Reaper of Earth (The Artifact Reaper Saga Book 1)

by Jen L. Grey

  So, she’s not calm. Apparently, whoever said honesty is the best policy was dead wrong. I bet they were murdered. “I didn’t mean to.”

  “You didn’t mean to?” Her voice is so loud it echoes against the walls. “You just went into a person’s room, uninvited, and searched through their things?”

  Yeah, when she puts it like that, it sounds pretty bad. “Yeah, but there was no way I could save someone who could do that to anyone. Let alone children.”

  “Who the hell do you think you are?” The wind is blowing so hard my furniture is now shaking. “You don’t get to make those decisions.”

  Is she high? I do get to make that decision. That’s why she’s here in my room, pissed off. “My parents will hear.”

  She barks out a laugh. “I’ve put a silencing spell around us. No one will come to help you.” Her whole body shimmers, and she begins to cite words under her breath.

  Oh, hell no. I’m not staying for this. Thank God, I’m still close to the window. I yank open the window and jump out.

  “No!” she yells.

  I scramble down the roof and jump on the tree without a second thought this time. As I begin my descent, she appears at the window.

  She chants under her breath, and her hands glow red. Soon, a line of fire is coming right at me. I dodge to the left and hide as the flame blazes on the other side. If I make it out alive, I’m done making deals with anyone. This is a death sentence.

  The longer I stay here, the worse it’s going to get. I’m going to hurt in the morning, but at least I’ll be alive. The burning vanilla fills my nose and turns my stomach. I loosen my grip, getting ready to slide down, when the witch appears on the rooftop and now has a solid shot at me.

  A huge, evil grin spreads across her face. “Now, justice will be served.” Her hands light up again, and the branch I’m holding on to breaks. I fall backwards and reach out, grasping, trying to latch onto another branch, but everything slips through my hands.

  Then I’m falling down to the ground while watching the witch grin the entire time. When I hit the ground, it’s not as hard as I expect it to be. It’s almost as if the ground is cushioned. I scramble to stand, ready to run as far away as possible.

  But when I stand, the witch’s feet are touching the ground from where she floated down.

  “Did you really think you could get away?” She tilts her head, and the ground underneath me begins to tremble.

  The Earth cracks between my feet, when a black and gray swirl appears beside me. For the first time in my life, I’m ecstatic that a demon is here.

  Damien appears with Becca and takes in the scene.

  “You!” the witch screams, and the Earth vibrates more.

  He rolls his eyes and grabs the witch, throwing her against the house. She falls down on the ground in a heap. The Earth stills and he turns to me. “You guys get back in the house. I’ll take care of this. You just concentrate on the artifacts.”

  Hell, I don’t need to be told that twice. I grab Becca’s hand and tug her toward the house. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Her eyes are trained on the witch, but I keep pulling her to the house. That witch may look dead, but I have a feeling she’s tougher than that. I don’t want to be around for the second act.

  We get to the front of the house and I reach in my pocket for the key. Shit, I changed pants. I reach out and try opening the door, just praying it’s unlocked. For once, fate is on my side. I guess we were all preoccupied after the meeting this morning. “Come on, but be quiet.”

  “Wait, I want to know what’s going on. I don’t want to hide in that closet again.” She glances in the house and back at me.

  “No, I promise you won’t.” I grin. “Just let’s get to my room and I’ll tell you everything.”

  She hesitates, but then there is commotion we can hear coming from the backside of the house.

  I guess the witch didn’t stay down for long. I open the door wider and Becca slides in.

  We head up the stairs when the door from the kitchen opens. “Christina, is that you?”

  Becca’s eyes widen and her face goes pale.

  Shit, my parents can’t see her. I motion for her to go up the stairs to my room and mouth the words now. “Yeah, it’s me.”

  It takes a second, but it sinks in and she runs up the stairs.

  My heart is pounding because my dad appears down at the foot of the stairs the second Becca disappears in the hallway. Oh, dear God. That was too close of a call. I grab the stair rail.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Dad’s face is pinched and he’s rubbing his chin.

  “It’s just been a long day, but I think I have my problem figured out.” I stand up straight, not wanting them to become even more suspicious.

  Mom places a hand to her neck. “Already?”

  “Yes, so that’s one less thing we all need to worry about.” I’m just hoping I’ve said enough to get them to leave me alone for a little while longer.

  “You’d tell us if you were struggling, right?” Mom runs her hand down her neck, resting it at the base.

  “Yeah, sure would.” Not even a chance. After everything I’ve experienced after having received the ‘help’? No. “But I need to get some things set up. If you don’t find me later, just know I’ve left to get the crystal.” Fake it ‘til you make it. When did all these sayings become my mantras?

  “Now…” Mom takes a step.

  But Dad takes her hand. “Okay, that’s great.” He nods. “We’re… really proud of you.”

  Here we go again with another awkward parenting moment. “Uh, thanks.” I turn around and hurry up the stairs, seeking the comfort of my room.

  When I walk through the door, Becca is picking up the pictures that were scattered around of Beth and me. “I really do look like her, don’t I?”

  “Yeah, you do.” I’m not sure how to handle it so I stay at the door. I don’t want to weird her out more than she already might be. “But you have a cleft in your chin and she didn’t. So, that’s something, right?”

  “I guess.” She picks up a picture taken a couple of weeks before Beth died. We were at a school party and taking a selfie together. “You guys were close.”

  “She was like my sister.” My voice cracks. There isn’t a point to this, and there are other things we need to discuss. “Hey, so the reason why you’re here…”

  That catches her attention because her eyes flicker up from the picture. “Yeah, what’s up?”

  “I need your help.” I let out a breath. “In order for all this to go away and for you to go back to seeing your family more often and everything, we need to find four artifacts.”

  “Okay.” Her eyes narrow. “Do you know where they are? Let’s go.”

  Well, that’s a good thing. She’s willing to help. “Well, that’s the thing. It seems that, at least the first one is in another dimension. Not many supernaturals can transport across dimensions. But Damien mentioned that you did.”

  Her eyes widen. “I did.” She shakes her head. “I didn’t mean to, but I did.”

  “Great.” I take a step toward her. “If you can do that with me, then everything can finally get smoothed over and settle down.”

  “Then I’m in.” She sets the pictures down and rubs her hands together.

  I just hope I didn’t promise something that can’t be delivered.

  26

  “There’s a problem though.” Becca avoids my gaze as she begins picking up the papers that are now scattered across my floor.

  That horrid witch sure made a mess in here. “What’s that?”

  “I have no clue how to control it.” She sets some of the papers on my desk and then begins gathering more off the ground. “I only did it the one time and it was on complete accident.”

  This is a problem I understand all too well. “It’s hard learning how to control your magic at first.” Hell, I’m still learning mine, but maybe I shouldn’t bring that part up. “But it’s also exciting
when you figure out a little piece to the puzzle.”

  “What do you mean?” She pauses for a second.

  “Well, it’s like, if there is something medically wrong with you, like anxiety or an autoimmune disease. It’s scary, right?” This is the complete opposite of the spectrum, but she’s human so I’m hoping to play on her empathy.

  “Yeah.” She stands and leans against the wall.

  “But you go to the doctor and learn what it is and how to handle it.” I hope this hits home with her. “And then you understand it and learn how to live with it. It’s accepted and it becomes part of you.”

  “How is this like a disease?” Her eyes narrow.

  “It’s not, but like a disease, this is now a part of you.” I’m failing at this. Don’t ever let me become a teacher. “It’s learning about it and how to integrate it into who you are.”

  She stares at me for a minute and bursts out laughing. “That was awful, but thanks for trying.”

  I force myself to laugh, but the sad thing is that my parents have made me feel like my magic is a disease and something to be ashamed of. I guess that’s why I made that comparison, but now’s not the time to go psychoanalyze myself. “All right, did I inspire you enough to try?”

  “I’ll just say yes.” She laughs. “But I do want to understand how it works. It was cool when it happened once I got past being frozen in fear.”

  “Sweet, and I bet it was.” She must be curious. It was easier to convince her than I thought it would be. “If you could take us back to the place you went, that would be perfect.”

  “Okay,” she blows a deep breath out her mouth. “Let me try.” She closes her eyes and stands still.

  “Wait.” I don’t want her to go without me. “Do we need to be touching or something for me to go with you?”

  “I hadn’t thought of that.” She opens her eyes and walks over to me. “That’s probably a smart idea just in case.” She reaches out and grabs my arm and closes her eyes once more.

  Adrenaline courses through me. I wonder what this is going to feel like and how long it’ll take to get there. I’ve never realm jumped before, so this is going to be interesting.

  It’s hard to stay quiet, but I do. I don’t know how long this should take and don’t want to bother her concentration.

  After a few more minutes, she opens her eyes and groans. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

  That is a sentiment I understand. “It’s okay. You aren’t going to do it perfectly the first time. How about this? Let’s try to use our powers together. I can find exactly where an object is, so maybe that can correlate to your power of getting us there.”

  Becca shrugs. “Sure, I’m up for trying anything.”

  “Come on.” I want to sit on the bed so we’re both comfortable. I plop on the mattress and scoot so my back is to the wall.

  She follows my movement and sits right beside me. “Okay, what now?”

  I chuckle. “Okay, let’s hold hands and see if a connection will help. I’m going to visualize the location and see if you can get a read on it. Open up your mind to me by having it clear.” I reach over and take her hand. “Here I go.”

  After letting her settle for a moment, I visualize the crystal in my mind. It’s in a case sitting in a room that looks to be made of dry sand. It makes me think of the Egyptian pictures I saw in history class. I want to make sure she sees it, but I’m not sure what to do. I keep the vision locked in my head and push it out toward her.

  There is an intake of breath by her. “Oh, I see it. That crystal is gorgeous.”

  “Hold on. I’m going to show you more.” When I pull back, it takes me outside a large house that is made of dirt and wood. I project that toward her as well.

  She squeals. “I know where this is. Let me try something.” She tightens her grip on my hand and then lifts her other hand out over the bed in a circle. As her fingers make the motion, a trail of purple light follows her fingertips. When she connects it, the purple begins to swirl and shift. “This will take us there.”

  My heart races. Charlie and I said we were going to do this together, but the vortex is here and ready to go, and my parents are downstairs. “Let’s do this.”

  We both get off the bed and take a tentative step to it.

  I reach out and take her hand again. “Go at the same time.”

  “Yeah, safety in numbers.” She snorts.

  After a moment, we both walk through the portal together.

  It’s as if walking from one room to another. There wasn’t a drop or anything crazy. If we hadn’t stepped into the exact room I had pictured, I wouldn’t believe we had crossed a dimension.

  Right there in front of us is the crystal.

  There isn’t anything else in the room, and no one is around. That’s so strange. I walk over to the table and lift off the clear case that was over the crystal. The brown power sparking inside it is gorgeous. It almost reminds me of a chocolate diamond as the sun sparks off it, but this crystal does it all on its own.

  “That is gorgeous,” Becca whispers.

  This seems too easy, but I’ll take it with all the other obstacles we’ve faced. I grab the crystal and, as soon as I touch it, the power connects with mine. It’s almost as if the energies are one of the same. They sync with one another, and my power pulses in response.

  A door opens and four men rush inside. They have dark translucent skin and their whole eyes are pitch black. They pull swords from their leather clothing and hold them out in front of them.

  The one in the middle steps in front. “Put the crystal down now and no one will get hurt.”

  Everything inside me protests, but I put it down for the time being. “We aren’t here to cause any problems.”

  “Then, why are you sneaking in here trying to steal our crystal?” The man on the right takes a step toward us.

  “Look, we are in a lot of trouble and were told to get it.” And I thought this was going to be easy. “We didn’t know it belonged to anyone.”

  “You were wrong.” The middle guy still hasn’t put his sword down and seems to be getting angrier instead of calmer. “You need to get away from the Mother Crystal now.”

  “Mother Crystal?” Becca looks at me. “What is he talking about?”

  “I have no clue.” I glance at the guy. “You said if I put it down no one would get hurt. Why do you still have your swords pointing at us?”

  “Because you aren’t from here.” He glances around the room. “How did you get in here?”

  We’re going to have to get out of here and soon. I don’t see these guys calming down. “We got lost and found our way here.”

  “Lies.” The one of the left jerks. “There is only one way in and out.”

  “Look, we aren’t here to cause trouble.” Becca lifts both hands up. “We aren’t even armed.”

  “She still has the glow of the crystal.” The middle one points at me. “She can use our Earth against us.”

  What the hell is he talking about. “How in the world can I do that?”

  “If you are after the Mother Crystal, then you know what she’s capable of.” He growls and his body begins to shimmer. “I will not let you destroy Bramble.”

  They’re going to attack us. There is no getting around this. They know we’re here for the crystal, and it’s a bigger deal than the council let on. Whoever controls it can control the earth of the realm they are in. Why would the council want something like that? What does this all mean?

  The middle guy is watching our every move, while the other three are communicating. He’s been distracting us. Shit’s about to get real.

  27

  I glance over at Becca and whisper, “I hope you know how to fight.”

  “What?” Her blonde hair whips around as she faces me.

  Before I can add anything else, the middle guard walks toward us. He raises his sword high. “You will need to come with me.”

  “Why is that?” I take a step backwards, wan
ting distance between us.

  His black eyes look at me. “Because our king will want to meet you. You touched the rock, which is forbidden.”

  They aren’t going to let that go, are they? “It was only for a second.”

  He pauses. “Why would that matter?”

  “Isn’t there like a five second rule?” Becca lifts her hand, palm facing up.

  The three men stop talking and glance over at us. The one on the right scratches his head. “Why would time matter? A rule is a rule.”

  Closing her eyes, Becca begins reaching out her arm and points her finger out like she did in my room when she made the portal here.

  I guess it’s “lets distract the guys and try to get back home” time.

  A small, purple orb begins to form when the guy closest to us zeros in on it. “She’s a realm leaper.” He rushes forward and grabs her arm. “You can’t leave.”

  Oh, shit. “She wasn’t trying to leave.”

  The other three guards rush forward and surround me. The one that is the thickest snarls. “How dare you come here and try to steal and then lie to our faces?”

  “Why would you accuse me of lying? I’m not.” Of course, I’m lying, but it’s not like I’m going to admit that. I’m trying to get us out of trouble, not in more hot water.

  “Are you that dense?” The one on my right lifts his sword. “We can tell when you’re lying.”

  Huh, that would have been good to know about ten minutes ago. I might have gone about this a different way.

  The one holding the sword grabs my arm with his free hand and yanks me toward him.

  No, this isn’t going to happen.

  Thoughts of Randy pop in my head and the knife he held at my throat. These guys don’t seem like they would be as easily distracted. As he yanks me toward his body, I raise my knee and nail him between the legs. I hope that these guys have privates like the guys back home do.

  He drops his sword and lowers to the ground with a groan. His hands slide in between his legs, holding on to his own personal jewels.

  “What did she do?” The thicker one behind me gasps.