“I figured that one out on my own,” Wendy said, recalling the raspy feel of the Lady Walker's tongue sliding across her cheek. “So, uh, the other Walkers follow her pretty closely, huh?”
“Like puppies,” Elise said. “She has them well-trained. However, her skill amid her own brethren is not what concerns me. What concerns me is that she is here and not back East.”
“We thought we finally got her ages ago,” Jane explained. “Emma said she and the Lady Walker got in a tussle back when she was a teenager. Emma won.”
“At least, that is what she claimed,” Elise said, hitting the brakes a shade too hard this time. Rather than coming to a smooth, controlled stop, the car jerked to a standstill in front of Wendy's house.
“My mother believed her, and raised her high within our family line in a matter of weeks for her bravery and gumption. Granted her great accolades over many other, more…adept and wise Reapers. Those with tenure, so to speak.”
“Maybe it's a different Walker, Grandma?” Jane suggested, tapping her teeth with one fingernail. “I can't imagine Emma messing up and lying over something like that, where it's pretty easy to get caught out.”
“Perhaps. Perhaps not.” Elise pulled into Wendy's driveway and parked the car. “Winifred, your first official assignment for this family is to keep an eye out for this Lady Walker. If you see her, please report to me immediately. We must know for sure if she is still out there. And, if possible, engage her. Your…natural skill set may prove to be her undoing. It is worth an attempt at the very least.”
Wendy shifted uneasily. She didn't know if she even wanted to lay eyes on the Lady Walker again, much less tangle with her. Dealing with her henchmen had been terrible enough. “I don't have your number—”
“I'll text it to ya,” Jane offered, waving her phone. “I got yours from Emma.”
“Wait up a sec. If she's just a Walker, then I don't see why she's such a big deal,” Wendy mused, suddenly struck with the dichotomy of it all. “There are a whole lot more of you—us—than her, even with her dead posse on patrol. Why don't you reap her?”
“We've tried that,” Elise said. “Generations of us, over and over again. This Walker…this Walker is different. She keeps coming back, generation after generation. She is our bane.”
Elise gestured to the thin manual in Wendy's loose grasp. “You will find a small section on her in there. Read it well. Know it. It may save your life, should you encounter her again.”
Wendy thought of Piotr, how he'd been the only one left standing when Wendy's explosion of Light at the Palace Hotel had finally faded. Were he and the Lady Walker connected somehow? The very thought of it made her ill.
“Gotcha,” Wendy agreed as Jane stepped out of the car and opened the door. “Thank you.”
“No, thank you,” Elise said as Wendy eased out. “And Winifred?”
“Yes?”
“Welcome to the family.” Elise turned and faced forward, expression drawn, as Jane shut the passenger side door.
“Come on, kiddo,” Jane said, slinging an arm around Wendy's neck to guide her, “I'll walk you to your door in case there're any Walkers about, Lady-like or otherwise.” She snorted at her own joke and squeezed the arm around Wendy's neck so roughly that Wendy coughed.
“Too tight, Jane, too tight!”
“Sorry, sorry, don't know my own strength,” Jane apologized, releasing Wendy and pinching Wendy's cheek. “Oh, look at that baby face! You're just too cute for words, you know that? A little gothette-girlie. I could just eat you up!”
“Yeah, yeah.” Wendy waved Jane off. “Enough already.”
“So sensitive! You've really gotta learn how to take a joke if you want to make it in this family.” Jane winked and scratched her neck. “Enough of them are pissed at us for not ‘following tradition’ as it is. You're really going to have to work on those peep-skills, if you get my meaning. Especially if you wanna learn from any of the old-timers. They need to know you can handle yourself.”
“Hey…speaking of…”
Jane raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”
“Well, that thing Emma did earlier. You know, the binding…” Wendy trailed off, unsure how Jane would take being asked to help so soon after the trial. What if she thought less of Wendy for being unable to cope with the Light's inaccessibility?
“You want it off already?” Jane said, sensing Wendy's discomfort and jumping right to the point. “Hell's bells, cuz, why am I completely not surprised?”
“You're right, I should just ovary-up and deal with the discomfort, huh?” Wendy said, dejected. “It's just, I don't feel safe like this. I feel exposed. And not in a fun way, you know?”
Again, she thought of telling the other Reaper about her tussle with the Walkers—Jane had to be more understanding than Elise would be—but, strangely, she didn't want Jane to know that the Lady Walker had apparently marked Wendy as prey. Wendy didn't want Jane to worry.
“Now, now. I didn't say any such thing,” Jane protested, waving her hands wildly. “I'm just kind of irritated with Emma for poking holes in you in the first place. Especially without asking; it's crappy karma, if you ask this little ol’ lass. It's just, well, it's tricky.”
“But you think I really should do it?” Wendy thought again of the hospital lobby, of the encroaching cold, and shivered. “I just don't want to be weak if I'm supposed to be keeping an eye out for this Lady Walker.”
Or more of her goons, she silently added. She's bound to send smarter ones next time around.
“Um, duh, yeah. That makes total sense. Hell, I thought you should have thrown a shit-fit when she did it in the first place. I would've made her take it off right then and there, Great-Grandma-approved or not. It's your Light, it's your call.”
“Well, I want it off. Will you do it?”
“I can try,” Jane said. “No guarantees, though. Emma's way, way trickier at stuff like this than me.”
“Anything at all,” Wendy said. “I'll take anything. Just poke a hole in there, something to let off more Light. Anything I can use at all.”
“I'll do my best but this might hurt,” Jane warned. “Try and slide into the Never.”
“What…like, right here?” Wendy glanced around her front porch. Emma's car was still in the driveway; the side of the garage was hiding the front of the vehicle where Elise sat, so Jane's grandmother couldn't see them, but an evening jogger was bouncing down the street and a couple with a baby were taking a stroll in their direction, only four houses away.
“Worrywart. No one's paying any attention,” Jane said, waving off Wendy's concern. “Just hold still, already.”
Wendy, following Jane's instructions, tried to push into the Never once again and, as had happened upstairs, was thwarted by the mesh surrounding her soul. Was it her, Wendy wondered, or was the mesh getting stronger? It was harder than before to push on it, and the fierce Light behind the mesh seemed a little brighter, a little hotter to the touch.
Ignoring all possible passersby, Jane slid into the Never easily; there, shimmering in front of Wendy in a glowing halo, she placed burning hands of Light on Wendy's chest and back. Her fingers were talented and quick but still Wendy felt a painful twinge where she touched, a sharp and sudden burning, and had to bite her lip to keep from crying out.
For several minutes, Jane's hands sought inwards, pushing against the weave, plucking and pressing against her heart, her lungs, her eyes and face, a burning-hot ribbon of Light sliding against her solar plexus, another snaking ribbon winding around her windpipe and slipping across her collarbone. Wendy whimpered despite herself, feeling the pressure quickly twist from tolerable pain to outright agony.
In the Never, Jane's voice was the sound of silvery bells. “Keep still.”
Wendy obliged as best she could, but her heart was thudding rapidly against her ribs. The ribbons of Light were covering her now, sliding pervasively against every inch of skin, dipping into places kept private and close, pushing into her mo
uth and forcing Wendy to arch back to keep her balance as they pulled tight across her torso and knotted insistently between her thighs.
“Jane,” Wendy tried to whisper as the ribbons slid tighter and tighter across her ribs, cutting off her air, “Jane…can't…breathe…”
The silvery bells chimed sharply, impatiently. “Wait. Only a moment more.”
Wendy sagged, swaying in Jane's grip…
…and came to, lying on her front porch, Jane kneeling above her with a concerned look on her face. Elise towered above them both, a dark expression curling her lip. In the distance the couple with the baby hesitated on the sidewalk, the woman punching numbers into her cell phone.
“We are quite all right!” Elise called to the couple as the husband began to slowly cross the street, worry writ large across his face. “She just fainted! We will get her inside!”
“Neither one of us can fix it,” Jane said quietly as the man paused at the edge of the driveway.
“Are you sure?” he asked. “I can call 911.”
“Low blood sugar,” Jane said smoothly, jerking on Wendy's elbow. “Get up,” she hissed.
“I'm fine,” Wendy said woozily, sitting up. “Really. I'm fine.” She waved a hand at the woman across the street. “I'll eat a cookie and be great. I promise.”
“Well…okay,” the man said. “If you're sure.”
“We've got her, thanks,” Jane promised him and waited until he and the woman had turned the corner to sigh and pat Wendy on the shoulder. “Nosy neighborhood, huh?”
“We keep an eye out for our own,” Wendy said, stung at the derision in Jane's voice. She patted her legs and chest. “So it didn't work?”
“Nope,” Jane said shortly. “Emma did something really, really weird to you. You're wrapped tighter than a Thanksgiving turkey. I've never seen anything like it.”
“She is not answering her cellular phone either,” Elise hissed softly, snapping her phone closed with one hand. “I have no idea what my mother was thinking when she bid Emma to do as she did, but this nonsense must stop immediately. If your soul isn't released soon, you may begin to burn up! Trapping a natural in a feedback loop of this nature, binding them this tightly…what was she thinking?!”
“You can't do anything at all?” Wendy asked tentatively. She felt tender and sore in all the wrong places, uncertain and on edge. When Jane reached for her to steady her, Wendy nearly flinched back. Jane had only been trying to help, she reminded herself, but the thought of those intrusive, invasive bands of Light touching her again made Wendy wince.
Unaware of Wendy's shell-shock, Jane shook her head. “We both tried. You're gummed up but good, cuz.”
“Go inside,” Elise ordered, grabbing Wendy by the elbow and guiding her toward her front door. “Relax. Rest. Nap, and if you can, do not fret overmuch. I will look into this and be back with you as soon as I may.”
Then, in a surprisingly motherly gesture, Elise smoothed a curl off Wendy's forehead. “Above all else, do not tamper in the Never, Winifred. Any use of your abilities will speed up your degradation.”
“But don't worry, okay?” Jane told Wendy in a whisper as Elise strode down the walkway back toward her car, punching numbers into her phone furiously.
Waiting until her grandmother was out of sight, Jane hugged her loosely, her blue hair tickling Wendy's nose. “Emma's a bitch right now, but the rest of us, well, we're family, right? We've totally got your back.”
Watch your back, Mary whispered in Wendy's mind.
Watch your back, Emma whispered from her dream and Wendy, shuddering, closed her eyes and rested her forehead on Jane's warm, comforting shoulder. She wanted to weep at the kindness of the older girl.
“Thank you, Jane,” Wendy said and Jane squeezed her warmly, helping her steady herself. “I owe you one.”
“Nah,” Jane said. “You find that Lady Walker and prove Emma's a huge ol’ liar-head, and we'll call it even.” She pressed a grape-scented kiss to Wendy's cheek. “You just take care of yourself, yeah? Stay healthy. You're the first Reaper I've met without a stick up her butt. I'd love to keep you around.”
“Yeah,” Wendy said and opened the door behind her. “Will do.”
“Sleep,” Jane said, and waved her phone in Wendy's direction, backing down the walkway. “Grandma will figure out what the hell Emma did to you, and I'll be in touch.”
The downstairs was empty, the house quiet except for the hiss of a shower upstairs, when Wendy stepped back inside. She paused for a moment in the kitchen, eying the terrible mess left behind after her tussle with the Walkers, and wondered how in the hell she was supposed to right the fridge all by herself before Chel and Jon found out.
“Hell,” Wendy said after several minutes of staring. “Screw it.” She knew she ought to feel badly about leaving the food splattered across the floor but honestly she was too tired and aggravated to care much about anything at this point. When Jon or Chel found the mess she'd get up and handle it, but if they discovered her cleaning the kitchen they'd want to know what happened. Wendy didn't have a good answer for that; claiming ignorance seemed to be the best option for now. After all, saying “a bunch of angry ghosts did it” wasn't likely to be taken seriously.
Decision to shirk her familial duties made, Wendy drifted into the living room and settled on the couch, tucking her feet beneath her. Part of her ached to run upstairs and shower, to slough a loofah against her flesh until her skin no longer felt like it was crawling with the invasive Light, with every fine hair standing on end and the air slowly slipping away, but scrubbing down seemed disrespectful to Jane and what she'd tried to do on Wendy's behalf. Wendy couldn't bring herself to do it.
“Manual for the dead,” Wendy murmured instead, shaking her head and turning on the table lamp beside the couch. “Nutjobs, the whole lot of them.” But the thin paperback was much worn, the pages wavy at the edges. It had been read many, many times. Had her mother held this book? Had her mother's mother?
“Okay, fine,” Wendy said, licking a finger and flipping the cover open. “You all want me to memorize some rules and regs? Fine. Let's see what you've got to say.”
The paper was thick, heavy, and the font a slightly staggering type that had to go back to the turn of the century or before. Wendy found herself squinting to read it and paused to flip on a second light.
“‘Point one, tell no one of the Reapers, lest they find you mad.’” Wendy stopped to roll her eyes. “Well, duh. What moron would go shouting that from the rafters?”
The house creaked around her and Wendy paused again, glancing quickly around to make sure Eddie or the others hadn't returned. She knew that she ought to run upstairs and pack a bag, to hurry and meet her friends at Eddie's place, but her curiosity was too great. The idea stuck with Wendy that the Lady Walker might be like Piotr, and the book was thin. It wouldn't take her long to skim it through just once, and then she could catch up with the others.
Point 1 – Tell no one of the Reapers, lest they find you mad and all further Reapers suffer for it.
Point 2 – To be a Reaper is to hold allegiance only to the greater family and none other. No lover, no child, no duty or country shall break the bonds between Reaper and family.
Point 3 – The soul is weak, the flesh unwilling. Bind and send on all souls, no matter how they cry or beg. Such is the Good Work and those who are chosen to engage in it.
Point 4 – Let not the Natural walk free, for she is an abomination unto our kind. Kill her kindly and quick, bind her soul tightly until she burns with the Light of a thousand suns, so that she may not doom us all.
“Sonnuva—” Wendy hissed sharply. “Yeah. Thanks, guys. No wonder Emma was such an a-hole about it in my dream.” Irritated, she flipped the page and continued on.
Point 5 – A single exception is to be for the Natural one who burns too brightly. A binding may serve as a test alone, but only for those of great strength. Should she pass, training may be provided. The Good Mercy on her soul�
�one such child must abide alone in the Good Work henceforth or risk the family's demise. Bless and keep this girl, she knows not what she shall struggle with.
Wendy paused. “Wait…what?” She read the rule again and frowned. Her thoughts were slow and muddied, confused. “So, a natural must be destroyed unless the family really thinks she—I—can handle working alone? Holy crap. But that's not what Nana Moses said at all. So which is it?”
Closing the book, Wendy frowned and stared at the mirror across the room. She knew that she looked a sight. Her face was flushed, her hair ragged and tangled, and her clothing filthy.
“Who's right?” Wendy wondered. “Jane? Or Emma? But Emma was so insistent in my dreamscape.” Wendy rubbed a fist across her face. “She told me to quit while I was ahead. To give up. But…what if it was part of this test? What if they're all in it together and Emma isn't being a total cow? What if I'm being tested right now?”
A horrible thought occurred to her. Wendy sat up straighter. “Oh crap, what if by asking Jane to fix me, I ruined everything?” But no, Jane and Elise had seemed as aggravated with Emma as Wendy was.
“I don't know,” Wendy whispered, staring at the messy girl in the mirror, wishing that her mother was upstairs so she could run to her, let her fix everything as she always had. “I just…I just don't know what to do.”
Slowly, turning back to the book, Wendy took a deep breath and continued on.
Point 6 – Be wary of the Unending Ones, those spirits we cannot reap. All scarred and battle-worn—none are your friends, none your enemy. They come with gifts in their hands and knowing in their mouths but they are as serpents and are not to be trusted. Do the Good Work and mind them not. They cannot greatly harm us and we cannot greatly harm them—a circle is formed at the touch and the touch alone. Hide from them if you must, engage them not, for they know not what they've done, nor where they've been, only that they can taste a Reaper on the wind.
Reaper (Lightbringer) Page 24