S'good that this installment ended happily.. I'm still sad Des and Spook left, but glad they're happy and whole together now.

Aw, so Reaper snatched both of Des' family members out right from under him, both Sheila and Spook..

"“I’m tired of looking at the fire.” I felt Flame lay her head on my shoulder again and smiled down at her."
Heh. He doesn't want to watch the flames on the TV, in favor of the fire snuggled up beside him.

Darry should've just told them to stay away from the river or he'd skin them.. Being more specific than just "stay with Soda!" might've done the trick.

Damn! So they're on the list now! I would've figured that since they weren't on the list, they'd get out of it okay even if they went, but.. Oh, I hope they listen to Des, dangit, and hightail it out of there nice and quick.

It's good for Pony that Spider and Wolf came around, he needs to be able to have friends like Spider to hang out with..

"I wondered vaguely if that was how she sounded to her students when they didn’t do as she told them to do."
Haha, but doesn't she teach deaf kids?

And like Dally, I'm thinking Des is gonna blow now, too..

Poor Des. Poor Spook!

Oh no! You did it! You killed him, that's so sad! Ah! Now I'm down in the dumps.

..I wonder why Pony is handling this like he is.. Maybe he dreamed it, but, still, that shouldn't make him be so calm..!

So Des was capable of burning down his family's home when he was a kid.

I just realized that Steve's the only one left without a nickname/street name in the group.

Aw, Spook's stutter is cute. But I hope he regains his fine motor skills (opening the soda can), his eyesight (I assumed he meant his eyes couldn't focus on the book) and his speech (the stuttering).

Interesting that Des can take lives so easily -- on his own, and with Reaper's help, which freaks a lot of people out because you can't conquer death, you know? And yet Des, who delivers death (w/ Reaper) can't do a thing when death stares Spook in the eye.

"He was only fourteen, for God’s sake! What kind of world was it that let fourteen be the end of a kid’s time on this planet?"
Not much worse than sixteen.. Poor Johnny.

So.. Reaper's like a demon sort of thing who can possess a person (or object? was he in that blade, when he got into Pony the first time?), and also exist independently as a doppelganger.. yeah?

I hope Pony goes to visit Spook on the Soc side of town.. I want a run-in with Cherry.. I loves me the drama.

OMG, he drives a black Mustang? It's . . . what, 1970-ish when this takes place? I gotta look at Mustangs from around then. How awesome.

love this story

I love all your stories. Hope they stay up this time.