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I returned to the facility and made my way to the kitchen. Though I was not really in the mood to talk to anyone thanks to my encounter with Alaula and Sitara, I was starving. Of course, it was to be assumed that there would be others in the kitchen; someone always was. Back at the Resurrector facilities everyone always gathered in the various lounges, but here the kitchen was the central hub of it all. Everyone could be found either here or in the study. Occasionally there would be someone in one of the practice rooms, the library, or in one of their bedrooms, but that was rare.
The Reapers were very into honing their skills and put in a lot of hours working. Most of that probably had to do with Thanos being back and he was making sure that they got their full training. I had skipped over some things to get them out working faster. It had been necessary at the time, not just because I needed to save Thanos, but also because I could not keep up with the workload all by myself.
Now the Reapers were on a steady schedule. Thanos would work with a couple of them while the others were out working and then they would switch places. The only Reaper who never went to the training sessions was Adrienne. It had to do with who exactly she was and her history with Thanos but I didn't know more than that. He had said that she understood this war between Death and the Resurrectors better than I would think but just telling me wasn't enough.
I was going to have to confront Thanos and get the truth from him. It seemed to be all I thought about, even if I tried to push it back by focusing on work. I could not live like this anymore. If Thanos did not give me the truth soon then I was going to leave. I didn't know if it was my time to move on, especially since I knew my work was very important and I was great at it, but sometimes a person didn't get to keep going just because they were good at work.
That was something I had seen a number of times while out reaping; sometimes a person was taken while at work just because it was their time. There really was no rhyme or reason to it; all that mattered was that Fate got what it wanted.
When I entered the kitchen I saw Kerri and Gabe there. They were sitting at the table deep in conversation. In fact, they didn't even turn to look at me when I walked in. I didn't say anything to them and instead grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. The only place to sit was at the table with them and that would definitely interrupt their conversation so I walked back out of the kitchen.
I needed to go somewhere to think and I didn't want to go to my room. In the past few months I had spent a great deal of time in my room and being in it just made me feel down. Too many tears had been shed in that room. Actually too many negative things had happened in that room. That was where I had had to accept the change in my lifestyle and come to terms with the fact that I had lost my friends.
No, I couldn't go to my room. Thanos was either out working or busy training so there was a chance that I could go to the study. I headed down the hall and turned the corner on my way to one of my favorite places in the building. The study had the most comfortable chairs and couches and that was what made it such a great place to spend time.
It had been the same back at the Resurrector facilities. No matter how much I wanted to move past my old lifestyle, I could never really keep from thinking about it. Being a Resurrector had been such a huge part of my life. I had spent twenty-two years living as a Resurrector and being completely sure of my purpose and my skills. That had changed with just one encounter with Death.
Where did that leave me now? Was I supposed to bridge the gap between the two ideals? I certainly understood both sides.
I opened the door to the study and walked in to collapse on one of the couches, laying down and staring up at the marbled ceiling. Then I let out a deep breath.
"Is something troubling you, Tam?" a voice asked from the other side of the room, the side that was almost completely in shadow.
I recognized the voice immediately. How could I not? I had been doing my best to avoid her. Maybe that was wrong. "Adrienne, I didn't see you there."
"I did not want to be seen," she answered.
There it was again, the change in her tone that made her seem like a completely different person. "Good point. Did you want to talk or were you just letting me know that you were in here too? Because I don't know if I'm up to having a conversation."
"You have faced a lot already, Tam, and it has not been easy for you. Believe me when I say that I understand that. And I am sorry but there will be much more to come. I wish I could make it easier for you but the struggle is necessary. Just know that there will be a happy ending eventually."
At that I had to sit up and turn to face her. "You make it sound as if you are leaving."
She nodded. "My duties here are done, at least for now. It is certain that I will return many times in the future, but I was only here to help with the installation of the Reapers. They are doing rather well. I knew you would be able to use the loophole from the agreement between the Leaders and Thanos. He never would."
I don't know if it was the tone in her voice, or the words she spoke but I found myself almost compelled to believe her. "Why couldn't you say that earlier?"
"Just as it is with Thanos and his inability to interfere in some matters, I had to let some things happen, even if I wished I could simply spit out the truth. Making things too easy now would make them impossible later and I do not want that to happen. The Balance must be maintained and certain events must happen just as they have been determined by Fate."
I nodded. It always came back to the Balance and to Fate. We were all bound to our work and in the end that was what mattered. Sometimes we had to put aside our feelings-our anger, our pain, and even our exhaustion-just to focus on work for the Balance.
I let out a deep breath. "I guess I understand, even if I don't like how it was done. When you return we will be able to discuss everything more, won't we?"
"We will have a great deal more to discuss, but that will be on a different matter entirely. For now you need to go to Thanos and listen to what he has to tell you. I have told him that he can give you the whole story, including my involvement in his past. I hope that it will give you everything you need. For Balance to be maintained Death and his Angel have to be working as a united force."
For a few moments I didn't know how to respond to that. "You mean...he's going to tell me everything?"
She nodded slowly. "He may not like it, but he has never really been one to bow down to authority. Listen to what he has to say. It may change some of the opinions you have formed about the others in your life." Then she walked to the door and left the study.
I jumped up and ran for the door as well, even though I didn't know what I would say to her, but when I opened the door she was nowhere to be found. She had simply disappeared. I stood there for a few minutes, debating whether to wait a little longer before going to Thanos or to run and find him now.
Just learning that he was going to tell me everything had released the wall I had felt building inside. It was as if those secrets had been creating the block that kept me from being able to show all my emotions. The sensations rushed over me and I my heart sped up as my body jolted back to life. I couldn't help but think that in the end Adrienne had given me a gift, one of a second chance at life.
I stepped out of the study and started down the hall to find Thanos. As I walked I tried to figure out what he would tell me. If he was going to reveal his past then it would obviously include how he came to be Death and what he had done before that. I almost couldn't wait to hear it all. It had been months of me waiting and wondering and being left in the dark. Knowing that all of that was ending was... I didn't even know how to describe it, but it was certainly a relief.
I didn't find him in the training centers and he wasn't in the kitchen, though Kerri and Gabe were still there talking to each other. I tried looking in his room but it was locked. Even knocking on the door didn't reveal anything. Then I headed for his study and found it empty as well. Where could he be? Adrienne had
said that he was going to tell me everything, so why was he hiding? Was his past really that bad?
I started to wander the halls, trying to figure out where he would have gone and I finally made my way to the set of stairs at the back of the facility. Thanos had only taken me up them once because it was rare for the stairs to be unlocked. He had said that there were some things in the facility that Fate controlled.
It actually wasn't that big of a surprise to find that the door to the stairs was open. I ran up the stairs to the roof of the facility and found Thanos standing on the other side of the roof. He was staring at the sunset and watching as the first sights of the stars appeared.
I didn't think that he had noticed me, but apparently he had because he said, "Hello, Tamesis."
"How did you know it was me?"
He turned around to look at me. "Addie told me you were coming," he answered. "It is time you heard the truth, even if I may not want to tell it to you. The decision is not really mine. As with a great number of things in both of our lives, the decision is purely that of Fate, and she has a plan for all of this."
"So...do you know Fate then?"
"I guess you could say that. Sometimes I am given messages from her, though they are more like orders. If there is anyone you do not want to ignore, it is Fate. She wants you to know my past, how I became Death, and what I did before that. It will take a great deal of time so we will only be able to do a little of the story at a time, but soon enough you will know everything."
He sounded almost sad about having to tell me everything. I hadn't really wanted to force him into it, but now I could see that if given the choice he would have waited until there was no time left. "Is your past really so horrible that you don't want to talk about it at all?"
He let out a chuckle that had a bitter tone to it and then shook his head. "No, it is not that. Parts of my story may seem rather like your own story. It is just a long story and I am not proud of parts of it."
I walked over towards him and took his hand, smiling slightly as that jolt ran through me again. "It's okay. There's nothing you could say that would make me run away."
He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before he nodded and turned to face me completely. "I guess I should start by saying that before I was Death, I was born to a race you know quite well. I was born a Resurrector."
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The story continues in Project Death: Revelation, coming summer 2014.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Danielle Thamasa is a motorcycle riding librarian. After spending years on the back of her dad’s bike, she decided it was time to learn to ride her own, which led to getting her motorcycle endorsement in the summer of 2010. Then, in 2011 she graduated with her Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science.
She has also been writing with the hopes of someday being published ever since she was in the seventh grade. She had poems and stories included multiple times through junior high and high school in her county’s annual creative writing publication. She further honed her writing skills in college, where she worked on the school newspaper for four years.
In her free time Danielle does a lot of reading and writing, as well as spending a great deal of time with fellow authors she met by participating in NaNoWriMo.
Connect with Danielle online:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanielleThamasa
Facebook: Danielle Thamasa
Google+: +DanielleThamasa
Blog: https://magicinthestacks.blogspot.com/
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Considering the fact that I have been working on this book for so many years there are far too many people who should probably be listed here in the acknowledgments. All of my friends in both high school and college have helped to inspire me and mold this story into something far better than it would have been otherwise. So thank you all.
Specifically I would like to acknowledge the support and help of Signy Cullen, who has become one of my absolute best friends and my writing critique partner; AnnaMarie who always asks about progress on certain stories and keeps me motivated; and Christian Rivers who I had creative meetings with practically every single week in college where we would spend hours discussing all sorts of creatures, characters, and potential stories. You three are amazing.
To my Nana, thank you for helping to stock my shelves full of books and supporting me no matter what I do. You have always believed in me and I appreciate that.
I would also like to thank all the people who have read some or all of this story and offered up comments and suggestions that have greatly improved the characters and the plot.
Finally, to those of you who have purchased and read this book, thank you so much. You have made my dream of being a published author all the more fulfilling.
Project Death: Resurrection Page 42