Ever couldn’t stop staring at Zoe; he had never seen anyone so beautiful in his entire life. If he thought that she looked attractive in the selfie she sent him, it was nothing compared to seeing her in person.

  “Ever,” she said in a low voice. She looked off to the side, checking if people were noticing that her date was ogling her so… oglingly. “Could you stare any harder at me?”

  He immediately looked down at his plate of squid ink pasta. The unused fork gleamed to the left, unused. “Sorry,” he said. He started eating, carefully winding it around the fork before putting it in his mouth.

  “I think you look nice too,” Zoe said. “Your jacket matches your eyes.”

  “Oh does it?” Ever said. He’d looked at himself in the mirror plenty of times. For some, it had never registered that his eyes were green. “Taylor helped me pick it out at Myer.”

  Zoe cocked her head slightly. “Did she now?”

  “Yes,” Ever replied, winding up some more pasta before carefully putting it in his mouth. “I’ve never been on a date before, so I thought I’d ask her for some help.”

  She cocked her head the other way. “Really? This is your first date?”

  Ever nodded earnestly.

  “Well, I’m glad to be your first.” Zoe said, smiling. Her red lipstick had a subtle amount of violet woven into it. She dabbed the corners of her mouth gently with her napkin before stabbing a cherry tomato and popping it into her mouth. “So ghosts,” she said, narrowing her eyes playfully.

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  “Mm-hmm.”

  “You can see them.”

  “Yes.”

  “Is there one here now?”

  “Mm-hmm.” Ever couldn’t help smiling as he chewed. He swallowed and wiped his mouth. “Nika is sitting right in front of us.”

  For anyone else, seeing a ghost cat standing amongst a bread basket, batting at the little flame on the candle would have made them question their sanity–not for Ever and Zoe.

  “Hmmm!” Zoe said, eyes sparkling. She quickly swallowed her food. “So you weren’t lying.”

  “No,” Ever said, shaking his head. “I don’t like lying. I try not to. Why is he here though?”

  “He sees himself as my protector I think. He was there that day the first time I came by to your ice cream store.”

  Ever recalled the gray flash at Zoe’s feet when she came in to claim her prize from Mid-Summer Nights.

  “I thought I saw something that day you came in!"

  She rested her chin on top of her tented fingers. “I thought that you might have noticed.”

  The ghost cat stopped playing momentarily with the flame and glared at Ever. ^You only saw me because I let you see me.^

  “Awww look at that! He likes you!” Zoe reached out, making to stroke Nika’s back, her hand passing slightly through the cat. To anyone passing by, it would have looked like she was reaching out to feel the heat of the candlelight.

  Ever stared at Nika, not responding. It wasn’t a lie to not acknowledge Nika, was it? It was something he could - and would - tell Zoe later after he got the main revelation out of the way.

  “It’s lucky that I didn’t reap your protector then.”

  Zoe cocked her head again, eyes searching his face. “Reap?”

  Ever inhaled and exhaled. “Yes, reap. I… am Death’s apprentice.”