Grim Crush (Grimly Ever After) (5 page)

“In…there?” The soul pointed at the portal.

“Yes. This leads to Purgatory.” I clenched my fingers tight around the handle of my weapon, resisting the urge to throw the spirit through the portal myself.

“Are you sure there isn’t anything that can be done…?” The man gestured to his body. “You know, can’t the paramedics…do something?”

“When you’re dead, you’re dead. If you had a chance, you wouldn’t be seeing me. Now,
in
.” I lifted my scythe threateningly.

The man’s spirit reluctantly walked into the vortex, his face filled with trepidation. Light flashed, and the portal closed.

I sighed in relief, got rid of my scythe, and then glanced over the other construction workers huddled around. I leaned over one’s wrist and stared at his watch. 5:03. I wouldn’t be too late to meet Shilah.

I was just about to teleport to Chad’s Cliff, when a curt voice behind me said, “Not so fast, Xia.”

I started, whipping around. Aquil stood behind me draped in an official black robe, and she did not look pleased.

Oh no
. I put on a fake smile. “Aquil! Uh, nice to see you!”

“Don’t try to flatter me, Xia,” Aquil growled, crossing her arms.

“So…why are you here?” I was afraid I already knew the answer to this question.

“Your monthly evaluation, remember? I watched how you treated that soul.”

I grimaced. Monthly evaluation. Why today of all days? And why
Aquil
of all my superiors?

“Oh, I…he…” There was no good explanation I could give her without letting her know about Shilah. And that was still not a good reason for how I’d treated that soul.

“I’m not pleased with your work today,” Aquil said, glaring down at me. “You need to come back to base with me right this instant.”

“But I can’t!” I cried before I could stop myself.

Aquil quirked an eyebrow. “Oh? Do you have another engagement I don’t know of? I’m pretty sure your death schedule is clear for the next hour or so.”

“Well, yes, but…”

“Then there’s no reason why you can’t come with me to base, right?”

“Can’t I go later? Or if you’re just going to consult with the other superiors, you really don’t need me at all…”

The look on Aquil’s face told me there was no point in arguing anymore.

Sorry, Shilah
, I thought, closing my eyes with a sigh. I teleported to The In-Between, and Aquil followed me closely.

Chapter 6

By the time I was done explaining myself to all three of my superiors and had heard them chastise me endlessly, I had more souls to reap. So I didn’t reach Chad’s Cliff until it was twilight. And Shilah was nowhere in sight.

I collapsed onto my knees near the precipice of the cliff, staring out at the stars just appearing in the sky. I felt horrible. I’d told Shilah to meet me here two hours ago, and I never even got to come tell him
why
I couldn’t show up. He must hate me now. I should’ve never tried to meet him at a certain time. I was a grim reaper, for goodness sake.

It was all Aquil’s fault, the witch. I had finished my reap fast, and then
she
had to get in the way.

“And who do
you
want to kill?” I heard someone say.

I looked up to see Jayza standing beside me, and replied, “Can’t kill her, but I wouldn’t mind sending her to Hell.” I hadn’t realized I’d been clenching my fists. I relaxed my hands. “I’m talking about the
spawn of the devil
.”

“Oh, you mean Aquil?”

I nodded.

Jayza sat beside me. “I thought I’d find you here. And I heard about what happened. The other reapers are gossiping about it like crazy. So what did our superiors say?”

“Because this is the third time I’ve failed an evaluation, I will be given punishment,” I answered in a low voice. “They will decide what it’ll be by tomorrow.”

“Punishment? Uh oh. What if they relocate you? You could end up reaping souls half way around the world! We’d never get to see each other–”

“Relax, Jayza, I’d still teleport to see you.”

“But what if you’re sent somewhere death occurs regularly like Baghdad or Pakistan and you don’t have time to do anything else…?”

I grinned at her. “Did I ever tell you that you’re such a pessimist?”

“I don’t want you to leave.” Jayza pouted.

“I don’t think they’ll do anything too bad to me. They might just extend my coverage area so that I have a few extra deaths than usual. No big deal.”

Jayza and I were silent for a minute, listening to the sounds of the night birds chittering and the cool wind sighing through the trees. As we watched the sky go from purple to dark blue, my friend asked, “Did you get a chance to tell them about Shilah?”

“No,” I replied. “If I do now, they’ll assume I’m using it to keep them from thinking about my punishment.”

“How did I know you were going to say something like that?” Jayza rolled her eyes, and we laughed.

“So, what did you think of him?” I asked.

Jayza cocked her head as she thought. “I have to admit, I see why you like him.”

I blushed. “I never said I like him!”

“You didn’t have to. You wouldn’t keep meeting him if you
didn’t
like him. And I can see it in your face.”

My cheeks burned even more, and I rubbed my hands over them.

Jayza grinned. “Shilah’s a cool person; he has a good sense of humor. And I can tell he’s really curious about you. He’s also…what is it human females say? Hot? Sexy?”

Jayza and I went into a fit of giggles.

“Now that I think about it, I guess he
is
hot,” I mused. “I don’t usually look at humans that way.” I sighed. “I’m going to hate telling him goodbye. I can’t stay friends with him, you know. Especially if I’m relocated.”

“Do you
want
to stay friends with him?”

“Um…” I knew my answer should be no, but I didn’t want to lie to my best friend.

“I’ll take that as a yes. For your sake, I hope our superiors allow you to keep seeing him. And you know you would have to tell Shilah what you are.”

“Why?”

“Because he already has questions about you! One day he might follow you and see you teleport. I’d love to see you give him a logical explanation for
that
.”

“But humans can’t know about us until they’re dead. It’s against the Rules. That’s why I can’t keep seeing him, whether I want to or not.” I paused. “As much as I hate to admit it, it might be a good thing if our superiors relocate me.”

Jayza nodded slowly. “You’re probably right.”

The two of us sat staring at the stars and listening to the owls in the trees around us for several minutes. Then, Jayza had to go to a late-night club shooting to reap two souls. Eventually, I had a couple of jobs to do too. But every time I had a break, I went back to Chad’s Cliff.

When it was daytime again, I always teleported into a tree first to make sure no one was around, then I’d teleport to the spot where I usually met Shilah. I did this till around four o’clock, when he finally appeared on the cliff.

When I arrived from my latest reap and saw him, I immediately ran forward, throwing my arms around his torso.

“I’m so, so sorry!” I told him. “Please don’t be mad at me!”

“Wha–? Xia, why would I be mad at you?” Shilah asked, sounding utterly confused.

I pulled away from him. “Because I lied to you. I didn’t come yesterday when I said I would.”

“Oh. Well, I wasn’t surprised. I knew you were probably working for you dad.”

“I was, and I wanted to come tell you, but I couldn’t, and then something else happened so I was delayed even longer…” I felt on the verge of tears.

“Xia, it’s okay! You didn’t lie intentionally. I’m not mad.”

I sniffed, wiping my eyes. “Really?”

“Yeah. Wow, you really don’t like lying to people, do you?”

“But I thought…do people lie around here?”

“Yeah, all the time. It’s not a crime.”

“I thought hum–I mean, Americans–didn’t lie. At least, not the good people.”

Shilah stared at me like I was crazy–how he was always staring at me. “Where did you hear
that
?”

“Isn’t it a…sin?”

Shilah laughed. “People don’t care. I don’t think there’s one person alive who’s never lied.”

“
Really
?” I wish I could break rules all the time like that. I broke codes, not rules.

“Yes, really. Don’t
Italians
lie?”

“Well…yeah, but I thought things were different here. I thought lying was unforgivable. I guess I still have a lot to learn.” I was starting to think I’d never understand humans.

“I can teach you. What do you want to know?”

So for the next half hour, Shilah talked about a lot of things I was curious about. I tried not to make my questions too ridiculous. For now, he assumed I came from another country. I didn’t want him wondering if I came from another
planet
.

Since I had to report to my superiors later to hear my punishment, I might as well tell them about Shilah too. But first, I wanted to know if his family could see me.

So today, I told Shilah I had to leave, even though it was a half hour before I needed to respond to a bus accident. He didn’t ask any questions; he just hugged me and went on his way.

Now came the hard part. For this, I wish I
could
become invisible in Shilah’s eyes. But a reaper had mad stealth skills, so I crept quietly from tree to tree, following behind Shilah as he headed toward the nearest town.

For the most part, Shilah seemed unaware he was being followed. Once, a snake slithered across some dry grass, and Shilah looked back. I quickly withdrew my head, pressing my back against the rough bark of the tree I hid behind. He must not have seen me, because the next time I looked, he was walking forward again with his back to me.

After trailing him for nearly a mile, Shilah made his way down a steep incline toward a two-story blue house. It must’ve been ancient because it was missing roof shingles, and the paint was peeling.

I waited, peering between the leaves of a tall bush as Shilah headed to the front door of the house. Before he went inside, however, a vehicle I knew was an SUV pulled up in the gravel driveway. Shilah turned and went to greet the two people inside it.

The man and woman who stepped out must’ve been his parents because they had bronze skin and silky black hair just like him. The woman said something to Shilah, pointing toward the back of the SUV. He nodded and went to the trunk, lifting the door and grabbing three brown grocery bags. I knew they were most likely filled with human nourishment. Food, in other words.

Shilah headed into the house while his parents went to grab more grocery bags. Now was my chance.

I jogged toward them, watching the house to make sure Shilah wasn’t about to come out.

“Hi,” I said to Shilah’s mom.

She didn’t acknowledge me as she hefted two grocery bags from the trunk. To her husband, she said, “Aren’t your parents coming for dinner tonight?”

“I believe so,” replied Shilah’s father, taking two jugs of water from the SUV. I waved my hand in his face. He stared through me and said, “And don’t worry, I told Mama not to bring another dead rodent again.”

“Good. Does she really think her…
trinkets
fend off death?”

Shilah’s dad shrugged. “Who knows what goes on inside that old mind of hers.” The parents chuckled as they began walking away.

Well, it was a good thing I didn’t let Shilah introduce me to his family. His parents would’ve thought he had made an imaginary friend. What a disaster that would have been.

Shilah was coming out of the house to get more groceries. Panicking, I ducked beside the SUV, opposite from the side Shilah was walking around.

He grabbed the last grocery bag in the trunk and shut it. I held my breath the whole time as he walked back into the house. When there was no more sign of him, I exhaled and straightened.

I walked around the SUV, thinking I’d take a walk back to Chad’s Cliff while I waited for my next reaping assignment. I ended up stepping into the path of an elderly woman with a cane, who was just coming up the sidewalk leading to Shilah’s house. She had gray hair hanging down to her knees, and her wrinkled skin was a dark caramel color. Her gray eyes stared straight into mine, like Shilah’s did.

I started to walk away, but then the woman said, “They couldn’t see you, could they?”

I froze, and my mouth dropped open. After a second, I composed myself and said, “Uh…what do you mean?”

The old woman shuffled forward, stooped over her cane. “I know what you are. You’re a grim reaper.”

My eyes bulged. “How…how did you know?”

“Because I was watching you as I came up the road. My son and daughter-in-law couldn’t see you. But why did you hide from my grandson?”

I was still in shock over finding another human who could see me. “H-he can see me too. I’ve been talking to him lately, and…I wanted to know if anyone else could see me like he can.”

The elderly put a gnarled finger to her chin, thinking. “Ah. I thought there was something special about Shilah. Interesting. So, I guess you’ve accomplished your mission then. Here I am.”

“Yeah…do you mind if I ask you some questions?”

She glanced toward Shilah’s house. “They aren’t expecting me for another hour. I was coming over early just for the heck of it. But if you’ll come with me, I can talk to you safely at my house. It’s just down the street.” She turned and started hobbling away.

I stood frozen for a moment. After three years of reaping (two solo years), this being-seen-by-humans thing was hard to get used to. Being seen by one human was unbelievable, two was unthinkable. At least I was finally about to get some answers.

I jogged to catch up to the old woman, then continued walking by her side. “Uh, my name is Xia, by the way.”

“Xia. Beautiful reaper name,” Shilah’s grandmother complimented. “Death has a way of picking the strangest ones, but they’re all nice.”

“Thanks. What should I call
you
?”

“My name is Anna.” She grinned. “Shilah made up the cutest nickname for me. He calls me Granna.”

I smiled too. “I like that. Can I call you that?”

“Sure.”

We found ourselves at another rickety house a minute later, this one yellow. On the porch, an elderly man sat in a rocking chair. He was bald, with dark age spots on his bronze head.

“I thought you went next door?” he said, peering at Granna through round eyeglasses.

“I remembered I forgot my shawl. You know how cold they keep that house sometimes. Be ‘bout to freeze an old woman’s bones.” Granna dropped her voice to a whisper then, leaning toward me. “Marshall here can’t see reapers either.”

I nodded, and helped Granna climb the stairs leading up to the porch.

Once we were inside the house, Granna gestured at an old decorative couch in the living room. “Have a seat.”

I went over and obeyed, sinking deep into the cushioning. I looked around as I did, and it felt like I’d stepped into a room dedicated to my father/boss. There were skull decorations everywhere I turned, hanging on the walls and sitting on the table and shelves. There was even a miniature statue of a black-robed figure holding a scythe, and there were dead stuffed animals, from a squirrel to a mouse. I also spotted bone fragments, strings of animal teeth, and items with large feathers. There was a slightly rancid smell in the air. Anyone who wasn’t a reaper might’ve ran for their lives after taking one step in here.