Page 58 of Haunted Hearts

“Is old age catching up on you? Your hearing going—”

“Cut the shit, Cave. When did Remy go missing?”

Caveman’s anger melts away from his face and is quickly replaced with concern. “He’s been missing for five days now. At first, we thought he may have returned from his reaping and went to go with the rescue crew to help the realms that are falling apart. But when Arty went in search of him, Remy wasn’t with the search teams. He just never came back from reaping.” He pauses, his glare returning. “But you’d know that already if you were around.”

The last time reapers started going missing it wasn’t long before the Veil sealed shut. And the person behind all of that was Fulton.

What if Fulton has— No, I can’t think like that. And what is this about the realms falling apart?

“Which realms are falling apart? Do we know why?” Is it because Willow’s here in the Realm of the Dead and it's reacting to her presence? No, that can’t be right. She’s part of this realm. If anything, her soul being here would stabilize any imbalances.

“The newest realms that have formed, on the far edges of existence,” Caveman waves lazily off to the right. “New realms are always unstable. But of course, you’re more worried about that than of Remy. You don’t care about any of us here.”

Yes, newer realms form all the time, but they're never so unstable that it would cause it’s inhabitants harm. It’s never been that extreme. Usually, it’s just bad weather or the twin suns don’t appear for a day or two at a time.

Something doesn’t feel right.

“Caveman, we have to find Remy,now.” I summon my scythe, my hand wrapping around it as it materializes.

Without hesitation, Caveman summons his too. “Why do you care now?”

“I’ve always cared!”

“Then where have you been? Why have you ditched us?”

I scowl, “Because I found my other half, Cave, but she wasn’t dead yet!”

My friend opens his mouth, I’m sure to shut down any other excuse he’d expected from me, but my answer halts whatever it is he’s about to say.

“I’ve been following Willow across the realms here, waiting for her to open the Veil so I can catch another glimpse of her—”

“Wait, she could open the Veil?”

I sigh, “Yeah, she could do it and when she did, she’d send the souls she gathered over. Anyway, after the first time I saw her, I could feel our connection, even with the Veil shut and I would follow—”

My friend holds up his hand to stop me. “Your woman was the one sending souls over? That’s where the random masses of spirits were coming from? How is that possible? That would require Death Magic.”

“Caveman, are you going to let me talk or are you going to keep interrupting me?”

He shakes his head and waves his hand to urge me to continue.

“Anyway, she’s here now in this realm, but I just stuck my foot in my mouth and probably ruined everything with her. I came back here to regroup. Now, can we go find Remy?”

Caveman props his scythe up and uses it to lean against. “You’re not telling me something. Is it about your mate or do you know something about Remy?”

I groan as we waste more time chitchatting, “I have a sinking suspicion that they may overlap.”

Caveman stares down at me for a moment longer before nodding.

“Are you going to explain that?”

I shake my head as my shoulder sags, “No, we have a reaper to save.”

* * *

“Ok this is where Remy was supposed to pick up his soul.”

The slender Fae reaper beside me uses her hand to shade her eyes from the sunlight. The light in the Realm of the Living is much dimmer than back home, but when it’s bearing down directly on you, it’s still rather uncomfortable. In front of us, just under the blinding sun, is an old, abandoned hotel. Most of the windows are dirty, there is graffiti on the sides, and there are chains wrapped around the handle of the front doors.

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