Fury pulses through my veins, briefly overshadowing my terror. “You’re blackmailing me into taking the scythe?” I ask in disbelief. One of the demons leaps over the top of the building, narrowly missing me, but the impact of its landing knocks me into the street. “Why are you doing this?” I shriek.
The demon lifts its foot, and I roll out of the way before it can smash me into the asphalt. “The demons are attracted to you because of the powerful spiritual signature you’re giving off,” the professor says calmly even as he dodges an attack from the second demon. “You must have unleashed it when you picked up Mr. Bellator’s scythe the other day. They’re going to keep coming after you,” he says as I scramble to my feet, “and if you don’t learn how to fight them, they’re going to devour your soul.”
The demon lunges for me, but this time the professor intercedes. He darts in, faster than the eye can see, and the next thing I know we’re soaring high above the demon’s head. We land on top of an apartment building, and the demon roars as it spins around, trying to figure out where we went.
“Even if I pick up the scythe,” I pant as he sets me down, “what difference is that going to make? I’ll kill the demons today, but I can’t walk around with a weapon that keeps knocking me out of my body. I’ll die.”
“And you’ll also die if you don’t.” The man’s eyes glitter from behind his horn-rimmed spectacles as he holds out the scythe once more. “The way I see it, Addison Marie Blake, you have two choices. Either take up the scythe and embrace your destiny as a reaper, or allow yourself to be devoured by the demons. The first choice offers you a new path—one away from your current life, perhaps, but also rewarding and filled with adventure. The second offers only oblivion, without even the promise of the afterlife waiting beyond. Once a demon devours your soul, that’s it for you. Your spiritual energy will be absorbed into its essence, and you will cease to exist.”
I swallow hard, tears burning at my eyes. “You’re telling me that in order to save my soul, I’m going to have to die.”
He nods.
A whooshing sound draws my attention, and I glance to my left to see both demons leaping into the air, heading straight for us. Their red eyes gleam hungrily in the darkness, and I can actually feel them tugging at my energy, feeding off tendrils from my aura. I grit my teeth as another wave of anger washes through me.
These bastards have already taken Cass from me. They’re not taking another damn thing, not if I can help it.
Before I can change my mind, I grab the scythe from the reaper. Power blasts through me, knocking me straight out of my body, and I use the momentum to launch myself at the demon closest to me. It twists in mid-air, avoiding my first strike, and we both land on the rooftop.
A whistling sound passes over my head as the second demon swipes for me, followed by a blast of searing red energy. I don’t have to look behind me to know that professor is drawing the second demon’s attention away from me, so I focus my attention on the first one. It charges again, and this time I’m able to dodge with lightning-fast speed, running around it in circles like I’m the Flash. It spins with me, getting dizzy, and once I have it thoroughly confused, I jump into the air, swing my scythe, and decapitate it with one clean stroke.
The head and body thud to the ground, then crumble away into nothingness.
“Well done, Miss Blake.” The professor’s voice snaps me out of the moment. I turn to see him standing behind the other demon, which is bound up with a glowing rope tied into a series of intricate knots oddly reminiscent of shibari. The rope seems to be coming directly from the professor’s palm, and he is staring at me with an expression that’s hard to read. I’d thought he’d be pleased, after working so hard to get me to pick up the scythe, but his dark gaze is thoughtful, as if I’m a puzzle he’s trying to solve. “Please decapitate this one as well. I can’t hold him much longer.”
I do as he says, trying not to dwell on the fact that I’m getting awfully comfortable with this whole decapitation thing. The demon dissipates, and the professor vanishes the glowing rope with a wave of his hand.
“Now what?” I glance back at my body, which is lying spread-eagle next to the massive generator perched on top of the building. “I don’t suppose you’re going to let me go back into my body, are you?”
The professor shrugs. “I could. But I won’t be here to offer you my scythe the next time the demons come for you. The only place you’ll be safe at is Reaper Academy.”
Academy. “Is that where that guy I met the other day is from?” I ask, remembering my conversation with the reaper who’d taken Cass away. Bellator, was that his name? “Is he some kind of reaper in training?”
“Yes, and he was not supposed to be hunting alone that night.” The professor’s mouth twitches. “Though it is very fortunate for you that he did, and that he encountered you. Your full powers would have manifested at some point, even if you’d never picked up Mr. Bellator’s scythe, and with no reaper around to watch over you, you and your friend would have both been devoured.”
“My friend—you mean Cass?” I grip the handle of the scythe harder, using it to support myself as my knees weaken. “What happened to her? Is she all right?”
“She’s perfectly safe,” he said, “and waiting for you on the other side. You can see her, if you’ll just come with me.” He offers his arm out to me.
I hesitate, glancing back at my body. But really, what am I waiting for? There’s nothing to pack that I can take to the afterlife, and although I’m disappointed that I’m not going to get to hear about Mrs. Garcia’s date, it’s not the end of the world. My architecture degree isn’t going to do me much good if I’m dead, and I have no close friends, no family ties, no one who will grieve me very much. The one person I care about the most is already gone, and she’s waiting for me on the other side.
“Okay.” I take a deep breath, then loop my arm through his. “I’m ready.”
3
The moment I grasp the professor’s arm, he raises his other arm, palm out, and shouts an incantation. Runes glow upon his palm, and I gasp in surprise as a whirling vortex opens up right in front of us.
“Hold on tight!” he shouts as we’re sucked through. A kaleidoscope of colors whirls around my vision, making me dizzy, and I force my eyes shut to keep myself from getting sick. Some kind of force presses in on me, as if I’m being shoved through a very tight tube, and then—
Wham. My feet land on solid ground, and I stumble.
“Steady now.” The professor releases my arm so he can slide his arm around my waist, supporting me so I don’t face-plant into the polished wooden floor beneath us. “I forgot how shocking portal travel can be to the uninitiated. Are you all right?” he asks kindly.
I blink rapidly, trying to clear the stars from my vision. I feel like I did that time I drank an entire bottle of warmed-up, spiced red wine after walking home from school in a snowstorm. It hit me hard and fast and I spent the rest of the night puking in the toilet while listening to Cassandra tell me how I should have known better.