But this mission was important to Derek and Sofia, not to mention all the other vampires. It was also a good opportunity for me to dig into something, to keep my mind busy. To heal from what I’d endured. Being a servant of the Word, I’d found comfort in my craft. Even though the entity didn’t communicate with us directly, I could feel its essence flowing through me, nurturing my emotions and strengthening me on the inside.
I had faith in myself. Despite the hesitation, I trusted myself to push through.
“Did you pack enough healing potions?” Lumi asked as she drew lines in the sand with a gnarly old stick. She’d already started working on the pentagram, while Kailani and I had been filling the ceremonial bowls with the appropriate powders, herbs, and minerals.
“Enough to cure a small army twice over,” I replied, smiling.
“You look tired,” she said quietly, eyeing me carefully.
I offered a shrug in return. “I was excited about the trip and didn’t get much sleep last night. Mom.”
“My oh my, Lumi, you’re incorrigible.” Kailani giggled. “Give the girl a break already. She said she’s up for it. Just trust her on this!” She gave me a discreet wink, and I was thankful for her support. Kailani knew about my nocturnal struggles, and yet she trusted me to go ahead with this. Part of my own resolve had stemmed from her encouragement, actually.
“You didn’t tell me why you don’t want me to go, exactly,” I said, switching focus back to Lumi. “I mean, you were quite adamant that I should stay here, but I have to admit, your reasoning about me being tired felt insufficient. Is there something you’re not telling us?”
Lumi blushed, her white eyes wide, the blue contours glimmering. “No, it’s not that. Just my instinct, Nethi. You know, that irksome feeling in the back of your head?”
I stilled, giving her a sly grin. “You’re going to have to do better than that. I’m not buying it.”
“I agree. Give us the deets!” Kailani chimed in.
“Is the Word trying to tell you something, perhaps?” I asked. The thought had crossed my mind more than once, since she’d first objected to my joining Derek and Sofia’s mission. But it had seemed odd. The Word could’ve easily inspired doubt in me regarding this, as I was the one leaving, not Lumi.
Lumi shook her head. “I doubt it,” she said. “I suppose you can call it motherly concern. Nethi, you’ve been through enough. I know I’m still recovering from what we went through, and I spent thousands of years locked inside the Exiled Maras’ basement, for heaven’s sake! I’m guessing you’re not in better shape, given your young age.”
“I’m fine. I really am. Of course, I’m not peachy,” I replied. “But I’m not mangled on the inside. It’ll be okay. It’s just an exploratory mission.”
“Maybe you’re right, Lumi,” Kailani interjected. “Maybe you’re just being a mom.”
“I’ll be honest, my views on life have changed since the Hermessi ritual.” I sighed. “I don’t want to waste another day. If I have a chance to explore and discover new worlds, I’ll take it. Hell, it was my favorite part of our Death Squad mission, you know? All the places we went to, the people we met… I loved it!”
Lumi stared at me, pain flashing in her eyes. “I just don’t want to lose you.”
“Like you lost Acantha?” I replied, knowing that this was what had truly been bothering her. Witnessing the death of one of her apprentices had hurt Lumi worse than anything else. As a seasoned swamp witch, she was deeply fond of her students. We were like children to her, regardless of our age or origins. Lumi nodded slowly, her gaze dropping. “I didn’t have time to think about this during our race to find Thieron, but I’ve had nothing but time since it all went back to normal,” I said. “And I know now, better than ever, that this is something I have to do.”
Kailani shot me a grin. “Is that your instinct talking?”
I rolled my eyes. Lumi, on the other hand, smiled gently. “I get it,” she murmured. “You want to go out there. To see the world. To do something other than staying here or on Calliope, recovering. I suppose there’s only so much of that you can do, in the end.”
I had discovered a new side of myself over the past few months. Wanderlust had taken over my mind, beckoning me to leave, to dive into something headfirst, to take the plunge and see what I’d find at the very end of the journey. It had made me eager to help Derek and Sofia, understanding that it would be my first time out of my comfort zone since we’d defeated Brendel and the Spirit Bender.
Kailani giggled, watching me intently. I must’ve dropped out of the conversation, somehow, because she wasn’t the only one with eyes on me. Lumi was just as interested. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“All good,” I said.
We continued our work on the pentagram, while Lumi did her part as my mentor. I caught glimpses of Tristan and Esme as they talked to their parents, Derek and Sofia, and Ben and Rose, wondering what sort of advice they were getting on their end.
“I need you to be careful,” Lumi continued. “While I do encourage you to go out as much as you can—ignoring my earlier resistance, of course—I want you to remember something, Nethi.”
The moon shone down upon her in rays of pearly shimmer, making her look like a creature not from this world, but rather a dream. That was the feeling I usually got with Lumi. We’d known each other for less than two years, and still, she’d become incredibly important in my life.
“What is it?” I asked, placing a ceremonial bowl at one of the pentagram’s corners.
“That there’s danger everywhere,” Lumi replied. “The world is vast and full of wondrous things, but one must always be cautious, especially when there’s a new civilization involved.”
“You don’t know what kind of people they are,” Kailani added, nodding at me. “You don’t know their culture or their habits. Remember when Tristan and Esme came back from the dark jungles of Central Africa, all ruffled and shaken because they’d stumbled upon a small cannibalistic tribe?”
I chuckled softly. “I doubt we’re running into cannibals on Trexus-2.”
“It doesn’t matter. You don’t know what you’re going to run into there,” Lumi insisted. “On top of that, there is a balance in the universe, my darling. You understand that now better than ever, especially after our dealings with Death and the Word. The last thing any of us wants is another conflict with another species.”
“Speaking of, it would’ve been nice to have a Reaper to talk to about this stuff,” I said, kneeling next to another pentagram corner, ready to deposit a ceremonial bowl filled with smelly herbs. “They’d be able to tell us what kind of people live on Trexus-2.”
Kailani let out a cackle, making me regret I’d brought this up. “You miss Seeley, don’t you?”
“Kind of hard to miss someone like that,” I replied, pursing my lips. “It’s not that, Kale. It’s just… You know, he would’ve come in handy, right about now.”
“Right. His usefulness is what makes you look all doe-eyed, as we speak,” Kailani said.
“You’re sounding like a thirteen-year-old again,” I grumbled.
“We cannot have contact with the Reapers anymore,” Lumi replied, taking the conversation back into a more serious tone. It was her way of interfering whenever Kailani was in the mood to tease me about Seeley. I’d made the mistake of telling her I’d found him rather interesting during our Death Squad days, and she’d refused to cut me any slack since. “They belong between worlds, while we’re of the living. The next time we see a Reaper will be the day we die. This is part of the universal balance I was telling you about earlier.”
“Yeah, I get it. Just… the intel would’ve been nice,” I whispered.
“You don’t have that. So, for the thousandth time, just be careful, Nethi,” Lumi replied.
She had a point, in the end. I would’ve liked to tell her and Kailani about the odd sensations I’d been having recently, but I didn’t want more Seeley jokes hurled at me. Kailani had been on a roll for months, regarding this.
It sounded strange to even say it out loud, but I’d felt it more than once—enough to warrant some suspicions that I was, in fact, being watched from between worlds. It never felt like a foreign presence, but rather a familiar one. As if an old friend had been keeping an eye on me, even though I could not see him… or her. Seeley and Kelara’s names had popped into my head several times, but I’d never been able to follow up or investigate in any way.
I’d been left with this sensation that, somehow, sometimes… someone was watching me.
I didn’t want to tell Kailani about the fact that I did actually sort of miss Seeley. I’d thought about him frequently. While I understood Death’s rules about contact with the living, it would’ve been nice if he’d at least said hi once or twice. I doubted he would’ve been punished for it. To be honest, I missed all the Reapers we’d dealt with. Even the Soul Crusher, ever the functioning psychopath.
On some nights, when I lay awake, staring at the moon outside my window, I thought of them. Of what they could be doing. Of where they might be. The Reapers were a peculiar breed, but fascinating, nonetheless. Just knowing that their kind existed had flipped my worldly concepts upside down.
Even now, as I put the ceremonial bowl down, I wondered… What were they up to?
Seeley
I felt like the ultimate stalker, and yet I couldn’t stay away.
Fortunately, I’d been on an assignment from Death. She’d tasked me with keeping an eye on GASP—not necessarily on Taeral, whom she’d trusted with Thieron until she was free again. No, she’d wanted me to stay close to Derek and Sofia, mostly because she’d learned about the day-walking protein.
I would’ve preferred being out there with Soul and the others, looking for the remaining First Ten, and I’d voiced my concerns to Death. She’d insisted that I do this for her, stating that it would make sense later. Just because she was still under 999 seals did not mean I could question her. Not at all. Her wrath, post-liberation, would’ve been memorable.
However, my presence here had its silver lining, since it meant I could be around Nethissis more often. At times, I could’ve sworn she’d sensed me, but she hadn’t said a word—not a single peep. There was just something about her that kept me hanging around, making it impossible for me to take my eyes off her.
