Page 77 of Shadow of Death

“I don’t care. That’s what I’m choosing.” He’d caught me on the wrong day to try this. If he wouldn’t listen to me, I just wouldn’t follow his fake rules for his fake test. One way or another, he’d understand this was over.

“You can’t,” he said.

“Why? You know I won’t choose Charlie and Kicks, and you and your people, whoever they are, don’t want the rest of theworld dead. If they die, you become obsolete. Whatisthe point, then?What are we doing here?” I threw up my hands.

“You must choose.” His voice was near booming, as if that might rattle me.

“I did.”

The faceless creatures in the dark whispered louder.

Was this it? Would they kill me this time? Was I delusional in calling their bluff? All the struggling, the fighting to survive, and I might go out like this? If that was my fate, I could live with it. I was finding that as much as I wanted to live, I wouldn’t—couldn’t—live likethis.

Charon didn’t speak. He just stood there. My rage was growing so thick it was becoming hard to contain. It made me want to reach out and throw that cloak off his head, see what kind of monster really lay beneath.

I stepped closer to him. “You want to kill me? Do it.”

Charon said nothing.

“Were youevergoing to help me? Was this some sick game of yours?” My voice was unsteady, but not from fear. My rage was making my voice crack. “That’s all you’ve got? You put me through hell, make me play these games, and I can’t even speak?”

The noises from the shadows grew louder.

“He likes to play games,” Death said, appearing beside us. “I told you he wasn’t to be trusted.”

It was the first time her voice wasn’t just in my head.

I wasn’t sure if I should be relieved or concerned. Was she here on my side or just to watch me get slaughtered? To be able to say “I told you so” before I died? To see me get what she thought I deserved?

“She’s mine,” Death said, almost hissing the words at Charon. “She doesn’t die unlessIsay so, as you well know.”

Her claim felt like a two-ton stone had just dropped, and I wasn’t sure if I was happy about it or not. The only bright point was, had I been right? They couldn’t kill me? Was she the reason?

Charon turned toward her. “She can’t be allowed to do your bidding anymore. It defies the laws of how we work.” His words were firm, but there was a slight edge to them that hadn’t been there before Death arrived.

“She’smine.” Death physically put herself between me and Charon, emanating a strange shadow all around her that was so thick it looked tangible.

“Yes, your abomination,” Charon boomed, and then the faceless creatures in the shadows began stepping forward all around us.

There were so many of them, at least a few hundred. Some looked human, others were fantastical creatures with horns, and others didn’t seem to have a solid form at all. There was a centaur and a bull, a fairy, and everything in between. The only thing they had in common was that none of them appeared friendly.

“She must die. Either she does or you do,” Charon said.

The horde of gods grew closer, hemming us in from all sides.

“What was the point of all these tests if you were just going to kill me?” I yelled, looking at Charon and then the endless enemies.

“If we’d deemed you controllable, we would’ve let you live.” He turned to Death. “But we can’t control her, and neither can you. She must die and you must kill her. It’s her or you.”

I watched as Death turned in a circle, as if weighing the odds. They weren’t on our side unless she was more powerful than all of these other creatures combined.

She was going to screw me. It was all over her face. She’d turned me into this freak and now was ready to walk away. A few moments later she nodded, agreeing.

“We had a deal,” I said.

“It’s me or you,” she replied, with no visible shame at all. That must’ve been the one human expression she hadn’t bothered with. “Everything is replaceable, even me. If I don’t kill you, I’ll cease to exist.”

“And they can’t kill me.”

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