Banning ignored Pete, focusing instead on the demon holding Jordan. “Wait for the demon to answer, Keely. Not until then.”
The goateed demon hissed like the world’s most pissed-off cat.
My heart pounded in my chest. What was I doing? Saving the souls of my friends. Saving my sister. Myself. Pretending I wasn’t so afraid that I could barely see straight. That’s what I was doing.
The demon holding my sister started to speak, the words guttural and Latin. A log in the fireplace erupted into massive flames that stretched outward, licking the mantel. Candles, which had been lined on top of the mantel, ignited. More shadows, like dark stains, danced on the walls painted orange by the firelight.
“What’s he saying?” I asked Banning.
Hideous, wailing screams arose from within the walls. The ceiling above us creaked and something shuffled around in the attic.
“Conjuring more demons,” Daniel said as he gave Banning a woeful look. “Lots of them.”
More demons? Banning couldn’t handle more demons. They were toying with us, sending in wave after wave, wearing us down. I glared at Pete with such hatred I thought it would consume me. The murdering asshole was going to walk away from this.
This time.
“I’m coming back for you. I know what you are,” I spat.
Pete shrugged. “Ready when you are, sweet thing.”
Daniel grabbed Pete by the throat and began choking him.
Pete’s eyes bulged, but he managed a sick grin. “If you kill me, I’ll wait for them,” he croaked. “They’re mine! Mine! The demons promised!”
“You’re a fool,” Banning muttered.
“Stop!” I tugged at Daniel’s arm, but it was like trying to move granite. “I hate letting him go as much as you, but we have to.”
“Let him, Keely,” Jordan cried out. “Just let him.”
“Stop now and Lucifer will have you flayed,” the demon against the wall said, pointing at Daniel. “If you stop now, you’ll be hunted. Who will protect you, Daniel? The reaper? Kill him! We’ve come to see a killing and we must have one! A grand finale before we take you and your friends to hell.” He snarled at Daniel. “Do it! You’re one of us…”
Something changed in Daniel’s face. His grip on Pete’s throat loosened, but not entirely. Sweat dotted his forehead.
Pete’s face had turned purplish. He coughed and hacked, trying to catch his breath. Even his hands shook.
Daniel relinquished his hold on Pete. Pete dropped to the ground, gasping and choking.
Daniel turned to me. “It’s now or never, Sunshine. More are coming.”
The goateed demon shifted his reptilian eyes from Pete to the rest of us. His eyes met mine and narrowed menacingly. I raised my chin in defiance.
“They’re coming!” Jordan cried.
The goateed demon’s attention remained focused on me. “Your soul, girl. Willingly? Or not?”
“There has to be another way!” Jordan yelled. “Don’t give in, Keely!”
My legs shook. What if I missed? What if I got what Banning had told me all wrong?
Banning stepped forward. He tugged the zipper up on my hoodie, then raised the hood over my head and winked.
I can do this.
I heard more demons materializing behind me. Yellow eyes peered from the darkened corners. Too small for full-fledged demons, and I imagined imps or some other subversive spirit. The goateed demon waited. Small, repulsive insects worked their way through strands of his chin hair.
Anger, in the form of flames, twisted inside the demon’s irises. “What do you choose?”
I cleared my throat. “If I stay, if I find a loophole, will Lucifer call all of you home and renounce any right to our souls?”
The demon sneered in disgust. Reluctantly, he replied. “Loophole? You’ve found no such thing. But, yes. If you found such a loophole, then of course.”
Pete’s expression faltered. “Stay? She can’t stay here as a wretched earthbound! That is not an option. This is an outrage!” His tone was malicious, but if I wasn’t mistaken, Pete, or at least the demon inside him was trembling.
Given the chance, demons—at least most of them—were deceitful at heart.
But, there were rules. Even for them. The only rule I had to follow was that I couldn’t join my sister in heaven or remain an earthbound. Okay, so it was more like a consequence of my actions, but it didn’t matter. The point was, no one ever said I couldn’t become a reaper.
Banning reached behind his duster, withdrew his scythe and handed it to me. A hard wind rushed around me, and the air smelled sweet and pure. I was acutely aware of… everything. The demons, my sister, Pete, even the ravens that were still in the trees outside. I drew on this one suspended moment.
Before the goateed demon could raise his hand in defense or rake a claw across my sister’s face, I swung the scythe carefully so I wouldn’t accidentally hurt Jordan. I didn’t miss. The blade cut the demon straight through. He shrieked in surprise as a row of white-hot flames ripped through him. A vortex of black smoke rushed in a spiral from head to toe, engulfing him. When the smoke vanished, all that remained were his ashes lying at my feet.
“Choose?” I said to Pete. “I choose to become a reaper.”
Pete and the other demons howled in defeat.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Jordan and I spent most of Thursday morning reminiscing. I guess we figured if we kept talking about the past, our impending future separation would never come. In a way, it almost was like old times. I don’t think a moment went by that we weren’t in each other’s company. Even when I talked about my decision to become a reaper with Banning, Jordan stayed by my side. She didn’t care for the idea, but she understood.
I’d be a very young reaper. The only one my age, according to Banning. Helping souls cross into the afterlife was one thing. Taking out demons was something else entirely. But I’d have the best teacher. For the first time in a long while, I thought I’d finally found a direction.
I still hated Pete. Saving his miserable life had been harder than anything else I’d ever done. There had been a good part, though. When the demon left his body, Pete remembered some of what had happened. He’d been touched forever by death, and he knew I’d come for him one day. And when that day came? I vowed to find a way to make his crossover as unpleasant as possible. I was far from perfect. I wanted Pete to feel all the pain he’d caused Jordan and everyone else he’d hurt or killed.
I would have liked to say I felt guilty about such thoughts, but I didn’t. I was a reaper, not an angel.
For now, I couldn’t do anything but wait…and watch. I hoped that after Pete’s ordeal he’d tell someone the truth about what had happened. If he did, they’d at least lock him away where he wouldn’t be free to hurt anyone else. Wishful thinking on my part, though. Pete would never tell—at least no one but his next victim. That’s the worst thing about predators like him—there’s always someone else until they’re caught. They can’t stop themselves. Pete had killed six women, including Jordan. But, so far, he was only a suspect in Jordan’s death. To the best of my knowledge, no one had tied him to the other murders. My goal in the afterlife was to change that.
Daniel said there might be a way. There were people who caught glimpses into the afterlife. Some even found ways to communicate with us. I’d have to find one of them to help me.
Until then, Pete remained free. At least from prison. I don’t think he’d ever be free of the demons who visited him. And he’d certainly never be free of me.
It pissed me off that he’d left Jordan’s body in the woods. It had rained afterward, and by the time the authorities located Jordan’s body weeks later, there wasn’t any positive way of tracing her death back to him. He’d confessed to dating her, which explained why her DNA showed up at a family cabin. He admitted calling her, but denied seeing her that night. He and the demons had planned her death carefully. One day, I’d come for him. I looked forward
to the time the ravens delivered that message.
Right now, my heart ached for Jordan. She’d waited so long for me, so long for the chance for us to be reunited. But, I knew she’d be okay. I felt for Daniel, too. He was the real loser in this deal. He was rogue now, an outcast among demons. Although no one had placed a bounty on him, eternity as a demon had just gotten a lot rougher. Daniel would have all the help from me he could get. I’d promised him that. As the four of us sat on my parents’ front porch contemplating my funeral the next morning, Daniel seemed more at rest than I’d ever seen him.
Over all, I’d done all right. Made a really good decision—one even Dad would have been proud of. Well, considering my choices.
Jordan and I spent our remaining time with our parents and the family that had gathered around them. Mom sat in the living room with Aunt Jen. She looked tired and thin. The television blared in the background—but not the news. Mom didn’t watch the news anymore. Like Aunt Jen, she found it too depressing.
“Think they’ll be okay?” I asked Jordan. “TV is so unlike her. At least so much of it.”
Jordan pursed her lips and nodded, her way of comforting me—yet again. Always my Samson.
“They still love each other,” she said about Mom and Dad. She was standing in front of the window and watching two young children across the street playing in the driveway while their mother unloaded groceries. I sensed the worry in her, but like me, it seemed useless to voice what we were really afraid of—that our parents might drift apart. We only hoped the rest of the family would hold them together.
Jordan swallowed, stopping the tears from coming. We’d promised each other that our final hours here in the house we’d grown up in, been sisters in, been inseparable in, we would not cry. We’d enjoy things as they were—or at least as close to them as we could. Because this chance would never happen again.
I hoped Jordan was right about Mom and Dad. Our parents loved each other, but even in love, things change. The deaths of children alter everything. Parents shouldn’t have to bury their children.
Banning entered the living room. “Keely, you have a messenger,” he said somberly.
I stood and followed him outside, feeling the weight of Jordan’s and Daniel’s stares on my back as we walked through the front door. I listened. At first I heard nothing, not a single bird. Then, I saw a flutter of wings as a row of ravens jostled for position on the top branch of a tree. A single red-winged blackbird sitting with the ravens took flight and landed on the lower branches of another tree. The bird cocked its head, staring at me with dark, observant eyes. A soft breeze ruffled the downy feathers around its chest and throat. The ravens grew quiet, watching as though ensuring their smaller cousin could do the job.
In the early evening dusk, the blackbird sang. In the birdsong I swore I heard the when and the where, and by the time the blackbird finished its serenade, I heard a solitary name. The blackbird looked at me again, as if to make sure I understood. Then with a ruffle of its feathers, it took to the sky. The ravens flitted from branch to branch, cawing before following the smaller bird. I stood and listened to their cries as they flew off into the distance. Finally, I turned to Banning. I think a tear or two glistened in my eye.
“I’ll be right beside you,” he said.
I nodded. I wasn’t completely fond of this new beginning, this new place that my life, my existence, had taken me.
We went back inside together. Jordan looked at both of us.
“When?” she asked.
My eyes found hers. “Tonight. In a couple hours.”
“How long?” Jordan asked.
I shrugged. She wasn’t asking about my first job as a reaper. She was asking about all of them. “Until someone else chooses to relieve me.”
“Well,” Jordan sighed. “It won’t be forever, will it?”
“Nah,” I said with a smile. “Nothing’s forever.”
We stared at each other, not sure of what to say, unsure of how to express the feelings that overwhelmed us.
“Big day ahead tomorrow.” She smiled as she took my hands into hers.
“Yeah. Wouldn’t want to be late for my own funeral.” I hoped she’d find the humor in that. Daniel did. Mr. King of Dead Humor laughed heartily.
The doorbell rang and more relatives were ushered in with trays and dishes full of food.
“Let’s spend a little time in the basement,” Banning suggested.
When I was alive, I always wondered why ghosts spent most of their time in basements and attics. Now, I knew. Between having the living pass through us and all the energy drain, it made perfect sense.
“I’ll miss you,” Jordan said, as we headed down the stairs. “I’ll miss all of our family, too.”
Even from the basement I could smell Aunt Becky’s three-cheese broccoli casserole, and I knew she had also brought sliced ham to go with it. I listened as people moved about, sliding chairs, listened to our mother crying as Dad tried to comfort her.
We stared at each other. Neither of us wanted to think about parting from the other again. Even if it wasn’t forever. Even if it wasn’t really goodbye.
“It’ll be like college,” I tried to explain. “Like going to different schools.”
“It’s not like college,” she said. “We never graduated high school.”
I gave her a hug. “We skipped ahead.”
An hour later, Banning came into Dad’s workshop where Jordan and I sat.
“You sure about this?” Banning asked. “This might not be the best first job for you. I can take this one.”
“Yeah, she’s sure,” Jordan answered, pretending to be interested in some of the dusty how-to manuals lying on Dad’s workbench.
Banning turned to Jordan. “Have you tried talking your sister out of it?”
Jordan continued pretending to read through the last page in the manual entitled lawnmower repair. “No. Have you ever tried talking her out of something?”
Banning laughed. “Good point.”
Jordan, Daniel, Banning and I slipped through the side door out of the basement. Silently, we made our way down the street, looking for a ride. Jordan wasn’t an angel yet, and I hadn’t completed my first true reaper job, so we were still stuck traveling like earthbounds. It took two cars and a bus, but we reached the hospice center ahead of schedule.
I smiled at an old woman sitting in a wheelchair on the front porch. A beige knitted quilt lay across her lap. Her family, including two grandchildren, surrounded her. I’d once told Banning how I’d envisioned myself with my own grandchildren. We walked around the woman and her family and through the front doors.
The same receptionist from my first visit here with Banning sat behind the information desk. And, as before, she was unaware of our presence. We walked down the hall, through the double doors to the family area. I noticed some of the nameplates under the room numbers had changed since we’d been here a few days ago. The pretty young mother in room thirty-five was gone. I thought about her family and children.
The family who’d been visiting the dying grandfather was still here, though. The young boy sat away from them as he had before, playing with a video game. Except this time I think the kid had a portable PlayStation. Daniel and I exchanged grins.
I turned to Banning and paused at the door of the room we were about to enter.
“I’m okay,” I assured him as he gave me a concerned look. “Just nervous.”
“Well, that’s quite understandable,” Banning replied. His eyes were the same forever-blue I remembered waking up to after I died. I glanced at the man lying in bed in room thirty-three. When I took his soul, would he see eyes the color of emeralds?
“We’ll wait out here,” Daniel said, Jordan by his side. He wrapped an arm around her. “We’ll be fine.”
Jordan returned the hug and nodded in agreement with Daniel. This was between teacher and student. I’d have a couple of years to prove my worth as a reaper before I was on my own. If all went acc
ording to plan, Banning would then ascend to join his wife and daughter, leaving me alone to take his place in purgatory. It hurt just thinking of it, and my face grew warm with guilt that I should want Banning to stay longer, to never leave me.
Daniel led Jordan to a pair of empty seats next to the kid playing video games.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” I called out to Daniel. He winked as he took a seat right next to the kid.
“How much time?” I asked, as Banning and I walked into room thirty-three. We carefully skirted around the two women hovering over the dying man.
“Five minutes,” Banning told me. “Keely?”
I looked up at him.
“You’ll do fine,” he said.
I smiled. “I’ll do my best. Your wife and daughter need you,” I reminded him. “You’ve been separated for far too long.”
Banning smiled, those sunbeams gracing the corners of his eyes at the mention of him reuniting with his family. “I’m just sorry that you’ll be separated from your sister. And when your parents die, you’ll be separated from them.”
“Not forever,” I replied. “They’ll visit whenever they can. And someday, someone will take my place.” I didn’t know that for a fact. Daniel had warned me that there were reapers who were thousands of years old. Still, I hoped this was true. Reapers can only ascend to heaven if someone else vows to take their place as I’d done for Banning. Visits with my sister wouldn’t be as simple as calling each other or popping into each other’s rooms, but Jordan would come back whenever she could. Eventually, we’d see each other again.
“Well. Ready?” Banning asked.
“Yeah. Ready.”
I walked up to George Manero’s bed and leaned forward. He’d lost more weight since I’d seen him a few days ago. Whenever he took a labored breath, I heard whistling and rattling in his chest. His eyes were heavy-lidded and watery. The skin on his arms appeared paper thin and waxy.
He stared past me, past Banning. “I know Jake, I know,” he said hoarsely—barely a whisper.
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