My voice trailed off, as a familiar growl emerged from the shadows by the iron door. The ghoul that had been chasing me was finally back, and it had found me.

“Oh, crap,” I murmured.

“Nethissis, you need to run,” Seeley said, his voice uneven, staring at the beast as it stepped into the light.

It was bigger than the others, who were now alert and riled up, snarling at the creature—an intruder on what was presumably their turf. But the ghoul did not care about them. Its big, beady eyes were fixed on me.

“How did it get in? I thought this cell was warded,” I managed.

“From ghouls getting out, not coming in,” Seeley concluded. “Or maybe it’s got some kind of privileges. The runes on its collar are different from the others.”

“Let’s find out, shall we?” I muttered, determined not to die even more today.

Moving away from Seeley, I backed myself toward the north side of the room. The ghoul sauntered toward me on all fours, and I knew I only had one shot to test the theory regarding the creature’s privileges. I looked at Seeley for a moment, then at the other ghouls. They were restless, dying to be let loose so they could teach this new intruder a lesson.

Maybe I could help them…

The big ghoul charged at me, its claws extended and its fangs sharp and big enough to tear a large animal into pieces. I waited until it was inches away from me, then bolted along the right edge of the room, headed straight for the chained ghouls. They were beside themselves, likely thinking they were getting a swamp witch snack.

They rose on their hind legs, eager to pounce as soon as I reached them. But I was a spirit. The laws of physics didn’t necessarily apply to me. Looking over my shoulder, I saw the free ghoul scrambling after me.

I sucked in an imaginary breath and glided across the floor, slipping past the ghouls. My pursuer got tangled with them, the chains searing its skin—probably because of the death magic that they’d been imbued with. The melee sounded and looked vicious, and I had just narrowly escaped all of them.

Jumping back up, I rushed toward the door. Seeley was struggling against his restraints, desperate to get to me, angry that he couldn’t do anything to help me. I flashed him a smile as the free ghoul managed to get out of the scuffle, leaving the other four heaving and covered in scratches, furious that they’d been eluded.

“Run, Nethissis!” Seeley shouted.

I did. I moved as fast as my wispy body could carry me and dashed through the iron door. The ghoul failed to make it, ramming into the heavy metal with a sharp clang. I couldn’t help but laugh, relief washing over me in cold and hot waves, as I realized it had been able to get in, but the room’s warding was preventing it from getting out. The first theory had proven to be the correct one, and I was grateful to the entire universe, for I was getting to sort of live another day, now.

The ghoul was enraged, scratching at the door, pounding its fists and knees against it, but to no avail.

“Are you okay?” I heard Seeley from inside. He sounded calm, since ghouls couldn’t eat Reapers, even defenseless ones like him. It was that knowledge that kept me on the level, as well. That and the fact that I didn’t hear him crying out in pain.

“In one piece, thank you very much,” I replied, raising my voice. “It’s stuck in there. Will it hurt you?”

“I doubt it. I’m not sure it’s interested in me, and I’ve got a feeling the runes on my chains stop it from trying anything. The black guards will find it when the next shift comes in. They’ll probably take it away, since they can’t have it wandering around like this,” Seeley said. “They must’ve used it exclusively to attack Rudolph’s team, and it noticed you.”

I nodded, realizing that my entire spirit was shaking. “What do I do now?”

“Go be with Rudolph. You’ve got this advantage of being a spirit. Freedom of movement. Use it, before Zoltan catches on,” he replied. “If you get Rudolph in Zoltan’s good graces, you might be able to use him whenever he’s let off his chain. Observe everything, Nethissis. Pay attention to the details, and make sure Rudolph retains his consciousness throughout all of it. Okay?”

“Okay. I’ll see you soon, I promise.”

“Let’s hope I don’t get the same treatment as the others, in the meantime,” Seeley said, and I could almost feel the fear in his voice. “Try to go upstairs once in a while, too. Death might send more people soon. But keep your distance this time. If another loose ghoul picks up on your presence…”

“I know,” I replied, not even wanting to consider a repeat of everything I’d gone through over the past few days. “Just hang in there. I’ll get you out of here, one way or another.”

Bracing myself for the worst, I walked away from Seeley’s cell, wracking my brains to find a solution for his release. But he was right: my best chance was Rudolph, despite his developing ghoul form. I had to try. A ghoul on the inside of Zoltan’s organization could take me a long way.

Nethissis

By the time morning came around, Rudolph and I had established a new rapport. He was a full ghoul now, but he’d managed to retain a certain sparkle of consciousness in his eyes. Inside, he was fighting like a true warrior, resisting this new nature that had been forced upon him.

He couldn’t speak much anymore, but he could still nod and shake his head. In some rare instances, he could even force out a couple of words, enough for me to understand what he was trying to say.

Black guards came in to feed him once, though it was only raw meat. They did promise they’d bring him a soul if he behaved when Zoltan visited, which, according to them, would be soon. I had watched Rudolph chowing down on the red chunks of meat, blood still dripping from the pulp and down his bony jaw. I could barely recognize Rudolph the Reaper anymore, and it broke my heart.

Given that the guards couldn’t see me, I was able to stay close to him. They’d mentioned finding a rogue ghoul in Seeley’s cell. It had been captured and brought back to its own enclosure, just like Seeley had said, since it had been let out to deal with the newcomer Reapers, not to go wandering off after my lost soul. Clearly, they didn’t see me as a threat, and that suited me just fine.

“Are you feeling okay?” I asked Rudolph once we were alone again. He didn’t give me any kind of response, focusing solely on the last pieces of meat that had been dumped on the stone floor for him.

I kept to the corner, not wanting him to think I planned to get between him and his food. I’d noticed that his behavior became more feral whenever sustenance was involved. There were some things he just couldn’t control—though, I had to give him credit for being in much better shape than his brethren.

Dina was virtually unrecognizable, and Bert had been curled up in a fetal position, crying and bawling and howling, the last time I’d seen him. The others on his team were even worse, no longer interested in anything other than eating me the first chance they got. Rudolph, despite his silent suffering, was a miracle.

After he was done eating, he seemed to soften a little, sitting down with his long legs crossed. The collar bit into his translucent skin, and he occasionally fiddled with it in order to reduce some of the physical discomfort it caused him. His breathing was heavy and irregular, some bones still changing inside him. The occasional cracking sound coming out of his ribcage and thighs made me squirm.

“I don’t know why Zoltan isn’t putting Seeley through the same motions as he did you yet, but I’m pretty sure he will, eventually,” I said after a long silence. “We need to figure out a way to set him free, Rudolph, so that no one else has to suffer like you and your friends… not to mention all the other Reapers who came before you.”

He looked at me, and there was sadness in his eyes. The kind that made me want to cry.

“Do you think you can behave like a good ghoul when Zoltan comes around?” I asked. “I mean, as much as I hate the idea, he will give you a fresh soul to eat, at least… the monster. Surely, that sounds good?”

Rudolph nodded once, his gaze dropping, loaded with pure shame.

“It’s okay,” I said. “It’s in your nature now. I know it can’t be easy, but sustenance is actually good for you. It’ll keep you calm and focused. And you’re doing a great job so far, Rudolph. Not once have you tried to eat me.”

He sneered, revealing his white fangs. It sent chills running through me, until I realized that it was his attempt at a smirk. There was no aggression in that expression, only the frightening visage of a beast lost between the world of the living and that of the dead.

“There has to be a way for us to get Seeley out, right?” I asked.

Rudolph nodded again and showed me his bare hands. When I frowned, not yet realizing what he was trying to tell me, he scratched a half-moon into the floor with his claw. It took quite the effort for him to use his hand like that, but I got it.

“It looks like a scythe. It’s a scythe?” I replied, and he sneered again, creeping me out some more. But I was too energized to spend much time dwelling on such emotions, especially since Rudolph had just offered a solution. “We can use a scythe to set Seeley free?”

He pointed at his iron collar, trying to scratch the carved runes off. It didn’t work, of course. However, the blade of a scythe could do what his claws couldn’t.

“A Reaper’s weapon can break sigils and runes and stuff like that, right?”

He nodded once more, becoming increasingly restless. We were on to something here.

“We need to get a scythe, then. Maybe, once you earn the trust of these people, you can snatch one and use it? I mean, I would do it myself,” I chuckled nervously, “but I’m a bit useless when it comes to picking stuff off the living.”

Rudolph thought about it for a moment, huffing from a sudden bout of pain as another bone moved inside him. His transformation was almost complete, his limbs and fingers much longer. His face was deformed, and there was barely any semblance of his Reaper form left. I worried deep down that this whole thing might culminate with him eventually losing his mind and becoming a predatory beast like the others.

For as long as I had him, however, he was incredibly useful.

He showed me his hand, which he pressed against the scratched half-moon. He then lifted his hand and turned it over, revealing his palm and reaching out, as if to give something to me. My mind was weaving a theory, and even though it sounded crazy to me, I figured I could at least share it with him. He could always shake his head for me to know that I was off the mark.