Unchosen by Michele Vail

sat up. “I need to get to Vegas. Ally called. She’s really upset, and said she had to show me something.” I heaved out a nervous breath. “Something to do with my mom.”
    “Conventional travel is out, huh?”
    “Yep.”
    Rath held out his hand. “It just so happens we can take a shortcut. C’mon, brown eyes. I’ll show you have to travel reaper-style.”
    I took his hand, and immediately the color of the earthly plane bled away until only gray remained. My entire body felt chilled to the core. Eventually my room faded altogether and I found myself in a gray landscape known as the Shallows. This was the in-between of existence, the place reapers used to as a doorway to the hereafter.
    The soil beneath my feet was like ash, soft and powdery. Around us were craggy rocks, and above us there was no sky, just an endless black. Fog drifted like ghosts throughout the place. The silence was as thick and soft as cotton.
    I shivered. “I don’t remember it being so cold.”
    “I don’t feel anything.” He put his arm around me and brought me in close. “When you’re dead, you don’t worry about the temperature.”
    “Reapers get all the perks.”
    He chuckled. “That’s one way to look at it.”
    “How do we get to Vegas?” I asked.
    “We think our way there.” He let go of me, and gestured at the Shallows. “Reapers don’t have bodies, Molly. I can take human form, but I’m still dead. Usually, only souls and reapers can enter the Shallows. You’re the exception.”
    “What about gods?”
    “I guess so, but they don’t need to use the Shallows like we do. The gods are made of different … um, stuff. It’s one of the reasons why they protect human souls. You think the heavens are just a reward for good acts on Earth? Or the bowels of the Underworld are meant only for punishing the wicked?”
    “I don’t know,” I said. “I haven’t thought about it much.”
    “Where do you think gods get the power they need to exist?”
    I frowned. “Wait a minute. You mean, human souls are like batteries?”
    “That’s a simplified explanation,” offered Rath. “Everything is connected. The gods need souls, and souls need the gods.”
    “I get the connected part,” I said. “But I’m not sure how the soul thing actually works. Especially since it has five parts.”
    Rath reached out and tapped my nose. “That’s a lesson for another time, brown eyes.”
    “Good,” I said. “Because my brain was starting to cramp.”
    “You’re smarter than you think.” Rath held out his hand, and I took it once again.
    “Now what?”
    “ Now we go to Las Vegas. Where to? Your house or the Zomporium?”
    “ Ally said to meet her at the Zomporium.”
    “You got it.” Rath pulled me closer. “Oh, and one more thing.”
    He brought me fully into his embrace, dipped his head down, and kissed me. At first, it was a gentle exploration of lips. That was enough to get my heart thumping. Then he split the seam of my mouth with his tongue.
    My stomach squeezed, and I latched onto his shoulders, and followed his lead. I wasn’t an experienced kisser, but Rath didn’t seem to mind.
    After a long moment of our mouths meeting and parting and going back for more, Rath finally pulled back—just a little.
    I blinked up at him, feeling dazed. Actually, I was felt as though I were floating, just like the fog drifting around us. “Wow.”
    One corner of his mouth curled upward. “I want you to know how I feel about you, Molly.”
    “I like you, too.” It seemed like such an inadequate thing to say, but Rath broke into a full smile.
    “I’m glad we got that cleared up.”
    “Ditto.”
    Rath kept a tight grip on my hand. “We need to think about the Zomporium. As we think about it, it will appear. Then we step into the space, and leave the Shallows.”
    It sounded fairly easy. But I got the feeling that only an experienced reaper travel ed this quickly through the Shallows. I wondered how much more knowledge waited