ever gently put Taylor’s right arm back next to her body before zipping up the bag. He held up the ‘loot’ he was looking for: the black band bracelet he had gifted her in the summer.