Suddenly, an eerie silence settled over the sanctuary, as if all the spirits and Reapers present, whom I couldn’t see, all had their eyes on him, waiting for the juicy details. Judging by the astonished look on Rudolph’s face, I could tell that Seeley’s encounter with Death was extremely rare.
“How… She allowed you near her?!” Rudolph squealed, unable to control the pitch in his voice. Sweat burst in tiny beads all over his face.
Seeley nodded, his gaze fixed on me. “She did.”
“Only a few of us have been allowed to see her,” Rudolph mumbled. “I didn’t think you’d pull it off…”
“You continue to underestimate me, then,” Seeley answered, and raised his voice, likely for all the other Reapers to hear him. “I’ve spoken to Death about the spirits in our care. She’s authorized us to reveal all the fae souls to each other. The spiritual isolation ends now.”
The announcement boomed across the hall, and not without an effect. First, the Reapers showed themselves. They all wore Earthly uniforms like Seeley’s—the black suits, white shirts, black ties, and perfectly polished shoes. They looked as though they’d just come off the Creepy Agents of Death assembly line, each of them eyeing Seeley nervously.
“Are you sure?” a female Reaper with a long black ponytail asked, gripping her scythe tightly enough for her knuckles to turn white.
“I didn’t come here to fabricate lies, Kelara,” Seeley replied, his tone clipped. “You all have a telepathic connection to her. You can all gather the courage to ask her yourselves, if you don’t believe me.”
A big, blond-haired Reaper stepped forward, hands in his pants pockets. “So, our rules are no longer valid?”
“They were Reaper-made rules,” Seeley replied. “Useless in these circumstances. Even toxic, for that matter, especially after what we saw earlier. Kelara and Malleus know this very well.”
“He’s right,” Kelara said, looking at the others. “Fae spirits touching has a peculiar effect. Most of you saw it earlier. And I’m sure most of us can agree that the Hermessi’s doings are anything but part of the natural order.”
“It’s time we shed these stiff rules,” Seeley added. “Allow the fae to see each other, and let’s find out if contact between them truly helps slow the Hermessi’s influence down.”
Excitement came over me in electric waves. I was ready to jump around, brimming with joy like nothing I’d felt before. It stemmed from the fickle thread of hope that I’d been holding on to upon learning of Ben and Grace’s embrace and its effect on their life-chains. Looking down at mine, I saw that it wouldn’t be long until I succumbed to the Hermessi’s influence and died, so anything we had to push that dreaded moment as far off as possible, I was more than happy to take.
The Reapers nodded slowly and raised their scythes in a single, collective move. The curved blades glinted in the rays of moonlight that came from the glass ceiling above. They whispered something, and, a few moments later, the sanctuary revealed its secrets.
I covered my mouth with both hands, my eyes bulging at the sight before me. Hundreds of fae, translucent and tethered to their bodies with blackening life-chains, like me. I didn’t know all of them, but those I held dearest were quick to pop up into my field of vision.
“Ben!” I yelped, waving at him.
He turned around and smiled, equally ecstatic. Grace showed up, almost out of nowhere, and jumped into his arms. Light burst between them, their chains clinking and glowing. Only then did I see the effect—another link on each had begun to shed the blackness, returning to the healthy, amber sheen.
“Mom!” I heard Vita cry out.
Grace and Ben moved around the crystal casings and eagerly hugged Vita and Caia. I stood there, teary-eyed, watching the scene unfold. Golden lights shone through as more fae discovered each other and got closer. Every touch, every hug, and every kiss fought the blackness on the life-chain links. It fell off like dry rust, leaving glowing chains to connect the fae to their bodies.
I couldn’t move, my aching heart swelling at the sight of much-needed relief. They’d all been isolated, like me, unable to speak to one another, unable to hold their loved ones… They must’ve suffered, being apart like this.
“This is incredible,” Caia exclaimed and ran to me.
She wrapped her arms around me, and I felt my entire being tingle, as the same light I’d seen between them finally emerged from my life-chain, as well. I heard the crackle of blackness as it fell off, landing on the floor in dark flakes. We both looked down and laughed.
“I can’t tell you how much I wanted to see you all,” I said, looking at her, at Ben, at Grace and Vita. I couldn’t get enough of them now—all of us stuck here in this spiritual limbo, in the same room for so long, yet only now able to see each other.
“You scoundrels! I knew you wouldn’t be too far away!” Lucas’s voice boomed through the sanctuary.
We all turned around to see him, joined by Kailyn—she seemed stunned and shaken, and I figured she’d not seen her Reaper until now. She’d had no idea we were all here. I felt sorry for her. Not knowing in a state like ours was simply awful. At least I and, apparently, the Novak bloodline had been aware of our suited companions.
The jingle of life-chains tickled my ears and delighted my soul as we shared another round of hugs and well wishes. We laughed and encouraged each other, emphasizing that our journey wasn’t over, not by a thousand years, even. I could see Kailyn relaxing gradually, as one of the links on her life-chain shed its blackness.
“You look all surly and ready to punch someone in the face.” Ben chuckled, gripping his uncle by the shoulders.
Lucas scoffed and pointed a thumb over his shoulder. “That’s because my Reaper, Sidyan, over there, is a complete schmuck who’s kept me in the dark about you all!”
“I thought I was weirdly special for being able to see my Reaper,” I said. “Now, I see all you Novaks can see your Reapers, too.”
Kelara sighed, resisting an eye-roll. “You’re a four-element fae, Vesta, powerful enough for your spirit to see your Reaper. The Novak fae are… yes, special, I suppose. Ben and Lucas cheated Death, so we’d make ourselves seen to them, whether they would be able to see us or not… as for Grace, Vita and Caia… Yes, you can pin that on their Novak genes.”
“I cheated Death, too,” Kailyn replied. “And yet I didn’t see my Reaper until now.”
“Emera,” her Reaper said, introducing herself. Kailyn gave her a timid nod in return.
“You’re not a Novak, and you’re not as powerful either,” Seeley shot back, aiming a smirk at Kailyn. “I’m kidding. That’s not on you. Emera’s a little shy.”
Indeed, Kailyn’s Reaper blushed, lowering her head.
“Don’t worry, Great-Uncle Lucas,” Grace said. “Malleus didn’t tell me anything, either, until Kelara showed me my dad.”
Ben took her in his arms, as if fearful he might lose her again. Given how unpredictable this near-death state of ours was, he wasn’t being at all paranoid. Heck, he and Lucas had been ghosts, once. They understood this better than most of us, for sure, as did Kailyn.
“I had to obey the rules,” Malleus said, his brow furrowed and his jaw wide and square.
“Yeah, I know. You’re all suckers for rules,” I replied dryly, and gave Seeley a sideways smirk. I would’ve hugged him, too, but I didn’t want him to come across as soft to the other Reapers. I figured he had a rep to maintain. “Thank you for this.”
Seeley bowed politely. “Least I could do. I should thank you, in fact. Your persistence opened my eyes,” he said. “I’m not sure how much this will help, but it’s better than nothing.”
Vita looked down at her life-chain. “It’s cleaned up two of my links, so far. It’s definitely something!”
“Just don’t expect it to work all the time, or on everyone,” Emera cut in. She wore her brown hair short, in deep contrast with her pale skin and cherry-red lips. Kailyn had a hard time taking her eyes off of her. Unlike the rest of us, Aiden’s wife had been in the dark, basically, and barely able to speak at the sight of all of us together, along with our Reapers.
“What do you mean?” Kailyn asked. Emera seemed a lot more delicate than the other Reapers. Kelara stood out with cold fierceness, for example. Despite the fact that Emera had not revealed herself to Kailyn until now, there was a timid familiarity between them, as if Kailyn had, perhaps, sensed her. It wouldn’t have taken her long to understand the state that she was in, and the humans’ lore was rife with stories of death and Reapers and lost spirits. It wouldn’t have been hard to put two and two together. Besides, Seeley had told me a while back that Reapers could easily and discretely suggest their presence, without revealing themselves. The expression on Kailyn’s face didn’t illustrate shock or bewilderment, but rather a faint “I knew I wasn’t alone!”.
“Look over there,” Emera said, pointing at a group of fae spirits on the opposite end of the hall, closer to the doors. They seemed rather distraught and confused, repeatedly hugging one another without any effect. Their life-chains remained the same, with only two or three links left before the blackness would take over. Before they would… die. “They’re not all as fortunate as you, I’m afraid,” Emera added.
“But why?” I asked, feeling a pang of a maybe-survivor’s guilt, all of a sudden. “Why do we get these links back, and they can’t?”
“It might have something to do with heritage,” a male Reaper said, staying close to Vita.
“Tomassin may be on to something,” Seeley interjected. “You’re all Novaks, for example. There’s a common bloodline in you, and a voracious appetite for life, in general.”
“Hear, hear.” Lucas chuckled, wearing a devilish grin.
“Yeah, you, Kailyn, and Ben are anomalies,” Kelara snapped, pursing her lips. The irritation was obvious. “I doubt that’s what my esteemed colleague meant. You cheated Death!”
Seeley smirked, cocking his head to the side for a moment. “Actually, I mean them, too. Though Kailyn married into the Novak clan. Oh, and let’s not forget Vesta, here, who will not go away, no matter what. I’m willing to guarantee it. She will haunt the crap out of The Shade until the end of time.”
I blushed, fire igniting beneath the surface of my spiritual form.
