"So now what?" Logan asked, his dazed eyes piercing mine. He sat on the couch next to me, his feet curled to his chest, like a small helpless child. Though he seemed coherent enough, at least compared to the raging mess from earlier, I still couldn't get over the troublesome lack of energy he was showing. His lifelessness was putting dangerous pressure on my already frayed nerves.

"I'm not sure."

"Aren't you supposed to know? Isn't it like your job or something?"

I awkwardly swallowed.

-Not sure what my job is anymore.

Or if I was going to have one, after this.

"Well, usually yes. But... you're not exactly a usual case."

He pressed his lips into a tight line, the shadows under his eyes prominent in the flashlight beam illuminating his face.

"You still haven't told me why I'm here."

I inhaled and tensed awkwardly in my seat.

"Tell you the truth, I don't really know that either."

Logan shook his head, hair falling into his eyes. His hair must have been a wondrous thing before his death. Luscious strands the color of sun-bleached wood, not light enough to be blonde, but not dark enough to be considered brown either. Now, it looked like neither, a dull mop of straw, shot through with grey. As if he didn't look terrible enough already.

"There must be a reason. If I'm really..." He paused, swallowing. "Dead, then how come I still have my body? How come I'm not a ghost?"

I twiddled my thumbs, debating on whether or not I should tell him about the Ledger stuffed in my coat.

-No, wait for Mason.

For whatever reason, having him here made it seem like it would be much easier to explain things. Or maybe I just couldn't handle giving Logan any more bad news and wanted to dump that responsibility onto someone else.

"Well, that's complicated. And I'm not sure I understand it myself."

The fine muscles under his pale skin tightened.

"So you're not gonna tell me?"

"No, I didn't say that," I exhaled, after a brief pause. "Look, I think we should wait for my friend. It'll be easier to explain if he's here since it has to do with him too."

"Mason," he murmured.

"Yes."

"And you're Violet."

I paused. I was pretty sure I hadn't mentioned my own name during our conversations. Not the ones we'd had in the warehouse at least.

"Yeah, I remembered you," he said, obviously noticing the confusion on my face.

"From... from the funeral parlor?" I asked hopefully.

The events that had occurred at the funeral parlor were probably the most important part of this story, and the fact that he'd forgotten everything that had happened there was not doing us any favors.

"No, from the club," He said, making me sigh in disappointment. "You were at the bar, wearing a black dress. And you also had red lipstick on. I remember cause it made your eyes look so intense, even in the dark. It's why I... why I'd asked you out."

I wanted to slap myself for the small gasp that escaped my lips. Even worse, for the heat I felt rush to my cheeks.

-Nice Violet, the guy is a half-dead Frankenstein's monster and all you can think about is how he thought you were hot.

I couldn't possibly get lamer or a bigger cliché.

But, of course, the horribly awkward situation could and did get worse.

"Wow, flirting with Lady Death. Now that's irony at its finest, I reckon."

I hopped to my feet, and swiftly turned, my heart racing at the voice that had echoed behind us. I found Mason standing at the half-opened entrance, illuminated by what I recognized as the light of the rising sun, slowly snaking its way up the night sky.

"Hey," I mumbled, awkwardly twiddling my thumbs. I could feel my heart rate pick up, aggravated by his presence. "You're back."

Mason gave a soft grunt, his cold eyes drinking Logan in with cautious zeal. The way he stared at him disturbed me way more than it should have.

"Bad luck I guess," Logan murmured, his dull blue eyes returning the gaze with marginally less enthusiasm. "Should've known Death was going to be a beautiful woman. The biggest clichés always end up being true."

Once again, my chest did a stupid fluttery thing, and I gritted my teeth.

-Idiot, stop it, Mason's here!

I don't know why the idea of Mason hearing Logan call me beautiful, or of him knowing about our little bar flirtation, made me feel so awkward and uneasy. He'd done much weirder things than that with his own reaps. Besides, it wasn't like he cared or was supposed to care if I flirted with someone. We were just friends, and Logan and I were even less than that.

My thoughts were confirmed when he did nothing but smirk contemptuously and rub at his eyes.

"Good to see you're awake, princess," He said, and shuffled in, dragging a few plastic grocery bags behind him. "Had a good, long nap?"

"Mason, right?" Logan asked, straightening his back, and narrowing his eyes. "Can't say it was that long."

Mason dropped the bags on the counter, his jaw clenching. "Yeah, not nearly long enough, if you ask me."

I swallowed hard when his eyes landed on me. The way his forehead vein pulsed under the light of the rising sun, clued me in to the fact that he was pissed about me not shooting Logan up with the tranquilizers, as we had agreed. I sighed and gave him a shrug. I would justify my choices to him later.

-After we figure out a way to tell Logan he's become Mason's unwanted successor.

If that was what he truly was in the first place.

I expected Logan to retaliate, but I was pretty surprised when he did nothing but scoff and fix his gaze to his knees.

"We can agree on that at least," I could actually taste the hopeless nihilism woven into his words.

"So, Logan," Mason said, and hopped onto the futon, planting himself right at Logan's feet. "Now that you seem to have regained your senses, care to clue us in on what the fuck is going on?"

Logan's brows furrowed. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

I placed an arm on Mason's shoulder. "He doesn't remember anything, Mason. The funeral parlor is a total blank for him."

Mason shot me a disbelieving look.

"Oh isn't that convenient?" He hissed under his breath, scowling at Logan. "The most important part of this puzzle, gone, just like that."

"It's true," Logan half snarled, returning Mason's hostile glare with equal ferocity. "I don't remember anything."

"Besides the part where you tried to get into a Grim Reaper's pants."

"Mason," I warned, under my breath, my cheeks growing hot. I wanted to drop dead (again) and get buried six feet under if it meant getting away from this conversation. I suddenly remembered why I didn't want Mason knowing about my flirting with Logan. He was never going to shut up about it, and I was going to be subjected to an endless parade of jokes and jabs about my new 'boyfriend' until I either found a way to die of annoyance, or complete my quota, and get my ticket to the Beyond.

Logan's jaw tightened, his sunken eyes bulging.

"Why are you so pissed, man? I'm the one who died here."

Mason scoffed. "Welcome to the club pal. We're all dead here."

"As far as Violet tells me, I'm not exactly part of your club now am I? I'm different somehow."

Mason snorted, like an enraged bull, preparing for a charge. I sunk my hand deeper into his shoulder. It did nothing to make him stop or calm down.

-Oh boy.

If they got into a fight, I would be so screwed.

"What, you want a gold star, snowflake?"

"An explanation would be nice, for starters."

"An explanation? You stole my book, motherfucker! You're lucky I don't break your face."

"Mason!" I squealed, earning a disapproving scowl from him. I wanted to shriek at him to stop but kept myself contained when I noticed the deepening frown on Logan's face. Panic fluttered in my chest.

-I should have told him.

What was I thinking letting Mason take this one over? He was the least comforting and caring person in the world, especially when reaps were concerned.

"What?" he mumbled, blinking at us. "What are you talking about?"

"My book, you dipshit. The Ledger you stole, the damn..."

"Mason," I hissed, the panic rising to my throat. His head snapped to me once again, his eyes molten fire.

"What?!"

"Don't," I warned through gritted teeth.

He opened his mouth to speak, his forehead wrinkled with determination, before suddenly pausing, his gaze glued to mine. He blinked at me several times, before inhaling sharply.

"You didn't tell him?"

"Tell me what?!" Logan raised his voice, his pale cheeks adopting a startling red shade. I swallowed hard wishing I'd found that stupid syringe, and stuck him with it. "What is going on?"

I drew a deep breath, my fingers going for the coat pocket where I'd kept Mason's Ledger safely tucked in. Logan may not have wanted that gold star, but I sure did. Along with a ton of cash and an all-expenses-paid vacation to Cancun for all the emotional trauma suffered during this ordeal.

"Logan, look. There is something..." my words died in my throat when both he and Mason went rigid at the exact same time. Every fine muscle in their faces tensed and they both grimaced, sporting eerie twin expressions of displeasure. While Logan's face remained embedded with confusion, Mason's morphed into one of recognition. He took a deep breath and shuddered, before his fingers went into his hair, and he dove right in, as if trying to shed invisible droplets of water. It was only a second later when I felt a sharp wave of heat cut through my middle, that I realize what was happening.

-Oh no.

Mason confirmed my suspicion when he mumbled. "Oh, fuck."

-No, no, God please no, not now!

This was like the worst possible time for this to happen. Yet if God, or more specifically our darling, skeletal and robed God cared about our woes, he didn't show it. When I pulled out Mason's Ledger from my coat's inner pocket and flicked it open, I found the last thing we needed at a moment like this, scribbled on the last page.

"What? What's going on, what was that?" Logan mumbled, hugging himself. He was trying to shrug off the chills I was so intimately familiar with.

I ground my teeth, wanting to punch the cosmic force I was sure was dying of laughter at the wretched situation it had just caused.

My eyes locked with Logan's faded azure irises.

"A new name has just popped in your book."