Page 14 of Reaper's Ruin
I shrugged. “Well, they can do magic, and some of the Storm Court can ride the wind, so I guess they can sort of fly, but no wings.”
Her eyes popped wider. “Seriously? Magic is real? Holy shit.”
I furrowed my brow. How was this surprising information to her? Every fae had some connection to magic, though others had more powerful magic than others. “Of course magic is real. Where exactly are you from?” I asked, more and more curious about how this human soul was so confused about her afterlife and Faelora.
“Oakridge, Minnesota,” she said, as if the words should mean something to me. “Little town about an hour north of Minneapolis? Near the lake with the funny name that everyone mispronounces.”
I stared at her blankly.
“America?” she tried. “United States? Earth?”
Understanding dawned. “You’re from the Mortal Realm,” I said slowly.
“The Mortal Realm? So, there are seriously like, realms? And this is what, like the fae realm?” She lifted her eyebrows sinking back on her heels. “I’m really starting to hope this is some horribleacid trip and I can sue the company that made my kettle corn for tampering with it.”
I ignored all the words she’d just said that I didn’t understand at all. “If you’re from the Mortal Realm, how did you get here?” I asked, still stunned I was speaking to a human. And one from the Mortal Realm at that. “Humans don’t just appear in Faelora. The barriers between realms—”
“I don’t know. But if I’m in the wrong realm, does that mean I can’t get my door?” Suddenly her eyes went big. “My mom. Is she here too? Please, I need to find my mom. She... she was killed too.”
A twinge of sorrow for her pinged inside my chest as I looked at her, eyes pleading, searching for answers I didn’t have.
“There are no other human souls on Faelora that I’m aware of.”
Her lip quivered as she spoke. “But, I went home. I didn’t see her soul there either, just her... her body. So, if she’s not there, and she’s not here. Where is she?” Fresh tears started to spill, and I had an unnatural desire to reach out and touch her shoulder. Comfort her. But I stayed my hand, not that I could touch her anyway without a dark shadow letting me cross.
“Most souls can’t leave the place where they died. They can only wander a small distance. So, if she wasn’t there, the likelihood is that she got her door right away and moved on.”
Her eyes lit up. “Really? So, she’s probably safe? In Heaven?”
I honestly didn’t know how to answer her, but I nodded with the truth. “It’s the most likely explanation.”
“That’s comforting at least. She was such a good person. Of course she got a door right away. But if my mom is in Heaven, and I’m stuck in this... Faelora place, how am I supposed to find her?” Fresh tears welled in her eyes. “I can’t be separated from her forever. I can’t.”
The raw desperation in her voice struck something in me. I remembered that feeling—the wild, clawing need to reach those who had been taken from me. To find them again, somehow.
“Your door would take you to the same place as your mother,” I said, hoping it was true. I had no idea if this “Heaven” aligned with Solarium, and honestly none of us truly knew what lay behind those doors. Those secrets were kept only for those who had crossed through them. But I couldn’t bear to watch her crumble again, so I told her what she wanted to hear, whether it was the truth or not, it wouldn’t matter. Her destiny was not on the other side of the door but at the end of my scythe. Though I couldn’t seem to bear to tell her that either.
“Really?” Hope lit her face once more. “So, I just need to find my door and I’ll see my mom again?”
I nodded, though I had no way of knowing if that was true. The rules of death weren’t something reapers discussed. We simply performed our function.
“So, how do I do it? How do I get my door?”
“I don’t know. It should just appear. Nothing about what is happening to you right now is normal.”
“But I still don’t understand,” she continued, her brow furrowing. “How did I get to Faelora? I died in my house. In the Mortal Realm, or whatever you call it. And then I was just... here. Jumping between places.”
I frowned, studying her more closely. The soul frequency I’d been tracking had appeared in Faelora only days ago, just as the Veil Lords had said. But if she’d just died... was it possible she hadn’t had time to get her door yet?
“And you still haven’t told me who you are. If you’re not an angel, and I’m not in Heaven, then who are you, and who were those dark shadowy things popping up all over before you?”
I knew I should stop this line of questioning and put her out of her misery quickly, luring her to the shadows then pulling her into the Shadowveil so I could reap her, but each time I imagined slicing my scythe through her, it caused a flicker of guilt and agony inside me instead of the usual thrill and joy that came with reaping fae.
She was human. And a beautiful, scared human soul at that.
There would be no joy in ending her existence and denying her an afterlife with her mother she coveted so much.
“Please, tell me. Who are you? Are you here to help me find my door or something?”
