Ashley POV

"How long have you been awake?" I asked immediately, afraid he'd see me changing.

"Since you touched me. With your cold fingers, I thought death was coming for me."

Judging from his carefree tone of voice, I knew that he meant to joke. But his sentence evoked more than a decade of dormant memories about him, about the many black bruises and the hollow expression of a boy when confronted with questions, and it made me feel uncomfortable. No, it was more than that. I felt sick.

"If I were Death, I hope you'd be ready to fight me," I said quietly. "With all your strength. And you...