by ID Johnson
Ru didn’t know how to respond. She had so little knowledge about how all of this worked. Was Rider supposed to be there? Was Deena meant to die in her sleep or on the highway? What about the Bridgeses? Surely, this must’ve been part of the plan for them. But Nat seemed quite certain they were not meant to die. “I don’t know what to say,” she said quietly. Whatever the path these people were meant to walk, clearly, Nat was hurting because of their deaths. He felt responsible, especially for those children.
“You don’t need to say anything,” he replied, looking down at the lush carpet of green grass. “Just know that there is a thin line between good and evil. A villain is only a hero whose story has yet to be told.”
Ru couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow as she pondered that sentence. From his perspective, Nat wasn’t trying to hurt anyone; he was trying to help. Rider, Cutter, and the rest of the Keepers also felt that they had a job to do to assist humanity.
“We were charged with this, Ru. It is my directive to collect the spirits and steer them onward, to whichever destination they’re fated based on their choices in life.” He was looking at her again now, and Ru couldn’t help but find herself captivated by his green eyes. “Not all the souls I collect are banished to Hell. Many are received by loved ones and spend eternity in Heaven, a place I will never know because of who I am; because I, too, have a destiny, one given to me before I was even born. But we can change all that, Ru. That’s what Sera was trying to do, to bring an understanding, an enlightenment, to both sides.”
Confusion swept over her. What was he saying. “How? How could Seraphina do such a thing?”
“By causing both sides to see the reality of the other, by uniting us once more. We used to all be the same, you know, once, long ago, before the flood. Now, Sera is lost to us, and your father suffers immeasurably because of his part in trying to heal both sides. Ru, you are the key. You must help me find Sera, to bring her to stand before my father and the Archs so that she can finally have her chance to explain herself. Otherwise, the war will go on for eternity, and no one will ever win.”
Ru began to shake her head. It was too much. She had no idea why Nat thought she was capable of ending a war, of bringing her mother anywhere, of even finding her in the first place. “I… I don’t know what to say, Nat.”
“You don’t have to say anything right now, Ru. Just think about it. Remember, as much as they say you cannot trust me, I will say the same of them. Their purpose for wanting you revolves around your immense power and nothing more. You haven’t lassoed it yet, but soon you will, and when you do, I pray you’ll choose the right side, Ru. They may be able to help you find your mother, but they cannot free your father. I can—with your help.”
He was looking at her so sincerely, Ru was once again at a loss for words. She ran her hands through her hair and stared down at the ground, wondering what she should do.
“I’m sorry to have disturbed the serenity of your garden,” Nat said, standing. From this position, he towered over her. Looking up at him required her to crane her neck backward. “I will go. But Ru, you know, if you should need me, call on me at any time, and I will be there to help you. The Keepers may claim you as their own, but you are part Reaper. I know you feel that in your heart.” As she watched, Nat faded away, and soon, Ru was left all alone in the garden, wondering which side to believe.
Ru arrived at school early the next morning having never gone back to sleep after she awoke at 4:30 in the morning. There had been no blue orbs, nothing unusual about the electricity or lights, but she did feel overwhelmed, as if she had actually spoken to Nat, which she supposed, if what Cutter had told her was accurate, she had. And now she was left wondering whether good guys always wore white, and bad guys always wore black, or if things were never that simple.
She was sitting behind her desk grading some papers when she heard a small knock on her open door and looked up to see Cutter standing there. “Good morning,” he said, once he had her attention. “Do you have a minute?”
“Sure,” she replied, setting down her pen and turning to face him. He was dressed in khakis and a red button-down shirt beneath a light brown sport coat. He looked handsome, as always, if not a little more tired than usual. She knew she couldn’t say anything about that as she probably looked as exhausted as she felt. She didn’t do well on five hours of sleep.
“How’s it going?” he asked, sauntering over. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, everything is fine.” She knew she needed to tell him about her dream—vision—whatever it was—but she wasn’t sure how to do that considering where they were and that students would begin arriving within ten or fifteen minutes. “How are you?”
“Uh, not good,” he admitted. “Honestly, I didn’t expect to be here this long, teaching that is. I was hoping you might want to come over soon so we can talk again.”
She knew he was purposely being cryptic, but she was a little taken aback by his forwardness considering he was talking about her giving up her entire life as she knew it. “What do we need to talk about?” she asked, staring up at him, challenging him to say more despite the location.
A crooked smile spread across his face and he ran his fingers along one side of his chin, his thumb on the other, as if he were choosing his words carefully. “A lot. Ru, this isn’t just going to go away. Nat isn’t going to just leave you alone.” At the mention of his name, Ru grimaced a bit, dropping her eyes. “What? Ru, what’s happened?”
“Nothing.”
“I promised you I’d leave you alone at night if you kept me filled in. Did you see him?”
With a deep breath, she nodded. “Last night. He was very upset.”
“I don’t doubt it. He’s a lunatic, and he wants to carry you off to Hell.”
Ru stared at him for a moment, offended on Nat’s behalf, though she wasn’t quite sure why. “He was crying.” Cutter’s eyebrows arched but he said nothing. “He was upset about Deena Jones. He said he sent one of his people… Raven, maybe? He sent her to get Jones, and Rider stopped her, so she ended up wiping out an innocent family.” She said each word with a matter-of-fact tone and watched his face carefully to see if he had a hint of remorse. At the mention of the family, he flickered a bit toward sadness, but then came right back to his stoic expression.
“He was crying?” Cutter asked, skeptically.
“Yes,” Ru assured him. “It seemed very genuine.”
Cutter was shaking his head. “Ru, it’s all a farce meant to gain your sympathy. I agree what happened to the Bridges family was tragic, but it was part of the plan. They were all marked.”
Ru shook her head, shocked to hear such a callous remark. “Cutter, two little boys died in that wreck. How is that possibly okay?”
“Even children die, Ru. It’s not our job to interfere with the marked, only the unmarked. Besides, Nat has taken his fair share of unmarked children. Believe me.”
“I don’t know what to believe,” she replied, still upset that he was willing to accept that it was okay for children to die with no explanation.
“Ru, did he seriously get to you?” Cutter asked, stepping closer, as if he was examining her.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. He said that I’m the only one who can save my father, and that he can help me do that.”
“Ru, he is lying.” Cutter punctuated each word, staring into her eyes. “He is tricking you. He will do whatever he has to do to make you come with him.”
What he was saying seemed to make sense, but she still didn’t know for sure who to trust. What Nat had told her the night before also seemed very trustworthy at the time.
“Do you want to be a Reaper?” Cutter asked, causing her to drop her mouth and widen her eyes. “Because you really only have two choices at the moment. Reaper or Keeper.”
“Well, that might be a fun little rhyme for you, but I’d just as soon stay a teacher, thank you very much.”
“Like I said before, that’s not going to be a poss
ibility too much longer.” He sounded much more sympathetic now than he did when he was speaking about the Bridges family. “So, what do you say, Friday night?”
Ru didn’t want to go to his creepy old house in the middle of nowhere and talk about magical powers, but she understood she would have to do something. One way or another her destiny, her lot, as he put it, was catching up to her. “I can’t Friday. I have a… I have plans.”
“You have a… what?” Cutter’s entire disposition shifted. He was looking at her now the way a high school boy might look at the girl he wanted to ask to the prom who already had a date.
“It’s nothing,” she reassured him, though thinking of Kyle didn’t seem like nothing.
He might’ve seen the blush she felt creeping up her neck. “Ru, do you have a date?” She could tell it was difficult for him to say as he looked pained on the last word or two.
She nodded slowly, not sure why he would care. They were just friends at best, antagonists most of the time was probably a better description.
“With whom?”
She arched one eyebrow at him, as if to say it was none of his business. “Just a guy I met at the grocery store.” Just a really hot, amazing guy who is entirely human and doesn’t visit my dreams uninvited.
Cutter inhaled deeply through his nose, held it for a moment, and then slowly let it go. “Okay. So how about Saturday? I’ll have Lyric pick you up so you don’t have to try to find the turnoff by yourself.”
At least he wasn’t planning on picking her up himself. That was something. “All right,” Ru said, quietly, still wondering why he cared so much that she had a date.
“Okay.” He managed a small smile and started toward the door. About halfway there, he stopped and turned back. “Ru, you remember what I said would happen if you voluntarily touched him in your dreams right?”
A little irritated that he seemed to think she was an idiot who couldn’t remember simple directions, Ru spouted off, “I don’t know. What happens when I voluntarily touch you in my dreams?”
Before he could answer, Candice popped her head in the door. “Ooh, I was just stopping by to say good morning, but please, carry on.” She winked at Ru, and she felt her face turn crimson.
Cutter looked uncomfortable at first, but looking Ru directly in the eye, he regained his composure and said, “I honestly don’t know. But I’m willing to find out.” He spun around and headed for the door, leaving an open-mouthed Candice in his wake.
As soon as he was back in his own classroom, Candice finished crossing to Ru’s desk. She was still flabbergasted from Cutter’s response and didn’t want to speak to her friend, even though she knew she’d have to. “What was that all about?”
“I’m really not sure,” Ru admitted, crossing her arms. “He… asked me to come over Friday, and when I told him I have a date, he got a little… snippy.” That wasn’t quite what had happened, but Ru did notice Cutter’s countenance changed when she mentioned Kyle.
“I don’t know where to start with that, girlfriend,” Candice said, perching on the edge of a nearby student desk. “You have a date Friday? With who?”
“Oh, good. You found a place to start,” Ru teased. “I do. It’s just a guy I met at the grocery store. It’s no big deal.” She could say that all day long, she realized, but it certainly felt like a big deal.
“Yep, and that’s why your face is turning all pink. Why haven’t you mentioned him before?”
“When? I met him Saturday.”
“A telephone call?”
Ru rolled her eyes and went about straightening up her desk, ignoring the question, or comment, whichever it was.
“And Cutter is jealous?” Candice asked in a harsh whisper.
“No, I wouldn’t say that,” Ru replied quickly. He definitely wasn’t jealous. Was he? No, why would he be? He wasn’t interested in her like that. Was he? “No, he just wanted to hang out, and I guess he was upset that I wasn’t available.”
“Uh, huh. Well, I don’t know what sparked your question that I overheard, but that response was one of a man who wanted to be touched, dreams or no dreams.”
“Whatever!” Ru shot back, standing. Her students would begin arriving any moment, and she wanted to be at the doorway to greet them. “Candice, you know as well as I do that there’s nothing going on with me and Cutter. The one time we did go out it was a disaster.”
“Because you made it one,” Candice muttered.
Ru stopped walking and turned to look at her friend. “Is that what you think?”
“Yeah.” Candice was nothing if not honest. “I see a genuine, kindhearted soul trying to get to know you better, but Ru, you’re running away, like you always do.”
“I do not.” She crossed her arms across her blue and white polka-dot dress and kept walking.
“Yes, you do.” Candice was at her shoulder as they both came to a halt in front of the door. “You never let anyone in.”
“That’s not true! I let you in.”
“Really?” Candice asked, looking at her with great skepticism. “You let me in? Ru, what’s your first name? Really?”
Ru opened her mouth and then closed it. Perhaps her friend had a point. “Okay, but I tell you other things….”
Squeezing past her, Candice said, “Ru, I can’t blame you for being guarded, but you need to learn to trust someone—anyone. Three years, and I don’t even know your name.” Candice held her gaze for a few moments before stepping over to her own classroom.
Ru wanted to respond, but she couldn’t find the words, and a flood of students were headed their direction. Pushing away the realization that what Candice had said was true, she put a faux smile on her face and began to greet her children. Across the hall, Cutter was doing the same thing. He looked cheerful enough on the outside, but Ru could see in his blue eyes she’d hurt him, something she’d never meant to do. Just when she thought there was no way her life could get any more complicated, she discovered she was wrong.
Chapter 18
Ivy wandered through a dream full of creepy clowns, feeling her way through on residual emotion only. She knew a Reaper had gone this way, had sensed him, but she wasn’t exactly sure which way he’d gone. It was like stalking a wild animal, and while they could be unpredictable, one of her talents was tracking, and Ivy had a feeling she was closing in on this one.
As she neared the edge of reality, she made another leap, fairly certain this one would do the trick, and found herself standing in a bedroom. Across the room, near the door, a tall shadow filled the expanse, reaching almost to the ceiling fan. He was dressed all in black and carried his scythe, clearly here on a mission. A young man slept in the bed between them.
The second he realized she was there, his eyes grew large. Ivy recognized him even with his hood up, but when he pushed it back to gain a better look at her, she saw the jagged scar that marked his right cheek, one Cutter had left last year when they’d almost had this one. Zu.
“Why are you here?” he barked. “I’ve done nothing.”
Even while she spoke, Ivy sent out a message to Lyric, who was also on the prowl tonight, hoping she’d feel her energy and wind her way to this place. Zu was powerful, strong and fast, and even though Ivy was sure of her capabilities, she knew it wouldn’t hurt to have backup. Perhaps she could stall him a bit while they waited on the other Keeper.
“Why am I here?” she echoed. “Because this person is unmarked, and you have no business claiming him.”
“That’s not true,” Zu argued, his green eyes like a cat’s in the darkness. “If I do not claim him, another tragedy will occur, just like with the Jones woman.”
“I cannot speak to that,” Ivy admitted, brushing her long blonde braid over her shoulder, “but you are to be stopped. And captured. And sent to Hell.”
With her last word, Zu raised his hand and sent a black cloud of smoke in her direction. Ivy stepped aside, letting the pain seep into the wall and fall harmlessly away. She countered by c
alling upon her powers from the earth, and the floor around him began to turn to roots. Before he could move, his left leg was caught. Zu hopped on his right foot, attempting to free himself, but he couldn’t break away. As Ivy approached, ready to further ensnare him, he used his scythe to cut through the tentacles and took off, leaping into another dream realm just as Ivy was steps away from him.
A noise behind her caught her attention, and Ivy turned to see Lyric’s form stepping through a thin veil. The sleeper never stirred. “Come on!” she shouted and then turned back to leap before Zu got away.
With Lyric on her heels, Ivy shot into a realm full of people. He’d leapt into a dream involving a crowded cityscape. Despite the dozens, if not hundreds, of people, Ivy could still see Zu ahead of her, knocking dream people to and fro as he cut through the crowd. Ivy gave chase, but she couldn’t do much to stop him at this point as her powers were mitigated in such a dense gathering.
Lyric’s powers, on the other hand, were helpful, and as she came up behind Ivy, she felt her friend’s hand on her shoulder and let her go around. Calling upon the energy from the wind, Lyric parted the crowds, blowing them over like dandelion tops careening through the air. The girls began to close in on Zu, and before he could make another leap, Ivy shot forth vines, which wrapped around his legs and brought him to a screeching halt. The towering figure fell to the ground, still struggling to break free. His scythe stood sentient at his side, tangled in the same twisted vines that had him ensnared.
“Zu, I command you to stop in the name of the Archangel Uriah!” Ivy shouted as the Keepers came up beside him.
“NO!” Zu growled, his face contorting out of its human form to take the shape of a demon with black scaly skin, a horn protruding from the tip of his nose as his ears enlarged and became pointed. “I will not go back there.”
There was no use arguing as the Keepers placed their palms pointed in his direction and recited an incantation they had learned many years before when they were first trained to send Reapers to Hell by their parents and grandparents. “Mitto ego te ad vidisse igneos puteos horrendam daemonium de inferno!”