The First to Die at the End (Death-Cast #0)(90)

“Nice wheels,” his mom says, giving Rufus a high five. “What’d you do to deserve that?” she asks, though she looks more at his dad too for the explanation.

“He talked back,” Olivia says.

“You’re technically right,” his dad says. “But Rufus talked back with respect, and I did the same.”

“Happy to hear it,” his mom says.

Rufus likes when she’s proud of him, and he’s going to try harder to make that happen. “I also helped out at the shop.”

“How’s it looking?” his mom asks.

“Better,” his dad says at the same time Rufus says, “Bad.”

For a moment, Rufus braces himself to go on the defense, as if he’s going to be scolded for saying the truth when what he said is legit the truth. The pawnshop is not in great shape. Yeah, they got all the glass off the floor and the front door has been boarded up, but when they left, it was still a mess. And his father seems to remember that as he nods with a little smile and agrees, “It’s pretty bad.”

Rufus breathes, relieved that he didn’t have to fight.

“It’ll be better soon,” his mom says, sitting on the park bench.

Rufus doesn’t know what his mom has been going through at the hospital, only that she came home exhausted and wanted to try to help out at the shop, and everyone begged her to get some rest instead.

“You good, Mom?” Rufus asks.

“It’s been a long day.” She looks around at the park, where other kids are playing and laughing, and it seems like the kind of thing she needed. “I’m on call for a surgery tonight. It’s for a Decker who wants to pass his heart on to another boy he’s only just met. They’re both so young and . . .”

His dad seems stuck on a thought. “Wait. Did one have a Yankees cap?”

“I didn’t see a cap at all.”

He snaps his fingers at himself. “Valentino?”

Her back straightens. “How do you know that?”

“We met a Decker at the shop this morning. They bought a camera off us.”

“He was a Decker?!” Rufus asks. He can’t believe he met a real-life Decker and he’s only just now finding out about it.

His mom sighs. “Though the news is now reporting that Death-Cast has made some mistakes today. Just because they got some predictions right doesn’t mean they still can’t be wrong. This could complicate things on our end for the surgery, but only time will tell. I just hope those boys are having the time of their lives.”

Rufus is itching to ride his bike some more because all this death talk is making him uncomfortable. But he sees that his dad has fallen into some kind of trance. “What’s up, Pops?”

“Things weren’t—aren’t—great with Valentino and his parents. I wonder what his heart is telling him to do.” He looks at his family with a steel, teary gaze. “None of us are perfect, but let’s never let things between us get so bad that we could know we’re dying and still not want anything to do with each other. Goodbyes are the most possible impossible because you never want to say them, but you’d be stupid not to when given the chance.”

Rufus lets his father’s words sink in.

He would never want to fight with his family so much that he wouldn’t try to see them one last time before he dies. He knows the day will come where he’s a grown man and his parents are old that he will have to say goodbye. And it will probably feel impossible, but Rufus’s father is right, it will actually be possible. Just really difficult. But that’s a problem for a long, long, long time from now.

Until then, Rufus is going to be a kid.

He’s going to have fun with his bike.

He’s going to be a good son and brother and friend.

He’s going to live.





Mateo Torrez Jr.


3:14 p.m.

Death-Cast did not call Mateo Torrez Jr. because he is not dying today.

That doesn’t mean he isn’t still living in fear.

Ever since midnight, when the Death-Cast calls began, Mateo has been scared, staying close to his father. Mateo even slept in his father’s bed last night, resting on the left side that once belonged to his mother, who died giving birth to him. Maybe it’s all the fantasy books he’s read growing up (particularly the Scorpius Hawthorne series, which is chock-full of prophecies) but Mateo has always imagined that he’s been marked for an early death because of the life that ended when creating him. He was so sure that Death-Cast was going to call his father last night, sharing the tragic news that Mateo would be dying, but the phone never rang.

So then why can’t Mateo breathe?

He’s arrived at Althea Park with his father. There’s plenty of fresh air, but he still feels like death must be hiding around every corner. Like a pack of dogs could jump all over Mateo, which might seem like a good time for some people, but his allergies are so bad that he could break out into hives and his lungs could close up from anaphylactic shock and he could die.

He’d hate to leave his father alone, especially after killing the woman he loved the most in this world.

The first time his father—Mateo Sr., known to his friends as Teo—sat Mateo down to talk about Death-Cast, all Mateo could think about is how the day he was born would’ve been different if only his father could have prepared for his wife’s death. As Mateo understands it, his mother wasn’t expected to die during childbirth, and the death shocked his father, who didn’t get the chance to say goodbye to the woman he imagined his life with as he held their only child together for the first time.