Graveyard Shift (3 page)

“Nice shot.
” I rolled my eyes and reached down to jerk the arrow free.

“Please, you’ve had those boots for nearly a century
. It’s time you invest in a new pair anyway.” Josie took the arrow from me and stuffed it back in her quiver. “We’re going to have to file a report now.”

“I’ll do it,” I groaned
. “I have an evaluation with Grim in the morning anyway.”

Attacks on reaper ferries had tr
ipled in the past week. Where Limbo City was the ultimate free world, the Sea of Eternity was an aged battlefield, just as hostile as Limbo was neutral. The attacks were the big news of the week, headlining on the covers of
Limbo Weekly
and the
Daily Reaper Report
. Channel Nine,
Council Street Live
, had even issued a cautionary warning to sea travelers and transporters.

Gabriel landed on the deck behind us
. The captive soul trembled in his arms. I wondered if she could smell the alcohol on his breath. She stared at us, as though trying to decide if we were any better than the creep we’d just rescued her from.

At a more comfortable distance away, Caim was busy yanking arrows out of his bloodied wings
.

“Jerk,” I muttered and wiped my hands off on my pants
. They were ruined.

“So, where do we take you?” Josie cooed at the soul
. The woman pulled away from Gabriel and looked up at him.

“It’s okay,” he said
. “They’ll get you where you need to be.”

She turned back to us and smiled
. “Do you travel to Summerland?”

Chapter 2

“Seeing death as the end of life

is like seeing the horizon as the end of the ocean.”

-David Searls

Funeral Home Chic. That’s how I’d describe Grim’s office. It was painted the most innocent shade of black with a matte finish. A pot of daisies sat on either side of his coffin-shaped desk. Awards and framed photos covered the three interior walls, while a glossy window overlooking most of the city swallowed the far wall. I could see the harbor, tiny in the distance, and wondered how much longer Grim would keep me waiting. 

Grim was the mayor of Limbo City and owner of Reapers Incorporated. As if being mayor and owning the most su
ccessful business in Eternity wasn’t enough, he was also the president of the Afterlife Council, and the only member with an indefinite term, because no one else in Limbo had half as much power or influence.

Some thought that the Fates were powerful enough to take his place, but Grim had the Fates wrapped around his finger. He saved them from going out of business and helped them establish their factory in Limbo
City. They were indebted to him and supported his position of power.

“Sorry to keep you.
” Grim’s gravelly voice made me jump.

I turned to watch him walk into the room. He
wore his usual slate gray suit with a black tie. His hair was shiny and neatly combed. He reminded me of a forty-something lawyer, even though he was well over two thousand. The lines around his eyes and mouth were the only signs of aging I could see, and they seemed to deepen as he looked me over. He cleared his throat and smoothed down the folds of his jacket before sitting.

“There’s a position that will be available soon. Someone on the Afte
rlife Council strongly suggested you. Do you know anything about this?” He didn’t seem pleased.

“No. What kind of position?” I asked, wondering which council member it could have been. I didn’t know any of them well, and aside from shaking their hands after they were voted in, I couldn’t recall meeting one of them at any other time.

“That’s not important. You’ll get all the details when and if you get the job. Until then, your work will be closely reviewed. You should follow the rules if you have any desire to obtain this promotion or any promotion in the future.”

“Of course.
” I couldn’t help but smile now. Someone thought I was worthy of a promotion. So what if it wasn’t Grim.

He narrowed his eyes at me and leaned back in his chair
. “You know, for as long as you’ve been working for me, it is very surprising that you’re still a low-risk harvester. You’ve accumulated just enough soul violations to delay any possibility of promotion, but not so many that you would be considered for termination.”

He folded his hands on top of his desk and sneered at me like an IRS auditor who had just caught wind of an illegal operation. Death and taxes, not only certain, but cocky as ever. I squirmed in my seat.

I’d only known of one reaper who had suffered termination, which is a fluffier way of saying he was executed. His name was Vince Hare. He got caught selling souls on the ghost market after reporting them CNH, Currently Not Harvestable. After that, anyone who reported more than two unharvestables in a year went through a meticulous investigation, during which they were demoted to low-risk status.

I was already a low-risk harvester, even though I had never been considered for investigation. My soul violations were all classified as transfer errors, and since the souls in question were only destined for the already overflo
wing sea, I got off with a slap on the scythe.

Grim stared at me a few seconds longer, prolonging my anxiety as long as his schedule would allow, and then let go of his iron gaze and sighed. “Take tomorrow off. If you do happen to get this promotion, the opportunity for a vac
ation day will be suspended for an undetermined time.”

I raised an eyebrow. Something wasn’t making sense. Only high-risk harvesters had to worry about su
spended vacation privileges. The importance of their work required them to be available at a moment’s notice. They took care of the more important souls, harvesting them at the time of death rather than pre-burial like I did. A low-risk harvester like me never jumped that far up the totem pole.

“Ellen has your soul docket waiting out front.
” Grim gave me a nod and started going through his mail. I didn’t bother saying goodbye as I slipped out of his office.

“Here you go, Ms. Harvey,” Ellen chirped, handing me a sheet of crisp paper.

I pulled my clipboard out of my robe and fastened the page to it. There were thirty-six names, and nine of them were destined for the sea. Grim knew I hated dumping souls in the sea, but since I was being watched, now I had to. Part of me wondered if he hoped I would break the rules.

I frowned and turned back to Ellen. “I’m gonna need a report form too. My ship was attacked yesterday.
”

“Oh, dear.
” Ellen took a sip of her coffee and opened a desk drawer.  She shuffled through a pile of candy bar wrappers before finding a new pad of blank report forms.

The latest form revision condensed everything into two pages, which was fine by me. No one wants to fill out eight pages of random questions, especially if there isn’t even enough damage done to be compe
nsated for.

“Do you need a claim form too?” Ellen asked.

“No, we took care of the demons before they did any harm to the ship, and no souls were lost.”

“That’s a relief.
” She pulled a candy bar out of her purse and unwrapped it before blushing and setting it back down on her desk. “You can drop that form off tomorrow morning if you want.”

“Yeah, sure.
” I clipped it under my soul docket and gave her a nod. “See you tomorrow.”

“Have a nice day
, sweetie.”

Chapter 3

“We have enough religion to make us hate,

but not enough to make us love one a
nother.”

-Jonathan Swift

“Let me guess, another funeral?
” Once again, Josie met me on the deck of our ship with her arms folded. It was becoming a daily ritual.

“No,” I sighed. “My evaluation didn’t go so well, and there were
thirty-six names on my docket.”

I pushed past her with my last soul. He was a punk in his twenties who had overdosed on speed. He thought it was cool that he was going to Hell, but I put him down in the hold anyway. If I was being wat
ched, I wasn’t taking any chances.

“Oh.
” Josie’s critical sneer melted into a frown as she followed me, waiting for all the details.

“It appears that I’m being reviewed for a promotion.”

“What?” She didn’t even try to hide her disgust. “You’re joking,” she said, putting her hands on her hips as her kitten gray eyes shifted into storm clouds.

“Grim’s not happy about it either, so join the club.”

“Then why is he offering you a promotion?” She still wasn’t buying it.

“One of the council members suggested me.
” Hearing it aloud brought a smile to my lips.

Normally, I could
n’t have cared less about a promotion. Hell, who am I kidding? I’ve been avoiding promotions for as long as I can remember. Grim obviously had me figured out. I hated my job. But knowing that a council member had suggested me made me feel obligated to perform. Pride is a tricky little bitch.

“Which one?
” Josie looked pained as she realized I was telling the truth.

“He wouldn’t say. He wouldn’t even tell me what the position was, just that I was being reviewed and that I should follow the rules.”

“Oh.” It was barely a whisper. “Well, congratulations.”

She gave me a weak smile before turning to yank up a sail
. I started on the next one over.

“I know you’re a be
tter reaper than I am, and I’m sorry you weren’t interviewed.”

“It’s not that.
”

I could s
ee the tips of Josie’s ears redden as she turned to face me. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “It’s just, Horus has been hinting that I might be offered a new position, and now I think he had it all wrong. I think he meant you.”

“When were you going to tell me?” I snapped. I told her everything and as soon as I could. Now I was feeling foolish and wondered what else she didn’t feel the need to share with me.

“He said I should keep it to myself, that it was confidential.”

“Right, and you don’t bend the rules like I do. I fo
rgot.”

“Oh, Lana. I’m sorry. Really, I’m happy for you. Tomorrow’s poker night. We can celebrate.
” She shrugged and went to pull up another sail.

“Lana Harvey?
”

I turned around to find another reaper on our deck, Coreen Bendura. She was a second generation reaper and proud of it. The last time we had spoken had been at Saul’s memorial service.

Saul Avelo had been my mentor and a first generation reaper who didn’t carry the holier-than-thou attitude around like most of the older reapers did. He was also the only reaper to ever die during a harvest. Coreen had been his first apprentice, and that was the only reason I had a shred of respect for her.

“Can I help you?
” I would play nice. I was being watched, after all.

“Grim sent me to supervise you for the day,” she said with a smile and lifted her chin. I don’t know why she bot
hered. Being half a foot taller gave her plenty of distance to look down at me from. She was waiting for me to refuse so she could lecture me on her seniority. I was glad for my meeting with Grim now. Had he not told me I was up for a promotion, I would have told Coreen to hitch a ride to Hell with someone else.

“Of course,” I replied, mirroring her nasty grin.

“Docket please.” She held out her hand, and I dropped my clipboard in it.

I would control my temper. She was going to press every button I had. It was okay though. I knew where her bu
ttons were too. The fact that I was up for promotion had to be eating at her far worse than Josie. That alone kept me in check.

“Where do you keep your souls?
” Her short, cropped curls stayed perfectly flat as she darted her head from side to side, looking around our ship with a disapproving eye. She could make all the faces she wanted. I knew we had a solid ship.

“
Nine in the sea, twenty onboard, and seven in the hold,” I answered.

She looked down at me and frowned. “Do you mind if I verify that?”

“Be my guest.” I fought the urge to point her overboard, and instead waved my hand towards the sailor’s quarters. She hurried off with her nose in the air.

“Lana, you haven’t broken any rules that I don’t know about, have you?
” Josie whispered as soon as we were alone.

“Do you think I’m that stupid?” I snapped. “Grim told me I was being reviewed. You think I would do som
ething that might get you in trouble when I know I’m being watched?”

“You really want me to answer that?” Josie laughed.

Coreen came out of the sailor’s quarters and opened the hatch to peer down in the hold. She hadn’t brought any souls on with her, so I figured either Grim didn’t give her any for the day, or she had someone else take them. It was also possible that all her souls had gone into the sea. She was heartless enough to handle that much despair.

“Everything appears to be in proper order,” she a
nnounced as she poked her narrow nose down in her record book to scribble a few notes. “We can depart whenever you’re ready.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.
” I gave her a salute and freed us from the dock. My mind was already racing with a dozen ways to make her wish she had never stepped foot on our ship. This was going to be fun.