Page 11 of Death Trap

Simon’s concern made worry worm up my spine. “I should be fine. As long as there aren’t any full demons hanging around.”

I tried to make my tone light, but it did little to ease the apprehension on his face.

“Jade, don’t forget Azrael is still out there. And we both know he wanted you out of his way for some reason…”

Ah, there it was. Simon was worried about Azrael. I didn’t blame him. Azrael was the Angel of Death and one scary S.O.B.

But even still, I didn’t want my mentor to worry about me every time I passed into the living world. I’d managed to go on this long without crossing paths with him, and I was hoping that lucky streak would continue.

“I’ll be fine, Simon,” I assured him.

“I don’t know, Jade. I just want to make sure you’re safe.” It was then he realized he was still holding my shoulder and quickly withdrew. “Just remember, the distress button—”

“Press it if anything feels funny. I got it.” I forced myself to smile at him to ease his nerves. “And what was the other thing?”

“Hmm?” He glanced up at the branches again for a moment.

“You said there were two things you wanted me here for.”

“Ah, yes.” He reached into the many layers of his long frock and pulled out a regular manila folder. He held it out for me to take.

When I did, I realized it was completely empty. I opened it and closed it just in case there was some kind of magic to it, but there wasn’t. No papers inside. Not even a staple or paperclip.

“What’s this for?” I asked.

Simon pointed to the name on the tab part.Benjamin Tanner.

“Is this supposed to mean something to me?” Besides a few Benjamins and Bens I had reaped over the last year and a half, the name didn’t hold much importance to me.

“Since I have taken over Azrael’s place for now, I was instructed to move my things into his office…”

Instructed? By who? I’d have to remember that question for later and ask him, but for now, I let him go on.

“As I was going through his desk, I found a hidden drawer. There were several folders like these in there. Ten of them had our names on them and paperwork on us in them. But most…most were empty, and Benjamin’s was in the front.”

My pulse started to race. “Wait, did our folders have anything about our lives in it? Anything about who I am or what I was before a reaper?”

Could a simple manila folder have the answers I’d been waiting for?

Simon shook his head. “Only progress reports and disciplinary notices.” He meant the last one for me, most likely. I’d always had a thing for not really following Azrael’s rules and got in trouble a lot for it.

“So, I don’t understand. What does Benjamin’s folder have to do with anything?”

“If ten of the folders with reaper names were full, then the others that were empty could only mean those were the reapers who have been Released in the past.”

Ah, it was coming together now. “And that means Benny-boy here was the latest one to go. The one I replaced.”

Oh my God. I knew the name of the reaper before me.

It hit me like a swift, hard smack to the forehead.

The tidal wave of nerves and excitement turned into nausea, and I suddenly felt ill. It was just one small detail—the first step, really—to finding out my past, but it was stillsomething.And that was more than I’d had in a long time.

“But now, you have a name,” Simon said. “You would have been his last assignment, too, since all Released reapers must cross over their successors for the lottery to kick in.”

“How the heck do you know that?”

“When I was on the verge of being Released myself, Azrael and I had a very frank conversation,” he said, and guilt clenched my gut. If I had been the reason for Simon’s Release—if he became one of those empty folders in Azrael’s desk—I would have never forgiven myself.

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