The Reaping (33 page)

My mistake was in believing that either of them, Grey or Fahl, was capable of being completely truthful.  Like any business dealing, there was always fine print, some hidden clause or consequence that you weren’t expecting. I knew it would serve me well to keep that in mind.  I never thought I’d look at Faust as a relevant cautionary tale in my life, but...like Derek said every hell has its devil.

“What are her choices?”  It always boiled down to choices, but just like Dad had reminded me in his letter, there was always another option.

“Well, if she controls herself and manages her thirst, she could make different decisions in life and end up going to heaven.  Or…”

“Or what?”

“She can control herself and remain undecided.”

“Undecided?”

Fahl pursed his lips as if he was searching for the right way to explain.  “Think of it this way, no space is ever empty.  It is always occupied by something.  Now think of a person’s heart like a space.  If Leah kills then her heart darkens to…let’s call it
gray
.  That’s the area where I like to play, where black and white meet in the shadows.  Now,” he paused, obviously enjoying his lesson.  “People have been known to come back around to the light after killing, but it’s not a journey for the faint of heart.  But it could happen. 

“On the other hand, if she continues to kill, her heart will continue to darken and it will eventually be occupied by the ruler of the natural world and hell will be her resting place.  And, of course,” he said, his tone dropping as if he were glossing over the last.  “If she believes in the one who died for her, then her heart will be occupied by the light.  But,” he said, his animation returning.  “If she remains undecided…”

“Then?”

“Then she’s fair game and Grey will have another chance to reap her.  For me.”

“When will- how will I- how will all this happen?”

“You’ll know,” he said, his malevolent tone freezing me from the inside.

I thought about his words for a long time before something occurred to me.  I felt selfish for even considering it, much less asking, but I had to know.

“And what about me?  What will become of me?”

Fahl’s smile was pure delighted evil.  “Well, that depends on what your choice is, Carson.”

In a way, I was glad he didn’t answer me too directly, with too many specifics.  I didn’t want anything to falsely influence my decision.  I had to have a singular focus and I couldn’t do that if I was thinking of myself at all.

“Alright,” I said gravely, instantly feeling the heavy mantle of doom as it settled on my shoulders.

“Is that a yes?”  Fahl was all but salivating over my agreement.

“Yes, that’s a yes.”

As soon as the words left my tongue, Fahl’s thin lips twisted into a smile of great pleasure, so much pleasure that it made me wonder what I’d
really
just agreed to.  But I quickly reminded myself that no price was too high for my father and Derek.

“I’ll be in touch,” he said mysteriously and then he was gone and I was alone in the woods.

I stood in the clearing for a long time.  The tempest of emotion that thrashed about inside me finally died down into a strangely welcomed numbness.  I felt…nothing.  Maybe it was the peace that comes when the end is near.  Maybe it was that I’d faced a difficult decision, made a choice and now I knew my path.  Or maybe there was just too much to feel, therefore I felt nothing.  Whatever the cause, I was thankful for the reprieve.

Quietly, I moved out of the clearing and picked my way through the forest toward my car.  Once I looked up and thought I saw Derek watching me from the deepest shadow of a tree, but when I blinked he was gone.  I couldn’t even be sure he’d really been there at all.  I certainly didn’t feel any comforting presences.  I just felt…alone.

********

That night, I lay on the couch, trying to go to sleep, but my mind was plagued with questions—millions of them.  Strangely enough, one of the most recurring ones was about something Fahl had said earlier, about each of us being “occupied” with something. 

Could it be that Dad had been right all along?  I’d scoffed at Pastor Mike’s sermons for the last year and a half, and dozens of other preachers before that.  Where would I be now if I’d believed? 

It was that troublesome thought that ushered me into a fitful sleep.  The up side was that when I finally relaxed enough to dream, I dreamed of Derek. 

I was on a huge flat rock that was anchored in the side of a cliff and stretched way out over a slow-moving river.  The sun was shining brightly straight over head and I was in a bikini working on my tan.  I could smell the sweetness of coconut oil mingling with the crisp freshness of running water.  The heat of the rock at my back and the sun on my face was like a tranquilizer, lulling me into a semi-comatose state of relaxation.

A cool fingertip on my stomach forced me to crack my eyelids the tiniest bit.  It was Derek, leaning over me, a beatific smile on his face.  Immediately, my insides warmed faster and hotter than my outside.

“You’re here,” I said breathlessly.

“I’m here,” he said softly, his fingertip drawing lazy circles on my belly.

“I’ve missed you.”

“And I’ve missed you.”

“Can you stay?”

“Not very long.  Your dreams aren’t safe.  A part of you already belongs to him.”

“But I haven’t done anything yet.”

“No, but you made the deal.  That’s all that matters.  There’s no backing out now,” he said sadly.

“But I did it for you.”

“I know.  And I wish you hadn’t.  I did what I did to set you free.  But now…”

“Why?  Why did you do it?  We’d have been fine if—”

“No.  I led him to you, Carson.  I-I was so selfish and I had so much guilt and he used that.  He knows every weakness,
every single one
.”

“But if you hadn’t, I would never have met you.  And I wouldn’t trade that for…well for anything.” I paused, love spilling out of my heart and trembling on the tip of my tongue.  Then I realized that I had nothing to lose; it was only a dream.  “I love you.”

A tender expression came over Derek’s handsome features and my heart melted.  “I know.”  He dipped his head a few inches further toward me until our lips met.  His were cool and firm and he tasted just like I remembered.  Then he pulled away.  “The only thing I would have traded meeting you for is your soul.  I’d give anything to know that it’s safe, that
you
are safe.”

His silvery eyes were like warm, shimmering pools, swirling and hypnotic.  I could’ve stared into them forever, gladly drowning in the depths.  But then they hardened and he said, “He’s coming.  I have to be quick.”

“Who’s coming?”

“Fahl.  This is where the undecided souls separate from their bodies.  You picked a bad spot to sunbathe,” he mentioned wryly.  “Listen, Carson,” he began, leaning up and pulling me into a sitting position.  “There are some things I want you to know, things that will help you.  He’s going to use you as a reaper, like Grey.  You’ll be able to see them right before their time is up.  If you can find them, you can warn them, maybe save them.”

“But how do I find them?”

“Now that you’ve made the deal, there’s a house you can use.  I’ve never been there, but I’ve heard others talking.  Some black house that has a bunch of doors.  They’ll take you to the marked.  Just be careful.  Watch out for her.  And watch out for the others.”  He stood to leave, looking out across the water, scanning the shoreline. 

When he mentioned “the others”, it reminded me of something that I had wondered about, something that had bothered me.  “Wait!” I said, grabbing his arm.  “Last night, why did you hit me?”

Derek turned his attention to me, a pained expression on his face.  “I had to do it.  That’s something else I found out over here.  When your skin is broken, what’s underneath is like…it’s like…” I watched him struggle for the words.  Rather than the disgust I would have expected him to feel over my creepy white layer, he features showed nothing but wonder.  “light or something.  It’s powerful.  I don’t know what else it can do, but I know it makes the dead vulnerable to you.”

Oh, great.  So I could
literally
repel people with my freak-show skin.  Just what I always wanted.  All I had to do was slice off my epidermis and, presto bingo!  Fan-frickin’-tastic.

Hurriedly, Derek bent over and pressed a quick kiss to my forehead.  “He’s coming.  He can’t know I can find you in your dreams,” he whispered.  And then he was gone, disappearing into a cleft in the rocks.

I looked back across the water and I saw a young girl appear at the shoreline.  There was something familiar about the curly copper hair that shone in the sun.  Then I looked at her clothes.  She wore a beige A-line dress with a green sash decorated with patches.  It was the girl selling cookies at Leah’s house. 

Just then, she looked up at me, smiling and waving as if I were her favorite aunt.  A chill spread over my skin as I watched her.  She picked up rocks from the water’s edge and threw them toward the middle of the river.  I thought at first she was trying to skip stones and I snickered internally.  She’d never manage that in moving water. 

Then I saw the white belly of a fish break the surface.  It bobbed lifelessly in the current.  I looked back at the little girl.  She was giggling gleefully, clapping her hands.  I watched as she picked up another rock, a bigger one this time, and hefted it over her head.  She scanned the water briefly then lobbed the rock.  Seconds later, another white belly floated to the surface.  Again, she giggled and clapped, thrilled with either her aim or the result, I didn’t know which.  Either one was bothersome.

I looked back to the fish and discovered that it wasn’t a fish’s white belly at all.  It was a person’s.  A woman’s to be precise.  I could see where the water lapped at her naked breasts.  I looked at her face, but I couldn’t make out any detail.  Where it was covered with water, the glare of the sun obscured her features.  I could, however, make out a tangle of dark hair floating out around her head. And there was something familiar…

A warm breeze ruffled my hair just then.  That’s when I caught the scent, the stench of death and decay.  The stench of Fahl. 

Just then, the girl looked up at me, meeting my eyes from across the river, and she smiled again.  I felt a hand at my bare thigh, gently stroking the inside, rubbing the pulse that beat there.  I looked down, but no one was there.  I looked back at the girl and she smiled wider.

With a start, I awoke on the couch, the nauseating smell of Fahl still in my nostrils.  I was relieved to see the familiar ceiling of my living room hanging over my head.  I sat up and looked down at my legs.  The covers were pushed up to my waist and my bare legs were sprawled out in front of me.

The smallest disturbance of the air alerted me to her presence.  It was almost like a sigh drifting across my skin.  I turned my head and there, sitting crossed-legged on the floor next to where my head had been, was Leah.

My leg tingled again, right where I’d dreamed that someone was touching me.  “Leah, what are you doing?”  I pushed the covers back down to my toes.  “You scared me half to death.”

“I could hear your heart beating all the way in the bedroom, like drums pounding inside my head,” she said absently, her eyes fixated on my throat.  She seemed dazed, dreamy almost, like she wasn’t quite awake.  “It got faster and louder and then I could smell…”  She paused, her brow wrinkling delicately.  “Fear.”

I couldn’t imagine that babysitting a shark would’ve felt any different.  Perilous.  “I, uh, I had a bad dream.  Sorry I woke you,” I said, swinging my legs around to put my feet on the floor.  I felt too vulnerable lounging on the couch.  I had to be able to move.  Quickly.