Reaper (24 page)

“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.”

T
he 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
.

This was definitely referring to Piotr, Wendy thought, turning the page with a shaking hand. She could see how if someone like Jane or Elise had never met Piotr she might be wary of him and what he could do but, then again, her mother had called to Piotr, had used him to put her soul back together when she couldn't. So who was right?

Point 7 – Cleave unto the family, for we alone understand from whence we came and the dangers in the spaces between the Dark and the Light. Do not turn your face away, do not seek to lie or cheat. Listen always to the matriarch and follow her guidance as if it were law. Such is always as it has been, such is always how it should be
.

Point 8 – Follow the tenets of our family closely. Follow the steps of awakening honestly. Drink from the Good Cup when it has been passed into your hands and not before, lest you awaken more than your Sight. Pity those born with the Sight—Naturals and Seers—for they cannot control their will, and the Darkness and Light shall take them, the Never shall swallow them whole
.

Wendy stuck her tongue out. “Well poo on you, too,” she muttered and shifted uncomfortably on the couch. It had been a long time since she'd curled up down here to read. The tough upholstery was scratchier than she remembered, and the cushions seemed to be all lumps.

Whatever, Wendy thought. First world problems. She'd just deal.

There were several more rules along these lines and Wendy was rapidly growing bored reading them. Instead she decided to flip through the rest of the book and skim around a bit, to see what was interesting.

“Blah, blah, blah, ghosts, types of ghosts, Shades, blah,” Wendy said, rubbing her dry eyes. “Walkers…eww, that picture's grosser than an actual Walker, I think. Oh, hey, the Lost and Riders.”

Startled, Wendy blinked and peered closer at the page, squinting to keep the cramped words from swimming around so drastically. “Wow. That's Lily.”

The resemblance to the spirit Wendy knew was uncanny; if it wasn't Lily, Wendy would be surprised. Thankfully the blurb below Lily's picture only called her an “elusive spirit seen escorting Lost souls” and suggested that the Reaper in question might wish to consider waiting for the Rider in question to be alone before engaging them in the Good Work.

“Because she'd kick your ass,” Wendy chuckled to herself. “Oh, no: because apparently the Riders stick together and gang up on Reapers. Huh. They're kinda fractured; they don't do that now. You know, unless you force them to.”

Seeing Lily in the book had been mildly entertaining, but Wendy was rapidly growing bored. Her head was beginning to ache a little and she really wanted a glass of water, but she was too tired to bother getting up and nabbing one from the kitchen.

There'd been no mention of Piotr or the Lady Walker, beyond the rule at the beginning. Wendy was starting to believe that Elise and Jane had only dangled that carrot before her to get her to read the manual more quickly.

“‘How to see into the Never,’” Wendy read aloud, paging through the last, most weather-beaten pages, “how to reap a spirit, how to transmute a silver cord, how to shift through solid objects…”

And then she stopped.

How To Transmute A Silver Cord
.

Squinting at the passage, Wendy felt her throat dry up. She hurriedly read further.

The transmutation of a silver cord is neither simple nor desired. To do so to another is to do a great disservice to the Reaper in question and might be considered an attack upon a fellow member of the family. However, in some cases, it may be necessary to move about the spiritual realm without arousing suspicion from the spirits.

In order to hide amid the dead, it is necessary that the cord of the living be spun very fine, almost as if weaving the thinnest shroud about one's person, cleaving it tightly to the flesh-essence itself. This is difficult to do to oneself, but not impossible. Know no mistake—the nature of this act is quite destructive. Maintaining this unnatural curvature of the cord will leach the essence and Light from the Reaper in rapid time, weakening both their spirit and living body permanently. The Reaper will fade slowly over the course of months as the pull of their cord binding them in the Never drains their abilities and spiritual power away. NEVER TRANSMUTE A NON-REAPER'S CORD—THIS WILL KILL THEM IN SHORT ORDER (weeks)
.

Wendy closed the manual. Was this what happened to Eddie? Had someone—some Reaper—snuck up behind him and twisted his cord up, spread it thin, until it seemed like it was missing? Why? What would the point of that be?

And, furthermore, this stuff was in the frickin’
beginning Reaper's manual
! Emma was a smart chick, why wouldn't she have known already that it was possible to do this to someone? Why would she ask to study Eddie if the answer was right there in “Reaping for Dummies” all along?

Unless. Unless she
did
know and had been playing dumb about it. But would Emma do that? Wendy didn't know.

“Whatever. It doesn't matter,” she said, setting the manual on the coffee table and stretching. It was so warm in here…had Chel turned up the thermostat again?

What was important now, Wendy decided, stripping off her hoodie, was finding Eddie. Finding him and fixing him, if that transmutey-thing was what was really wrong with him. She hoped it was. It sounded…sort of simple to fix? And maybe Jane could help if Wendy couldn't do it alone.

Wendy reached into her pocket, searching for her phone. She'd just call Eddie up and have him meet her…

Wait.

“Wendy, you dummy,” Wendy sighed, running her tongue over dry and cracked lips. “I'd like to see the rate plan on cell service in the freakin’ Never.”

Grumbling, she stood up and headed for the side door. A sick headache was beginning to pound at her temples and her neck felt like a pillar of solid, painful, stone.

Thankfully Eddie's house was just a short walk away, Wendy soothed herself. With any luck he and the others would still be there—where else did they have to go, after all?—and she could lay hands on his spirit, try and fix whatever nastiness had been done to him. She might not be able to step into the Never now, but Wendy'd been able to grab that rake. Grabbing Eddie's cord the same way might be a piece of cake…she hoped.

Crossing her backyard left Wendy feeling exposed and wondering if her bluff had truly scared off the Walkers or if they were cleverly laying in wait somewhere else in the yard. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms against the light evening chill.

Wendy thought that they might have been chased off, but if the Lady Walker was as scary as everyone seemed to think she was, then she wouldn't take too kindly to her boys running away after only a few pokes with a garden rake, no matter how pointy.

Wendy would worry about it later. First Eddie and Piotr, then deal with Miss Phantom-of-the-Opera-Face. After that…

Wendy was near the back shed when a sudden, unexpected heavy pressure shoved her forward, sending Wendy sprawling to the ground.

“What the hell!” Wendy struggled to her feet and then the shove came again, twice as powerful this time around. Her hand smacked against the side of the shed, her forehead banged against the window. Twisting and cursing, Wendy managed to flip over, expecting to have to kick out against her assailant, to scratch and scream…