“Well, I was hoping at least one of us on the Death crew had rubbed off on you during our Hermessi adventure,” I said, trying not to laugh. He was right, though. My nakedness wasn’t of any positive assistance. I had to cut him some slack.
“Forgive me, but none of the champions on our crew made me want to follow their lead where wooing a woman is concerned,” he replied. “I had enough time to watch them all get together, and I was rolling my eyes. Hard.”
Heat burst through me, like an unexpected fever. “You want to woo me?”
Only then did he realize that he’d been talking out loud, for his demeanor changed so quickly that it was nearly impossible to keep up with him. “Okay, so Rudolph should be on Visio already,” he said, switching back to business mode. I pressed my lips into a tight line, wondering if I should pursue the wooing part nonetheless, since there were a lot of logistical issues attached to it—such as, how would we even be together, since I was dead and he was usually tasked with reaping the likes of me?
I decided to let it go for now, because I had yet to figure out where we’d even stood while I was still living. We hadn’t seen each other since the Hermessi debacle, and there had been many thoughts and feelings left unspoken between us. Seeley was right. We had bigger problems to deal with. Freeing him was at the top of my list.
“Where would I find Rudolph?” I asked.
“I told Kelara I’d meet him inside the palace library, since it’s one of the easier places to find,” he said.
“Chances are we won’t be having any ghoul problems, since it’s all the way up there and not in these wretched basements,” I noted.
Seeley shook his head. “Let’s not underestimate Zoltan again. He’s already pulled a fast one on us. Remember, ghouls and Reapers can make themselves unseen and unheard to the living. And Zoltan knows there will be others coming to Visio, looking for me.”
“That’s right, because you’re cut off from them now,” I said, pointing at the collar around his neck. “That thing’s keeping you docile and unable to call for help, huh?”
He exhaled deeply. “It’s also chafing the crap out of my neck.”
“When I find Rudolph and his team, I’ll bring them down here, like we said, but we’ll have to be extremely careful. Zoltan is probably already on the lookout,” I replied, anxiousness spreading through me like a dull but persistent flame.
“You have an advantage in your position,” Seeley said. “Zoltan underestimates your ability to help me. And Death must be told about what’s happening here. We need more than Rudolph’s team if we’re to set things straight on Visio.”
“Especially since we don’t know who else is involved.” I sighed. “Do you think Acheron and Danika are aware?”
“If we’re to follow the simplest logical thread, I’d say yes, since this is their palace. They should know what’s going on, even down here in the dungeons.”
I frowned, noticing his hesitation. “But?”
“But I have seen plenty of instances where the rulers had no idea about what was going on in their own homes, so to speak. I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if Zoltan has been pulling this off without any other upper-echelon Aeternae knowing. Of course, we won’t know for sure until we figure out what exactly it is that Zoltan is doing here in the first place. I don’t understand the purpose of these dungeons or why he’s keeping ghouls around like this. I’m missing something.”
“The thing that bugs me the most is… where did all the Reapers go? I know I’ve asked this before, but surely you understand why I feel the need to ask again.”
Seeley nodded slowly. “I’m positive it’s got something to do with Zoltan, but again, I can’t think of a reason why. I don’t even know if he’s killing them or keeping them prisoner, like yours truly here.”
“I can check the other cells. There are hundreds down here,” I said.
“After you find Rudolph,” he replied firmly. “Informing him and Death is paramount right now.”
I got up again, stretching my arms. The ghouls snapped their fangs at me, roaring with undying aggravation, but I no longer cared. We had work to do, and I couldn’t let a bunch of hungry soul-and-flesh-eaters get in my way. Besides, they were chained to the wall and confined to this room. All was not yet lost.
“I’ll go up to the library now. Hopefully, Rudolph will already be there,” I said, giving him a soft smile. “I’ll see you soon, Seeley.”
“Whatever you do, stay out of sight and out of trouble,” he warned me. “Zoltan is planning something. We need to figure out what it is before other Reapers get hurt.”
I moved away from him, wishing I could do more to get him out of here. But I was helpless, merely a lost soul, frustrated and alone, with zero supernatural abilities left. I couldn’t even turn on a light or push a glass off the table. Vesta had been able to communicate with Zeriel eventually because she wasn’t dead during that Hermessi debacle, and I remembered Zoltan also mentioning that the veil on Visio was thicker, preventing me from trying to reach out to the living.
Even so, I was determined to bring everything to light. Zoltan’s actions had led to my death, but I was certain that everything he’d done before last night, along with everything he was going to do in the future, would get more people killed. He had access to death magic, the likes of which not even Seeley had come across before. Otherwise, he would’ve set himself loose already.
The little I could still offer, I was ready to give. Whatever was going on in the pits of this palace was unnatural, breaking innumerable laws of the universe and its greatest forces. It was time for it all to stop.
Kelara
We were finally making progress on these blasted seals. Since I’d last seen Seeley, we’d managed to break three dozen. Their difficulty levels varied, thus making it impossible for us to estimate an end date for this endeavor. Some seals took mere minutes, others hours, days, even months and years. Thankfully, the Time Master had helped by stopping time around us—we were able to spend years working on one particularly stubborn seal for five years, while only hours passed in the outside world.
There were perks to having a time-manipulating Reaper handy.
But the work was nowhere near finished, and we knew that reuniting the remaining First Tenners would speed things up significantly. Death had been quite persistent about that. The Spirit Bender’s seals aside, however, I was troubled.
The Soul Crusher, the Widow Maker, the Phantom, the Time Master, the Dream, and the Nightmare worked tirelessly on breaking seal number 902, while I tried reaching out to Seeley again. I hadn’t heard from him since last night, and it wasn’t like him to just disappear—especially after the mystery he’d clearly stumbled upon there on Visio.
Death noticed my frown as I realized I wasn’t going to reach him this time, either. It was as if our telepathic link had been squelched. Something was wrong.
“What is it, Kelara?” she asked, sitting with her legs crossed in front of the ice hole, chains still binding her to the bottom of the lake.
The others moved around her, scratching symbols into the ice with the tips of their scythes, following a precise pattern, whispering spells and working to disable one more seal.
“Seeley’s MIA,” I said.
It was enough to stop everyone in their tracks. It even drew a scowl from Death, whose expressions had once been so smooth, so frosted, that it would’ve been damn near impossible to read. This whole situation was taking its toll even on her—and that said something.
“What do you mean?” Death replied, her cherry-red lips barely moving.
“I haven’t heard from him since last night,” I explained. “I’ve been trying to reach out to him, but there’s only silence. Seeley would’ve said something by now, even if there was nothing to report.”
The Phantom sighed. “You should tell Rudolph. It might mean trouble for him and his team.”
“Rudolph,” I said, calling out to the Reaper through our telepathic link. “Rudolph, are you there?” Several minutes passed. The First Tenners and Death stared at me, waiting for my face to light up as soon as Rudolph’s voice came through. “Dammit, Rudolph, say something!”
“I’m here,” he finally replied, sounding farther than ever. “What’s up?”
“What do you mean, what’s up?!” I croaked. “Are you kidding me? Where the hell are you?”
“On my way to Visio. We finally finished our work. The calamity was a bloody nightmare, killing way more people than we’d expected,” he said. “I’ve got a crew of six with me. We should be at the palace in about an hour, tops.”
“I can’t get ahold of Seeley,” I replied, Death’s dark and starry eyes still fixed on me. “Something’s wrong, and I need you to be careful once you get there.”
“Kelara, I will apprise you on the situation as soon as I reach Visio. Thank you for the warning. We’ll be cautious,” he said.
“I’ll be waiting for you to reach out. Find Seeley, please!”
Rudolph definitely got my message, even though silence settled in my mind. All I could do now was hope that everything would be okay. Then again, what were the odds of everything actually being okay on a planet seemingly without Reapers or ghosts? I didn’t like any of this, and Death’s insistence on keeping the intervention team small got on my nerves.
“I still think we should send a bigger team over there,” I said. “An army, if possible. Visio just doesn’t feel right.”
“Your persistence is unbecoming, Kelara,” Death said. “I told you, discretion is crucial at this point.”
