Oh no. He can’t do this to me. “Ernest, please?” Right now I’ll say anything to delay being left alone with Zig. Maybe Grim will change his mind and take me home instead.
Grim halts where I stand, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder, his eyes softening. “You are in safe hands, Novice. You did well tonight. Now, don’t fret.” My skin tingles. Pine scent fills the air. I blink, and Grim is gone.
I sigh and turn to face Zig, muttering under my breath, “Yeah. Great to meet you, too.” Louder I say, “Could you please take me home now? I have school and other responsibilities.”
Zig, still smiling smugly, holds his hand out to me, palm up. I place mine on his. Seconds later, we’re inside my room. I jerk my hand from his and round on him. “How do you know where I live?”
He strides past me, towards my door. Waving his hand in an arc, he mutters under his breath, then ambles back to where I stand. I don’t know what he sees in my face when he looks at me because he says in a gentle voice, “Don’t worry. Ernest told me what to do when I got to your room. And to answer your question, anyone Ernest is interested in and invests in, I make a point of knowing. Really knowing.”
“Why did you ask for introductions if you knew me?”
He shrugs. “For fun, I suppose.”
I sigh and glance at the clock. 6:30. I should be leaving for school in thirty minutes.
Zig props his hands on his hips and swivels on his heels. He scans my room with ‘Hmm’ and ‘Ahh’ sounds, then says in a distracted voice, “Completely different from the room at the castle.” He looks at me. “What time should I pick you up from school? We have plans, and these plans have baby plans. So in total, a whole new family of plans.”
Plans? Room? What room? God, I’m sleepy. “I have plans with my sister today.” I totter towards my wardrobe, push my tangled hair back from my face, and start digging inside for something decent to wear. Since it rained last night, the weather is cooler. I snatch a light cotton knit sweater and toss it on the bed.
“Yes. I’m aware you take your sibling, Lucy, to her ballet class every Friday. That’s her name, yes?”
I’m too exhausted to gape. Besides, I need him out of my room pronto. Any member of my family might drop in on us. “Can’t we make these plans tomorrow?”
“Grouchy, aren’t we?” I shoot him a glare. “Is this how you’ll treat your new work-mate and family member, lovely?” He brushes past me, towards my wardrobe, sticking his head inside. After a moment he pops out. “There’s nothing in there that would suit the dinner ball Ernest has set up for you.”
“First, drop the ‘lovely’. Ana will do.” He presses his lips together, but not before I see them twitch. He’s enjoying himself. “Second, my only family consists of people I’m related to by blood and my friends. And third, what’s so special about the dinner ball?” I stalk towards my door and place my ear to it. No voices or movement.
“It’s not just any dinner. It is your Unveiling. Picture eighteen hundreds. Black tie, waist coats, and gowns. And yes, dancing. Lots of dancing. I suspect everyone will line up for a chance to dance with you. You’ve caused quite a stir in the Afterworld Realm, lovely Ana. When everyone heard about Ernest’s Novice, they scrambled to sign up for a date with you.”
I grit my teeth at the ‘lovely’ part. “Date?”
Zig’s eyes widen innocently. “Yes. Date. Ernest has this policy: ‘Everyone needs love’. He’s Afterworld’s Cupid.”
A headache starts to bloom at the base of my head. Too much information and a lack of sleep. “But I have a boyfriend. And I love him.”
He shrugs. “Grey-eyed lover boy? He’s—” I cut him off with my raised hand as a door outside my room opens and closes. Footfalls shuffle closer, and when they are about to pass my door, they halt. My eyes jerk to the door, heart pounding.
A soft knock. “Silvana.” Mom. I turn to Zig, but he’s gone. The citrus scent hangs in the air. Another knock.
“I’m awake, Mom.” I cringe at my shrilly voice. Mom mutters something, and seconds later, I hear her sandaled feet shuffle away.
6:45 blinks back at me from the clock. I snatch the lacy green blouse on my bed and white sweater and head for the bathroom. The floorboards creak. I whirl around and leap ten feet in the air. “Jesus, Zig! Would it hurt to not creep up on me like that?” I say in a hushed voice.
He shoots me a wounded look, his lower lip thrust forwards. “I wasn’t creeping. I just unconcealed myself. I was being courteous in case your mother walked in. You wouldn’t want her to find us in a compromising position.”
“Compromising position? We weren’t even touching!” I shake my head. “I don’t have time for this. I need to prepare for school.” I turn to leave.
“So, I’ll pick you up after school. Just be on the lookout for blond and handsome.” I glance over my shoulder. He flashes me a grin. Does he have to look so sure of himself and hot? “Lovely, Ana, you don’t like me very much, do you?”
“Why would you say that?” He blinks and holds my gaze. I relent and sigh. “You scared me back there on the tracks, you know.”
“It was just a joke. You’re not always this grumpy. I’ve followed you around, seen how you are with other people.”
Followed me around? “Stalked, you mean? Sorry, can’t chat for long. Unlike you, who goes around throwing yourself in front of trains for fun, I have school and a life I want to live.” Either he doesn’t hear me or he chooses to ignore me. He continues leaning on the wall. “Do you mind, Zig? No concealing yourself or whatever you did before. Just, please leave.”
“Concealment. That’s what I did. Like this.” He disappears and appears again. “See? You need to practise. Very handy. And yeah, Grim has had you in his sights for a very long time. Had to check you out to see what made him all hyper about you. He wasn’t wrong. But I wonder what is it about you that makes everyone antsy. His blue eyes drill into mine as if he expects to find answers from inside them.
I stop fiddling with my sweater. “What do mean?”
“Well,” he says taking a step closer, his gazes still holding mine. “Lately Grim has been having closed door meetings at odd hours since you became his Novice.”
“He has?” I say, pulse racing. “With who? And why is that unusual?”
Zig shakes his head, and for once I see something like fear flash across his face. “The Fates and one individual I wouldn’t be caught in the same room with. Sinteler. And it’s unusual because Sinteler kidnaps souls for his own twisted use and traps them in mirrors. I’ve heard worse theories than what I’m telling you now. See how this works against us, the Collectors?”
Fates. Again. I swallow hard, trying to process this new piece of information. Did Grim choose me for a reason?
“Anyway, lovely Ana, until later.” His eyes travel from my riotous hair to my feet in slow precision, and my body trembles at his appraisal. Not good.
In the past few minutes I’ve officially met Zig, I realise he is what Lea and I named DDF: dangerous, desirable flirt. And he has the power to make anyone forget about her boyfriend, or possibly husband.
Zig smiles as though he felt how my body reacted to his scrutiny, as if he sneaked inside my mind and heard my thoughts. “And just to make it clear, you are family. You signed up for membership the minute you joined our ranks.”
He smiles, twirling a silver wicked looking knife between his fingers. Where did that come from? “You know, I could make you feel better.” He wiggles his eyebrows.
My gaze slides to his lips, the upper one fuller than the lower. I shake my head. Why am I looking at his mouth?
His eyes widen. “Oh, you didn’t think it was that way, Ana. Not that I wouldn’t love to kiss you until you melt. I’m afraid you would beg me for seconds.” He grins as though he is the sole reason God put women on earth and saunters forwards, halting in front of me. My face burns. Man, this is embarrassing. How could I think about kissing him? “Until later, lovely Ana.” He bows with a flouri
sh and vanishes, leaving my mind jumbled up with thoughts of Grim, Fates, and a man whose name is Sinteler.
SIX HOURS LATER, I stumble out of the massive gymnasium doors of St. Johann, with Lea and Reiner in tow. Rolf left after third period. He wasn’t feeling well. I promised to check up on him later.
I look over my shoulder. Reiner is wearing a bright yellow shirt and what Lea and I call ‘don’t-touch-my-ankles’ jeans. When it comes to dressing, Reiner is braver than most. “Can’t you two keep your hands and lips to yourselves until you’re alone? One of these days you’ll burst into flames if you keep up with the kissing.”
Reiner lifts his head from the crook of her neck and looks at me. “Best way to go if you ask me.” He places a kiss on Lea’s nose. I watch, mesmerized, as Lea’s bright orange mist tangles with Reiner’s vibrant green. If anyone were to ask me the definition of soul mates, these two would fit the bill.
“Are we still meeting at Copa Cagrana?”
Crap! I forgot about that. I nod. I can’t disappoint her for the second time.
“Va bene,” Lea says. Her Italian has a way of showing up when she’s extremely happy or distressed. “Maybe Rolf will be feeling better by then. He’s been sick a lot lately.”
“I’ll give him a call.” What’s going on with Rolf? Curious errands and getting sick? Probably misses his dad. His clients get more time with him than Rolf does. And when he comes home from work, either Rolf is already asleep or his father is too exhausted to pay attention to his only child.
Rolf’s mom and dad married against the wishes of both their parents. The relationship between children and parents was on bad terms and ripped their future grandchild away. Encouraging Rolf to try contacting his grandparents isn’t easy. I never give up, though. As Mom’s mother, Oma Maria, says, “No man is an island.”
I make a show of checking the time on my mobile, then slip it back inside my pocket. “I have to run. See you later?”
Lea nods, hugs me tight, then steps back.
Reiner hugs me, then pulls back. He stares down at me, his eyes so intense I swear he can see right through me, right into my soul. I avert my eyes and look at the point slightly above his shoulders. “Ana.” My eyes bounce back to his face. “Call me if anything happens, you know between you and Rolf. Something seems off.”
My pulse races. “Why? What happened?”
Reiner and Lea exchange a look. I don’t like it.
“Rein?”
He presses his lips together. “He seems to lose his temper very easily lately.” He pauses, then adds in a low intense voice, “Ro is one of the calmest people I’ve ever met. Talk to him.”
It’s true. Rolf rarely gets angry. Did something happen with his dad? I’ve seen slips of anger, but they vanish quickly. I mean, even the gentlest of persons can get angry, right?
“Does he ever talk about his mom?” Lea asks, leaning into Reiner. He slips a hand across her shoulder, pulling her closer.
“Not really,” I say. Rolf’s mother died when he was twelve. His dad had left for Carinthia to work on some details for his clients, leaving his son, then twelve-year-old Rolf, and his wife, who was one-month pregnant, in Vienna. Rolf had noticed his mother favouring her right side, and from time to time clutching her lower abdomen. He asked if she was okay, and she told him she’d go see a doctor. Later on, Rolf arrived home from school to find an ambulance at his doorstep. He never saw his mother again. She’d died of a ruptured appendix. Rolf blames himself for not taking care of his mom as his father had ordered him to.
“When Rolf is around you, he glows and I’m sure everything flies out of his mind. Remember last year when we visited that glass factory in Murano Island? Remember the expression on his face as he watched the artisan working on that orange glass?”
I nod. How could I ever forget that trip? It was my best summer ever. Lea’s mom had invited Reiner, Rolf, and me to their home in Florence for a week. My parents, Reiner’s, and Lea’s have known each other since our kindergarten years, so they had agreed. Rolf’s dad agreed as long as he had adult supervision. Rolf and I had been dating for two months, and it was the first time Rolf had opened up and told me about his mother and his father. He’d been freer, more relaxed. His mood changed when we returned to Vienna. Like something haunted him, never allowing him any happiness.
Reiner rolls his eyes. “Not that story again, Lea.” She glares at him and ducks from under his arm. He makes a grab for her. She bats his hand away and twists her body out of his reach. He laughs and, at the same time, pulls his chirping mobile from his jeans pocket. Immediately the laughter fades, replaced by a frown. “Sorry, I have to take this.” He inches away from us.
Lea stares after him, eyebrows pulled down. I perk up and try to catch snatches of the conversation but stop after I see Lea chewing on her thumbnail.
“So, what were you saying about Rolf and the glass?” I slip my free arm across her shoulder and tilt my body so her view is averted from Reiner.
She removes her bitten nail from her lips and smiles. Lea is a romantic. “Oh, yeah. As I was saying, since I met Rolf, I’ve seen that expression on only two occasions. When he looks at you and that time as he watched the artisan model the glass. So much hope, awe. And when he looks at you, he glows.” Lea giggles.
I drop my gaze to my feet and mumble, “You are too romantic for your own good.”
“I’m serious. Glows like a firefly in the dark.” She snorts. “And what is not to believe in the power of amore?”
I burst out laughing, and stop when Reiner joins us, his face twisted in a mask of fury.
“Sorry. I have to go.”
“What’s wrong?” Lea leaps to his side and clutches his arm, her face etched in furrowed lines that mirror Reiner’s.
Reiner runs a trembling a hand down his face, lips pulled into a thin line. “Mom’s in the hospital. Dad—” He cuts himself off, chest rising and falling rapidly. “She’s hurt.” His eyes settle on me. “You okay? Do you need anything?”
Typical Reiner. Still looking out for others even when his world is turning to ash around him. I shake my head. I wish I could go with him to the hospital.
“Okay, talk later?” He focuses his gaze on Lea, and his face softens.
“If you think you’re leaving me here, you’re mistaken. Let’s go.” Lea’s eyes flash at him.
“Fine.” Reiner straightens the strap of the messenger bag cross his shoulder, grabs Lea’s arm, and bounds down the steps.
I watch them disappear through the gate, my heart squeezing itself.
Please, let his mom be all right.
***
Twenty minutes later, Zig is still a no show. It’s forty-five minutes before Lucy’s ballet class begins, and she gets nervous if she’s late for her class. I glance around one more time, then head for the tram stop, sidestepping an elderly lady cooing to her tiny dog. Everything around me seems full of colour. As if I was blind and now I see everything. My eyes trail the silhouettes of my fellow pedestrians.
Why is grey such a dominant colour? Why do some people have no colour framing their silhouettes?
Only one person I can ask. He’s not here though, and I can’t keep Lucy waiting.
What’s Zig’s story? Did he lose someone and make a deal with Grim, too? He doesn’t seem to mind collecting souls. In fact, he looks a bit too cheerful for such an emotionally drenching job.
A part of me wishes Zig would show up so he can answer some of my questions. The other part wants him to be a no show. Then I can drop Lucy at school and catch up on much needed sleep.
A tram glides to a stop. I scoot closer to join the other commuters, each shifting restlessly as the other passengers alight.
With one last look over my shoulder, I scramble inside the tram, crammed to the doors with commuters. Sweat, mixed perfumes, and something smelling suspiciously like stale beer wrap snugly around me.
I missed a seat so I grab the yellow plastic hoops above me and clench my jaw to sile
nce my screaming headache.
“Lovely Ana, it is a pleasure to see you again.”
I TWIST AROUND. My arms flail, and I lose my balance. My free hand flies and smacks the bespectacled man on his nose. He curses enough to singe my eyebrows, rubbing his clobbered nose. As though that’s not enough, the tram lurches forwards. Before I drop face-down on a scowling woman’s lap, a strong, muscled arm slips around my waist and yanks me back.
Heat flares up my face. Anger overrides it, and I twist to one side—as impossible as that is—to meet mischievous blue eyes.
“Siegfried!” I scowl up at him. “I asked you to stop creeping up on me.”
He shrugs and tugs me closer. “I’m glad you’re happy to see me, lovely Ana. Anger becomes you.” The anger burns a trail down my throat and pools inside my belly, simmering. In two days—two days—Zig has managed to work my emotions in ways I’ve never experienced before. Is this God’s way of repaying me for my earlier rebelliousness against my parents? Maybe for two years ago when I threatened to run away if they didn’t buy me a new violin? Or three weeks ago when I snuck out of my bedroom window and attended a party my mom had forbidden me to go to?
Once I recover my breath and assemble my shattered poise, I push away from his surfboard of a chest. He flashes me a grin. Not feeling particularly pacified, I shift my gaze to meet the curious eyes focused on us. Every female—and some males—studies his tall body appreciatively. He isn’t in his concealment. And he’s soaking up every bit of attention being thrown at him.
“Too hot and so full of yourself,” I mutter, shaking my head. “Such a waste.”
“Sorry. I didn’t catch that, lovely.”
I glare at him. “I specifically remember asking you not to call me that.” I wonder if smoke is drifting out of my ears.
“It’s either that or ‘my love’. But we both know that’s not mine to call, yes?” He hits me with another heartbreakingly, luscious smile.
I wrench my eyes from that grin and glance out the window.
Twenty minutes later, we arrive at Lucy’s school in the twenty-second district close to the UN. After a few minutes of walking in silence, I turn around to ask him to stay concealed around Lucy, only to find him several feet behind me chatting up a dark-haired, leggy woman. Now I get what Grim was referring to about me not being one of his women. Even in heels, I can’t beat that.
Reaper's Novice (Soul Collector #1) Page 9