EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT

A red silk tube laid on the bed next to a package wrapped in light pink tissue. Beautiful things that filled me with dread.

Opening the soft package, I knew what I was in for. Nicholas thought of everything. Here we were, on the top of a mountain that the world didn’t know existed, and he’d gotten me a gift. I’d worked at a gift shop back home and still knew nothing about buying gifts.

Folds of rippling pink silk unrolled in my hands, the same as the package it came from. So this was handmade, I figured. God, he knew what to do.

A kimono the color of my cheeks in the cold. He loved that color on me, said it made me look like Snow White. The gray trim grew into black towards the bottom, like dusk turning into night. The white silhouette of a winter treeline embroidered against the black hem instantly transported me to the dark, wintry nights in New Hampshire, standing in the snow with Nicholas. Japanese words were sewn on the inner draping sleeves of the beautiful gown, and I could read them, like Izanagi could read Japanese characters. Unmei shinsei on one sleeve. Unmei wo seisu on the other.

Chosen for new life.

I control my destiny.

I held the cool fabric to my chest. I was pretty easily impressed with gifts, given my thoughtless nature when it came to giving them, but this was stunning no matter who you were. I cringed inside when I thought how beautiful Kat looked in pink with her red hair, and how she would have jumped up and down to see this.

Night was creeping up on us. I looked at the elaborate invitation again, all beautiful Japanese symbols written in blood red. And at the top, “The Shinigami Grow.”

Time to get dressed. In an hour we’d see what growth meant.