Chapter 9: Écrasé

It wasn't long after Catarina's death that Liam was at it again. He didn't bother to even get rid of the Philosophers' Stone in the first room.

Apparently, we would never know when we needed more money. But it was soon forgotten about in favor of a more...informal approach.

Liam claimed that he found it "on the back of a truck." Though...it looked suspiciously like the one from the police station.

Then he told me that he didn't care where it came from. It was broken anyway. Now why he brought into that particular room, I didn't know at first.

Then I found out, his path of destruction didn't end at Catarina.

How surprised I was when I saw Miss Moore, in her winged glory.

But then I remembered what happened last time someone was in her position. When she complained that her "snack machine" was broken, it was confirmed.

Apparently, Liam took her snide insult rather seriously.

 He watched as she struggled with it. She declared that she never had this problem at the store.

Liam could only ask if she was having a hard time with "the real thing". So he was angered at her insulting him.

But at this point, all the advice he gave to her was to "shake it up a little." Which she had no choice but to listen to.

Soon that shaking turned to slamming, which anyone can tell you, is not advised.

And soon, Miss Moore found out why.

I still recall her face frozen in shock. It was as if she hadn't expected it to happen.

And apparently, she tried to use it to her advantage when Death came.

She was not nearly as cruel as Catarina was, and besides her teasing directed at Liam, she was not a bad woman. Rather, she was surprisingly pleasant.

But it would seem that wasn't good enough for the man in black. She was honestly hoping that he would spare her.

No suck luck. Death was told of a new soul to ferry on to the afterlife, and she was the one in soul in question. There was no debating, no questions asked.

Although, when she was sent away, the man in black stayed.

Liam was smug about it. Death said nothing, or at least, nothing audible. Liam's response was, "be happy I'm keeping you in business, Grimmy."

Death...merely vanished after that. I stayed silent, lest I say something that would incite a negative response.

I still felt as though I needed to stay by Liam's side, through thick and thin, no matter how bad things were to become.

And truly, they were about to become much, much, worse.

(End of Chapter 9.)