Finders Reapers

by Anna Staniszewski

  Thank you for purchasing this eBook.

  At Sourcebooks we believe one thing:

  BOOKS CHANGE LIVES.

  We would love to invite you to receive exclusive rewards. Sign up now for VIP savings, bonus content, early access to new ideas we're developing, and sneak peeks at our hottest titles!

  Happy reading!

  SIGN UP NOW!

  Also by Anna Staniszewski

  My Very UnFairy Tale Life Series

  My Very UnFairy Tale Life

  My Epic Fairy Tale Fail

  My Sort of Fairy Tale Ending

  The Dirt Diary Series

  The Dirt Diary

  The Prank List

  The Gossip File

  Switched at First Kiss Series

  I’m With Cupid

  Copyright © 2016 by Anna Staniszewski

  Cover and internal design © 2016 by Sourcebooks, Inc.

  Cover design by Sourcebooks, Inc.

  Cover image © Michael Heath/Shannon and Associates

  Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks, Inc.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks, Inc.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc.

  P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410

  (630) 961-3900

  Fax: (630) 961-2168

  www.sourcebooks.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is on file with the publisher.

  Source of Production: Versa Press, East Peoria, Illinois, USA

  Date of Production: January 2016

  Run Number: 5005603

  Contents

  Front Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Back Cover

  For Ray, again.

  Chapter 1

  “Come on, Lena. Fall!” Lena’s best friend Abigail called behind her. Meanwhile, Lena stood with her eyes closed and her arms crossed over her chest mummy-style, trying to will her body to drop backward into Abigail’s waiting arms. But she couldn’t. Because under Abigail’s arms was the hard, wooden, and potentially very painful stage.

  “Maybe next time,” Lena said finally, opening her eyes.

  Abigail groaned. “You’re going to have to do a trust fall sometime. Everyone else has already done a bunch.”

  Lena glanced around the stage. Sure enough, all the other kids in her school’s production of Alice in Wonderland were flopping around like half-dead fish, throwing themselves into each other’s arms. Clearly, Lena’s relationship with gravity was a little more complicated than theirs.

  She noticed Mr. Jackson giving her a disapproving look from the foot of the stage. He was probably regretting casting her as a playing card. Mr. Jackson was all about “trusting the process and trusting each other.” That’s why the cast had spent hours over the past few weeks doing team-building exercises and almost zero time on things Lena thought were pretty important, such as making sure that all the cast members actually knew their lines.

  She bit back a sigh and swapped places with Abigail.

  “You’ll catch me, right?” her friend asked. “I really don’t want to die before opening night. That would be so embarrassing. Plus, I’d be forced to come back as a ghost and haunt you for the rest of your life.”

  “Don’t worry. You’ll be fine,” Lena said.

  Abigail glanced around the stage. “In fact,” she added in a dramatic whisper, “I bet this whole auditorium is filled with ghosts of people who died during trust falls.”

  Lena had to laugh. She knew for a fact that there weren’t any wandering spirits in the entire school, but she couldn’t tell her friend that. The only person who knew the truth about Lena’s secret identity as a soul collector—besides Lena’s boss—was her boyfriend Marcus, and he had a supernatural secret of his own.

  As if he could tell she was thinking about him, Marcus came into the auditorium lugging a half-painted wooden tree. Suddenly, Lena found it a lot harder to concentrate on trust falls. She couldn’t believe that she and Marcus were going on their official six-week-anniversary date that night.

  “Lena, watch out!” Mr. Jackson yelled.

  She snapped back to reality in time to see Abigail falling toward her. Lena scrambled to thrust her arms out, barely managing to stop Abigail from hitting the floor.

  “Oof!” Abigail said as she landed heavily in Lena’s arms.

  Mr. Jackson was already marching over, his face redder than his bow tie. “You can’t let your partner down like that, Lena! How can you be part of a team when you’re not in tune with those around you?”

  “I’m sorry! I was…” Lena felt silly finishing that sentence. How could she admit that she’d almost dropped the lead in the play because she’d been distracted thinking about her boyfriend? Lena had dreamed of being onstage since fifth grade. Now that she was finally in the middle school play, was she really going to ruin it by getting moony over a guy? Even if he was a very sweet, supercute one? “I’m sorry,” she said again.

  Mr. Jackson sighed. “I know you can do better.” He turned to the rest of the cast. “Everyone! Remember what I always say?”

  “You have to trust the process!” the other kids chanted back at him. Lena forced herself to mouth the words along with them.

  “Exactly!” Mr. Jackson grinned and adjusted his red suspenders that perfectly matched his bow tie. Then he clapped his hands and announced that they were done with trust falls. Lena hoped that meant they’d actually be rehearsing scenes. There were only two weeks to go until opening night after all! But Mr. Jackson informed them that in order to get into their characters’ minds, they were going to brainstorm what their characters had eaten for breakfast.

  Lena couldn’t believe it. Her character was a playing card! What could it possibly eat for breakfast—a bowl of poker chips? But she was sure if she asked Mr. Jackson, he’d be even more disappointed in her. Instead, she glanced out into the auditorium again
to find Marcus. But someone else caught her eye.

  A girl she’d never seen before was standing in the back row, staring up at the stage. And, unless Lena was imagining things, staring right at her. There was a strange expression on the girl’s face, as if she was only half awake.

  For a moment, Lena thought she saw an odd haze around the girl’s head. It reminded Lena of the auras she’d seen a few weeks ago when she and Marcus had accidentally swapped powers after being dared to kiss at Connie Reynolds’s party. Lena had only been a supernatural matchmaker—like Cupid but without the diaper—for a few days, but that had been quite enough time to make her appreciate her soul-collecting job. Maybe the aura meant that this girl was going to be zapped with a love bolt soon.

  “Lena?” Abigail asked, touching her shoulder.

  “What?” Lena turned to see that the entire cast had cleared off, and she was the only one left standing onstage.

  “We’re about to run the opening scene.”

  “Oh, good,” Lena said. Finally, they’d get some actual work done at rehearsal.

  As she hurried into the wings, she couldn’t help glancing back out into the audience to see if the girl was still staring at her. But the back row was empty. Whoever the girl had been, she was gone.

  Chapter 2

  “Eddie sure knows how to pick a date spot,” Marcus said, scanning the bowling alley. The place was surprisingly empty for a Friday night, and it reeked of moldy carpet and onion rings. This was definitely not what Marcus had had in mind when he’d planned their big six-week-anniversary date.

  “It’s not so bad,” Lena said, studying the concession stand menu. “Look, you can get two kinds of cheese sauce on your French fries. Double the heart attack!”

  Marcus smiled. He’d been planning to bring Lena to a fancy restaurant that his grandfather had once raved about, but then Marcus’s boss had called with a last-minute matchmaking assignment and messed it all up.

  “We’ll have a do-over anniversary date tomorrow, okay?” he asked.

  Lena didn’t answer. She was focused on something over his shoulder. “Look, it’s Hayleigh and Abigail. What are they doing here?”

  He followed her gaze and spotted Lena’s two best friends in one of the lanes, along with a few kids from the school play. “Um, bowling?” he asked.

  Lena was already heading over to them, so Marcus hurried to catch up.

  “Hey,” Abigail said, pushing her pale ponytail over her shoulder. “Some of us were running lines after rehearsal, but we got bored and came here instead.” She lowered her voice. “Of course, I had to call Hayleigh since you-know-who is here.”

  They all looked at Emery Higgins, who was playing the Cheshire Cat in the play. He was focused on picking something out of his braces while Hayleigh was making a big show of begging him to blow on her bowling ball for luck. It was a well-known fact that Hayleigh had a serious crush on Emery. A well-known fact to everyone except him.

  “We’re about to start a new game if you want to play with us,” Abigail offered.

  That sounded fun, but Marcus’s phone buzzed, reminding him why he was here. “Maybe later. Um, I have to go do…the thing.”

  “Oh right,” Lena said. “How about I bowl for you until you get back?” She waved him away with a little wink.

  He flashed her a grateful smile as he hurried away. It was awesome how he and Lena were always on the same wavelength. To think, only a couple months ago, they’d barely even been friends!

  When he was on the other side of the shoe rental counter, he stopped and scanned the bowling alley for Peter Chung, age fifteen. After a minute of searching, he still hadn’t spotted the telltale gray aura that usually meant a person needed a love boost.

  Maybe Peter was in the bathroom. It wasn’t Marcus’s favorite spot to zap people, but being a matchmaker wasn’t always the most glamorous job. Just the week before, he’d had to match a couple right next to a Dumpster outside a seafood restaurant. Nothing went with true love like the smell of rotting fish.

  He heard Lena’s laugh echoing nearby and turned to see her and Abigail looking at him and whispering. Clearly, they were talking about him. Lena’s face was glowing with happiness, as if the mere sight of Marcus made her smile. He knew exactly how she felt.

  Focus, Marcus told himself.

  Finally, he spotted a teenage guy coming in through the front door of the bowling alley. There was a faint gray haze around his head that only Marcus could see, and he could even feel the loneliness wafting from him.

  “Peter, there you are!” Marcus called out before realizing he’d actually spoken the words aloud.

  Peter frowned at him. “Do I know you?”

  “Oh, um, no,” Marcus said as his phone started to beep in his pocket. It was time. “But you know my sister, Ann-Marie Torelli?” He had no idea if Peter actually knew his sister, but they did both go to the same high school.

  Peter’s face lit up. “She’s, like, the best runner in the district.”

  “I’m Marcus.” As he held out his hand, Marcus heard Lena’s tinkling laugh ringing across the bowling alley. He ignored the sound and willed his energy to spark. Instantly, his fingers flared to life with a red glow that seemed brighter than usual. Maybe that meant this match would be his best one yet.

  Focus, he told himself again. Then he grabbed Peter’s hand and shook it.

  The energy left Marcus’s fingers and shot into Peter’s so fast that Marcus stumbled back. When the energy was gone, relief washed over him. The first moments after an assignment were always exhausting and satisfying at the same time.

  Meanwhile, a dazed look swept over Peter’s face as if he’d been bopped in the head with a frying pan. Then he turned and smiled blearily at a tall, skinny girl who was walking toward him. Her face was streaked with so much makeup that she kind of looked like an Easter egg. She was definitely not Marcus’s type, but if she and Peter were a match, that was all that mattered.

  “Hey, I’m Peter!” he called out to the girl.

  Her entire face lit up. “I’m Claire!”

  Marcus watched with satisfaction as a yellow aura bloomed around the couple and sparks started to swirl between them, little bits of light that only he could see.

  Then something changed. The yellow aura grew even brighter, almost neon, and one by one, the sparks flared until they were nearly blinding. They started bouncing around so furiously, Marcus thought they might shoot through the ceiling.

  He expected Peter and Claire to break eye contact after a minute and start chatting and laughing like he’d seen all his other matches do, but they simply stood there and dreamily peered into each other’s eyes. Their gazes were so intense, it was almost scary. He wasn’t sure Claire was even breathing.

  “Um, guys?” Marcus finally said. Nothing. He took a hesitant step forward and snapped his fingers in front of their faces. Finally, they both blinked and took a step away from each other.

  “Can I buy you some fries?” Peter asked, holding out his hand.

  Claire nodded eagerly and thrust her hand in his. “And a milk shake!” They skipped—actually skipped!—away, a shower of sparks shooting around them like fireworks. As they turned toward the concession stand, Peter leaped into the air and joyfully clicked his heels together like a cartoon character.

  Marcus stared after them in disbelief. He’d done almost a dozen matches, and none had ever gone like this. Uh-oh. Were his powers still messed up after he and Lena had swapped abilities a few weeks ago? Eddie had said everything was back to normal, but what if he was wrong?

  Marcus made himself take a deep breath. He was being paranoid. The four matches he’d done since the whole power-swapping fiasco had all gone fine. Besides, even though the connection between Peter and Claire seemed unusually intense, the two were clearly happy. That was all that mattered. His boss had told him that his powers w
ould eventually grow stronger. Maybe it had come sooner than expected, that’s all.

  “Are you okay?” Lena asked, coming up beside him.

  “Yeah, I’m great.” No need to share his paranoia with her. Still, he couldn’t help asking: “Do your soul-collecting assignments ever go a little too well?”

  She frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Like, your energy shoots out and the soul gets sent to the After faster than it should? Maybe things seem more intense than normal?”

  Lena shook her head and glanced around as if to make sure no one was listening. “But soul collecting is different,” she said softly. “There’s not much wiggle room with life and death. Love is…less strict.”

  “Love has just as many rules as death does,” Marcus said. Lena had finally warmed up to the idea that love wasn’t merely chemicals tricking you into feeling things, but she still wasn’t comfortable with the whole idea of love matches and soul mates.

  “Oh boy,” Lena said, rolling her eyes. “We’re definitely not having this argument again!” She laughed. “Come on. It’s your turn to bowl. I put the perfect bowling name for you up on the scoreboard.”

  “Spare Diaper?” Marcus guessed.

  Lena grinned. “Lovestruck.”

  He grinned back, taking her hand in his. “Perfect.”

  Chapter 3

  “Chipmunk, you’re just in time!” Lena’s dad called when she got home from her date. For once, he wasn’t watching some boring TV show about the history of clocks. Instead, her dad was typing away on his laptop with the local news on in the background. “I’m filling out my online dating profile. Do you want to help?”

  “You’re doing what?” Lena asked as Professor ran up to her with a mysterious piece of old flannel in his mouth. He wagged his German shepherd tail a few times and then dropped the fabric at her feet before trotting back to the sliding glass door. These days, Professor spent most of his time watching his squirrel wife (one of the unfortunate side effects of Lena and Marcus’s power-swapping fiasco) scampering around the yard. It had gotten too cold for him to be out in the nest they’d built together.