Bert was struggling to talk. His muscles jerked angrily beneath his skin as he resisted the impulse to jump at me again.

“Get… out!” he snarled, and sprang to his feet, menacingly towering over me.

I was shaking. “I’m sorry this happened to you,” I whispered. “I’m sorry.”

“Get out!” Bert roared with the fury of a thousand lions, his veins swelling and darkening beneath his shimmering, almost transparent skin. He was turning and losing control. Soon enough, he’d be nothing but beast.

It still didn’t make sense, though. Once a Reaper ate a soul, he’d first devolve into an original ghoul. Those were self-controlled creatures who needed more spirits in order to stop their degradation into the more animalistic versions of themselves—the kind that ate flesh in the absence of ghosts.

As I walked out and went back into the hallway, I understood that what was happening to Bert was a much more accelerated version of that process. Zoltan had something… he used something to force Reapers into servitude as mindless, feral ghouls.

But I only had Bert as an example. Surely, he wasn’t the only one.

He banged on the door, growling and calling out my name until he could no longer pronounce it. I put a couple more feet of distance between me and the door, just in case. Cold currents blew through me like unforgiving blizzards as I silently said goodbye to him and moved on to the next door.

Without much surprise, I recognized Dina in the cell next to Bert’s. She was in worse shape than him. She couldn’t even articulate full words anymore, thrashing and screaming and inwardly cursing her predicament. She tore her clothes off, revealing her decaying body. It was the same as Bert’s, with transparent skin and shifting bones.

In another cell, I found Lisl. She couldn’t speak, either. All she wanted to do was eat me. I couldn’t help but cry, though I didn’t feel any tears streaming down my cheeks. It was more of an emotional reaction, my spirit still bound to the living world.

The others were here, too, Rudolph included.

He looked better than the others. The moment he saw me, his eyes widened, and he backed himself into a corner. His fangs were growing, pushing through his gums and making him quiver from the pain.

“Rudolph,” I said, my voice trembling. “Do you recognize me? Do you know who I am?”

He nodded once and growled, warning me to stay away. I realized then that he desperately didn’t want to hurt me. That was why he’d kept himself cornered, why he shook so hard… why he grunted and snarled and tried to bite his chain off.

“You want to eat me, don’t you?”

He nodded again.

“Stupid question, I know. I’m sorry,” I said. “Just trying to understand what’s happening here. Zoltan did this to you, huh? To all of you?”

He bared his new fangs at me. But he also nodded a third time.

“I have no idea how this must feel for you,” I continued. “But I’m deeply sorry. I didn’t know the ghoul was out there. It’s still out there, looking for me. I’ve been running from it for two days, now, and I’m terrified. I’m terrified I won’t pay attention for a moment, and at some point it will get me.”

Rudolph stilled, suddenly paying attention. Galaxies died in his eyes, but I knew he was sympathizing. I knew that, despite his physical and spiritual agony, he was trying to stay above, to retain some semblance of consciousness. I kept myself close to the door, though, not wanting to end up a snack.

“I’ll find a way to help you. I promise, Rudolph. One way or another, I’ll come back to you. I’ll help you. I’ll figure something out. But I need you to stay strong, okay? I need you to remember yourself, to remember who you really are, no matter what your physical form tells you right now, okay?”

He didn’t move. He didn’t even growl. His breathing was ragged, but I knew he was listening and registering every word, gathering whatever strength he had left to go down on his own terms, if needed. And I had meant every word I’d said to him.

“Don’t forget me, Rudolph. I’ll come for you soon. I… I just need to talk to Seeley about all this, okay? Nod if you’re okay with that, please. Nod if you’re going to wait for me. I need you to promise, Rudolph, do you hear me?”

He nodded a fourth time, and I felt a smile blooming on my face, with all the heartache included. I’d gotten through to him, and he was paying attention. That mattered. In the long run, it might even be our ticket out of here.

A plan was forming in my head. Seeley definitely had to have some input on it.

I couldn’t do it without him. Or without Rudolph, for that matter.

Nethissis

Carefully moving through the hallways, I paid attention to every single sound, every single snarl and growl echoing from the cells. My pursuer had not tired, and was bound to show up again, eventually. It had caught my scent more than two days ago, and a ghoul was not known for its ability of self-restraint. Herbert had been an amazing exception.

I could’ve used Herbert right about now.

Downtrodden by what I’d seen earlier, I made it my objective to find a way to expose Zoltan and all his projects. He was doing something to the Reapers he captured, turning them into ghouls. He trained them and made sure they obeyed him. My worst fear was that the same would happen to Seeley, sooner or later. The thought alone was enough to make my whole being run cold, ice working its way through me, stiffening my every move.

I found him in his cell, still chained to the wall. His face illuminated when he saw me. The four ghouls he shared this place with jumped from their sleep, proceeding to snap their fangs at me, but I waved them away with sheer disinterest. “All of you need to go to hell,” I said.

They didn’t scare me anymore, and it showed. Surprisingly enough, they didn’t know what to do with my reaction, so they just sat on their hinds and watched me, occasionally letting out a low growl to remind me that they were still there, and that, once they were free, they would come for me. Until that happened, however, I was free to continue to flip them off whenever they made their presence heard.

“Nethissis. Are you okay? What the hell took you so long?” Seeley asked, moving against his restraints. He was getting stiff and sore, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. He measured me from head to toe, his gaze darting past the private parts with genuine respect. Perhaps he’d forgotten that I was dead. There wasn’t much the outside world could do to me—except for that friggin’ ghoul. Or maybe I just looked really good naked… Ugh, still so awkward.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “It’s… It’s been insane.”

“What happened?”

“I found Rudolph and the crew,” I replied, and he was tempted to smile. “But so did the black guards. They had a ghoul ready and scythes of their own.”

His face dropped. “No. Please, don’t tell me that—”

“It was vicious. I have never seen anything like it. These maniacs have protocols in place for Reapers. They use ghouls to take them by surprise,” I said. “Rudolph and his team didn’t stand a chance. They didn’t even see it coming!”

“Where are they now? The Aeternae can’t kill a Reaper, no matter what tools they have in their arsenal,” Seeley replied, his jaw clenched with raw anger.

“Zoltan has done something to them. I wasn’t there to see it because I was running from the ghoul. But he—”

“Wait, what?!”

I exhaled sharply and told him about the last couple of days, emphasizing my inability to come check on him, given that I had been on a constant run for my afterlife. “It homed in on me, over and over. Relentless in its pursuit. By the time I got back here, it was too late for Rudolph and his team. Seeley, Zoltan is somehow forcing them to become ghouls.”

The revelation made Seeley freeze, his galaxy eyes dark and blank. He stared at the ghouls on the other side of the room, and I could almost hear the wheels turning in his head.

“I saw Rudolph, too. He’s turning. They’ve all been turning, but Rudolph’s got a bit more control over himself. I suppose it varies from Reaper to Reaper,” I added. “I think I can get him to help us, if we play our cards right.”

“So, these guys here, they must’ve been turned against their will, too, right?” Seeley asked, without taking his eyes off the creatures, who seemed to understand us better than ever. They no longer snarled at me. “How does Zoltan get a Reaper to eat a soul?”

“I… I don’t know, but he does it. He must have some kind of trick up his sleeve, because Rudolph, at least, never would’ve done it himself. Not to mention the others. There’s something awfully wrong here, Seeley. And we need to get you out of here before the same thing happens to you.”

He gave me an alarmed look, and I knew the thought had not yet crossed his mind. “Death should send more Reapers down here, especially if she doesn’t hear from Rudolph and his crew.”

“Do you see anyone else looking to help us?!” I snapped, tired of hoping that Death might remotely save our asses. Whatever plans she had for Visio, they clearly didn’t include contingencies for abducted and turned Reapers. “We’re on our own. And we need to get ourselves out of this mess.”

Seeley sighed deeply, nodding slowly. “Do you think you can get Rudolph to help you? I mean, without eventually getting eaten?”

“I don’t think I can guarantee that last part, but I believe he wants to do good, that he wants to fight his nature,” I said. “If we get him on our side…”