Whatever waited at the end of this road, I would meet it eventually — better, some hard new part of me decided, to meet it awake, with a warning and my wits, than to be hunted later in my own kitchen.

So I did the thing that felt most unnatural and turned out to be right.

I stayed in my seat.

Before I could make sense of it, the doors hissed shut and the bus pulled back onto the road, and we were carried on toward whatever was waiting.

Chapter 3 — Not a Deathbed

When the bus wheezed into the Millhaven terminal, Dax was already there beside a gleaming black SUV, in a cashmere coat and a wide, warm smile.

He swept Cody into a theatrical hug and beamed at me and slid into the role of the grieving, devoted brother-in-law he had always played so well.