"So you've kissed twice now." Morlen not only looked uncomfortable, his glare was intense, and Koda felt like he was staring right into his soul. "So..."

"So?"

Morlen shifted on the metal stool like he had been sitting on it for hours. "So, what are you going to do about it?"

"What?"

"You've kissed, you enjoyed it, Alfie enjoyed it. Now move forward if it's what you want." Morlen scratched the back of his head. He never thought he'd be encouraging his son to date another guy.

"You think I should?"

Morlen shrugged, violently twisting his wedding ring around his finger. "If you want to."

"I do."

"Right well... okay."

Koda's insides churned as he cringed at his father's awkwardness. "You're not very good at this, you know."

"In my defence, I never thought my son would be talking about kissing other men."

"That's your issue, not mine." Koda crossed his arms. Every time he thought about the crayon drawing of him holding dead flowers, his heart throbbed, and his skin tingled with a feeling of sickness.

"It's the way I was raised. I guess it's karma for trying to raise you the same way."

Koda scoffed and jumped off the stool. "You were just starting to be nice."

"I'm trying Koda, okay. I can't just let go of my beliefs because you don't agree with it."

"You can let go of your homophobia if it means that your son will be happy. I'm gay, not worshipping the devil."

"So damn dramatic," Morlen muttered, moving towards the door and looking left and right. "How do we get back to the living room?"

"It's right." Koda glanced up to see a sheepish looking Alfie standing next to a smirking Connor. "Um, we just came to see if you were alright, and Connor has a lot of explaining to do."

"So does dad," Koda said with hot cheeks. He hoped Alfie hadn't been listening to their conversation and felt the sudden need for a new topic. "Dad, you said that you knew mum was writing about me in her journal. How? Why didn't you tell me?"

Morlen glanced between Alfie and Koda, catching their blush and twinkling stares. Koda's eyes traced down the medium, and Morlen's instincts were to yell at him, but he bit his tongue.

"Enya had mentioned the dead flowers to me. I told her that the drugs were finally catching up to her and she was going insane." Morlen didn't meet anyone's gaze. He stared at the ground as if it had personally attacked him. "It was the day before her death. I came home, and she had bought at least a dozen bouquets. I yelled at her to get rid of them, and she said to wait till Koda was home. I thought she was going mad, which was an odd relief because then we might have finally been able to get her some help." Koda's mouth thinned at his father's words, and he turned away. "So, we waited until Koda came home from college and I yelled at him to get to his room. I wasn't angry at him, but I yelled at him anyway." Morlen stared at his son, feeling a heavy sense of guilt punching him in the gut. "When he went to his room, I turned to yell at Enya because I was angry that I yelled at Koda. She stood in front of me and took it like she always did because she knew the flowers were starting to die. I couldn't believe she was right, but I didn't know what it meant or how to react. I saw the flowers die in front of my own eyes and I still denied it." Morlen pinched the bridge of his nose. "If I had stopped being so arrogant for one day, my wife might still be alive."

"You didn't kill her," Connor said in a soothing voice. "Humans can turn a blind eye to the absurd when it breaches their logic."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Koda asked, still facing away. "You found her journal a few days later, and you obviously knew it was about me."

"I didn't want to believe it." Morlen touched his son's shoulders, but he tensed and edged away. "Why would I believe it? You sucked the life out of fresh flowers. I might as well have entered myself into a hospital because that sounds just as insane as your mother when she ranted about them. I couldn't exactly tell you that there was something wrong with you when you were grieving so hard."

"There's nothing wrong with him." Alfie wrapped arms around himself. The sorrow pouring from Koda and Morlen was like weights crushing his temples. Koda watched him from the corner of his eye. "He's the sidekick of the Grim Reaper. That makes him pretty special, don't you think?"

Morlen's eyebrows shot to his hairline with surprise. "Excuse me, what?"

"Uhh... Connor?" Alfie hissed when Morlen glared into his soul.

"Yes, um, well-"

"You know what," Morlen interrupted, his face returning to hard features almost instantly, "I don't want to hear this right now. As long as Koda is safe or whatever, I don't want to know anything else." Morlen pushed through them and started to stomp down the corridor.

"I knew you cared!" Koda shouted after him, quite thankful that his fathers capacity to contain information was the size of a peanut. Morlen grunted a grumbled response and slammed the front door behind him. "I guess he needs time to process this."

Connor tapped his white cane on the rug with thought as Alfie tapped the tips of his fingers together. "Are you processing this?" he asked his crush, feeling the rush of his heart when Koda connected their gaze. The morning sun bounced on every shiny surface in their spotless kitchen and Koda's eyes seemed to absorb the light. The hazel turned a little golden in the sunshine.

"Alfie, I don't believe in the Grim Reaper."

Connor made a noise of amusement, grinning and twirling the stick in between his fingers. "You didn't believe in ghosts a few weeks ago. I suggest you open your mind a little more. You have no idea how involved you are with this supernatural lifestyle."

"I don't, because you won't tell me anything. Who is the Grim Reaper? Why am I the sidekick? Why did Alfie predict that we'd be together from such a young age? How is that even possible? And don't give me that 'every sidekick needs a medium' crap. You're acting like this is all a game to you, and it's not funny. This is my life you're messing with."

Connor was very good at hearing emotion through voices. Koda was frustrated, yet eager to know the answers, and certainly interested in how he would respond. "The Grim Reaper will appear when it matters. You're the sidekick because you have easy access to a medium which is Alfie. Sidekicks need someone to pass the souls to, otherwise, they'll cling to you until you can't hold on and then they'll burst into the atmosphere, destined to turn into evil entities in about fifty years because they had been left to drift. Souls are guided to mediums if they have their unfinished business, and if not, they'll cross over, but they most certainly don't do that alone." Connor smiled, wondering if Koda was looking at him like he was a life-sized spider. "Quite comforting, don't you agree?"

"This doesn't explain why I predicted that he'd need me. Why is it Koda? It could have been anyone, but the Grim Reaper chose him." Alfie was trying to be the stable one because Koda stopped blinking about a minute ago.

Connor opened his mouth to answer, then hesitated. He bit hard on his bottom lip but decided that the boys were frustrated enough. "Genes, Koda, you're related to death."

Alfie's jaw hung open. He wanted to slap himself to make sure that he was definitely not dreaming. Koda was pulling the same face, and Connor could feel their stares of disbelief.

"W-Who?" Koda choked. "It's only my dad and me now. I-"

"I know what you're thinking. Is it Morlen? Absolutely not. That man makes a disappointing human. I can't imagine the chaos he'd cause as the Grim Reaper."

Alfie wanted to smirk, but of course, the time was never right for his distasteful humour.

"But-"

"Like I said Koda, the Grim Reaper will appear when it matters." Connor straightened his back, inhaling deeply. "Well, at least you know now. Does this give you a little clarity?"

"Um." Koda's heart pulsed painfully. "Not really."

"I'll leave you with Alfie until it does." Connor turned his head in the direction of the short teen and winked.

Alfie didn't have the energy to demand more questions as his mentor swung round and made his way towards the front door, softly tapping his cane along the way.

They listened to the door opening and closing, then stood in the corridor, staring down it with complete perplexity. Alfie's mouth remained open, and Koda's heart didn't slow down no matter how calmly he tried to breathe.

"Do you want to... um..."

"I need to lie down." Koda hurried through the corridor. He could see the staircase and knew Alfie's room was the first one on the left.

Alfie gazed after him until he could no longer hear Koda's socks shuffling down the hallway. He would've stood there all day if Mister Dorinto didn't force his way into Alfie's sights. "Not now," he muttered through gritted teeth.

"I just wanted to ask if Satan- A.K.A my wife- has replied to your email." Dorinto's cheerful voice echoed from one ear to other. Alfie wasn't mentally prepared to talk to any ghosts when he was trying to hold so much new information.

"I'm not sure. I haven't checked, now please go away."

"You said please. What's wrong?" Dorinto lifted a big hand and rested it against Alfie's head. The human felt the sharp temperature change. It was as if someone pressed an ice cube against his skin. He shivered and took a step back.

"You. Now get lost." Alfie stormed right through him. Ghosts usually hated when humans did that. It made their disconnection from the land of the living even more surreal.

"Maybe I can help." Dorinto followed him, not making a single noise with his smart black shoes.

"You can help by disappearing."

"Or by finding the person who sent the flowers?"

Alfie's foot paused on the first step of the stairs. His hand hovered above the wooden handrail. "How?" he asked, not bothering to look at him.

"I haven't figured that out yet, but please let me help. I'm sick of waiting for my wife to reply. There's only so many plates I can smash until she gets the hint."

Alfie couldn't help but release a little smile. He wiped it from his face when he turned. "Fine, help, but I don't expect you to be useful."

Dorinto pulled on his collar with a smug grin. "Your enthusiasm is so motivating, young one."

"So I've heard," Alfie grumbled and continued his way to his room, leaving Dorinto beaming behind him.