Page 67 of The Reluctant Reaper
Amara scooched the chair closer to the bed and thought how best to answer. “You know Gray’s been Reaping with me.”
“Yes, to our surprise and pleasure. Not only did you show up when summoned?—”
“Oh, c’mon. I’m not that bad. Obviously I would have come home. Um. Eventually. Within a week at most, depending on how my new job at the RV park was going. Those garbage bins won’t empty themselves, Mother. I have to call to get someone to do it.”
“—you immediately dove in and seem bent on smashing any norms in your path. The only surprise is that we’re surprised.”
“Yes, yes, I’m a grumpy rebel and always have been. They can see Gray, Mom.”
“Beg pardon?”
“The ones about to die answer Gray when he talks to them because they can see and hear him. Except he can get in anywhere, like me, so in that respect, theycan’tsee or hear him. He even pointed out how we walked past any number of armed airmen and neither of us were hassled, or even stopped.”
Hilly straightened and rubbed the small of her back. “What are you saying?”
“Why is my best friend Death’s appendage? Why is he enjoying the same shield I am?”
“Oh, Amara.” Hilly’s expression was typical of mothers everywhere: equal parts exasperation and adoration. “When will you outgrow the need to ask questions you’ve answered yourself?”
She sighed. “I was afraid of that. Your truthandyour nonanswer. Here’s the other oddity: I couldn’t find everyone on the scrolls.”
Hilly, who had bent to resume Death’s bed bath, paused in midscrub. “I don’t—what?”
“There were people on the list I couldn’t find. They weren’t where they were supposed to be. Where the scroll said they would be. The infallible scroll that has never, ever been wrong even once throughout history.”
“But that’s?—”
“Exactly.”
Hilly sat down, hard.Yikes. Thank goodness the chair was there.“It’s forbidden. It’s near impossible. And it’s unthinkable.”
“And yet.”
“Amara, Gray will die.”
“I’m aware.” She was, but she still nearly reared back at her mother’s bald statement. “And I get why you felt the need to reinforce that. Ouch, by the way.”
“Amara...”
“Because if people on the scroll are missing, that might be a loophole. It’s possible Gray could be one of them. Named but not Reaped. So there might be a way to save him.”
“Except it’s forbidden!” Hilly shrilled. She caught herself and got to her feet. “Forgive me, both for the outburst and the necessary reminder that the man you love will not live to see the summer solstice.”
“Ah, yes. The ‘sorry but it was necessary’ nonpology.”
“Tell me how he leaves this world.”
“This world.” Like there’s something out there, as opposed to the abyss.
“Aneurysm,” Amara replied shortly. “The brain damage sustained from years of child abuse combined with high blood pressure means that a chunk of his brain will pop like a balloon. They killed him. Those abusive psychopaths killed him when he was too little to fight back. It just took two decades to take effect.”
Hilly held out her arms, but Amara shook her head. “I’ve done enough crying all over you for one day.”
“Tomorrow, then,” her mother replied, and though it wasn’t especially funny, Amara laughed.
ChapterThirty-Four
Later, as the sun began to slip away and her stomach began grumbling to itself, Amara looked up fromCeltic Legendsto see Hades and Persephone standing over Death’s bedside, holding hands like frightened children and looking woeful.
