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continued.
"I don't know much about you, but I like that you're just chill. There's
just something kind of mysterious about you that I like."
    I looked at the moon again. Clouds had
moved in front of it. I wanted to push them away. "Hunter, I wouldn't get
too attached to me."
    "Why not?"
    "I-I tend to move around a lot. I
won't be here very long."
    Hunter sat up slightly, resting on his
elbow and looking down on me. "Well, for however long you'll be here, I'd
like to get to know you. They do have phones and video chat, you know. If you
move, we can always keep in touch."
    Not where I'm going, Hunter.
    He touched my scythe charm. I brushed
his hand away. "You shouldn’t touch that."
    He frowned. "Why not?"
    Not being able to come up with a
believable lie, I shrugged.
    "Isn't that the thing the Grim
Reaper carries around?"
    "That's a myth. There's no such
thing as the Grim Reaper. Think about it. There are 106 deaths each minute. That's
6360 an hour and 152,640 a day. Do you really think one being could handle all
that?"
    Hunter raised one eyebrow. "Okay .
. . most people don't know things like that off the top of their head. That's .
. . different." I realized I shouldn't have said that. Death statistics
were a part of Grim studies, but of course it wasn't normal for a girl to spurt
them out like that.
    "What made you get that?"
Hunter asked.
    "I just thought it was cool."
    Hunter stared at me. Please don't
kiss me. Please don't kiss me. He brushed a piece of hair from my face. The
feel of his warm skin on mine made me feel flushed. I grabbed his hand. I
wanted him to kiss me and that scared me.
    "What's wrong?” he asked. “Your
hands are freezing."
    "We should get home, Hunter."
    He looked disappointed, probably
thinking I didn't like him. "Fine," he said, jumping down from the
hood.
    As he helped me down, I realized Keira and
Bram had been right. I should have kept my distance. Caring was only going to
hurt me in the long run.
    Neither of us said a word on
the way home. Hunter had turned the volume up on the stereo five times louder
than it had been earlier. I felt another knot form in my stomach as he made the
turn into the driveway. I asked myself if this had been worth it. Who knew how
Bram and Keira were going to act, and my date with Hunter hadn’t ended on a
good note.
    Hunter threw the car into
park and exhaled.
    I put my hand on the door
handle. “Are you mad at me?”
    For a few seconds, I
received no response. “Not mad, just disappointed. I always seem to fall for
girls who never feel the same way.”
    I felt horrible. I wanted to
tell Hunter that I did like him and the reason he couldn't touch me
actually had nothing to do with him. “Hunter, it’s not that I don’t feel the
same way. You just can’t get close to me. It’s best for everyone. I’m sorry, we
probably shouldn’t have even gone out tonight.”
    Just then Bram stepped out on
the porch. In the glow cast from the porch light, he stood there, arms hanging
at his sides, clenching his fists.
    “I’d better go,” I said
quickly. I didn’t want Hunter and Bram to have any more problems.
    “Night,” he mumbled.
    “Good night.”
    I heard his truck back out
of the driveway as I made a slow procession to my brother.
    I stopped at the steps and
stared up at him. He jutted his chin and looked down on me.
    “Did he defile you?”
    “Of course not! You think
I’m stupid?”
    “Yes.”
    “Bram, we went to see a
movie and that was it. You’re making a big deal out of nothing.”
    “Am I?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then why do you look so
sad?”
    I shrugged. “I’m not sad.”
    Bram shook his head. “You’ve
known him for less than a week and you like him.”
    I brushed past him and went
inside.
    The house was quiet. Grims
never stayed up very late. Collecting lives was a full-time job that allowed
for no rest or sleep, even when our Fated nodded off. We had to get all the
sleep we could get when we could.
    Up in our bedroom, Keira was
asleep,