Page 39 of Any More Questions for the Corpse?

“Sounds lonely.”

“It was. Then some busybody mistook me for a lion and starting poking around in my business.”

“What an asshole. Who would do such a thing?”

“I know, right,” Mal said. “I’m glad they did, though. You can only last so long without a pack.”

“You’re thinking of wolves,” Des said. “Lions have prides, not packs.”

“Good job I’m not a lion then,” Mal said, a sly, smug look on his face. “We should probably head back out, before they start to gossip.”

“I’m okay with that.” Des paused, and for a moment the pair just held each other’s gaze. Then, before Mal could overthink it, she pressed her lips against his. It wasn’t a long kiss, but it said what it needed to.

To the ends of the earth.

Des got to her feet and led him by the hand back out into the living room. They quickly let go of each other before anyone could see them. God, my hand is sweaty, Mal thought to himself. He hoped she wasn’t thinking the same thing.

“Mal,” Walters said, upon seeing him. “My turn. I need a word.”

I hope he’s not gonna kiss me too. Mal followed Walters to the kitchen, where they sat opposite each other at the dining table.

“I need to apologize,” Walters said. He seemed more serious than Mal had expected. “I dragged you into this when you weren’t ready. What happened to Des, all of it, none of this is on you.” Mal went to speak, but Walters raised his finger. “I got you something.” Walters produced the book Mal had been reading earlier, Necromancy and Other Undead Oddities, and a small, pink, plasticky device that looked like an egg timer had sex with an hourglass. Mal recognized it, but couldn’t place it.

“One of your better book choices,” Walters said. “You can do some real good here, Mal, if you know what you’re doing …”

“What’s this?” Mal picked up the egg-timer-hourglass- thingy.

“Something to help with your family situation. You put a spell in it, set the time on the dial”—it was currently set to forty-eight hours—“then flip it, and when it fills with sand …”

“The spell goes off,” Mal said, strangely joyful at the prospect.

“Exactly. It’s normally used for simple repeated spells to help with chores, but Kosh modified it. He had a cat he couldn’t let go of, similar situation to you and your parents actually. The thing used to give me the creeps. You ever petted a skeleton? It’s fuckin’ awful.”

“I’ve hugged my parents and they’re nothing but bone. Still creeps me out.”

“The thing used to sit on my lap for hours when I was over. He loved that cat, called it Gremlin. A surprisingly apt name.”

“You miss him?” Mal said. He sensed genuine sadness in Walters. It was like finding out your teachers had a life outside of school; it seemed strange.

“Every day,” Walters said. “I just wish we knew where he was. Half of those bodies from headquarters still haven’t shown up.”

“Are you sure it’s alright if I have it?” Mal said.

“He’s not using it anymore, that’s for sure,” Walters said, a sad laugh crossing his lips. “You’ll still feel the magic when it triggers, but you won’t have to think about it, or be anywhere near when it goes off.”

Mal would finally be free. Mal’s eyes welled up. Tears? Mal thought. He hadn’t quite realized how much anxiety he’d been feeling over his parental situation. This one small gesture would fix all of that. Walters put a hand on Mal’s shoulder as if to say, It’s gonna be alright, kid.

“Put the case out of your mind for now,” Walters said. “We’ve got a big meeting with the Order tonight. I want you to come, but maybe once it’s finished. There will be a lot of very unhappy people there. I don’t want them blaming everything on you. Just relax, read the book, be a young person for a bit. You’re twenty-one for Christ’s sake. I’ve got others on the case; the world isn’t at stake here. Take it easy and look after Des. Did you get her to change her mind about leaving?”

“You knew I would convince her to stay?” Mal said, taken aback.

“I had a feeling you’d help her see reason,” Walters said, a sly smile on his face. “Now I’m off. I’ll see you at the meeting later. Things start about seven so come about nine-ish.” Walters smiled, nodded, then patted Mal on the back. Walters said goodbye to the others before leaving them alone in his safe house once more. Mal went back into the living room where Hala, Yu, and Des were relaxing.

“Everything okay?” Yu said, giving a cheerier smile than Mal had expected. Mal was really starting to like that shapeshifter.

“All good, just got an Order meeting later. Everything good in here?” Mal said, gesturing toward Des with his eyes.

“As good as we can be,” Yu said. “We were just reminiscing about that frog.”