Grim Crush (Grimly Ever After) (20 page)

Chapter 29

All grim reapers somehow knew when they were in the presence of their creator, their father. Therefore, Jayza bowed her head in respect.

I would’ve done the same, but I was too worried about why Death had shown up. It was a great honor for him to come see a reaper, but all I could think about was how Shilah was standing beside me, with a soul Death could easily claim.

I stepped in front of my boyfriend protectively, but I knew I wouldn’t stand a chance against the Angel of Death face to face. Still, he’d have to banish me to Hell first to get past me.

“Who is that?” Shilah whispered, clutching my arm.

“The Angel of Death,” I replied somberly. Shilah gasped, and I felt him tense up behind me.

I watched as Death raised an arm, then gestured toward himself. He was beckoning someone.

I shook my head, tears blurring my vision. “Please, don’t take him. Take me instead.”

“Xia–” Shilah began to protest.

Death shook his head from side to side, and beckoned again. His silent gesture was a loud command.

Jayza looked at me. “I think Death means
you
.”

My heart thumping, I pointed to myself, giving Death a questioning gaze. He nodded once, then turned and started walking back toward the dimensional door.

“He wants you to follow,” Jayza whispered.

“Oh no,” I mumbled.

“Are you in trouble?” Shilah asked.

“I think I am.” I swallowed. Death had come to get me himself. This had to be bad.
Very
bad.

Jayza must’ve been thinking along the same line. “Has Death ever summoned a reaper in person before?”

“Not that I know of.” I began to walk forward, but Shilah grabbed my wrist.

“Xia, no,” he said. “Don’t go.”

I looked up into his fearful eyes. “I have to. He’s my boss. My father.”

“Then I’m going with you.”

I smiled sadly. “I’m pretty sure humans can’t go where Death’s taking me.”

“Then…you’ll come back, right?”

I dropped my voice till it was almost inaudible. “I hope so. I’ll try to convince him to let me come say goodbye if I can’t.”

“Xia…” his voice cracked.

I reached up and pulled his face down, kissing him hard on his lips. I intended to make it quick so I wouldn’t keep Death waiting, but Shilah seized my face too and held it to his for several seconds.

When our lips finally parted, I kept my forehead against his, running my hands down his cheeks to his chest. I was so glad he was alive. I had no regrets about saving him. If I was going to Hell, at least I’d gotten a chance to feel what Heaven must be like. All because of Shilah.

I gently pushed away from him. “I’m going to be okay. Try not to worry about me.”

He looked away, but not before I saw a tear slide down his face.

I turned to Jayza. “Hey, could you tell Ziri–”

“Whatever it is, you can tell her yourself later,” Jayza said sternly. “Death won’t do anything to you. I refuse to believe he’d take you away.”

“But I broke the ultimate rule.”

Jayza’s eyes watered. “Ziri and I will talk to him. We’ll tell him how much the dead need your reaping skills…”

I grinned. “Thanks, Jayza, although I doubt that would work. You’re a good friend.” I gave her a swift hug, and she even hugged back this time, despite how she was against human displays of affection.

I turned toward the dimensional door then. Death had stopped in front of it, staring in my direction. At least, I think he was staring, but I couldn’t see his eyes. If he even
had
eyes.

I took a deep breath, then started approaching. As I got closer, I felt waves of deadness rolling off him, like Shilah’s death aura, only ten times as worse.

Chills ran down my spine, but I kept walking. Death whirled around and disappeared into the bright light, so I followed.

A second later, the world around me vanished, and I was standing in a vast abyss of whiteness. It disoriented me for a second, because I couldn’t tell where the ground ended and where the sky began. Maybe there
was
no ground or sky. I was just hovering in wide open space.

But it wasn’t empty space. Strangely, there were regular human things here. There was a black marble table in front of me, with two chairs. A scythe whose blade looked made of jet black obsidian hung on a peg that seemed to float in midair.

But the most astounding and extraordinary things of all were the rows and rows of stacked shelves, going down all the way past my eyesight in both directions. On these endless number of shelves were an even more infinite amount of hourglasses. Sand was trickling down in each of them. When one’s sand ran out of the top, the hourglass would flip over by itself and start the process of falling sand all over again. This happened often, so different hourglasses were constantly flipping and pouring sand.

“You can have a seat, Xia.”

I nearly jumped out of my skin when Death spoke. Firstly, I had been so entranced by the magical hourglasses that I’d forgotten he was here. And secondly, Death’s voice startled me. It had an echoing quality to it, with no accent. It was rather plain, neither high in pitch or low.

With slow reluctance, I walked over to the small table and lowered my bottom into a seat. I gawked at the hourglasses with fascination as Death sat across from me.

“Those are filled with the life force of each and every living being on earth,” Death explained, obviously watching me.

I faced him. “Oh.” I noticed he’d placed his arms on the table, and his sleeves had slid back to reveal his hands. My face paled–he
was
just a skeleton, like all the rumors said.

And it finally hit me–I was sitting at a table with
Death
. The Angel of Death in person. I never usually got nervous, but now I began fidgeting, looking down at my hands.

“You requested to speak to me a few days ago, and now you remain silent.” Death’s face was still hidden, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what it looked like. “I know there’s something on your mind you wish for me to clarify. Ask your questions first, and then I will proceed with the reason why you are here.”

I sucked in my breath. Might as well find out what my punishment is. “Are you…sending me to Hell? Because I stopped you from claiming someone’s soul?” My voice came out squeaky.

Death was so still that he could have been a statue, even when he spoke. “Your action has led you to another destiny.”

I furrowed my brow in bafflement. “So what’s my punishment then?”

“I didn’t bring you here for punishment. But what you did does come with a price. I’m sure you realize you broke every Rule of Reaping. Because of one human, no less.”

“I…didn’t break the
third
Rule with him. He has Grim Sight.”

“You broke the Rule
for
him. Did you not show yourself to humans at that teenage social event?”

My gaze fell on my hands again. “I did.”

“Rules Two and Three are simply precautions. But then you went against my ultimate rule when you saved the human’s life tonight. Just like I thought you would.”

I frowned. “If you were afraid I’d break Rule One, why did you try to claim Shilah? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Predetermined fate isn’t always what you originally thought it would be.”

Geez, Death had a way with answers. “Uh…so does that mean Shilah was never going to die in the first place?”

“Fair assumption.”

“I don’t understand. Why did you even
try
to claim him then?”

“To see if you would change the course of events.”

I blinked. “Wait a minute. You
wanted
me to save Shilah’s life?”

Death folded his skeletal hands together on the table, and I grimaced as the bones clacked together. “The Rules are in place not only to protect the balance of life and death, but to also find the reaper who has the audacity to break all three.”

“Death, uh…you’re confusing me.”

“Hm…sorry, I sometimes forget language has become simpler and more direct in the past two-thousand years. Let’s see…I’ll start by explaining
how
you were able to save Shilah without upsetting the balance of life and death.”

Death stood, gliding over to a shelf of hourglasses. He picked two of them up and brought them over to the table, setting them down in front of me. If these hourglasses contained human life force, I wondered what would’ve happened if he’d dropped one. Maybe they were only used to
track
a person’s life, not control it.

“These two hourglasses are fairly full at the top, yes?” Death asked while he sat again. I nodded, watching the slow trickle of the sands.

“So each person they belong to must have about forty or thirty years left to live. This one,” Death’s hand poised over the hourglass to my left, “has more life force than the other. So this person will live longer. However, I have the power to do this.” Death put his other hand over the hourglass on my right, and I watched the one with the most sand lose some while the other gained what was lost. “I have stolen life force from one person and given it to another. Now
this
person will live longer. I cannot control actual life and death, because it is random occurrence. But I
can
change how long a person’s life lasts.”

I gasped. “But that’s…wrong! You shouldn’t make one person die sooner so another can live longer.”

Death nodded. “Precisely. It is unethical, so I rarely do this. In fact, I’ve only done it three times. This is my third time, and I’m not going to make this change permanent.” The hourglasses went back to their original amounts. “Besides me, there is one other reaper who has this power. I just found out tonight, but I had suspected all along.”

I crinkled my eyebrows in confusion, wondering if I’d met the reaper he was speaking of. Then my face slowly melted into an expression of shock and realization. “Do you mean…
me
?”

“By saving Shilah, you transferred extra life force into him.”

“Oh my gosh.” My stomach twisted. “I…stole life from someone else?” The thought repulsed me. I’d wanted Shilah to live, but not at the expense of someone else…

“Not in the way you think. I told you this was the third time I’ve altered someone’s life force. The second time was a few days ago, when I took some of Shilah’s life force and gave it to a man who’d been terminally ill. He died tonight, though.”

I paused to think about that. “Then…I just gave Shilah his life force back?”

Death inclined his head. “I had faith in your power. You did what you were supposed to.”

I exhaled. That was a
huge
relief. But unnerving. “If my power hadn’t worked, you would’ve let Shilah die?”

“I have no control over predetermined fate.”

I frowned. That reply wasn’t entirely comforting, but I was learning not to expect clear answers from the Angel of Death.

“There’s a reason why I had to test you,” Death continued. “Your Shilah gave me the perfect opportunity. I have discovered that you will be me.”

“Huh?”

“You’re my successor. You are the next Angel of Death.”

Chapter 30

My jaw dropped so fast that I heard it pop. I knew Death wasn’t the type to joke around or accidentally say the wrong thing. So this must be true. Weirdly enough, one of the first things I thought was,
I’m going to turn into a skeleton?!
“Wh-what does that mean?”

“You get to take over all of this…” Death waved his hand at the hourglasses surrounding us. “And you will be the creator and boss of all grim reapers.”

My eyes could open no wider. I had to admit, the idea of ruling over every grim reaper was appealing (my superior and worst enemy, Aquil, would have to answer to
me
instead!). However, I had doubts. “Doesn’t your job take a lot of work? How can I handle all that?” To myself, I added,
could I still be with Shilah?

“Oh, you don’t have to take over
now
. I just have to start preparing you. It’ll be a while before you replace me completely. Meaning years.”

“How long will I have to be Death?”

“Until you find a potential successor, like I have in you. I’ve been doing this for millenniums, and I’m guessing you will be Death for a long time too. So you will become immortal like me.”

“Immortal?” I hesitated, eyeing Death’s bony hands. “Uh…will I become a skeleton?”

The edges of Death’s hood rippled, and I imagined him grinning, if he could grin. “You can choose any form you wish. Though I should warn you, flesh decays. This form is best when you’re immortal.”

I shuddered. “What if I don’t want to be Death?” Suddenly I didn’t like the thought of people calling me by that name. I didn’t want to be responsible for collecting the souls of
every
living being. I was happy just being
a
grim reaper, not
the
Grim Reaper.

Death breathed out heavily, as though getting impatient. “Then there will be no one to manage life and death. The world really would end.”

“But you–”

“–grow weaker every year. I will not be able to do this much longer. I must have a successor.”

I took a deep breath, sighing as I placed my face in my hands. Was this what Granna had meant when she said if I saved Shilah, I may have to face something I didn’t want to? Did she know I was the next Angel of Death?

I couldn’t believe
I
was the one, out of thousands of reapers, to become Death’s successor. “Why me? Why do I have this power?”

“Because you were chosen,” Death replied.

“By who?” I instantly regretted asking that, because I had a feeling I wouldn’t receive a straight answer.

“No one. You were chosen by destiny. By fate.”

I sighed again, closing my eyes. I needed time to process all of this. “So what now?”

“You will go back to reaping. And the next time I call on you, you will begin training. We’ll start sometime in the next couple of weeks.”

“Okay. Can I go now?”

“Yes, you are dismissed.”

I stood up from the table and paused, realizing I had no idea how to get out of…whatever this place was.

“Xia.”

I peered at Death. “Yes?”

“The Rules of Reaping no longer apply to you…although it’ll be your job to set an example for the other reapers. For now, you can remain friends with the human boy. And you also have no more restrictions.”

I beamed, then bowed my head. “Thank you, Death.”

“You are welcome, but you don’t have to treat me as your superior. You have no superior. We are equal.”

I nodded. “Right. See you later.” I could barely contain my excitement. No more restrictions! Which meant I could now teleport again.

The first place I went was to find Shilah. It was easy to sense him again since he wasn’t surrounded by a death aura. I ended up in his room, where I found him leaning against the wall next to the window, gazing outside.

“Shilah.”

He started, spinning around to face me. His expression was a combination of surprise and relief. “Xia!” He rushed forward, and we hugged each other.

“How did you–? You got your teleportation back?” Shilah stammered as he stared down at me, his hands still around my waist.

“Yep,” I replied, a wide smile on my face.

“So what happened? Why were you gone so long?”

“So long? How long was I gone?” I could’ve sworn I had talked to Death for less than fifteen minutes, but Shilah was here, in his pajama pants and a tank top as if he’d been about to go to bed.

“You’ve been gone for hours. I couldn’t sleep till I knew what had happened to you. It’s almost three in the morning.”

“What?!” I turned to the digital clock in the room to confirm what he was saying. It appeared that Death had called for me nearly six hours ago…so time went faster in Death’s lair. That kind of made sense; the sand in the hourglasses would have to be trickling even slower than they had been if they were measuring normal time on earth. “Hm…it felt like ten minutes to me. Time was different there.”

“Really? So what did the Angel of Death say?”

“He said I have some kind of power that helped me save you. So I didn’t do anything wrong…and he’s not going to punish me.” I would wait to tell him about me becoming the next Death. I didn’t want to drop all that on him now; I’d wait till he’d gotten some sleep.

Shilah furrowed his eyebrows. “What kind of power do you have?”

“I had the power to give you more life force or something. I don’t completely understand it. Death’s going to call for me again later to teach me more about it.” I wanted to change the subject, so I clasped my hands behind his neck, staring into his eyes. “The best thing is that he knows about us, and I have permission to keep seeing you.”

“Wow. And he even let you have your teleportation back? Death seems like a cool guy, despite how creepy he is.”

I giggled. “Yeah, I guess, but he’s also strict when it comes to life and death. So I still have to do my job right, and I can’t let you distract me from it too much…”

Shilah grinned. “I’ll try to only distract you a little.” He kissed me, pulling me against his body. I combed my fingers through his velvety hair, moving my lips with his.

When we drew apart, I said, “You should be going to bed. You never stay up this long.”

“But you just got here. I don’t want to go to sleep yet,” he protested, but shortly after, he yawned.

“Your body disagrees. Bed, now,” I commanded, pulling him over to it. “I’ll be here when you wake up…if I don’t have a death to report to. Ziri’s going to be pissed if I keep neglecting my duties.” Then again, I was her superior now. It would be hard getting used to being above all reapers. But I had plenty of time before I was
officially
the new Angel of Death.

Groaning, Shilah got into bed, propping himself up on his pillows. I got on top of the covers and cuddled up next to him. He circled his arms around me, holding me against his chest. I lay listening to his heartbeat, and I remembered how close I’d come to never hearing it again. I inhaled a shaky breath.

“Are you okay?” Shilah asked, rubbing my arm.

“Yeah,” I replied, sniffing. “I was just thinking about how you almost died tonight.”

“Oh. Well, I’m alive, because of you. Thank you for saving my life.” His arms tightened around me.

I frowned. “If it wasn’t for me, you never would’ve been in danger in the first place.”

“Maybe, but my prom wouldn’t have been nearly as exciting.”

I grimaced. “I feel bad for all those teenagers. Their prom was ruined. Death wasn’t very subtle about trying to claim you, was he?”

“No, and he didn’t
completely
ruin the prom. After you left, I went to find my friends. Then our principal told us we had been invited to another ballroom in a hotel a couple of streets away, so everyone went there. I didn’t want to go because I wanted to wait for you, but
somebody
dragged me along with everyone else. You can probably guess who.”

“Lucy.” I said the name through gritted teeth.

“Yeah. I only stayed for half an hour though ‘cause I didn’t really feel like dancing or anything. Travis and Clarissa finally took me home, and then I stayed up waiting for you.”

I shifted uneasily. “You didn’t even know if I’d come back.”

“For some reason, I believed you would.”

Smiling, I inclined my head and kissed him again. Stroking his cheek, I whispered, “Get some sleep now.”

He sighed. “Okay, boss.” He snuggled further into his covers and closed his eyes, still holding on to me.

I sighed too. Even though he’d been joking, he didn’t know how true the word
boss
was about me. How would he take the news of me becoming the next Death?

I placed my hand over Shilah’s heart, staring up into his bronze face. My strange power had saved his life. With it, I could have control over the life and death of every human on earth.

Shilah’s soul belonged to me. Literally.