Part 61 (1/2)

”Bast . . .”

Caught between bracing herself and trying to relax, Claire missed Bast's hand plunging into her chest, but she certainly felt it coming out. Ow! was a bit of an understatement. The cat-headed G.o.ddess frowned slightly as she crossed to the scale and Claire began to have a bad feeling about how this was going to turn out.

Of course her heart was heavy. She was a Keeper. She was responsible for the metaphysical protection of a good chunk of southeastern Ontario and upstate New York. And then there was the guest house and Diana, and being away from the segue, and dragging Lance around the Otherworlds, and not even knowing there were Otherworlds until she found herself plunged into the middle of them. Or maybe it. And she'd left Dean alone to face a reanimated mummy. Sure, Austin was with him, but he wasn't supposed to be, and what had she been thinking dragging a seventeen-year-old cat into an evil shopping mall anyway?

”Well. This is ... interesting.” All three G.o.ds were staring at the scales. The bowl holding the feather was brus.h.i.+ng the floor. The bowl holding her heart was an arm's length above Osiris' head.

”Is this happening because I'm a Keeper?” Claire hazarded.

”No. This is happening because this isn't your heart.”

She glanced down at her chest and up at the bowl. ”Pardon?”

”It appears you have given your heart to another. This heart is his.”

Dean stared down into Claire's face for a long moment before his mouth finally curved into a worried smile. ”Got my heart?”

She laid a hand lightly against her chest. ”Right here. Got mine.”

He mirrored the motion. ”Safe and sound.”

”A most unusual young man.”

He'd lived next to a hole to h.e.l.l for six months and it hadn't even convinced him to drop his underwear on the floor.

”He is, yes.”

The Lord of Death dragged Dean's heart down to where Bast could reach it. ”You realize you're getting off on a technicality.”

”Yes, I do.” The return was painless. It was a pity Lance was still out; Claire had a feeling things couldn't get much more metaphorical than this.

HEY! THIS ISN'T FAIR!.

Osiris shot an exasperated look toward the shadow. ”Death seldom is.”

SHE CHEATED!.

”No one cheats death in the end.”

WHAT, I'M SUPPOSED TO EAT PLAt.i.tUDES NOW?.

”If you like.”

And you can choke on them, Claire thought as Lance's eyelids started to flutter. Dropping to one knee beside him, she shook his shoulder. ”Come on, big guy. We're leaving.”

”Going home?”

”Not right away. I've got some shopping to do first.”

”I like shopping.”