Grim Crush (Grimly Ever After) (11 page)

Chapter 13

For the next few days, I didn’t go back to Shilah’s room at night. Something about being in a space so enclosed and private gave me an urge to be closer to him. And becoming anything more than friends with him right now was too new and scary for me. I didn’t even know if he wanted me to be that word to him–girlfriend–but that’s where he seemed to be leading me.

The G-word confused me. What did a girlfriend do? What benefit would Shilah get from having one? What benefit would
I
get from being one?

I asked Ziri these questions. She was all too happy to help me.

“Xia, girl, it’s time to do some research,” she said. During our free time for the next couple days, she took me to various romance movies in theaters all over Arizona. Jayza came with us sometimes, and she and I squealed at the scenes where the lovers kissed and groped each other. We made so much noise that it was a good thing humans were oblivious to us, or we would’ve been kicked out.

“Would I have to do all those things with Shilah if I was his girlfriend?” I asked after we teleported out of one particular movie that had been quite racy. I was blushing so hard it felt like my face would melt off.

“All relationships are different,” Ziri said. “You and Shilah don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”

“What
do
you want to do with Shilah?” Jayza inquired.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “What if I don’t want to do anything?”

“What!” Ziri cried. “Why would you not want to?”

I shrugged. “I like him a lot, but these feelings I’m growing for him…I’ve never felt anything like it. It terrifies me. Reapers aren’t supposed to experience these things.”

“But we were born as humans,” Jayza said. “We’re still capable of having feelings, though it’s against the rules.”

“Do you like the feelings you’re having?” Ziri questioned me.

I hesitated, then nodded. “I like feeling this way, but I don’t think I should. It doesn’t feel normal.”

“You’re far from normal anyway, so what’s the difference?” Jayza said.

I nudged her with my shoulder as she and Ziri laughed.

I thought about the romance movie. “A girlfriend and boyfriend do a lot of touching. I’m still uncomfortable with feeling his skin on mine.”

“You’ll get used to it,” Ziri assured me. Then she sighed. “I wish I could feel a human’s touch…”

“Don’t even think about it.”

Ziri laughed. “I should’ve shook Shilah’s hand or something when I met him. Or maybe there are other sexy human guys out there who have Grim Sight.”

Jayza grinned. “Ooh, let’s search for some for us, Ziri.”

I chuckled. “Sorry, guys, but I think Shilah and his grandmother are the only ones who can see us.”

“Darn,” Ziri muttered. We all laughed.

“So, are you going to see Shilah now?” my trainee asked. “Maybe try out some of those moves we just saw…?”

“Ziri!” I cried, embarrassed just thinking about it.

She giggled. “What? I would.”

“I told Shilah he should hang out with his friends, so he’s probably still with them.” I brightened. “I have an idea. Let’s go surprise him.”

“Like this? Or should we show ourselves so his friends can see us too?”

“You know we can’t show ourselves to humans.”

“You’re already breaking Rule Two, why not go for Rule Three?”

“Because if we were around humans and someone died without warning, we’d have a hard time finding a place where no one could see us teleport away. Or what if we got a Summons from our superiors? If we couldn’t answer it because there are too many humans around, they’d come looking for us, and we’d get in all sorts of trouble then…” I’d already been thinking about all the worst case scenarios because I had considered showing myself to Shilah’s family and friends plenty of times.

“Fine, fine. Do you know where Shilah is?”

“Yeah.” My face burned again. Somehow, I’d developed a strange connection to Shilah that enabled me to sense where he was if he was nearby. Just like my connection to Ziri. “He’s a couple streets away. Come on.”

The three of us started walking. If I teleported, Jayza wouldn’t know where I went. Only Ziri could follow my teleportation.

Fifteen minutes later, we stood outside a restaurant called
Fuddruckers
. I could see Shilah inside sitting at a table with three other teenagers. When I saw one of them was a girl, I was slightly peeved. I guess this was what jealousy felt like.

I grinned at my friends. “Let’s go drive Shilah crazy.” We all teleported into the restaurant.

I landed behind Shilah’s chair. It looked like he and his friends had just finished eating. Leaning forward, I whispered, “Hey.”

Shilah jumped and turned to look back at me. When he opened his mouth, I put my hand over it and said, “Shh. Your friends can’t see me, remember?”

“Shilah, what are you looking at?” asked the girl sitting across from him. She looked Chinese, with flowing black hair like Shilah’s.

He faced forward again. “N-nothing, Lucy. Uh…I need a refill.” He grabbed his already half-full glass and stood from the table. Then he grabbed my wrist and pulled me away with him toward the drink dispensers.

“What are you doing here?” he whispered through his teeth, trying not to make it look like he was talking to the air.

“I wanted to come see you and your friends,” I answered. “Jayza and Ziri are here too.” I pointed to where my friends were standing around Shilah’s. They waved.

“But why are you here? I can’t talk to you around them!” He started filling up his glass with a brown fizzy drink.

“I know; you don’t have to. I just want to watch you with your friends. I won’t bother you.” That last sentence was a lie.

Shilah frowned. “You could just meet me later, you know. We’re about to leave.”

“No, I want to stay here. By the way, who is that Lucy girl?”

“She’s one of my best friends. Why? Are you jealous?”

“Maybe.”

Shilah grinned and headed back to the table. I followed.

“I can’t believe she actually did that,” one of Shilah’s friends, a Mexican guy, was saying.

“Are you still talking about Eddie’s ex-girlfriend?” Shilah asked.

“Yeah. I wonder what Eddie’s going to do. I’d want to kill her if she had hacked onto my Facebook page and lied to everyone that I was gay.”

Beside the Mexican guy, Ziri leaned toward him and said, “This guy’s cute. What’s his name, Shilah?”

Shilah looked annoyed. “Yeah, I know what you mean, Jim.”

Ziri placed her elbows on the table and stared dreamily at the Mexican. “Jim. Is he single?” Jayza and I chuckled.

Shilah frowned at Ziri as Lucy said, “So, Shilah, the prom is only a few weeks away. You haven’t said who you’re going with.”

I had seen a movie recently about a prom, so I knew what it was. I crossed my arms, looking down at him. “Yeah, Shilah, who are you going to the prom with?”

He gave me a quick sideways glance, then focused on Lucy again. “I, uh…I’m going with Clarissa.”

“Clarissa!” Lucy and I exclaimed at the same time.

“Who’s Clarissa?” I added testily.

Lucy answered for me. “Why would you go to the prom with your cousin?”

I relaxed at that.

Shilah shrugged. “I don’t know who else to go with.” He gave me a sad look.

“You could go with me,” Lucy put in. I glared at her.

“No, Shilah should go with the girl he’s been chilling with,” spoke the last human at the table, a white guy with curly brown hair and glasses. Beside him, Jayza had sat on the edge of the table, watching the conversation with interest.

Shilah fidgeted. “Travis, I already told you, I’m not chilling with any girl.”

I put my arms around his neck, resting my chin on his shoulder. “Are you sure about that?”

Shilah pressed his lips together, squirming. I could tell he wanted to say something to me so badly. Ziri and Jayza giggled.

“That’s a lie,” Travis continued. “It’s written all over your face. And you’re always hanging out with her instead of us.”

“If he had a girl, we would’ve met her by now,” Lucy snapped. “Right, Shi?”

Ziri narrowed her eyes at the girl. “Watch it, Xia, she’s trying to steal your man.”

Shilah’s eyebrows rose at what Ziri had said. “Uh…let’s say I
was
seeing a girl. I wouldn’t let her take up so much of my time. I’d want her to
give me space.
”

I chuckled. “Okay, I can take a hint.” I pulled away from him and stood up straight.

“Then what do you do when you’re not with us?” Jim asked.

“I told you, I’ve been working for my grandpa in his auto parts store,” Shilah answered.

“You said you hated working there.”

“It’s not so bad now. At least I get paid.”

Lucy sighed. “Well, I’m still dateless for the prom. Are you
sure
you want to go with Clarissa?”

Behind the Chinese girl’s head, Ziri curled her index fingers and made it look like Lucy had devil horns. I doubled over with laughter, and Jayza collapsed onto the floor in giggles.

Shilah couldn’t help grinning too, looking down and massaging the bridge of his nose to try to hide his amusement. “Yes, Lucy, I already promised Clarissa I’d take her.”

Lucy huffed. Then she glanced behind her, like she could sense Ziri’s presence. The grim-in-training stuck out her tongue, which made me and Jayza laugh even harder.

Shilah snickered, and Lucy turned back to face him. “What’s so funny?”

“Um…there was a guy at the counter behind you who tripped and almost fell.” Shilah coughed and took a sip from his glass, narrowing his eyes as Ziri.

“Well, you guys, I should get home and get started on my essay for English,” Travis said. “Are ya’ll ready to go?”

“Yes,” Shilah replied quickly. “I have somewhere to go too.”

Shilah and his friends all rose from the table. My friends and I followed them out, giggling as Ziri stuck her hand through Jim’s back in an attempt to ‘capture’ his heart.

Once we were outside
Fuddruckers
, Shilah said goodbye to his friends. I fumed when Lucy gave him a hug that seemed a little
too
friendly.

After Travis, Jim, and Lucy had walked away, Shilah looked around to make sure no one else was on the sidewalk. Then he gave us reapers an irritated look.

“What, were you guys
trying
to make me look like a nutcase in front of my friends?” he demanded.

“We were bored,” Jayza explained.

“And it was fun watching you squirm,” Ziri added. We, the reapers, all sniggered.

“Do you know how weird it was being able to see and hear ya’ll and pretending I couldn’t?” Shilah asked.

“I think you handled it pretty well,” I replied, looping my arm around his. “Didn’t you like having me here?”

Shilah sighed. “I always like seeing you, but you and your friends were driving me crazy!”

I grinned at Ziri and Jayza. “Mission accomplished.” We giggled some more, and Shilah puffed out his cheeks in frustration.

“By the way, mister,” Ziri said, giving Shilah a serious look. “You have some explaining to do to Xia about that Lucy.”

“Oh, yeah,” I agreed, pulling away from him. “She seems awfully interested in you.”

“Lucy has
always
been interested in me. But she knows we’re just friends.” Shilah raised his eyebrows. “Why do you care so much? And why did Ziri call me your man earlier?”

I knew what he was trying to get me to say, but I didn’t know if I was ready to say it. Blushing, I opened my mouth to answer, then stopped when I felt something.

Alarmed, Ziri looked at me. “Xia, someone’s about to die.”

“I know, I sense it.” It was an unscheduled death. And it was going to happen close by.

Chapter 14

I turned to my left. “This way.” I sprinted down the sidewalk, with Ziri, Jayza, and Shilah in tow.

Before I turned the corner onto the next street, I stopped and faced Shilah. “You might want to wait here. You didn’t do so well last time you saw me doing my job.”

“I think I can handle it this time,” Shilah said. “Since I’ve been through it once, it won’t shock me so much again. Don’t worry about me.”

He didn’t have any doubt in his face, so I nodded and continued around the corner of a barbershop. I looked around for the potential victim of whatever was about to happen. My best guess was the man standing on a ladder near a billboard.

And then I spotted a little girl, probably four, running across the street toward an ice cream truck. A car was speeding down the road, and it was too late for it to swerve away by the time the girl ran out in front of it.

I sucked in my breath and closed my eyes so I wouldn’t have to see the horrible accident. I heard Jayza gasp and Shilah cry, “No!” before I heard the screeching tires of the car, the thud of the body, and the screams of nearby spectators.

Next time I opened my eyes, I saw the car stopped, with the driver hopping out. It was a man in his thirties, and he was visibly shaken as he walked over to where four people had crowded around the little girl’s body.

Ziri collapsed onto her knees. “No. She-she’s just a little girl.”

I nodded solemnly, placing my hand on her shoulder. “It’s our job to guide her to a better place. Come on.”

Ziri shook her head, moisture in her eyes. “Why does Death make things like this happen?”

“I don’t think we’re supposed to understand death. It just happens. Ziri, the soul will be lost without a reaper.”

“I can’t. You do it.”

I understood how she felt. My reaction had been similar to hers when I first reaped a child’s soul. I had to hold back tears even now. This was another reason why Rule Two was created. Reapers couldn’t let emotions get in the way of our job, but it was impossible not to feel
anything
.

“Okay,” I told the grim-in-training. “I’ll let you get used to seeing these things before you do jobs like this.”

I walked into the street. Jayza stayed behind to comfort Ziri, but Shilah came with me. Having him there made me feel stronger. I had to be strong for the little girl, whose name came into my mind automatically.

“Hi, Kacie,” I greeted the child’s soul as it wandered away from her body. I squatted to her eye level, and she stared at me with terrified, brown eyes. With her frizzy black hair and light skin tone, she looked almost like I had at this age, and that made my heartstrings tug even more. “My name is Xia. I’m going to help you.”

“I want Mommy,” the girl said.

“I know. You’ll be able to see her again one day, but right now you have to–”

Kacie turned and walked toward a black woman standing beside her corpse. The woman was bawling hysterically, and a white man stood behind her, rubbing her shoulders as tears ran down his face.

“Kacie!” I called, striding after the spirit.

“Mommy? Daddy? Why are you crying?” Kacie asked, looking up at the black and white couple.

I stopped beside her. “Kacie, they can’t hear you–”

The girl ignored me, trying to wrap her arms around her mom’s legs. She passed through them, and fell onto her knees on the pavement. Her eyes watered.

I went to her side. “Kacie, you’re different now. Something happened, and now you have these really cool powers.”

Kacie looked up at me. “Powers?”

“Yeah. You’re invisible! No one can see or hear you and you can pass right through people.”

The soul wiped the tears running down her cheeks. “Why?”

“Because you’re special. And special kids get to go to this really fun place. It’s made of candy. You get to eat all the chocolate and lollipops you want. And there are lots of toys. Any toy you could ever want. Do you want to go?”

Kacie perked up. “Can Mommy and Daddy come too?”

“They’ll come, but not right now. They want you to go first, and they want you to be really happy. I’ll bring them to you one day.”

The little spirit seemed to think. “Promise?”

“Yes, I promise.” It was highly likely that whenever Kacie’s parents died, I would be their reaper, so I was sure I could keep that promise.

Kacie smiled. I held out my hand, and she took it, getting to her feet. When I created a portal though, she ducked behind my legs.

“It’s okay. The fun place is in here,” I assured her.

She shook her head. “It looks scary.”

“Kacie–”

Before I could say anything else, Shilah came from behind me, holding an open bag of M&Ms. He leaned down toward the spirit.

“Hi, my name is Shilah. Did this girl say you get to go in there?” Shilah pointed to the portal.

The soul nodded shyly. I glanced around to make sure people weren’t watching Shilah talk to a ghost, but everyone was too busy crying or trying to get an ambulance for Kacie.

“Wow, you are so lucky! I just came out of there, and I saw a whole pile of these.” Shilah poured some M&Ms into his hand.

Kacie eyed them with interest. “Can I have some? M&Ms are my favorite.”

“I love them too.” Shilah popped the candies into his mouth. “But the only way you can get some is if you go get them yourself. That way you can get as many as you want.”

“Like a hundred?”

“Yeah. Or a million.”

“Or a gazillion!” Kacie shrieked in happiness. I smiled.

“Yeah! But you better go now, or all the other little girls and boys are going to eat ‘em all up!”

Kacie broke away from me and dashed toward the portal. Before she entered, she stopped and turned back. “Do you guys want to come?”

“Maybe later,” I replied. “I want to let you get as much candy as you want first.” Shilah nodded in agreement.

“Okay. Bye-bye, Xia. Bye-bye, Shilah.” She waved.

“Bye, Kacie,” Shilah and I said, waving. The girl’s spirit turned and disappeared into the portal. Then the portal did the same.

I sniffed, wiping a tear from my eye. “Thanks for the help, Shilah.”

“You’re welcome. Are you okay?” Shilah stared at me with concern.

I took a deep breath, then grinned at him. “I should be asking
you
that. By the way, where did you get that candy?”

“I had some left over from lunch today. I forgot I left them in my pocket.”

“It’s a good thing you did. You know, you’d make a great grim reaper.”

Shilah shook his head. “I’m good with kids, but not dead ones. Man, your job must be hard.”

I shrugged. “I’m getting used to it. Somebody has to do this. But it was hard this time because…Kacie reminded me of…what I might’ve been like if I’d been human.” My eyes welled up again.

Shilah scooped me into an embrace. I snuggled against his chest, allowing his warmth to comfort me. I realized then how lucky I was. Out of all the reapers in existence, I had been the one to find Shilah (or maybe he had found me). It was unheard of for a being like me to have these wonderful feelings. And I was wasting time being afraid of them.

We didn’t realize Jayza had come up beside us until she cleared her throat loudly. Shilah and I broke apart and turned to her.

“Sorry to interrupt, but people might notice Shilah standing here with his arms around air,” my best friend warned.

“Oh, I forgot we were out in the open.” I smiled at Shilah. “If you want to come with me, we need to find a private place to teleport from.”

Shilah nodded, and we all walked back to the sidewalk, where Ziri waited. She had finally composed herself.

“Sorry about that, Xia,” she mumbled, staring at the ground.

“It’s okay,” I told her.

“No, it’s not. Our superiors will think I’m not worthy enough for my own scythe yet, and then I’ll have to wait
another
whole year until I’m sixteen…”

“No one will know about this. I’m going to give good reports about you.”

Ziri smiled. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, but I’m actually doing it for myself. I sure don’t want you getting on my nerves for
another
year. This one isn’t even a month over, and I’m already sick of you.”

All of us, except Ziri, laughed. The grim-in-training shoved me, but I gave her a hug to prove I was joking. Even though it was unnatural for reapers to embrace, it felt right. Ziri was like a real little sister to me, not just in the sense that we both had the same creator, the Angel of Death.