Under_The_Whispering_Door_by_TJ_Klune

was as if they were simply existing in the same space.
When the line at the counter had thinned, Mei came back into the kitchen.
“What are they doing?”
Mei shook her head. “It’s not—I don’t think it’s my place to say.”
Wallace scoffed. “Does no one here actually say anything of any
substance?”
“We do,” Mei said, opening a pantry door and pulling down a plastic tub
filled with individual packets of sugar and creamer. “You’re just not hearing
what you want to hear. I know it might be hard to understand, but not
everything is about you, Wallace. You have your own story. She has hers. If
you’re meant to know what it is, you will.”
He felt properly rebuked. And worse, he thought she had a point.
Mei sighed. “You’re allowed to ask questions. In fact, it’s good that you
do. But her business is between her and Hugo.” She carried the tub toward
the doors. Wallace stepped out of her way. Before she went through, she
stopped, looking up at him. She hesitated. Then, “Hugo will probably give
you the specifics if you ask, but know she has her reasons for being here. You
know how you’re my first solo case?”
Wallace nodded.
Mei gnawed on her bottom lip. “Hugo had another Reaper before me.
He’d been with Hugo since he started as a ferryman. There were …
complications, and not just pertaining to Cameron. The Reaper pushed when
he shouldn’t have, and mistakes were made. I didn’t know him, but I heard
the stories.” She brushed her bangs back off her forehead. “We’re here to
guide, to help Hugo and the people we bring here. But his first Reaper forgot
that. He thought he knew better than Hugo. And it didn’t end well. The
Manager had to get involved.”
Wallace had heard that name before. Nelson had called him a nasty
fellow. “The Manager?”
“It’s best you don’t know him,” Mei said quickly. “He’s our boss. He’s the
one who assigned me to Hugo and trained me on how to reap. It’s … better
when he’s not here. We don’t want to draw his attention.”
The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. “What does he do?”
“Manages,” Mei said as if that explained everything. “Don’t worry about
it. It has nothing to do with you, and I don’t think you’ll ever have to meet