As more sounds and light penetrated my consciousness, I realized those whispers weren’t dreams.
Mazarin and the former reapers were in my room! I sat quickly, blinking in sleepy confusion as they cried out as one, “Congratulations!”
Huh?
“It’s your special day!”
“What? It’s not my birthday … is it?” Panic flashed as I wondered how long I’d really been down there.
Mazarin laughed softly. “Not yet. But … I suppose, in a sense, we could say it is.”
Clear as mud, like always.
She smirked, no doubt reading my thoughts. Before I could do more than scowl at her, Leticia stepped out from behind some of the others, holding a box tied with red ribbon.
“Every Reaper needs a scythe,” she said, smiling as she handed me the gift.
Still confused, I took it from her. The container didn’t look big enough to hold a scythe.
She winked. “And we noticed you were partial to this one.”
I shook my head, more befuddled by the second. When had I ever seen a scythe outside of illustrations, much less been partial to one?
“Well, go on. Open it,” Maz insisted as I continued to stare.
They all laughed when I opened the box and gasped.
“June! My precious! How did you get here?” I gently stroked the cleaver as I pulled it out of the wrapping. Confused, I looked back at the Reapers.
“But ... this isn’t a scythe.”
“The actual blade doesn’t matter,” Mazarin explained. “Only that it speaks to you.”
My lips parted as I gazed at the cleaver with wonder. I had been drawn to it since I’d first arrived at Ravenswood Academy. Artemis had made fun of me, tried to hide it from me several times out of fear I might cut myself, or lose my temper and use it on someone else. But still I kept going back to my beloved June The Cleaver. Was this why?
I glanced up again and caught the smiles and encouraging nods of the others. Chills crossed my arms, but in a good way.
Grinning, I jerked on my boots. “Let’s get to practicing!”
After an untold number of training sessions, I could feel the difference. My power grew every hour in the practice arena. The teaching Mazarin and her helpers provided me with, gave me the knowledge to battle the phantoms; the ancient magic they loaned to me became a weapon in my hands. Not to mention my old pal, June. Each triumph, each soul that I rescued—or destroyed—solidified my status as a worthy Reaper trainee.
I’d just finished successfully trapping a group of wraiths in a ghostly web then used June to send them to their final destinations. Wiping the sweat off my forehead, I could almost believe I had unlocked the secrets of raising, and routing, the dead. Yet even as my skills grew, so did my doubts.
And the dread sinking into my stomach like a gravestone.
Was I really ready for the battles ahead? Could I bear what it might take to be a Reaper?
As if summoned by my thoughts, Mazarin’s flickering form appeared beside me, radiating an ancient authority that commanded respect. Though weakened by the dark forces she had battled, her presence was still formidable.
“Come, Sierra. You are strong, but also need reminders of what is at stake.” She motioned for me to follow her through a spectral portal, leaving the training arena behind.
We came into an ethereal garden painted in shades of gray and I drew in a quick breath. Leticia had shown me a painting of this place! It was inhabited by the most shattered spirits of past Reapers. Their barely visible forms were distinct yet translucent, forever trapped in this one location, and apart from the others I’d met. I shivered as we passed them, their silent presence both unsettling and poignant. These were the ones who had failed and paid the ultimate price.
Mazarin gestured to a spirit. “Behold Ava, who fell to pride.”
Ava’s voice echoed from beyond. “I thought my powers made me invincible. I was wrong.”
Another spoke. “Arrogance blinded me. Do not repeat my mistakes.”
With each cautionary tale, my anxiety grew. I’d never asked any of the Reapers why or how they had failed – it seemed insensitive. Now I was super glad I’d never asked, because I wasn’t sure I’d have made it this far if I had.
Leticia suddenly appeared among them, more solid than the rest, but still wavering. I took a few steps back—really, really not wanting to hear what she had to say—and was stopped by Mazarin’s hand on my arm.
“I chose love for my human mate over my duty as a Reaper,” she said, her gaze on the ground. He was my everything. And knew nothing of our world. I put off the reaping for as long as possible to stay with him, but when a dark wizards and witches moved into a neighboring town, I knew I had to take action. But my husband was suspicious, and began to follow me, so I held back for his sake. The other witches had summoned demons to possess humans and animals to do their bidding.”
I turned to Maz in alarm. “Demons?! Nobody told me about demons! Is she talking about the Unconsecrated?”
There was quiet murmuring among the others, and Maz shook her head ‘no.’
“You haven’t heard of them yet because it is mostly hidden knowledge – forbidden to be taught in schools, and you haven’t reached that point in your training here.”
My eyes flicked back and forth between Mazarin and Leticia, and my chest felt tight. I was more nervous than I had been moments before. I’d thought I was already at the end of my training. “Who are they if they’re not the Dark Ones?”
“Creatures of chaos and destruction that inhabit another realm, beyond this one, and apart from earth. They are generally content to stay in their own land, but throughout time, some powerful mages have been able to open portals to summon them to other planes.”
The disturbed look on Maz’s face increased my fear factor by a hundred. If she was afraid of them, what was I supposed to do if I ever came across one? And given that she’d said ‘that part of the training’ was still ahead, she must be expecting me to face off with one at some point.
“How common is that? Them being summoned, I mean,” I asked warily.
