Page 44 of Haunted By the Shadow of Death

“They took what wasn’t theirs, and they will be punished. The people behind Death Day, the ones who purged the world of so many souls at once, stole from me, and I will get vengeance.”

Even as the temperature dropped another ten degrees, I could feel the white-hot anger flowing from her.

“What does any of this have to do with me?”

“I. Can’t. You will be my vengeance upon them.” She stepped closer.

I backed away.

I didn’t care about holding my ground, not with Death. There was no delusion of balance of power. She could take my life in a second, and I wouldn’t have enough time to beg her to spare me before it was over.

“Why me? You don’t need me. You’re you. What would you need me for?” I continued to back away from her, but she kept following me.

“I don’t only want them dead,” she said. “I want them to know they’re going to die and why. I want them to be waiting for it to come, to fear it, to dread it. I want them to pay with more than just their death. I want the fear to be so thick that they take their own lives to escape what’s coming for them. I want them to pay so brutally that the story will be passed down for a millennium.”

“Then do it.” I didn’t even blame her. I harbored as much hate for these people as she did. But I still didn’t understand why she was telling me all this. Why did she need me?

“I. Can’t,” she said, and her voice felt like it shook the ground underneath me. “There is a veil that hangs between what I am and what they can see. I need someone from this world, a vessel to carry out my deeds and allow me to flow through them.”

She wanted me to be her monster. If I could’ve, I might’ve died from dread right then and there, but she’d probably force me to stay alive somehow.

“You will be untouchable. I’ll teach you to be even more than you thought capable,” she said.

“What if I don’t want that?” Even if any of this sounded desirable, which it didn’t, I’d learned one thing: magic had a price. You didn’t change and only get the upside. There was no way what she was planning wouldn’t cause a change in me. Maybe already had? “Are you that dark, cold feeling that’s growing inside of me?”

“You should be happy if part of what I am transfers to you. Grateful for the power that it instills in you.”

I didn’t care what power that darkness inside brought. I didn’t want it. It felt like a disease trying to take hold of my soul. If this kept happening, I’d wish for death.

“No. I don’t want this. I won’t do it.”

“You must. You are the only one who can.”

“Take some other person. Use someone that wants what you are offering. I don’t.” I could already kill with a touch. What would become of me after she channeled her magic through me? No. The mere thought of it made me stiffen, nearly strangled me with fear.

“There is no other. You will do this. Not only will you do this, you will beg me to do this.” She spoke as if she knew what the future held. Whatever she knew, I hoped it didn’t come to pass, because this wasn’t what I wanted.

She was gone. The rough bark of a tree scraped at my back and my legs could no longer keep me up. I was nearly hyperventilating, my face wet with tears, sitting in the mud under the tree when Kicks found me.

He knelt in front of me, running his hands over my legs and then arms. “Pips, are you hurt?” He put his hand under my chin, lifting my face. “Pips? What happened? Did someone chase you here?”

“I’m okay. Nobody is here.” There was only one silver lining—I might kill when threatened, but I wasn’t the indiscriminate killing machine I’d feared. I wasn’t that much of a monster. Not yet, anyway.

“What happened?” He scanned the perimeter and the ground, looking for tracks, trying to piece the scene together.

Death was gone from sight, but I still couldn’t bring myself to say anything. I didn’t know if I could. How did you tell someone that Death wanted you to be its vengeance? To use you to kill people and leave traces of whatever she was behind, inside of you? Planned on doing it again and again until you weren’t even you anymore? How did you tell someone that?

He carried me back to the cabin, continuously looking around, trying to piece together what had happened.

He placed me in the chair and then pulled it closer to the fire.

“You have to tell me what happened. And don’t say nothing. I can smell the fear on you, and your hands are trembling.”

I stared at him kneeling in front of me and choked on the truth. Imagined the disgust on his face if he knew. I had to leave him anyway. I didn’t want him to remember me as a monster. Instead of telling him, I looked down at my lap.

“I never wanted to force you to tell me anything. I wanted you to trust me, and to tell me things that bothered you because you wanted to. But no matter what I do, I can’t earn your trust. I’ll have to accept that. ” He stood. “Make sure you pack light.”

He walked away.

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