Back on our home planets, the number of affected fae had not stopped rising. Every hour, another fae would fall. Our time was running out—the irony in the Time Master going missing along with Death did not escape me. I'd simply chosen to look past it, because despair had already been gnawing at my insides.

"Our magic is of the living. The Word does not work with the dead," Lumi replied. "You must keep that in mind when speaking to Reapers. We deal in life. They deal in death. It's how it's always been. How it always will be."

The Soul Crusher gasped. "Hold on, I got something! I got something!" He squealed like a teenage girl who'd just gotten asked out to prom by her crush. It was hard not to laugh at him, sometimes. A nice contrast, I thought, to the usual psychopath he chose to manifest as.

But he was right about one thing. His scythe was glowing brighter than usual. Glancing down at Zetos and Eirexis strapped to my thigh, I noticed a faint shimmer dancing across the blade, as if it had been touched by moonlight.

"I think Soul isn't the only one with a lead," I said, drawing attention to Zetos. "It's reacting."

"Good. Then we're headed in the right direction," Raphael replied.

We resumed our walk through the thick woods, mindful of the many creatures living here. Most of them were furry predators with long claws and massive fangs, but with the Reapers visible, none dared to get close. I felt them watching us, moving slowly through the underbrush along with us. They were harmless compared to the enemies who were looking forward to tearing through us.

The velvety leaves rustled as the wind brushed through them, its wings riddled with whispers. Kabbah was the first to notice. "The locals know we're here," he said.

"Great. Not only are we still tracking Death with hours left on the clock, the Hermessi have also decided to join us," Eva said.

Phantom walked by Soul and Widow's side. She glanced at us over her shoulder.

"Death is here. I can already feel her," the childlike Reaper said.

"I second that," Widow added.

Now it was only a matter of getting to Death first, before Brendel or her loyalists had any shot at stopping us. With the Spirit Bender by her side, there was no telling what she was capable of, or how devastating the methods she would employ to make sure the ritual was completed would be.

Amelia

A couple of hours passed in dead silence, with no other sign from Kelara. Seeley had tried to reach out to her, but he'd yet to get an answer. We knew she'd be in touch as soon as she could, but we couldn't help our concern, after the dead Reapers we'd found on Mortis.

We left the woods behind as evening settled over this strange realm. There were two moons in the sky, two pearls that cast their white light over the purplish grass and the tall mountain ahead.

It was a massive peak, with stony ridges and rose-colored forests, white streams that burst from the rocks, and a single, solitary beaten path, which others had clearly taken before us, many times over the years. Wildflowers blossomed on both sides, with tall blue stems and yellow petals. I felt as though I'd been treading a dreamworld, where my subconscious had spilled watercolors in all the wrong places.

There was beauty in this strangeness, but I could also sense the danger looming over our heads. Raphael took my hand in his, squeezing gently as we smiled at one another. No matter what, with no words needed, we both knew we were together in this, all the way to the end.

"She's up there," Soul said, raising his scythe. Its glow intensified, confirming his assessment.

Phantom and Widow agreed, as well. Seeley, however, didn't seem convinced, and it worried me. In certain respects, I trusted him more than any other Reaper we'd come across.

"I’m not feeling her so far," he murmured. "It's not right. I'd have sensed her if she were here."

"Then explain this," Soul replied, nodding at his incandescent blade.

"Let's just go up there and find out," Lumi said, more impatient than all of us put together.

We'd started this mission with good intentions, but the pressure and the urgency of it all was already clamping down on us, making it difficult to concentrate. I could almost hear the clock ticking in the back of my head, getting louder with every hour that passed. This sort of anxiety was bound to cause friction among us, and not because we were prone to it, but rather because we simply couldn't help it.

Even so, none of us dared contemplate the prospect of failure. Despite the occasional snarking and eye-rolling, we pushed through. In this instance, we worked our way up the mountain, carefully following Soul's scythe. I, for one, found an ounce of comfort in knowing that, while the local Hermessi had caught wind of our presence, they couldn't find us straightaway, thanks to our Devil's Weed.

"It's at the top," Soul declared, and vanished into thin air.

"Son of a… Now he zaps out of here!" Riza gasped.

We linked hands, and she teleported us to the mountain's peak. We appeared next to Soul on what looked like a carved platform. It had been sculpted into the mountain peak, hidden between thick, white clouds. The cold air made my lungs tickle, but I loved it. This was freshness like nothing I'd experienced before. The low temperature was a welcome change, as well, compared to the first half of our trip in this world. The ground level was much warmer and significantly more humid. Up here, however, it was cooler, and it gave me a strong sense of clarity.

Soul's scythe hummed with delight, as if Death was literally within our reach, but she was still nowhere to be found. The platform was empty.

"Okay, smartass, riddle me this, then," I said, my tone clipped, motioning around us. "Where is she?"

What I didn't like was that Soul, Phantom, and Widow were as lost and as confused as the rest of our crew. It didn't bode well. To be honest, I would've been more at peace with Soul withholding some other valuable piece of information just for the fun of it, like he'd done until now.

An ignorant Soul Crusher put us all on the same page. A blank sheet of paper, with Death still missing and absolutely no direction to go in.

"I… I don't know," Soul mumbled, frowning at his scythe. "This is weird. I don't get how the tracking spell is working, if she isn't here."

"For what it's worth, I still don't sense her," Seeley said, walking around the platform. His gaze wandered all over, as if he was searching for something—what, exactly? He didn't know, but I had a feeling he would, once he found it.

"How can this be?" Phantom asked, then gave her brother a nudge. "Are you sure you did it right?"

"Did what right?" Soul replied, scowling at her.

"The tracking spell."

"Don't be a dweeb. Of course I did it right! Don't insult me," Soul retorted, already insulted. "The spell is fine! Look at it! It's still working! It's resonating with Death, but I just don't know how. She isn't here."

Lumi and Nethissis did a tour of the platform, too, their hands lighting up as they used the Word's magic to find whatever it was that had brought us here. "If it wasn't Death, it was something else that drew your spell here," Lumi said to Soul. "What could it have been?"

The First Tenners thought about it for a moment. Phantom was the first to reply. "Whatever it was, it has Death's energy signature. Perhaps an object of hers?"

The tension was killing me. Poor Taeral was livid, unable to speak anymore. The strain was torturing us all, and there wasn't much we could do to stop it. Our emotions were free, and we were all falling through a dark tunnel with no light of salvation in sight.

Surrendering, I dropped to my knees and exhaled sharply, shuddering in the process. Raphael joined me, kneeling in front of me as he cupped my face and smiled. "It's not over yet," he said.

"I know. I just… I'm so tired," I whispered.

"We all are," Riza chimed in. Only then did I feel the hot tears streaming down my cheeks. I was crying. I was shaking and crying.

Herakles came over, as did Eva and Varga. Amazingly, they were all more concerned about my state of mind than the absolute dead-end we'd stumbled into. Maybe my broken soul could be fixed, unlike this situation with Death.

Seeley stopped in the middle of the platform and bent down, picking something off the ground. He inspected it carefully and brought it over to us. I could see it clearly as he held out his hand.

"What in the world is that?" I asked, hearing my voice tremble.

"It's a pebble," Seeley replied. "Well, not just any pebble. It's a message."

His expression inspired hope and curiosity, but I dared not allow myself to feel anything until he told us more about it.

Phantom, Widow, and Soul came closer, each of them gawking at the pebble, on which I could make out several etchings. Something was written on it, but I didn't recognize the symbols. Seeley, on the other hand, afforded himself the luxury of a confident smile.