Book Eight: Chapter 28

Cecilia smiled at Death, then tilted her head toward his hands. “You should try the other vowels, then,” she said. “We can figure it out if we put our heads together.”

“Hmm.” Death stared at his cellphone, the flames in his eyes burning bright enough that Cecilia could see them through his skull. “Do you know a word with IOU in it?”

Cecilia gazed across the yard, letting her mind drift. Some time ago, Death had discovered that Cecilia was experiencing bouts of boredom and had made it his mission to check in with her once a day while he was home. It was always some type of word game they could do together. They had tried crossword puzzles, but their knowledge of trivia had been abysmal.

“Pious,” she whispered. That was a word she was intimately familiar with.

“Um...” Death tapped at his screen. “Oh! The O is where it needs to be, but the other letters are bad.” The Grim Reaper tapped at his screen some more.

“You’re not cheating are you?”

“I prefer