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you’ve gained from your Overseer and how close the two of you have become,” William added, his gray eyes dancing, making me feel like what Jet and I were to each other was somehow wrong.
    I thought of all the soft touches, hand holding, and embraces we’d shared over the last two weeks that they’d probably seen and averted my gaze to the white, tiled floor of the hospital. I wondered if I’d be punished, or worse, if Jet would. Were Reaper relationships forbidden? If so, Jet had never let on, but I had never asked either.
    “ Unfortunately, we have become pressed for time,” Damaris stated, moving along to the true purpose of their presence.
    My eyebrows scrunched in confusion. “I’m not sure I understand what you mean,” I said, choosing my words carefully.
    “ Your mother’s intended position can no longer wait to be filled.” Damaris clarified his meaning, his caramel-colored eyes devoid of emotion.
    Panic pricked the surface of my mind. Was I going to be relocated again? If so, what would it mean for Jet and me?
    “ You will be taking my place at dawn.” Cassandra’s voice sounded so fragile.
    I noticed Jet’s face fall and I was positive my expression mirrored his.
    “ But I hardly know anything about being a Reaper,” I said. “How could you possibly want me in such an important position?” I sounded just as hysterical as I felt.
    “ You will learn all you need to know over time, great-granddaughter, which is something you have,” Cassandra said.
    If I’d still had a beating heart in my chest, it would have stopped right then at the sound of the words great-granddaughter.
    “ I’m sorry, but what ?” I asked, astonished.
    William grinned. “Your mother was supposed to take Cassandra’s place as a Council member.”
    “ Did my mother know about any of this?” I wondered.
    “ No, Salene didn’t know,” Cassandra said. “No one in our family knows until it’s their time. Usually we skip a generation, but in your case that wasn’t possible.
    I cast a quick glance at Jet who stood motionless and looked as shocked as I felt. He’d been wrong about my hereditary Reaper theory after all.
    “ You have until dawn and then you will take your rightful place so Cassandra may fade in peace,” Evelyn said, demanding my attention.
    “ We shall see you at dawn, Miss Harper.” Damaris smiled, then the four of them vanished.
    Silence hung in the air for what felt like an eternity before Jet’s arm slid around my waist. “Well, we have until dawn, then.”
    I leaned into him and wrapped both my arms around his middle. He pulled my hair to one side and brushed his lips against my neck, sending ripples of swoon-worthy warmth through my body. A sensation I’d waited too long to feel, one that felt too amazing to make him stop. I closed my eyes, wishing we were any place besides a hospital, standing in the cancer wing.
    Jet’s soft lips slowly trailed up my neck and along my jawline. I gasped at the desire pumping through my body, centering itself in the pit of my stomach. My eyes sprung open to find the sterile hospital hallway gone and in its place an endless ocean.
    “ How?” I breathed the only word I could manage.
    “ How what?” Jet asked, pausing only briefly in his blissful kisses.
    “ How did we get here? And how can I feel … especially this way?” I questioned, incredibly thankful I couldn’t blush.
    Jet cupped my hand and caressed my cheek with his thumb, before turning away. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” He gestured at the turquoise water and the white sand beneath our feet. “This is one of my favorite places to come when I want to be away from both the living and the dead.”
    I took in the entire sight before me, attempting to burn its beauty into my memory, not sure if I’d ever be allowed to come back. I was suddenly saddened by the thought that I had spent an entire seventeen years alive and never once seen the ocean. It wasn’t until after I was dead that I got the