Grim Girl

by Nicky Graves

  “What happens now?” I asked when we arrived in his living room.

  “We wait.”

  “Is Lawson coming over?”

  He raised a brow. “Anxious to see him?”

  “Aren’t there plans to go over?” I asked, ignoring his pointed stare.

  “None that require you.”

  That was probably true, but I didn’t like that fact. “The stone that Azrael wants is inside me. So I’m a part of this.”

  Ranger walked to the plaid couch and sat down, kicking up his feet on the battered coffee table. “You might as well get comfortable. Time moves slowly here.”

  “I don’t want to get comfortable and wait. Can’t we go to a realm where time moves faster? Even if it’s not Earth. There’s got to be one. There are realm portals all over the dead zone.”

  He shook his head. “Wait it out, little reaper.”

  I sat down on the orange-striped chair and folded my arms in front of me.

  “Don’t pout,” he said.

  “I’m not pouting. I’m tired, and I’m frustrated. But I’m not pouting.”

  “Looks like you’re pouting.”

  I frowned. “I can’t sit here for hours waiting for someone else to fight my battle.”

  “It was never your battle to begin with.”

  “It became mine when I began seeing dead people and the Supreme Elder gave me the stone. I’m going to be a reaper someday. I just want to understand this world. I feel as though I’m being propelled forward only to get pushed back.”

  He thought for a moment. “Okay.” He let his feet fall to the floor and stood. “Let’s go.”

  Before I could ask where we were going, he touched my shoulder and we shifted to a barren land. It certainly wasn’t Earth. Two suns beat down on dry, cracked land. Jagged rocks clawed up to the pale orange sky.

  This place was too familiar.

  “Is this the place you found me?” I asked Ranger.

  “Yes.”

  From my vantage point on the rocky hill, I could see hundreds of men below me. They weren’t robed, but they all held scythes. The person that stood out was Lawson. He was shouting orders, but from this distance, I couldn’t hear what he was saying. He paced along the reaper perimeter, looking every inch of a sergeant preparing his men.

  “Are they all reapers?” I asked.

  “Yes. The ones that Lawson could round up.”

  “They came to protect the stone?”

  “No one wants Azrael to have the stone. Not even the reapers. Many are old enough to remember his reign with the stone. They don’t want to live like that again.”

  “How bad was it?”

  “Think of a mad man who always has a twitchy finger on a bomb trigger. And then you have to clean up his aftermath. It wasn’t pretty. Without the stone, he’s still powerful, but he’s manageable. And the reapers need Azrael. He takes care of some of the worse scum in the universe. But to allow him access to more power is folly.”

  “I guess I understand that. So why are they all here in this realm?” I asked.

  “This is the place Azrael calls home.”

  “Home? He was here the entire time I was?”

  “Could have been.”

  If my stomach wasn’t already in a knot, that news would have twisted it into a bow.

  Ranger scanned the men below. “I was hoping there would be more reapers.”

  “Can I do something to help?” I asked.

  “You’re already helping,” he said. “You’re the bait.”

  “Bait?”

  “Yep.”

  “What in the hell do you mean I’m the bait?”

  Lawson glanced up and saw us. He shifted out of sight and then reappeared next to Ranger. “You’re early.”

  “She was pouting,” Ranger said.

  “I wasn’t pouting,” I said.

  They both gave me a flat, unamused stare.

  “I wasn’t,” I repeated.

  “Do you have the vessel ready?” Ranger asked Lawson.

  “Yes.”

  “Want to do it now or wait?” Ranger asked.

  Lawson gave me an uneasy glance before looking at Ranger. “Give us a minute.”

  Ranger gave a nod and shifted down to the other men.

  Lawson walked over to a large rock and sat on it, patting the space next to him. I sat next to him, wanting to cling to him, but knowing no matter how much strength I wanted to absorb from him, I had to find my own.

  “Why do I have a bad feeling about this vessel?” I asked.

  “It’s not bad,” he said. “We need to keep you here, otherwise Azrael will shift to find you. If he knows you’re here, he’ll stay, and we’ll have a better time controlling the situation.”

  “And the vessel comes into play how?”

  “We place you inside and seal it. You’ll be safe in there. He can’t touch you in there.”

  “How is that possible?”

  “It’s like being encased in bulletproof glass.”

  “And if he breaks it?”

  “Then you’ll be transported to a different realm. You’d be safe for a while until I can get to you.”

  “If he’s to the point that he can break the vessel, doesn’t that mean you’ve lost?”

  He didn’t say anything at first. “You’ll be fine. That’s all that matters.”

  I didn’t like the sound of that. I mean, yes, I wanted to survive. But it didn’t sit well with me that Lawson was risking a lot.

  “He probably won’t even get that far,” Lawson said. “And if he does, I’ll come get you. I promise.”

  It didn’t seem like a promise he could keep.

  As we sat there, I tried to feel the blue stone inside of me. But I wasn’t getting any sign from it. It sat dormant in me.

  “The stone activated when Vance bit me,” I said. “What happens if it activates when I’m in the vessel?”

  “It shouldn’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “You’ll be suspended. It’s kind of like being asleep.”

  “So, I won’t know what’s happening?”

  “No. Not until I open the vessel or you get transported.”

  Great. Just like Sleeping Beauty, I had to wait for a guy to wake me up. Minus the kiss.

  “You’ll be fine,” Lawson said again. I wondered if he was saying it for himself or for me.

  “Well, if nothing else, I might become a reaper sooner than expected.”

  “Don’t say that,” he said.

  “Why not?”

  “Death is not a joke.”

  “What else do I have if not jokes? I can’t help it. I contribute nothing but sleeping in a vessel.”

  “There are times to take a stand and times to back down. This is the reapers’ time to take a stand. You are not a reaper yet. When you are, believe me, you’ll be called on for times like this. Just think of this as part of your training. You’re learning our world. The good and the bad.”

  He stood and held out his hand. My first mistake was to take his hand. He shifted me to the vessel that looked like a standing glass case. It was located just outside of where the reapers stood. I hadn’t seen it before, my focus being on Lawson and the reapers.

  Some of the reapers turned to look at me. I felt their stares. They were curious. There were also a few who didn’t look happy to see me.

  “Time to go inside,” Lawson said, opening the glass door.

  That’s when I made my second mistake. I followed orders and stepped inside the vessel.

  “You’ll be fine,” he said again. He looked at me as if wanting to say something. Instead, he took my hand for a moment and gently squeezed it. “I’ll see you soon.”

  And then he closed the door.

  My eyes slammed shut and refused to open. It wasn’t long after that when I felt my body stiffen and my mind turn blank.

  20

  Something was wrong. I could feel it. My skin prickled as if in warning. Slowly, memories drifted t
o me. The last thing I remembered was Lawson closing the vessel door.

  I must still be in the vessel, but was I waking?

  A strangled cry caught my attention. It was a painful sound.

  Someone was hurt.

  I willed my eyes to open, but they remained closed.

  Another cry.

  I felt the tug of death even in the vessel. There was death all around me.

  Not able to move, I cursed my prison. I should have never agreed to this. I should have never been a pushover. I should have faced this with the reapers. Because at least I could have been doing something instead of being locked in my prison.

  But there was nothing I could do about it now. Now, I was stuck.

  And just as my stomach twisted in agony, another death added to the others, a voice spoke to me. It sounded like a rough whisper in my ear.

  It was a voice I had heard before.

  It was Azrael.

  “Come out,” he said. “Come out, or I’ll kill them all.”

  Another cry.

  “Come out, little girl.”

  I wasn’t sure if it was the command, the use of “little girl,” the cries, or the pull of death, but my eyes opened to a chaotic scene. Bloody men fought in front of me with scythes. This was no mere standoff. This was war. Men shifted around me quickly, snapping from place to place to inflict damage on another. It was gruesome and horrifying.

  The blank reapers were easy to spot. While they were in human form like the other reapers, their faces and eyes were devoid of feeling. Just . . . blank.

  I scanned the area, looking for Azrael. Looking for Lawson. I found them both on the far side, just on the edge of the conflict. Lawson dodged Azrael’s scythe but was then knocked over by a looming blank, skidding Lawson back into a boulder. He fell hard.

  “Come out, little girl,” the voice said again. “Or I’ll kill him.”

  I could only watch as Azrael swooped down, dragging Lawson up by the throat with one hand.

  “Last chance,” Azrael said.

  I tried to escape my prison to save Lawson. But my body didn’t obey me. Nothing I did made any difference. I could only watch as Azrael slammed Lawson to the ground, his hand digging into Lawson’s chest. Whatever cries I had heard before were nothing compared to the gut-wrenching sound of Lawson’s life getting torn from him as Azrael ripped out his heart.

  I squeezed my eyes closed at the sight. No! Not Lawson. Not Lawson.

  A reaper in battle with a blank slammed against the vessel, knocking me to the side. But I was still locked inside.

  In my frustration, I slammed my fist against the glass.

  It took me a moment to realize I had moved. I was no longer paralyzed. However, I was still trapped. And in my position on the ground, I couldn’t see Lawson.

  I fought against my prison, kicking and hitting until my knuckles bled blue. The scent of metallic blood was overpowering in the confined space.

  On my next hit, the vessel shattered. I was free. Scrambling to my feet, I raced to Lawson. Azrael still had Lawson’s bloody heart in his hand. I didn’t know about reaper immortality, but a heart seemed like it was something even immortals needed. If I returned it to Lawson, could I save him?

  Azrael was cloaked and hidden by smoke snakes that wrapped around Lawson’s heart.

  “I’m here,” I said, skidding stop in front of Azrael. “Give him back his heart. I’ll do whatever you want.”

  “Give me the stone,” he said in a deep voice that sent chills through my body.

  “Tell me how. It melted into my hand.”

  “The stone infused with you?” he snarled, dropping Lawson’s heart to the ground like garbage. Azrael grabbed me with his bloody hands, dragging me up into the snakes. “You will die.”

  I glanced at Lawson, who lay lifeless on the ground.

  “Put his heart back in,” I said with more bravery than I felt.

  Azrael laughed and then shifted, taking me with him. The only thing I saw before I was taken away was Lawson lying helplessly on the ground with a hole in his chest, his heart lying next to him, and a war all around him.

  And once again, I was powerless to do anything. The stone remained silent as though hiding from Azrael.

  My next view was of a similar landscape we had just left. Were we still near the battle? I couldn’t hear anything.

  Azrael dumped me on the ground. With his scythe, he knocked on the ground. The land trembled and opened the air around us, revealing a castle that had been camouflaged.

  I blinked at the sudden appearance.

  And it wasn’t a castle that one might see in a horror movie with Frankenstein or Dracula. This one was pretty with turrets and a luscious landscape. The contrast from dry, cracked ground to lush trees and grass made no sense. It took me a moment to comprehend it was real.

  As soon as he stepped over to the blossoming land, Azrael’s cloak and snakes disintegrated. His bloody scythe shrunk to the size of a bracelet and wrapped around his arm in a silver band engraved with intertwining snakes.

  It was the man from the old blue car. His dark hair fell on his shoulders as he looked back at me.

  “Come, little girl.”

  “Not until you stop the war. Not until you save Lawson.”

  With a crook of his finger, my body lifted and floated next to him. There was nothing I could do but follow where he led. I fought against the invisible prison that I once again found myself in. This was getting old.

  “Please,” I begged. “Stop the war. These are your people. They are reapers. Lawson is a reaper.”

  “They chose to defy me,” he said. “They will learn the consequences of their actions.”

  “Not if they die. You need to stop them. They probably don’t even know you left and are still fighting.”

  “They have chosen their fate.”

  I had to hold onto the hope someone would see Lawson and put his heart back inside. Without Azrael to strike him with his scythe, he might have a chance to survive.

  “Don’t you care about your reapers?” I asked.

  He didn’t say anything, and I continued to float behind him as we entered the castle. The entryway was lined with marble statues of animals I had never seen before. Some with multiple heads and fangs the size of my leg. Twinkly crystal chandeliers hung from the vaulted ceiling.

  A grand staircase wound its way up three floors.

  “You live here?” I asked.

  “Expecting me to live in a cave in the wasteland?”

  I guess I hadn’t really thought about it. I certainly didn’t expect this.

  I reached out and touched a rose as we passed by a large vase filled with them. It was then that I realized I had the use of my hands. I wasn’t close enough to Azrael to try to strangle him, and I doubted he would let me, but I was able to reach into my pocket and fish out my phone. As Azrael proceeded down a hallway filled with paintings that looked as though they came right out of a history book, I texted Boomer, thinking Ranger might have been in the battle and too busy to look at his phone.

  Get to Lawson. His heart is on the ground next to him. Help him. Stop the war.

  I sent the text and stuffed the phone into my pocket, hoping that would be enough. I had no idea if Boomer was even alive or if he could help Lawson, but it was all I could do at the moment.

  French doors in front of Azrael opened as he walked through, taking me with him. The room was filled with sun streaming through hundreds of glass panes. Plants filled every corner, giving the appearance of a jungle. It was like a greenhouse with the convenience of furniture.

  And snakes.

  Holy fangs, there were real snakes, and they were huge. They wrapped around topiaries and statues. They slithered across the ground. And they eyed me as if I was their next snack.

  “Can we go to a different room?” I asked. “I’d like to die without the snakes.” I meant to be flippant, but the thought of dying at all set my stomach rolling. Would he tear out my heart too?<
br />
  Azrael laughed. “You won’t die by a snake,” he said, taking me to a chair where my body contorted into a sitting position. It was not a pleasant feeling as my limbs betrayed me.

  As soon as I was seated, a large yellowish snake wrapped around my leg, curling around me as it wound higher.

  I shivered uncontrollably as it slithered to eye level.

  “He likes you,” Azrael said.

  “Can you tell him I’m better at a distance?”

  Azrael laughed again and sat down in a chair across from me, where a darker snake was curled into a ball at Azrael’s feet. It unraveled itself to look at Azrael.

  A distinct rattling sound came from the snake. “Calm yourself,” Azrael cooed to the snake. “We have a guest.”

  The snake didn’t look like he had any intention of calming down. His tongue flicked as his tail shook.

  Azrael touched the snake. It stopped hissing and wrapped itself around Azrael’s arm as if cuddling with him. It was gross, yet I couldn’t seem to look away.

  “Who are you?” Azrael asked. He might have been looking at the snake when he asked the question, but I knew he was talking to me. “How is it that you, a mortal, can host a life stone without dying?”

  “Save Lawson and I’ll tell you,” I said.

  His black gaze narrowed on me. “You’ll answer my questions, or I’ll finish off the rest of the reapers. Do you really want to hang out here with my pets while I finish the war they brought to my doorstep?” The snake that was wrapped around his arm looked at me as if wanting me to say yes.

  “I was told I’m going to be a reaper when I die.”

  “How old are you?”

  “Seventeen.”

  “What’s your name?”

  “Riley.”

  “Surname.”

  “Jones,” I lied. I didn’t know if a false name would protect my family, but it was worth a shot.

  “Do you feel death?”

  I nodded, trying not to make eye contact with the snake that was squeezing me. “It feels like a nervous energy and turns into a stomachache if I don’t follow it. Can you call off your snake? I promise not to run.”

  “You couldn’t run unless I let you. I control you. I can feel the stone inside of you. It’s trying to hide from me.”

  “That’s what it feels like,” I admitted.