#
Several hours later I had found everything I needed in order to find the people and change them so they could help with keeping the balance intact. I stood up from the lounge chair I was sitting in and headed to my room. Though I was barely able to keep my eyes open, I couldn't afford to rest now. There was so much that I still needed to do and sleep was at the bottom of that list I needed to finish. Besides, I knew I could go a couple of days before I really would need to fall into a deep sleep.
I had not worked this many hours straight in so many months that I almost forgot how exhausting it could be. If everything worked out how I wanted it to then Thanos and I would both be able to rest a little…providing that these new recruits adjusted to their new jobs and managed to keep up with it all. Just the thought of resting caused me to smile a little.
Then I shook my head. Fantasizing about the future wouldn't help with any of this now. I had more important things to worry about. Taking a moment, I changed my clothes into a pair of dark wash jeans and a black tank top, and made sure I had everything I needed before envisioning where I needed to be. I would find these five people, recruit them, change them, and start their training. With any luck they would prove to be fast learners. Once they got out in the field then I could concentrate on getting Thanos back.
I froze as I thought of him again, and had to let out a slow deep breath. He never should have made that deal with Samuel in order to free me. After everything he had told me I guess I understood his reasoning for doing it but it was still the worst mistake he had ever made. This job, these duties, they were too much for one person to try and handle; I had no idea how Thanos had managed it while also training others.
With him in Resurrector custody I could feel the weight of Fate on my shoulders, so to speak anyway. It was like I had felt it before my entire life, first as a Resurrector being driven by the desire to save people from premature death, to being the Angel of Death and ensuring that people die when they are meant to.
"Stop it, Tam. Thinking about everything isn't making this happen any faster. Just go already."
I let out one more deep breath before looking down at my list again. First was a young woman named Adrienne McCoy. From looking at her file I wondered why she was even on the list to begin with. Most of the information in her file had been blacked out. Why was I uncovering more secrets? The more involved I got into the side of Death, the more locked doors I found. Once Thanos was back he would have to answer a lot of questions. Possibly the most intriguing part of Adrienne's file was the handwritten note at the top of the first page. Will be an easy recruit, very little explanation needed. Perfect for an emergency recruitment situation. That was why I was going to her first. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on only her so that I could travel to her.
When I opened my eyes I found that I was standing in the middle of a zoo, right in front of the Bird House. Interesting, but where was Adrienne? She had to be around here somewhere or else I wouldn't be here.
"Tamesis?"
I turned around and saw Sitara standing a few feet away, staring at me as if she had seen a ghost. Her blue eyes were wide from shock but otherwise she looked normal. Blond hair pulled up into a messy bun and wearing a bright turquoise top and jeans, Sitara seemed as if she could actually be happy.
"Tam, what are you doing here? I thought you were…"
"What, dead?" I asked. "Why would you think that?"
She stared at me, blinking several times as if startled by the question. The answer must have been completely obvious and irrefutable to her. "The Leaders told us you were."
I allowed myself to chuckle slightly. Of course the Leaders would have said something to that effect, and naturally the Resurrectors would believe them, following what the Leaders said blindly. I wished that I could get my friends at least to understand just how pathetic it was to not question certain recent events. "And you believed them?"
"Of course. They said Death had lost. That could only happen if you weren't around anymore." She said it as if it was so simple that there could not possibly be any other option, as if what the Leaders said was a certain fact and not yet another giant lie.
I shook my head. "Death hasn't lost. I'm still here and I am not giving up."
"You should. It's over now." She shrugged a shoulder and glanced around for a few moments. "It's kind of a shame though, you know? If you hadn't fallen so far off your pedestal then I'm sure the Leaders would be praising your name, complete with a feast in your honor or something. After all, they always did favor you."
I watched her as she looked around, though it was obvious that she was just doing it so she didn’t have to face me in an honest conversation. What was she talking about? Did she really think that I had been treated as someone particularly special as a Resurrector, because if so then she had never really paid attention to anything in my life at all. "I really don't have time to talk about this right now, whatever kind of conversation this is supposed to be. I have work to do."
"There we go, typical Tamesis. You never really liked your job as a Resurrector. Do you know how I know that?" She paused and gave me a smug smile. "Because you kept yourself apart from everyone else, even if we tried to befriend you. All you wanted was to be alone, to do things your own way. It's no wonder the Leaders treated you differently; they were trying to help a lost cause."
I stood there, gazing at her and finding that I wanted nothing more than to run away and leave her here. Sitara and I had never connected in the way I had with the others, at least when I spent all that time with them. Now it was becoming even more clear why I had always felt some sense of separation from her. Now there were more important matters that I had to handle and dealing with a former friend and co-worker wasn't one of those. I turned and started to walk away from her, without saying anything else.
"Leaving already? What's the matter? Can't handle the truth?" she called after me, trying to goad me into some sort of explosive argument with her. I could not afford to delve into any sort of lengthy conversation with her, and it was rather clear to me that she would never open her mind to any sort of alternative possibility. She was fully brainwashed by the beliefs of the Leaders and the Resurrectors and there was no way I could ever consider her a friend again.
"Goodbye, Sitara."
As I walked away from my old friend I couldn't help but think of all the time we had spent together. I had thought she was a friend, but then again, I had thought many other things were true as well. Maybe Sitara set herself apart from others as well, just in a different way than I did. She was one of those that wanted to pretend she was better than another person, but that often made her stick out from the other Resurrectors. I couldn't help but think back to her wearing all black to the memorial service for Alena and Bem. At least when I pulled away from everyone it was because I was putting my work ahead of everything else in my life. Back then I had thought that it was worthwhile. I had learned so much since then and it had opened my eyes to so much more going on in the world.
I stopped as I saw a large group of children scatter from a young woman with long black hair. The children were all giggling and screaming and going on and on about the crow and the cool tricks he had done. I ignored the children after a moment and focused on the woman, who had to be Adrienne. I felt drawn to her, not in the way I had been to Thanos, but I felt a connection there all the same. She was wearing tan pants, a forest green polo top, and a name tag. It was obvious that she worked at the zoo; I could have said that without her wearing the uniform. Her left hand and forearm were covered by a large brown leather glove and sitting on her shoulder was what appeared to be a crow.
She was definitely the one I was looking for. Crows were known to be around death. In Celtic mythology the Morrigan, the Goddess of Death, was often depicted as a crow, or a woman who could become a crow in order to scour the battlefield for the deceased. No wonder Thanos said that Adrienne would be easy to recruit. Whether she knew it or not, her life was basicall
y one giant path to this destiny, to being brought onto the side of Death in a new position of my creation.
I walked up to her and smiled. There was no turning back now, and I hoped that what I had to say would be enough to convince her to agree to join me. Thanos’s notes had been clear that the decision to become the Angel of Death, or in this case whatever name I ended up choosing, had to be voluntary. Only if she said yes would I actually be able to do anything, but Thanos depended on me to get this done so I would do whatever it took to succeed. "Hi, Adrienne?"
She waved at a couple of children who were walking away with their parents and then looked up at me, blinking her hazel eyes. "Can I help you?" I wasn’t sure if she was asking that in earnest or if she was just so used to patrons of the zoo coming up and asking questions about the animals or for directions that it was simply an automatic response.
"I hope so. We need to talk."
****
Project Death: Resurrection Page 29