Reaper's Novice (Soul Collector #1) (13 page)

“Rein?”

He presses his lips together. “He seems to lose his temper very easily lately.” He pauses, then adds in a low intense voice, “Ro is one of the calmest people I’ve ever met. Talk to him.”

It’s true. Rolf rarely gets angry. Did something happen with his dad? I’ve seen slips of anger, but they vanish quickly. I mean, even the gentlest of persons can get angry, right?

“Does he ever talk about his mom?” Lea asks, leaning into Reiner. He slips a hand across her shoulder, pulling her closer.

“Not really,” I say. Rolf’s mother died when he was twelve. His dad had left for Carinthia to work on some details for his clients, leaving his son, then twelve-year-old Rolf, and his wife, who was one-month pregnant, in Vienna. Rolf had noticed his mother favouring her right side, and from time to time clutching her lower abdomen. He asked if she was okay, and she told him she’d go see a doctor. Later on, Rolf arrived home from school to find an ambulance at his doorstep. He never saw his mother again. She’d died of a ruptured appendix. Rolf blames himself for not taking care of his mom as his father had ordered him to.

“When Rolf is around you, he glows and I’m sure everything flies out of his mind. Remember last year when we visited that glass factory in Murano Island? Remember the expression on his face as he watched the artisan working on that orange glass?”

I nod. How could I ever forget that trip? It was my best summer ever. Lea’s mom had invited Reiner, Rolf, and me to their home in Florence for a week. My parents, Reiner’s, and Lea’s have known each other since our kindergarten years, so they had agreed. Rolf’s dad agreed as long as he had adult supervision. Rolf and I had been dating for two months, and it was the first time Rolf had opened up and told me about his mother and his father. He’d been freer, more relaxed. His mood changed when we returned to Vienna. Like something haunted him, never allowing him any happiness.

Reiner rolls his eyes. “Not that story again, Lea.” She glares at him and ducks from under his arm. He makes a grab for her. She bats his hand away and twists her body out of his reach. He laughs and, at the same time, pulls his chirping mobile from his jeans pocket. Immediately the laughter fades, replaced by a frown. “Sorry, I have to take this.” He inches away from us.

Lea stares after him, eyebrows pulled down. I perk up and try to catch snatches of the conversation but stop after I see Lea chewing on her thumbnail.

“So, what were you saying about Rolf and the glass?” I slip my free arm across her shoulder and tilt my body so her view is averted from Reiner.

She removes her bitten nail from her lips and smiles. Lea is a romantic. “Oh, yeah. As I was saying, since I met Rolf, I’ve seen that expression on only two occasions. When he looks at you and that time as he watched the artisan model the glass. So much hope, awe. And when he looks at you, he glows.” Lea giggles.

I drop my gaze to my feet and mumble, “You are too romantic for your own good.”

“I’m serious. Glows like a firefly in the dark.” She snorts. “And what is not to believe in the power of
amore
?”

I burst out laughing, and stop when Reiner joins us, his face twisted in a mask of fury.

“Sorry. I have to go.”

“What’s wrong?” Lea leaps to his side and clutches his arm, her face etched in furrowed lines that mirror Reiner’s.

Reiner runs a trembling a hand down his face, lips pulled into a thin line. “Mom’s in the hospital. Dad—” He cuts himself off, chest rising and falling rapidly. “She’s hurt.” His eyes settle on me. “You okay? Do you need anything?”

Typical Reiner. Still looking out for others even when his world is turning to ash around him. I shake my head. I wish I could go with him to the hospital.

“Okay, talk later?” He focuses his gaze on Lea, and his face softens.

“If you think you’re leaving me here, you’re mistaken. Let’s go.” Lea’s eyes flash at him.

“Fine.” Reiner straightens the strap of the messenger bag cross his shoulder, grabs Lea’s arm, and bounds down the steps.

I watch them disappear through the gate, my heart squeezing itself.

Please, let his mom be all right.

***

Twenty minutes later, Zig is still a no show. It’s forty-five minutes before Lucy’s ballet class begins, and she gets nervous if she’s late for her class. I glance around one more time, then head for the tram stop, sidestepping an elderly lady cooing to her tiny dog. Everything around me seems full of colour. As if I was blind and now I see
everything
. My eyes trail the silhouettes of my fellow pedestrians.

Why is grey such a dominant colour? Why do some people have no colour framing their silhouettes?

Only one person I can ask. He’s not here though, and I can’t keep Lucy waiting.

What’s Zig’s story? Did he lose someone and make a deal with Grim, too? He doesn’t seem to mind collecting souls. In fact, he looks a bit too cheerful for such an emotionally drenching job.

A part of me wishes Zig would show up so he can answer some of my questions. The other part wants him to be a no show. Then I can drop Lucy at school and catch up on much needed sleep.

A tram glides to a stop. I scoot closer to join the other commuters, each shifting restlessly as the other passengers alight.

With one last look over my shoulder, I scramble inside the tram, crammed to the doors with commuters. Sweat, mixed perfumes, and something smelling suspiciously like stale beer wrap snugly around me.

I missed a seat so I grab the yellow plastic hoops above me and clench my jaw to silence my screaming headache.

“Lovely Ana, it is a pleasure to see you again.”

I
TWIST AROUND.
My arms flail, and I lose my balance. My free hand flies and smacks the bespectacled man on his nose. He curses enough to singe my eyebrows, rubbing his clobbered nose. As though that’s not enough, the tram lurches forwards. Before I drop face-down on a scowling woman’s lap, a strong, muscled arm slips around my waist and yanks me back.

Heat flares up my face. Anger overrides it, and I twist to one side—as impossible as that is—to meet mischievous blue eyes.

“Siegfried!” I scowl up at him. “I asked you to stop creeping up on me.”

He shrugs and tugs me closer. “I’m glad you’re happy to see me, lovely Ana. Anger becomes you.” The anger burns a trail down my throat and pools inside my belly, simmering. In two days—
two days
—Zig has managed to work my emotions in ways I’ve never experienced before. Is this God’s way of repaying me for my earlier rebelliousness against my parents? Maybe for two years ago when I threatened to run away if they didn’t buy me a new violin? Or three weeks ago when I snuck out of my bedroom window and attended a party my mom had forbidden me to go to?

Once I recover my breath and assemble my shattered poise, I push away from his surfboard of a chest. He flashes me a grin. Not feeling particularly pacified, I shift my gaze to meet the curious eyes focused on us. Every female—and some males—studies his tall body appreciatively. He isn’t in his concealment. And he’s soaking up every bit of attention being thrown at him.

“Too hot and so full of yourself,” I mutter, shaking my head. “Such a waste.”

“Sorry. I didn’t catch that, lovely.”

I glare at him. “I specifically remember asking you not to call me that.” I wonder if smoke is drifting out of my ears.

“It’s either that or ‘my love’. But we both know that’s not mine to call, yes?” He hits me with another heartbreakingly, luscious smile.

I wrench my eyes from that grin and glance out the window.

Twenty minutes later, we arrive at Lucy’s school in the twenty-second district close to the UN. After a few minutes of walking in silence, I turn around to ask him to stay concealed around Lucy, only to find him several feet behind me chatting up a dark-haired, leggy woman. Now I get what Grim was referring to about me not being one of his women. Even in heels, I can’t beat
that.

I roll my eyes and wait, tapping my foot. Let him get it out of his system.

My mobile buzzes with a text from Rolf. He’s feeling better. Thank goodness. I text him back that I’ll meet him at Copa Cagrana where I’ll be meeting Lea and Reiner. I look up to find the woman eyeing me. What did Zig tell her? The orange mist around her body shivers as she giggles and hands Zig a piece of paper. Zig’s purple colour explodes as he grins, slipping the paper in his trench pocket. He watches her sashay in the opposite direction, then turns and swaggers towards me, winking at the women he passes. The lust oozing and looming in the air needs to be diluted.

“Do women just flock around you?”

He shrugs and shoves his hands in his jeans pockets. “What’s not to flock around?”

“Ever heard of modesty?”

“You don’t think I’m modest?” A smile teases his lips. He pushes the school doors inward. “You ready for our plans?”

“Really, Zig, you think my plans revolve around you? I do have other plans, you know. Responsibilities other than yours and Grim’s.”

He stops suddenly, eyebrows raised. “What plans? If it’s with your grey-eyed lover, I’d suggest you change them.”

Before I slip inside Lucy’s class, I grab the doorknob and turn to face Zig. “Don’t you have any assignments? We could meet once I drop off Lucy.”

He shakes his head. “Nope. Haven’t received collection instructions yet.” His eyes shift from my hand propped on the doorknob, then back at me, his smile gone. “I promise to behave.”

I sigh. “Do me a favour and conceal yourself. Please.” She’d probably yap about it to my parents, or worse Rolf.

***

Zig swaggers in concealment beside a skipping Lucy. She babbles non-stop about school, homework, and how she can’t wait to get home to show Mom the drawing she did of our family. I sneak a glance at Zig to see how he’s holding up, and my breath catches in my throat. His blue eyes watch Lucy intensely, absorbing every word that rushes out of her lips. I know that look. I’ve seen it on Rolf’s face when he’s listening to Anton rattle about hockey practise, or Lucy talking about her dolls.

Uninhibited sheer adoration.

As if he senses me staring at him, Zig’s eyes shift to mine. He straightens and looks away. From his side profile, I watch the muscles on his face working furiously. When he turns to look at me again, he looks composed. He mouths, “You’re lucky” before fixing his eyes on Lucy.

My curiosity switches abruptly to intrigue. Does he have a family?

After assuring Lucy that Dad will pick her up after class, Zig ghosts us to
Der Graben
, one of the most famous streets in the first district. In all the twenty-three districts in Vienna, the first district has some of the most posh shops.

We join the stream of pedestrians loitering the street, walk past a group of women sitting on the stone bench feasting on ice cream, and skirt around a group of Japanese tourists taking photos of the
Pestsäule
sculpture, a humongous baroque column said to have been erected during the sixteen hundreds, as a memory of the plague epidemic.

I snatch my hand from Zig’s and stop abruptly, causing a pedestrian to slam into me. I stumble forwards a few steps, and before I hit the ground, Zig grabs my forearm. The man turns and looks around confused, unable to see us. I realise, as soon as Zig’s skin and mine weren’t touching, I lost the connection to his concealment.

“Did Ernest not teach you the concealment trick?” I shake my head. He blows out a breath. “Just like Ernest to leave everything to me. Let’s take care of urgent business first; then I will take you through a couple of steps if we have some time to spare.” He doesn’t sound bitter. Reluctantly amused, but not bitter. “Don’t worry, it will be a breeze.” He cracks a smile, but it doesn’t touch his eyes. Whatever went on in his mind after we picked up Lucy must be really catastrophic for him to lose his usual confident, cheerful, and cocky demeanour.

Concealment. I really look forward to learning all those tricks. The places I’d visit! Paris, New York, Iceland… The possibilities are endless. Beside me, Zig takes a deep breath.

“You okay?” I ask.

He nods and hits me with that smile of his, looking much better than minutes ago.

“So, where are we going?”
God, I hope it’s not another collection
. Although it was cool to ghost from place to place within the blink of an eye.

“Fitting.” He doesn’t say anything else. He tugs me down the street, dodging two men dressed in Mozart costumes of long red coats, black trousers, and white wigs, selling opera tickets. As we rush past the sidewalk café opposite Stephansdom Cathedral, the smell of coffee and fresh baked pastries slams into me, and my stomach responds madly, reminding me I missed lunch. No wonder my head hurts like a beast.

“I need to get something to eat.”

After glancing around, Zig cautiously slips his hand from mine. I rush inside the café. Minutes later, I exit with two packed
Apfelstrudel
.

Five blocks later, Zig heads towards St. Peter’s Church, then turns left into a deserted cobbled alleyway scattered with leaves and vines crawling on walls. I glance at my surroundings, and I can swear this alley doesn’t exist. I’ve taken walks around the streets of the first districts with Lea. Even been to this area. I’m seeing it for the first time.