“No…” Mona grabbed her by the waist and forcibly pulled her away.

The crystal casing was still open. Crane’s soul watched helplessly as his body was overcome with violent convulsions. “What the hell is happening?!” he screamed, as his Reaper and Kelara held him back. Malleus and Sidyan jumped in to help.

I didn’t even notice that Rudolph was still with us, on this side of the sanctuary, until he spoke to my left. “He’s dead.”

All eyes, of spirits and living helpers alike, were on Crane’s body. Its glow shifted from soft orange to a sharp blue, the surface rippling as if it had been turned into water. A Crane-shaped blob of water that shone like a sapphire. The epitome of terrifyingly weird.

“His body is open to the Hermessi, and one of them just went in, trying it on,” Rudolph added.

“That’s just sick and disgusting,” I croaked.

“It’s sad, but inevitable, I’m afraid.” He sighed, his lips crooked with what looked like genuine disappointment.

The glow expanded from Crane’s body. My pulse quickened as I watched the light grow brighter until it pulsed. With every flicker, invisible energy was released in physical waves. It knocked a struggling Arwen down, and Mona fell with her.

Gasps erupted from the crowd of spirits as the pulses grew in frequency, smacking into every physical barrier around Crane’s body. The crystal casings were toppled, falling to the sides like dominoes. The bodies inside slumped against the charmed shells, helpless against the laws of physics.

The energy ripples got stronger, and no one in the world of the living seemed to be able to do anything about it. Mona and Arwen were still down, repeatedly hit by the ripples and unable to get back up. Bruises bloomed on their faces. Blood trickled from their noses.

Other GASP agents tried to get closer, but the pulses continued their aggressive attack. Kailani teleported herself next to Crane’s body in a bid to work her Word magic and seal his casing back, but the blue glow flashed bright enough to temporarily blind us all. I heard Kailani’s grunt as she, too, hit the floor, her temple bleeding.

“Somebody needs to do something!” I shouted. “This can’t be right! They’re all going to die!”

The Reapers looked nervous. They definitely hadn’t known this would happen. They threw wary glances around, silently challenging one another to get involved. The fae spirits beckoned them as well, tugging their arms and desperately pleading for some kind of help.

Kailani tried to get up, but the pulses knocked her back down, mercilessly. The air ripples reached our side of the sanctuary, bumping into our crystal casings. They all shuddered at every hit, threatening to fall over.

“Dammit, you can’t let the Hermessi win here! Death doesn’t want them to have this!” I bawled, tears stinging my eyes. I felt the rivers tumbling down my cheeks, wet and hot and echoing my grief and desperation. “You have to do something.”

Caia was quick to hold me, keeping her arms tight around my torso. Light burst golden between us, healing another link on our life-chains. Sometimes it didn’t work, but this time, it had. We’d bought ourselves another day, at least, on top of what we’d already gotten back since we’d been revealed to each other. Still, it didn’t do anything to calm me. I was watching the Hermessi force their way into one of the fae bodies, and it made me so angry, so helpless…

“Dammit!” Kelara snarled and took out her scythe.

Her lips moved as she walked over to Crane’s body, unaffected by the brutal ripples of energy. The handle of her scythe extended, and she scratched a circle around the crystal casing. Mona and Arwen were the first to see her, their eyes bulging and their mouths gaping.

“Who… Who are you?” Kailani mouthed, gawking at Kelara.

It didn’t take long for them to recognize the apparel and the scythe. Mona’s lips moved slowly. “Reaper…”

We were all speechless and motionless, watching Kelara as she completed her spell. As soon as the circle was locked, the ripples stopped. The blue glow dimmed but didn’t leave Crane’s body. Silence settled across the sanctuary as the Hermessi’s access into the physical world was, once again, limited.

Kelara scowled at Crane’s body, muttering something.

“I can’t hear her. She’s too far away,” I said.

Rudolph tapped his scythe with one finger. The blade zinged—a sound quickly followed by the amplified voices of Kelara, Mona, Arwen, and Kailani. The other living GASP agents picked themselves off the floor and spread out to get the fallen crystal casings back on their solid bases.

“You’re a Reaper,” Mona repeated herself.

“Whoa…” I gasped, looking at Rudolph. “What did you just do for me to hear them?”

“I enhanced the sounds’ ability to travel across this space, that’s all,” Rudolph replied. “You said you couldn’t hear.”

I smiled briefly, my tears already drying. “Thanks.”

“You helped us,” Arwen said to Kelara. “Why?”

“Because someone I know made a good point, and I was being too stubborn to accept it,” Kelara replied, eyeing me for a moment. “Crane is dead. His body was overtaken by the Hermessi. What I did is only a temporary fix, but, for everyone’s sake, I suggest you get him and his crystal casing as far away from here as possible.”

Mona scoffed. “The bastards made it through…”

“The ritual isn’t complete, though,” Arwen said, slightly confused.

“The affected fae can die before that. Their bodies can still be used as conduits,” Kelara reminded her. “Once they hit five million, they’ll have enough power to wipe out everything that is living in this dimension and the next, at least.”

Kailani made her way back to Arwen and Mona, her legs shaky and weak. “How do we get him out of here?” she asked. “I suppose that circle thing you made is what’s keeping the Hermessi contained.”

“I’ll help you,” Kelara said. “I’m not supposed to intervene like this, but…”

“What changed?” I wondered aloud.

Rudolph chuckled. “She grew a conscience.”

“She did the right thing,” Ben retorted.

“How can they see Kelara? Why’d she reveal herself?” Caia asked.

“It’s a complicated spell,” Rudolph said. “It required her physical form to be revealed.”

“Can any of you Reapers do it?” I replied.

He winced. “Not really, no. I mean, not all of us are strong or educated like that. I think Kelara speaks to Death. I think Death taught her.”

I remembered that little-known fact about Death. She didn’t speak to all the Reapers telepathically, though they were all aware of her, and they were linked to her. No, she only spoke to Reapers in certain tiers, and I knew Seeley was one of them. If Rudolph was right, then Kelara was like Seeley. She had Death’s attention and support. I’d bet on the right horse, it seemed.

“Are there more of you here?” Kailani asked Kelara, who nodded in return.

“It’s time you know what’s going on in this sanctuary. In all the sanctuaries,” she said. “It’ll help you prepare for the worst that’s yet to come.”

I breathed the heaviest sigh of relief. Finally, she was doing at least a part of what I’d been asking of her. She wasn’t going to reveal us—not yet, anyway, as I continued to hope I’d eventually convince her to do that, too. But she was about to tell Kailani about us, about the life-chains and the spiritual touches that helped heal some of the blackened links, and about the risks that some of the fae souls unwillingly posed to the living—like Crane. His Reaper stayed with him, and I knew it was only a matter of time before Crane would leave us, before he’d let go and allow himself to be reaped.

The Hermessi’s power continued to grow, and we were all still scheduled to die, at least for now. But GASP had finally gotten a thread of help from another Reaper. Kelara was coming through for us, telling them everything they needed to know to up their game against the next stage of the ritual.

All we could do was hang on for dear life. But GASP could do a bit more.

Taeral

We were faced with impossible choices.