Page 1039 -- CXIX.

Chapter One Hundred Nineteen: ‘Shadows in space...’
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It had been nearly half an hour, and Hector was starting to feel rather uncomfortable about this whole waiting-outside-a-family’s-house thing. Garovel had stopped talking as well, which indicated to Hector that the reaper wasn’t feeling particularly comfortable in these strange circumstances, either.

‘Are you sure they’re still in there?’ Hector asked, not for the first time.

‘Yes. They’re watching television.’

‘You can sense that much detail?’

‘The way their souls are positioned together, all looking the same way. That, and if you listen, you can hear it through the wall.’

So he could. Hector took a breath and tried to settle himself again. He scratched his neck. It had been itching like crazy in the same spot for a while now, and the added nuisance of it wasn’t doing anything to calm him down. Really, though, it was all the unanswered questions that were bothering him.

The bushes along the side of the house rustled.

Hector and Garovel both looked.

There was nothing there.

He supposed it could’ve been an animal small enough to be completely concealed by the leaves. But Hector’s gaze lingered, and his ears worked overtime, listening for any other noises.

And a noise indeed arrived, this time above. Deep creaks from the roof, slow and repeating.

‘Footsteps?’ Hector asked.

‘I don’t sense anyone there,’ said Garovel.

Then came a hushed sound, too quiet to make out but distinct in its own way. A breath? A whisper? Or just the wind?

Hector placed his back to the wall and armored up. There was a very good chance he was just being paranoid, but there was no harm in playing it safe.

‘Garovel, am I going crazy?’

‘No, I don’t think so... unless I’m going crazy along with you.’