Page 7 of Touch of Death
The whinny of a horse carries across the water as I sit up. Turning, I see a giant white stallion rearing up on the shoreline as a rider dressed in all black holds on to his mane. The horse snorts as his hooves slam down into the muddy riverbank as those same inky shadows slither back to swirl up around it.
The rider straightens, his dark eyes flickering briefly to mine from behind an ornate bone mask before narrowing on Charon. Something within his gaze cuts me to my core and has my heart skipping a beat in my chest … and yet, every instinct within me warns me against him.
“Death,” Charon says with a dry chuckle, “what brings you to my humble river?”
The rider’s name is … Death?
I can’t help the way my eyes widen as I put everything together. The pale horse, the midnight rider of shadow and ice, is quiteliterallydeath incarnate.
“The girl,” Death shouts, my heart once again skipping a beat in my chest as the deep iciness of his voice sends chills racing down my spine and across my skin. “Give her over to me. Her soul ismine.”
My heart thuds to a stop in my chest asfearsuddenly takes over.
What life did I live before in which Death must still come for me here?
4
Death
“No,” Charon finally answers, drawing himself up, “her soul belongs to the Underworld now. She has already boarded the ferry, and I have only one course of action left to take to fulfill my duties.”
“Charon, do not test me,” I growl in warning.
“Test you? I would not dare,” Charon sneers, “I am simply stating the facts. You have already played your part, Death. Now, you must let me play mine.”
“You seem to be forgetting yourself, Ferryman.”
“It isyouwho forgets himself. The river’s debt must be paid,” Charon says, grabbing Hazel by a handful of her hair and dragging her back to the boat’s edge, “and seeing as she has no coin to do so—”
“I will make you deal,” I shout as I dismount Knax, my boots hitting the ground with a heavy thud. Anger burns in me at the sight of him touching her, and I have to force myself to remember that smiting him would only further seal Hazel’s fate out there on the Styx.
“A deal with Death,” Charon muses. “What do you propose?”
“I will pay her passage,” I answer, “as well as my own. Simply ferry us across together, thus satisfying your duties and the river’s debt. Then, you can return us to this side and allow her to leave with me.”
“And if I refuse?”
“I will see to it that it is the last decision you ever make.”
Charon’s grip momentarily tightens in Hazel’s hair before he finally releases her back into the boat, and I make note of all the ways I intend to make him pay for hurting her … once she is safely away from here, of course.
“Fine,” he says with a snort, “I will accept your deal … under one condition.”
“Which is?”
“You pay double the fee.”
Disgust washes over me at this. Of course, I should have expected as much from the greedy demon.
“Very well,” I say, reaching into my pocket to pull out four heavy gold coins.
Charon’s eyes light up at the sight of them, and he nearly falls over himself as he scrambles to guide the boat back to shore.
My fingers close around the gold coins, my shadows twisting up around me as he draws closer. The only thing keeping me from unleashing my fury on him is the small huddled form of Hazel curled up in the bottom of his ferry.
Knax paws the ground behind me, his dislike for Charon only outranked by my own.
“The coins?” Charon presses as the boat runs aground.
