“Gnite ??”

  He smiled at the phone, long-pressed the message and found the emoji he wanted to respond with: ??

  He gently pulled the blanket up so as to not disturb Mimi, who was curled up like a tube-shaped croissant, sleeping at the end of the bed. Once he had the covers under his chin he reached across and turned off the table lamp, plunging the room into darkness.

  Dearest apprentice.

  Ever kept his eyes closed but the telepathic link to Death open.

  *Good evening, Mentor. Did you want me to do a reaping now?* He was hoping the answer would be no.

  No, but I did want to talk about last week.

  *Last week?*

  Yes - congratulations on making it to first base!

  He opened his eyes momentarily. *First base?*

  You were kissing Zoe in the car.

  His cheeks prickled in the darkness. *You were watching?*

  I mean, for a while.

  Ever sank deeper underneath the sheets.

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  It’s good timing because I’ve been putting it off but I don’t intend to any longer: He cleared his throat, though there was no throat to clear. The 'birds and the bees' talk.

  *You’ve mentioned the birds and the bees quite a few times now, Mentor. Birds I’ve seen, what are bees?*

  They’re this sort of bug thing. They fly from flower to flower, pollinating them. Then they go back to a hive and they make honey… wait. I’m going off track.

  Ever was momentarily distracted; Mimi murmured something about Mary and resumed snoring.

  OK, let me start again. Humans are able to make babies through sexual intercourse… what followed was a very stop-start conversation between two virgins: one who has never been able to reproduce and one that didn’t know where one end started and the other end begun. It was like watching a conversation between two boys who had only ever played cops and robbers talk about how to fire an AK-47.

  *I’ve got a question, Mentor.*

  You’ve already asked me about thirty-seven but yes, go on. Death said, voice croaky.

  *What does this have to do with bases?*

  Death was silent. He’d spent the last twenty minutes talking about how to get it on, the last thing he needed was to dive into the history of baseball.

  We’ll save that for another time, Death said; he changed the topic. It looks like telling Zoe about your apprenticeship was easier than when you did it with Taylor.

  *It was,* Ever replied, smiling in the dark. *She wasn’t scared at all. She’s never been scared actually, not even when she found out that I could see souls.*

  Probably has something to do with the fact that she sees them as well.

  Ever watched shadows play tag on the ceiling, wide awake. He hadn’t got to verify with her how she could see the ghosts of animals. But now that at least she knew about him, he didn’t mind. He could always ask her later.

  After all, they had the time.