Page 26 of Find My Way Down to You

I bristle. I’ve never been in a fistfight, but punching Cary is suddenly very high on my priorities. Instead, I half turn to Henri. “I don’t understand.”

Cary snorts, a first.

Henri, however, beams like a starburst. He rests a friendly hand on my shoulder as we continue walking.

“We are known by many names in many regions and cultures and languages,” he says, grandly, like a tour guide reciting why theMona Lisaappears to be smirking. “We prefer Deathless. Guardians and lords of Aides.”

That last word slides beautifully off his tongue:Ay-deez.

“Lords,” Cary says mockingly.

Henri presses a hand to his chest, offended. “What? It sounds elegant. Regal.”

“Arrogant and incorrect.”

“According to whom?” Henri asks.

“The books,” Cary says under his breath.

Henri waves him off. This clearly isn’t the first time they’ve had this argument.

My heart skips as I parse through their conversation. I whisper, “Wait…Aides?”

Henri nods.

My feet slow. Am I dreaming? No, I can’t be. Sleep these days feels like drowning. And I’m walking on an almost-see-through bridge, a swaying black sea below, with people who are what? Magical?Deathless?

I blink at Henri. “What do Deathless…do?”

His keen eyes glitter. He’s almost hard to look at. “Well—”

“Do not answer him,” Cary interrupts. He’s ahead of us by a few feet.

Henri’s face wrinkles. “But he asked!”

“He is a mortal. Do not feed his curiosity.”

“Hello,” I say loudly in Cary’s direction. “You don’t have to talk around me. I’m right here, you know.”

“Unfortunately.”

Even with his back to me, I can tell Cary’s frowning.

“We each have a role,” Henri finally answers. “He is theferrier. A guide, if you will. He escorts souls from your realm to ours. He’s also the only one who can lift the bridge that crosses the—”

“Enough,” Cary snarls.

Henri tuts. To me, he whispers, “And he’s also what you mortals call emo. Very brooding. Very boring.”

Laughter escapes my mouth before I can silence it.

Over his shoulder, Cary’s eyes narrow callously. I don’t run from his glare. I stand taller, ready for another fight.

He looks away.

“What about you?” I ask Henri.

“Me?” His long fingers squeeze the charm at the end of his gold chain. “I’m a messenger. Of sorts. A guide as well.”