The Grim Assistant by Jodi Hutchins

Author:Jodi Hutchins [Hutchins, Jodi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: NineStar Press, lgbt, romance, paranormal, friends-to-lovers, surfer, spirits, postal worker, Teacher, Vampires
Publisher: NineStar Press
Published: 2019-08-05T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

THE IDYLLIC THEME park on the mainland was cute, giving Sam an almost uncomfortable sense of nostalgia with its tiny lopsided cottages and tunnels toward nowhere. Their mother had taken Katie and Sam to the very same storybook-themed park numerous times as children, and she remembered holding a love/hate relationship for it. Although fun with its merry-go-round, yummy treats, and bumper cars, the park also had creepy depictions of storybook characters, like the evil witch from Hansel and Gretel and then Humpty Dumpty cracking on the cement. The demented images haunted her dreams after their visits, but they kept coming back to the park.

Sam hadn’t seen Margo in close to a week. She prayed Margo would simply disappear from her life as if she were some strange illusion her brain configured post-concussion. Unfortunately, Sam knew deep down this wasn’t the case, and part of her hoped she’d see the brassy woman again. She wanted to feel the electricity ripen in the air. Even recalling the sensation conjured a soreness in the middle of her chest where the energy had swirled.

“Auntie! It’s a slide,” Ben exclaimed, pointing to a narrow tunnel near the tall slide in the distance. Sam grinned at him.

The biting scent of cigarette smoke pierced her senses and as Sam turned, a Margo-shaped shadow spilled over the sidewalk in front of them. Speak of the devil. Clenching her jaw, Sam rolled her eyes, turning to Katie. “I’m going to run to the bathroom, but I’ll catch up, okay?”

“Sure,” Katie said before running after her tot.

Peering to her right, she found Margo sitting on the edge of a brick wall, right beside a cement Humpty Dumpty, pre-fall. Sam let out an exasperated sigh, which sounded more like a growl, as she brought her hands to her hips. “I thought I filled my quota for the month,” she snapped, looking around to ensure no one assumed she was talking to herself. Surely Margo wouldn’t be seen smoking a cigarette around children, right? Another glance at the Grim Reaper made Sam step closer. The blue of Margo’s eyes wasn’t nearly as vibrant as before, and a general dullness surrounded her features. As if Margo were slipped under muddled light, her body was invisible to the rest of the world. Sam recalled what Margo had told her their last time together: I choose whether or not humans see me.

Margo chuckled crudely. “There’s no quota to fill for you, yet. Look, kid, the dead don’t give a shit that you’re having a nice little outing with your family and neither does upper management. I’ve got a job to do and I’m pretty sure we have a deal. You’re here, the problem child is here; let’s get it over with.”

Sam shook her head slowly as she chewed her lip in disbelief. “If you had told me, before all of this, what kind of people I’d be dealing with…” She didn’t finish her statement, but her unspoken words hung in the air between them.

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