Luke excused himself from Ms. Berkins, quickly apologizing for Levi, explaining he was his partner and new to the industry.
A moment later, Luke was standing at the base of the apartment stairs, staring up at the second-floor landing like the universe had just slapped him. He'd watched mortals die. Watched kingdoms fall. Watched deities get arrogant and pay for it.
But that? A Reaper taking a human out of existence made Luke's throat tightened, and he didn't like it.
Levi was already on the steps again, moving fast, too fast, hands clenched like he could punch a hole in fate if he hit hard enough.
"Levi," Luke hissed, trying not to make a scene.
Levi didn't stop. Luke grabbed him by the back of his coat and yanked him down a step. Levi whirled, eyes blazing, teeth bared like a sea beast dragged onto land.
"Touch me again and I'll feed you to the tide," Levi hissed.
Luke held his ground. Pride didn't flinch. Pride didn't need to.
"There are humans watching," Luke said sharply, nodding toward the courtyard where Ms. Berkins had drifted back into view, squinting up at them with suspicion. Levi's gaze flicked to her. His nostrils flared.
Luke lowered his voice. "If you rip the sky open in her stairwell, it will be very difficult to explain why the building suddenly has, what do mortals call it? Structural damage."
Levi's jaw tightened. Then, with visible effort, he stepped back onto the landing, shoulders stiff, hands loosening fraction by fraction like he was unhooking claws from a throat. Luke exhaled once, slow, collecting himself. Humans were always the worst part of anything.
Ms. Berkins called up again, voice sharp as gravel. "What is going on up there?"
Luke turned, face already rearranged into pleasant charm, like he hadn't just watched a cosmic enforcer swallow a woman into shadow.
"Ms. Berkins!" Luke called warmly, waving as if greeting her at a bake sale. "My apologies. Your stairwell is remarkably drafty."
Ms. Berkins scowled. "Drafty?"
"Yes," Luke said smoothly. "And it made my friend here quite dizzy. He's not used to climbing stairs. Sea air and all."
Levi shot Luke a look that promised murder later. Luke smiled brighter.
Ms. Berkins hobbled closer, peering up at them. "You two were going to take pictures."
"We still are," Luke replied without hesitation. "But I noticed something concerning. A loose board on the landing. A safety hazard. I'd be a monster if I ignored it."
Ms. Berkins' eyes narrowed. "There's no loose board."
Luke's smile turned sincere in the way only an immortal liar could manage. "I can show you. I'm very cautious about liability."
The word liability was magic to mortals.
Ms. Berkins stiffened. "Fine. Show me."
Luke pivoted down the stairs toward her, hands open, posture respectful. "Right this way."
Behind him, Levi stayed on the landing, staring at Jade's door as if his gaze could pry her back out of whatever darkness had taken her. Luke leaned closer to Ms. Berkins as they met near the bottom step. Soft voice. Friendly tone.
"I should also mention," Luke murmured, "I believe I heard a disturbance near one of your second-floor units. I fear it was perhaps an intruder."
Ms. Berkins' face twisted into instant fury. "Intruder? Not on my property."
Luke nodded gravely. "Exactly. I thought you'd want to check."
And just like that, her suspicion shifted away from Luke and Levi and onto the much more satisfying concept of catching someone doing something wrong on her building.
Ms. Berkins huffed, yanking a jangling ring of keys from her pocket. "Which unit."
Luke tilted his head, pointing up casually. "The one at the end."
Ms. Berkins' eyes flashed. "That girl!"
Levi's head snapped slightly at that. Luke caught it, filed it away, and kept smiling.
"She was a mess," Ms. Berkins hissed. "She said she was moving out and now she's back making a mess. She had men over the last night she was here! Can you believe it? Unmarried women with multiple men over in the middle of the night! How shameful."
Luke nodded sympathetically, because nothing on earth was more effective than agreeing with a human's grievances. Ms. Berkins rattled on.
"I'm sure you did your best," Luke said gently.
Ms. Berkins puffed up, pleased. "I did. I always do."
Luke gestured toward the building. "Why don't we call the police? Just in case. If someone is inside that unit, I'd hate for you to be alone."
Ms. Berkins' eyes widened. "Police?"
Luke nodded solemnly. "Safety first."
Luke guided her toward the front courtyard bench. "You sit right here, Ms. Berkins. Catch your breath. I'll call it in for you."
Ms. Berkins looked suspicious again. "You're calling the police?"
Luke smiled. "My museum has security contacts. We coordinate all the time."
Luke pulled his phone from his pocket. He didn't call the police.
He called the museum's security line and instructed them to trigger a "minor alarm response" to the apartment block address, phrasing it as a community partnership request.
Humans would show up. Enough to distract. Enough to redirect questions. Enough to keep Ms. Berkins busy for the next half hour. When he hung up, Ms. Berkins looked at him like he'd saved civilization.
"Oh, dear boy," she said, patting his arm. "Such a fine young man to help an old woman like me."
Luke smiled. "Now," he said softly, "tell me about your building. How long has it been here?"
And while Ms. Berkins launched into a rambling lecture about brickwork and "how things used to be done right," Luke flicked his eyes upward toward the landing again.
Levi hadn't moved. He didn't blink. He was staring at absence. Luke's jaw tightened.
Reapers didn't interfere with mortals. Not like that. Something had shifted. Something had broken. Levi's panic was about to become Luke's problem.
Great.
Levi finally tore himself away from the door, stalking down the stairs when he noticed Luke approaching him. Luke met him halfway, grip firm on Levi's sleeve, stopping him just out of Ms. Berkins' direct line of sight.
"Not here," Luke muttered.
Levi's eyes were wild. "She's gone."
"Yes," Luke said evenly. "I noticed."
Levi's mouth twisted. "It took her."
Luke's fingers tightened unconsciously. He stared past Levi, seeing that black shadow folding around her like a closing book. He'd felt fear before but this was different. Adult Reapers were not rumors. They were not folklore. They were law.
"They don't interfere with mortals," Luke said, voice low, almost to himself.
Levi's fists flexed. "They did this time."
Luke's gaze snapped back to Levi. "Why? Why would they erase a human?"
Levi didn't answer right away. His eyes flicked to the sky, to the stairwell, to the street, like he expected reality to crack again. Then he said it, almost like he hated admitting it.
"She did me a favor."
Luke's head tilted. He already understood the principle, but not the shape. Not the timeline. Not the specifics.
"A favor?" Luke repeated carefully. "Explain."
Levi's jaw tightened. "She set me free, without a contract."
Luke's eyes widened a fraction, his mind moved fast, piecing it all together. "And you didn't repay it."
Levi's lip curled. "I didn't ask for it."
Luke's voice sharpened. "Universal law does not care what you asked for."
Luke stared at him. He could see it now, the uncomfortable truth Levi was trying not to speak: he'd treated her like a toy. Like prey. Like an inconvenience. And now the universe had stepped in like a parent yanking a child away from a dangerous dog.
"They took her," Luke said again, slower this time, "because you didn't return the favor."
Levi's silence was answer enough.
Luke's voice turned sharp. "But why would they take her? That doesn't make sense. The law punishes the breaker, not the hinge."
Levi stared at the ground. "Maybe she's not just a hinge."
Luke's eyes narrowed. That was interesting.
Levi's hands clenched, wind stirring around his boots in a restless spiral. "What now."
Luke took a slow breath. He was Pride. He did not panic. He strategized.
He looked at Levi. "First, we figure out where it took her."
Levi's mouth twisted. "You're the expert on ancient shit. You tell me."
Luke's eyes flashed, offended on principle. "Careful with that attitude."
Levi leaned in, voice rough. "I don't have time to coddle you, Pride."
Luke's smile sharpened into something dangerous. "You're in no position to threaten anyone when you just failed the simplest task a predator can manage: keeping hold of what's in its claws."
Levi grabbed Luke by the front of his shirt. Wind whipped up around them. Pebbles skittered across pavement. Ms. Berkins turned mid-sentence, squinting.
Luke's eyes went cold and bright. "If you throw a tantrum in front of her, I will personally ensure you spend the next century with a human therapist."
Levi's grip tightened. Luke didn't blink. After a long, furious second, Levi shoved him back and released his shirt with a disgusted click of his tongue. Luke straightened his lapel, flicking dust off himself where Levi had touched him.
"Now," Luke said, voice calm again, "Think. Calmly. Where would they take her?"
Levi paused, thinking hard. "I can't be entirely sure," he admitted. "But I suspect Interstice."
Luke met his gaze, nodding. "Where the borders collide."
Levi's mouth curled into a humorless grin. "At least getting there is easy."
Luke blinked, genuinely surprised. "Easy? You know where Interstice lies?"
Levi's smile turned colder. "You know Pride, I am the gate. I know where the seams are."
Luke's stomach tightened. Levi meant it literally. Leviathan wasn't a title for him. It was biology. His mouth wasn't just teeth. It was a door.
"Alright," Luke said, steadying himself. "Then we go."
Levi shook his head once. "No."
Luke frowned. "No?"
"Someone needs to stay here," Levi said, voice tight, "and tell Aamon."
Luke's brows rose. "You're volunteering to be the messenger?"
Levi's laugh was short and ugly. "I'm volunteering to avoid being killed."
Luke's expression sharpened. "Aamon won't kill you."
Levi stared at him, unimpressed. "You don't understand how she affects him."
Luke opened his mouth to argue. The idea that a human would have any effect on his sovereign was laughable.
Levi continued, voice low. "Besides. I can't take you where I'm going."
Luke's eyes widened. "It's one-way."
Levi nodded.
Luke swallowed. "Then Jade…"
Levi cut him off. "Very few are permitted to pass between the lines. And we can only bring one in or out."
Luke's jaw tightened with frustration. Of course he couldn't go. Of course, the universe had to deny him the one place that sounded genuinely interesting.
Luke leaned closer. "Can you do this alone?"
Levi's smile returned, all teeth. "I'm more concerned with how Aamon will take the news that Jade is gone."
Luke's gaze drifted to Jade's apartment door again. "So am I."
Levi's wind began to gather around him, the air thickening, twisting into a familiar spiral.
He pointed one finger at Luke. "Tell him what happened. All of it. No pride. No pretty words. The facts."
And before Luke could respond, Levi was gone. Torn away on a whipping column of wind, vanishing like a storm dragged into a bottle. Luke stood still for a moment, staring at the empty air where Levi had been. Then he sighed, slow and annoyed.
"This day better at least end with something entertaining," he muttered. Luke returned to his car, slid into the driver's seat, and pulled away from the apartment complex just as sirens began to wail somewhere in the distance.
Ms. Berkins would be distracted by uniforms and clipboards and out of his hair. Perfect. Luke drove faster than necessary, mind racing. He needed to get back to the house. He needed to tell Aamon. And he needed to do it carefully, because Aamon's rage wasn't the loud kind. It was the kind that burned through centuries.
Meanwhile, back at the house…
Aamon moved like a man trying to outrun his own thoughts. He and Zoe had spent the day hauling, arranging, cleaning, and sealing rooms the way mortals prepared nurseries. Except these nurseries were for princes, for monsters with cravings shaped like sins.
Luke's room had been the worst. Pride demanded perfection. Not "nice." Not "clean." Perfect.
Everything aligned. Everything polished. Nothing out of place. Zoe had been in her element, somehow. Rough hands, sharp tongue, relentless standards, and a strange warmth under it all. By the time the last speck of dust was wiped from the shelves and the door sealed, Zoe lifted her hand high, eyes bright.
"Come on!" she said, grinning, arm raised.
Aamon rolled his eyes, then slapped his palm against hers in a sharp high-five.
Zoe laughed loud enough to fill the hallway. "There he is! You're finally back."
Aamon exhaled through his nose, and for a moment, he almost smiled.
Almost.
Then the clock chimed, and the unease returned like a knife sliding under the ribs.
Zeth returned near evening with a large bag, tossing it onto the kitchen table like a victorious thief. Zoe brewed coffee. Aamon sat silently, staring at the hallway as if Jade might walk in and fix everything just by existing. Zeth, surprisingly, had learned how to act like a mortal in public. He'd obtained phones and returned with them ready to go.
"The humans at the store did most of it," Zeth said, sliding a device toward Aamon. "You swipe, it wakes up. You tap names, it speaks."
Zoe leaned in, fascinated. "Humans really are just carrying little magic mirrors around."
"It's not magic," Zeth muttered, then paused. "It kind of is, though."
Aamon didn't laugh. He barely heard them. He hadn't meant to stay angry. He hadn't meant to let jealousy take him. But the image of Jade clinging to Levi in the kitchen had burrowed under his skin like a parasite.
And worse. The fact that he could touch her without burning her. The fact that he wanted more than friendship. The fact that he had no idea what was possible, and no idea what was allowed. He stared at the phone in his hand as if it might tell him why the universe had decided to make him feel like a fool.
Then something cold slid down his spine. Not a feeling exactly, more like an instinct. Aamon stood abruptly.
Zoe blinked. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to find them," Aamon said.
Zeth looked up, suddenly alert. "Aamon…"
Aamon didn't wait. He moved for the door. Outside, the air felt wrong. The sky looked normal. That meant nothing. Aamon's eyes narrowed.
Somewhere a seam in the world had opened the moment Jade vanished and balance had shifted. And the universe had just declared war on his patience.