Reaper's Hollow: The Complete Series

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Ivy was just as good at cooking breakfast as she was dinner, and as Ru slathered a pat of butter on top of her stack of pancakes, it occurred to her that she’d either need to up her exercise or rein in the calories a little bit. At this rate, the nickname Chubs, which her adoptive mother had given her, even though she was nothing more than a stick figure as a child, might be a little more fitting.

She hadn’t spoken to Cutter much about what had happened the night before. When she’d opened her eyes to discover she was back in her body, she hadn’t really known what to say, and after he told her how proud he was of her, she’d gone to bed almost immediately. If what he’d said before was true, this meant he’d take her to the Keepers’ hometown of Los Angeles soon. She’d have the chance to meet her grandmother and find out more information about where her real mother, Seraphina, might be. However, she still had one loose end to tie up, one she was not looking forward to.

“Well, there she is,” Rider said, taking a seat across from her at the dining table nestled in a nook in the kitchen. “The world’s newest spiritualist.”

“What?” Ru asked, laughing uncomfortably. “I don’t think that’s what that word means.”

“It can mean whatever we want it to mean when we’re the only ones who can do it,” he replied, taking a heaping helping of pancakes and drizzling warm maple syrup over the top and all down the sides.

“Not the only ones,” Lyric reminded him, making a grim face when she said it, which was more than a little fitting considering she was referring to the Reapers.

“Only ones that matter. Still, that’s good. You should be proud of yourself. I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks,” Ru replied quietly, a bit embarrassed. She glanced over at Cutter, who was sitting at the end of the table on the other side of Lyric. He had the same satisfied grin on his face he’d worn since he took his seat just a few minutes ago, and Ru was pretty sure it was due to her success as well.

“So, what does this mean?” Ivy asked, setting a plate of bacon on the table and finally taking her seat next to Rider. “Are we ready to go home?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Cutter nodded. “I mean, Ru’s going to need a little more practice, but I don’t think she’ll struggle with it anymore. You know once you’ve got it, it’s sort of like riding a bike.”

That was one expression Ru never really cared for. When she was little, her mother never bought her a bike of her own, and the one time she’d tried to learn on her sister’s old one, the seat fell off. Thus, she’d never learned to ride. She kept that secret to herself however, deciding it wasn’t that important. Metaphorically speaking, if she’d ever learned to ride a bike, learning to take her spirit form would be just as difficult to forget.

“Great! I can make the flight arrangements,” Ivy said, smiling. “I’ll make sure we can take Piper with us in the cabin.”

“Awesome.” Ru smiled, but she still felt uneasy. Cutter sure seemed to be putting a lot of faith in her abilities. She’d feel better when she’d shown him she could do it again. Not to mention, never in a million years would she have ever thought she’d be leaving home right now. She was supposed to be teaching, after all.

“So, nobody picked up on anything last night?” Rider asked, his mouth not completely full but not empty either.

“Nope,” Lyric shook her head. “Not even a vibration.”

“Me neither,” Ivy confirmed.

“Do we think that means Nat and his cohorts have moved on?” Rider’s question was generalized to the entire table, but all of them looked at Cutter for an answer, and Ru wondered how he’d become the unofficial leader of their team.

“It’s hard to say,” Cutter shrugged. “Just because he’s lying low, that doesn’t mean that he’s gone.”

“Now that Ru can leap, maybe we should take her out tonight and see if she can discover anything in the woods, the same place I lost Raven. I can get back there easily since I’ve been before. It’s gotta be the same woods where we fought them off in human form.” Rider took another huge bite, as if the length of his speech was so long he almost starved to death before he got it all out.

“Maybe,” Cutter said, and Ru wasn’t sure exactly which part of the idea he was responding to. It all sounded valid to her.

“It sounds good to me,” she confirmed. She’d been waiting for this opportunity.

“I just don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. Just because you’re in spirit form, that doesn’t mean that Nat can’t hurt you.”

“She protected herself pretty good last time,” Rider reminded his cousin. “And that was before she even had any idea what she was doing.”

“Thanks. I think,” Ru muttered, and he laughed at her, as if to say it was true.

“No, I agree. I think we should go hunting for him. I just don’t want to be too hasty. Hopefully, he’s gone, and we can find the portal. But I doubt he’d leave it completely unprotected. It’s too important.”

“And there has to be some sort of a cloaking spell over the opening,” Ivy suggested. “Otherwise, we would’ve found it. Or our ancestors would’ve, back in the eighteenth century when the activity was so rampant.”

“I agree.” Even though Lyric hadn’t eaten half of her short stack, she pushed her plate aside. “I’ve been trying to get information from the Keepers of the Guard, the ones that have Zu, but his lips are sealed tightly on that one. He seems willing to talk about Nat’s plans but not about the portal.”

“What about my back?” Ru asked wondering where the courage to ask such a question had come from. “Any progress there? Maybe the runes have information about the portals. Or where my mother might be.”

Once again, Lyric was shaking her head. “No. There’s a lot of information to look through, but I only think I have translations for a few of the symbols, and none of it makes sense.”

“What do you think you have so far?” Cutter asked, also finished with his breakfast. Ivy was slowing down, and Ru felt her stomach becoming full. Rider piled more bacon on his plate.

“Just ‘key’ and maybe ‘light’ or ‘passage,’ not sure which,” Lyric admitted.

“Couldn’t ‘passage’ be ‘portal’?” Ru asked, hopeful.

“Sure, but it could also be lots of other things. We are definitely going to need more help with this.” She looked a bit defeated, and Ru was under the impression Lyric didn’t like to fail.

“Maybe we can get Sky to meet us in Los Angeles,” Rider said, finally slowing down a bit. “He might have some insider info since he’s been in the lower realms for so long.”

“Who is Sky?” Ru asked, looking from Rider to the others and then back again.

“He’s my older brother,” Rider explained. “He’s a Keeper of the Guard.”

“So, by lower realms, you mean Hell?”

“More or less,” Rider nodded, and Ru wondered how she would ever sort all of this out.

“He’s pretty good about passing on information to us when he can get it,” Cutter elaborated. “But there are so many Keepers operating around the world, sometimes it’s difficult to meet everyone’s needs.”

“I should think our operation would be a priority,” Lyric mumbled, taking a drink of her orange juice.

“I would hope so, but then, there are no unimportant missions.” Cutter always seemed to hold the company line, if they’d been working for a company, that is, instead of some greater power Ru didn’t quite identify with. “We aren’t the only group working on finding the portals.”

“Well, we’ve got to be the closest to finding this one.” Ivy’s chair screeched as she pushed it out and stood, beginning to gather dishes. “And… we’ve definitely got a huge advantage having Ru with us.”

“It’s not a contest,” Cutter reminded them. “If anything, we should be working together. It’s just… gonna be tough with so much going on and the other teams spread across the world absorbed in what they are doing.”

“Well, I suggest we see what we can discern tonight by visiting the woods Raven disappeared in, and then we go from there.” Rider’s plan was reasonable, and everyone agreed.

“Meanwhile, I’ll make travel arrangements for early this week. Does that work for everyone?” Ivy checked with each of them and got a nod from all of them, and Ru found herself nodding along, even though she was a bit terrified. Not at traveling—though she’d only been on a plane once before and that was a short ride to Chicago when her mother’s father had died suddenly—but because that meant she was really going through with this. Somehow, almost overnight, she’d become a Keeper. Now, she just needed to figure out what that meant….

She helped Ivy clear the rest of the dishes. Lyric disappeared to go do more research, and Rider said something about wanting to finish the bathroom before they left, even though it made little sense to Ru since she had no idea if any of them would ever be coming back here. Not returning to this part of New York seemed unfathomable to her, but she realized the world was full of possibilities at this juncture. Cutter helped Ivy load the dishwasher, and once the kitchen was cleaned up, Ru excused herself, the realization that she had a loose end to tie up still very much in the forefront of her mind.

Ru was halfway up the stairs when she heard Cutter’s footsteps behind her. She slowed down, and he caught up. “You okay?” he asked as they proceeded to the hallway in unison.

“I’m fine,” Ru replied, hoping her smile was counterfeit enough to fool him.

“You don’t have to go through with this tonight if you don’t want to. We can wait until you’re ready. I can even tell Ivy to hold off on the travel arrangements if you want.”

She turned to face him and saw nothing but sincerity in his expression. His hands were shoved down deep in his jeans pockets, his handsome face crinkled with concern. “No, it’s not that,” Ru assured him, though she wasn’t completely sure that was true. “It’s just… I can’t go to Wyoming without talking to my mom—to Liddy.”

Cutter looked surprised. “You’re an adult, Ru. You don’t need her permission.”

An uncomfortable laugh escaped her lips. “No, I know.” Even as she said the words, she wondered if that was completely true, though. Hadn’t the idea that Liddy would be mad at her for going off without her permission entered her mind more than once? “I have to talk to her, though. I need to tell her that I’m looking for Sera. I need to tell her… a lot of things.” The overwhelming feelings she’d been bottling up inside for so long threatened to surface, and she did her best to beat them back down inside. There was no reason for her to go into detail, or well up with emotion, right now.

Clearly, Cutter understood what she was getting at. “Do you want me to go with you?” he asked, his voice nothing but sincere. “I’m happy to, if you think it would make it any easier.”

She couldn’t help but smile at him. He could be so thoughtful, so sweet. It was hard for her to imagine ever being so angry at him that she never wanted to see him again, but it hadn’t been that long ago that she’d wished for exactly that. Of course, at the time, she thought he was out of his mind. “Thank you for offering,” she said, meeting his eyes. “But I think I better do this by myself.”

Cutter nodded, once again seeming to understand. “Okay, but if you change your mind, let me know.”

“Thanks. I’ll go call her and see if I can come over tomorrow after church.”

“Sounds like a good plan.”

“What time are we thinking of going out tonight?” Even the thought of having to leave her body again made her stomach tighten up, not because she hadn’t enjoyed the exploration they’d done the night before, but because she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to do it again, and she might hold up the rest of the team.

“Probably around nine,” Cutter replied. “That’ll give us a chance to be thorough at a time when any Reapers who might be in the area are probably still in the planning stages.”

She thought that made sense, though just about every comment that came out of any of their mouths lately raised a thousand questions. “Okay. I think I’ll go see if I can do a little research of my own.”

“See you in a little while,” Cutter said, touching her lightly on the shoulder. There was a transfer of electricity, the same kind that used to send Ru’s head spinning before she realized it was because they were both Keepers of the Light and nothing more. Cutter was only a friend, and that was all he’d ever be. She’d come to accept that from the very beginning.

Ru headed to her room and closed the door; the only one she’d be willing to open it for was Piper. Thinking about leaving home made her nervous, and the idea of sitting down with Liddy Brown and having a candid discussion with her made her anxious. But she knew it had to be done. With a heavy heart, she picked up the phone and dialed her adoptive mother’s phone number.

She answered on the third ring. “What?”

“Mom?” Ru asked, wondering if she’d caught her at a bad time or if this was just her standard greeting now.

“No, Ru. An alien has stolen your mother’s phone and is imitating her now. What do you want?”

Leave it to Liddy Brown to make some sort of a sarcastic comment first thing. “I was hoping I could come over and talk to you tomorrow after church. Some things have come up, and I think we need to discuss them in person.”

“I don’t know, Ruin. Tomorrow’s Sunday and you know how your father likes to watch his football games.”

Ru wasn’t quite sure when Greg had become “her father.” It couldn’t be any worse than her actual father, she decided. “It won’t take long.”

“Why can’t you just tell me now. On the phone.”

Ru contemplated an answer to that, and honestly, it would be easier for her to tell her everything right now and hang up so that she never had to see or speak to the woman again, but something in her soul, some sort of sympathetic tie that had longed to be accepted for as long as she could remember, wouldn’t let her do that. “I’ll be there around one in the afternoon, okay?”

“Fine, Ruin. Whatever.”

The call was disconnected. Not a goodbye. Certainly not an, “I love you.” Ru sighed and set her phone down on her nightstand. Her entire life, she’d longed to know what it would be like to have a mother who cared about her. When she was in high school, Liddy never came to anything except for a fundraiser where her debate team had sold spaghetti dinners. Liddy had embarrassed her in front of all of her friends, yelling at her about something so stupid Ru couldn’t even remember what it was. She’d been glad she never came to anything else, even when she was the only person inducted into National Honor Society who didn’t have a parent present. One of her friends had a sweet mom who tried to fill in, as had a few of her teachers, but Ru never understood what it was like to have a parent who was involved.

Maybe Sera would be different. Once they found her and assured her they weren’t trying to harm her, perhaps Ru would finally know what it was like to have a mother who truly cared. Ru had always worried about her own children, should she ever be lucky enough to have any. They would grow up without a grandmother, and even though Ru barely knew her mother’s mother, who lived in Chicago, she didn’t think that was fair. She wanted her own children to have grandparents who would spoil them. Perhaps Sera could fill that role.

First, Ru had to find her, though, and with all of the information she’d been gathering these past few months, she was hopeful she would be able to reach out to her mother’s spirit and locate her, even without help from Sera’s mother—Ru’s actual grandmother—or anyone else. If what Cutter had said about feeling with her mind was really true, Ru needed to master the skill so she could finally find the mother she’d been dreaming about for all of these years. She was so close now, she could feel it. If wishing and hoping could be quantified, surely Ru had enough longing in her soul to fill whatever this task required.

“Where are you Seraphina?” she whispered, closing her eyes. Unfortunately, the only answer was the November breeze blowing leaves against her bedroom window. If Sera could hear her, she was choosing to stay in hiding for now.