Reaper's Hollow: The Complete Series

Chapter 12-3

Ru stood on the top of a mountain, barren of any sort of life except for a few scraggly bushes in the distance. She felt the wind pick up, blowing the long white dress she wore out behind her.

She was looking down into a rocky cavern illuminated by the moonlight, but she felt a presence behind her. Turning slowly, she wasn’t at all surprised to see the man standing there. Dressed in his black cloak, with his hood down around his shoulders, he stared at her. Even from twenty feet away, his green eyes seemed to penetrate her very soul.

“How are you, Rune?” he asked, his melodic voice ringing out into the open air and dancing on the breeze. This time, his mouth moved. It was as if they were old friends.

“Thanatos,” she said, acknowledging him. “What are we doing here?”

“I wanted to speak to you,” he replied, nonchalantly. “You’ve received a lot of information, some of it more reliable than the rest. I wanted to let you know I can help you understand.”

“You can help me?” she replied, fighting a grin. “But you’re Death. You take the souls of the unmarked.” The words were not her own; she’d discovered them in her research, confirmation of Cutter’s story.

He smiled. “That’s not true, Ru. I prevent catastrophe. I take the souls of those who would cause utter chaos if they were not stopped. You can’t possibly know that, but I can. My father knows all. He sends me to claim those who must be stopped.”

Ru didn’t believe him, but it was an interesting explanation. “Then why do the Keepers hunt you?”

“I wish I had an answer for that.” His eyes looked woeful. “We are not so different, the Keepers and myself. They seem to think they’ve been sent here by God, that they are doing His bidding. They take my brethren and sentence them to an eternity of torment. I set souls free, allow them to follow their own path. I do not condemn them to Hell the way the Keepers do. If you will come with me, Ru, I can show you.”

She found herself intrigued by his emotion and his candidness, though she still wasn’t certain a word he spoke was true. He seemed to believe it. “I can’t go with you,” she replied. “I don’t want to die.”

“I told you, I don’t wish to claim your soul. But you know, Ru, you and I are of the same blood. You know that your father was one of my father’s most trusted soldiers. That is, until the Keepers captured him and sent him away forever.”

Ru’s eyebrows shot up. “My father?” she repeated.

“Yes. Larkin.”

The sound of his name made something catch inside of her. Thanatos knew of her father, and it was the same name that Cutter had used. “You knew him?”

Thanatos shook his head. “He was banished when I was but a boy. I know of him, though. I know that his blood runs through your veins, and even though they’ve tried to convince you that you are not like me, you are. Don’t let them destroy the Reaper in you, Ru. Despite the fact that you look like your mother, it is still there, deep down inside.”

She had so many questions, yet the most important one sprang from her lips. “Did you know my mother?”

Once again, he shook his head. “No, but I will help you find her. Seraphina did her best to unite the two sides of this fray. She wanted only to bring us all together. She was marked as a criminal for her actions. The Keepers sought to destroy her, so she fled. Once she knew you were safe, she went into hiding. But we can find her, Ru, you and I, together. When we do, we can make sure the Keepers can never hurt her again.”

Ru was stunned. Was what he said true? Were the Keepers really trying to harm her mother?

“Take my hand,” Thanatos said, extending it and walking a few feet forward. “We will find her together.”

Looking at his hand and then back at his beautiful face, Ru felt a sense of calm in her gut. Tears were cascading down her cheeks, she realized, tears for her poor mother. She did not swipe them away. She glanced back from his hand to his face and then back again. Maybe Thanatos really could help her find her mother.

“Nat! You have no right to be here!”

The voice came from behind her. Startled, Ru turned to find Cutter slowly walking toward her. Dressed in the same outfit he’d worn to school that day, brown slacks and a red button down shirt, he didn’t look like a supernatural being. He looked like a fourth grade teacher. But his eyes commanded respect from Thanatos, and when she caught his gaze for just a flicker of an instant, Ru wasn’t sure if she should trust him or turn back to Thanatos.

“Cutter, I’m sorry to tell you Rune has already made her choice.”

“No, she hasn’t,” Cutter replied. “Ru, you know you can’t go with him.” He was looking at her so sincerely, his eyes cautious.

“But… he said he can help me find my mother.”

“So can we,” Cutter promised. “And… you know you can trust us. We don’t take unmarked souls. We’re the good guys.”

Thanatos laughed. “So he would have you believe. Come along, Rune. We must start our search.”

Ru looked back at Thanatos, his hand still extended, and then at the pleading look in Cutter’s eyes. How could she choose? Should she go with the man who promised to find her mother, the one who knew so much and wanted to help her, despite the warning that he was evil? Or should she turn to the one who had done nothing but confuse and bewilder her, making her question her entire universe? Ru stood confused, contemplating what she should do next when a line from a movie she hadn’t watched in years surfaced. With as much resolve as she could muster, paraphrasing the main character’s words, she shouted, “You don’t have any power over me!” to both of them. Like a breaking glass, the world around her shattered, and once again, Ru felt herself falling.

Gasping for air, Ru shot upright in her bed. Although the fact that every light in the house seemed to be on again, as well as every appliance, including her ceiling fan and the television, which she could hear blasting from the living room, that wasn’t the most startling encounter she made upon opening her eyes. Looking down at her hands, she saw bright blue orbs glowing from the centers of them. Blinking in disbelief, she continued to stare as the light slowly faded and disappeared.

“Oh, my God…” Ru whispered, once the light was gone. How had she managed to create the same power in the palms of her hands as Cutter had made? She started to rub the sleep from her eyes as she stumbled from her bed but caught herself, not trusting her own hand to touch her face. She had no idea what this phenomenon was or what its ramifications might be.

Once she was on her feet, she rushed to the living room to turn the television off, afraid a neighbor might call the police, it was booming so loudly. She also had to turn off the blender, toaster, and coffee maker. She used oven mitts to keep from blowing them up. Walking from room to room, she switched off all of the lights and then entered her bathroom where she noticed her straightener was on. “I don’t need any more fire hazards,” she muttered, pulling the plug from the wall.

Everything off, she went back to her room. Piper was nowhere to be found, and she assumed the kitty had gotten frightened by all the sudden noise, or possibly the glowing orbs. With a sigh, Ru shut the lights off and dropped onto her mattress, exhausted. The clock read 3:32, which meant she’d been asleep for quite some time before the dream. But it had felt so real, it was as if she really was standing out there on the mountaintop, talking to Thanatos, when Cutter appeared out of nowhere. It really did seem like all three of them were having an actual conversation. “But that’s not possible,” she mumbled. Regardless of Cutter’s claims, Thanatos was a myth, not even a real person. And there was no way Cutter could situate himself into her dream, even if he could manage to make fire and lights appear in his bare hands.

The thought made her glance down at her own palms. It was dark, and she could see nothing but the outlines of her hands. There was certainly no spinning blue light now. Had she really created glowing orbs, or was it all her imagination?

Settling back in under the blanket, she tucked one hand under the pillow and nestled the other under her chin. Thanatos had made a convincing argument. He knew of her father and her mother, and he said he could help her find Seraphina. Was it possible that Larkin was really restrained in the bowels of Hell? Could Ruin find him, and if so, should she try to set him free? How could he possibly be an evil demon if her mother fell in love with him? Or had she been the product of something else, something sinister?

Ru had no answers, and even though the thought of calling Cutter even at that late hour and explaining what happened was tempting, she decided it could wait until later. There was no sense waking him in the middle of the night to tell him she’d had a strange dream and possibly gained the skill of orb creation. At that time of night, she was certain he was fast asleep, and she figured at least one of them should get to spend the night undisturbed. Something told her she’d be up for a few hours after all of this. She turned over and snuggled down into the blankets, praying sleep wouldn’t be too elusive; she was tired of asking herself questions she had no answer for.