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his pocket and pulled out his phone. The forensic techs would be pissed if anything was disturbed, but Cacy didn’t care. She needed to find out why this had happened. She flipped open the scanning port in her phone and aimed the needlelike beam at the matching port in her father’s phone. It took all her concentration to begin the transfer and keep her hands steady until the upload was complete, and then she slipped her father’s phone back into his pocket. She looked down at her phone’s display, hoping to find out who he’d talked to and met with recently, anything that would give her clues. But it was password-protected. She’d have to give it to Rylan and see if he could figure it out.
    She started toward the door, but it flew open just as she reached it.
    Dec strode toward the table, and Cacy followed him, pointing to their father’s neck. “His Scope’s gone.”
    Dec’s face didn’t change. “Of course it is, Cacy. He gave it up this afternoon.”
    It felt like she’d been punched in the gut, and she wrapped her arms around herself to stay upright. Of course. She hadn’t been thinking straight at all. Their father had retired this afternoon, and he’d given his Scope, the symbol and source of his power, to Rylan. She suddenly knew that if they turned over their father’s body, the raven tattoo would be gone.
    “I called Rylan and Aislin,” Dec said quietly. “They’re on their way. And I met Eli in the hall. I sent him back to the station.”
    He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug, never taking his eyes off their father’s face. “We’ll do this together.”
    If he hadn’t been holding on to her, Cacy would have fallen down. “I don’t know if I can, Dec.”
    “Trust me—you’ll regret it forever if you don’t.” Dec was speaking from experience. He hadn’t come into the Veil to wish their mother good-bye all those years ago.
    Dec reached out and lifted the sheet. He swore when he saw the wound. Cacy stared at the hole, the size of a bottle cap, with ragged edges. Something inside her stirred, huge and dark. This was no way to treat a great man. “Dec, the Kere violated the treaty.”
    Dec sighed. “If he formally gave up his Scope, he gave up his immortality. He was fair game.”
    She wrenched herself away from him. “That’s bullshit. How is this fair ?”
    He backed away from her and crossed his arms over his chest. “Life isn’t fair, Cacy, and neither is death. Stop acting like a child.”
    Angry tears burned in her eyes. “Stop acting like a heartless asshole.”
    “Cut it out,” snapped a voice filled with arctic chill. Awesome. Aislin had arrived.
    Cacy whipped around and glared at her older half-sister, who stood, lean and elegant, in the entrance to the room. She wore a light-blue silk suit that perfectly matched her eyes. Her hair was coiled into a neat bun at the base of her neck, not a strand out of place. Her expression was absolutely composed, as usual. “Declan is right, and this is not the time to fight. Three of our Psychopomps employees are in critical condition, and one is dead. Father would want us to fulfill our duties to him and them, not engage in childish name-calling.”
    Aislin gave Cacy a look that said, You disappoint me , which was also as usual, then approached their father’s bedside and pulled the sheet back up to his chin. Cacy blinked. She must have imagined the tremble in her sister’s hands, because when Aislin turned around, she was steady as an iceberg.
    Her eyes focused on Cacy’s neck. “Where’s your Scope?”
    Cacy’s hand flew to the chain. “I . . . Shit. I must have dropped it on scene.”
    Aislin looked at her as if she were the silliest, most idiotic creature on the planet. And for once, Cacy agreed with her. “Once we’ve escorted Father, you will retrieve it,” Aislin said in a flinty voice. “And pray it’s still there.”
    Cacy didn’t have the energy to defend herself. Her fingers were