Before I Wake
Page 5
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The reaper made a kill. Its time to earn your keep, Kaylee.
I swallowed the bite Id nearly choked on then stood, nerves buzzing in my stomach like Id devoured a swarm of flies, even though I knew what to do. Id been practicing for a month. But I have to be in first period in twenty minutes.
Then work fast. Madeline reached into the pocket of her suit jacket and pulled out what looked like a handful of metal, which she held out for me to take. I lifted what turned out to be a heart-shaped locket on a gold chain. It was pretty, in a sweet, dated kind of way.
Its heavy. I frowned, trying to slide my fingernail into the edge seam. And it doesnt open.
Thats because its not a locket. Its an amphora. This will hold the soul after you capture it. This was designed especially for you, to look like something a young woman would wear.
A young woman from what era? I mumbled, slipping the chain over my head.
Madeline frowned. Bring this back to me when you have the soul. Do not try to apprehend the rogue. Its up to the reapers to police their ownwere only concerned with the stolen soul he carries. Do you understand?
Yeah. I wasnt looking to pick a fight on my first day, anyway. Where is this reaper?
He killed someone at the Daylight Donuts shop three minutes ago. If you hurry, he might still be close. If you have trouble finding or identifying him, sing for the soul.
Okay, but
Go, Kaylee.
I glanced from Madeline to my father, who nodded reluctantly. So I closed my eyes and thought of the doughnut shopfortunately, Id been there a million times. When I opened my eyes, I stood in the middle of the small dining area. The shop was open, but empty, and a quick glance around revealed the body of the owner on the floor of the kitchen, still in his long white apron. But there was no reaper.
Panicked, I stepped through the locked back door of the shop and into an alley, my feet silent on the concrete because I was both invisible and incorporeal at the moment. I expected to have to wail for the stolen soulhell, I half expected to be too late alreadybut there the reaper stood, near the Dumpster. Like he was waiting for me.
My breath caught in my throat, which would have been a problem if Id actually needed to breathe. I recognized the reaper, even in those ridiculous sunglasses. Id seen Tod give him to a hellion in the Netherworld to keep him from reaping my soul. Yet there he stood, alive and kickingmetaphorically speaking. The reaper whod wanted me dead since the day he killed my mother, thirteen years ago.
Thane. Back from the dead. Again.
2
WELL, LOOK WHO survived her own demise. Thane had clearly been waiting for someone, but based on the surprise drawn in the arch of his brows, I was obviously not that someone. This is what happens when theyreplace an experienced reaper like me with a rookie. Thane shoved both hands into the pockets of the black slacks hed been wearing the first time Id seen him, days before I was scheduled to die, and my stomach clenched around nothing. I wasnt sure whether or not I should be personally afraid of him, now that my death date had come and gone, but I had plenty of still-living friends and family he could threaten if he decided he wanted revenge. That is who sucker punched me, then sold me out, right? Your boyfriends reaper brother?
No. Well, yes, but Thane had missed the whole boyfriend/brother drama, and I had no urge to fill him in. What the hell are you doing here, Thane? And how had he escaped Avari, the hellion Tod had given him to? You have some kind of grudge against the doughnut industry? Did they forget to give you sprinkles?
Cute. He leaned with one shoulder against the side of the Dumpster and crossed both arms over his chest. Im reaping what you sowed.
What I sowed?
This is all your fault, little miss wont-stay-dead. You and that blond reaper. Normally I hate sharing credit, but that doughnut guy is dead because of the two of you, and everything else thats comingits all your fault.
Chills crawled up my arms. Whats my fault? Whats coming?
A slow, creepy smile spread over his face. Until next time, little bean sidhe
No! I realized he was about to blink out of the alley with less than a second to spare, and in my desperation to take the soul he carried before he left, I accidentally unleashed my bean sidhe wail at full power. Top volume.
Thane flinched and slapped his hands over his ears. Glass rattled in the windows of the doughnut shop behind me, and something actually shattered inside the Dumpster. If I hadnt been inaudible to everyone else, anyone within a two-block radius would have wanted to claw their own ears out of their heads.
Id grown as a bean sidhe over the past few months, and death had further strengthened my skills, a fact Id been kind of horrified to realize during my training.
What are you? Thane asked, arms spread for balance as the soul hed stolen began to leach out of his body like smoke sucked out the only open window in a room. But I had to read his lips, because I couldnt hear him over my own screech, and I certainly couldnt answer.
The soula formless foglike shapebegan to coalesce around him, and for a moment, I panicked. I didnt know how to actually get it into the not-a-locket. Desperate, and acutely aware that I was running late for school, I took the locket off and held it by the chain at arms length. To my immense relief, the soul began to spiral toward the locket, and as I watched, it soaked into the metal, just like Mr. Becks soul had soaked into the dagger Id killed him with.
I swallowed the bite Id nearly choked on then stood, nerves buzzing in my stomach like Id devoured a swarm of flies, even though I knew what to do. Id been practicing for a month. But I have to be in first period in twenty minutes.
Then work fast. Madeline reached into the pocket of her suit jacket and pulled out what looked like a handful of metal, which she held out for me to take. I lifted what turned out to be a heart-shaped locket on a gold chain. It was pretty, in a sweet, dated kind of way.
Its heavy. I frowned, trying to slide my fingernail into the edge seam. And it doesnt open.
Thats because its not a locket. Its an amphora. This will hold the soul after you capture it. This was designed especially for you, to look like something a young woman would wear.
A young woman from what era? I mumbled, slipping the chain over my head.
Madeline frowned. Bring this back to me when you have the soul. Do not try to apprehend the rogue. Its up to the reapers to police their ownwere only concerned with the stolen soul he carries. Do you understand?
Yeah. I wasnt looking to pick a fight on my first day, anyway. Where is this reaper?
He killed someone at the Daylight Donuts shop three minutes ago. If you hurry, he might still be close. If you have trouble finding or identifying him, sing for the soul.
Okay, but
Go, Kaylee.
I glanced from Madeline to my father, who nodded reluctantly. So I closed my eyes and thought of the doughnut shopfortunately, Id been there a million times. When I opened my eyes, I stood in the middle of the small dining area. The shop was open, but empty, and a quick glance around revealed the body of the owner on the floor of the kitchen, still in his long white apron. But there was no reaper.
Panicked, I stepped through the locked back door of the shop and into an alley, my feet silent on the concrete because I was both invisible and incorporeal at the moment. I expected to have to wail for the stolen soulhell, I half expected to be too late alreadybut there the reaper stood, near the Dumpster. Like he was waiting for me.
My breath caught in my throat, which would have been a problem if Id actually needed to breathe. I recognized the reaper, even in those ridiculous sunglasses. Id seen Tod give him to a hellion in the Netherworld to keep him from reaping my soul. Yet there he stood, alive and kickingmetaphorically speaking. The reaper whod wanted me dead since the day he killed my mother, thirteen years ago.
Thane. Back from the dead. Again.
2
WELL, LOOK WHO survived her own demise. Thane had clearly been waiting for someone, but based on the surprise drawn in the arch of his brows, I was obviously not that someone. This is what happens when theyreplace an experienced reaper like me with a rookie. Thane shoved both hands into the pockets of the black slacks hed been wearing the first time Id seen him, days before I was scheduled to die, and my stomach clenched around nothing. I wasnt sure whether or not I should be personally afraid of him, now that my death date had come and gone, but I had plenty of still-living friends and family he could threaten if he decided he wanted revenge. That is who sucker punched me, then sold me out, right? Your boyfriends reaper brother?
No. Well, yes, but Thane had missed the whole boyfriend/brother drama, and I had no urge to fill him in. What the hell are you doing here, Thane? And how had he escaped Avari, the hellion Tod had given him to? You have some kind of grudge against the doughnut industry? Did they forget to give you sprinkles?
Cute. He leaned with one shoulder against the side of the Dumpster and crossed both arms over his chest. Im reaping what you sowed.
What I sowed?
This is all your fault, little miss wont-stay-dead. You and that blond reaper. Normally I hate sharing credit, but that doughnut guy is dead because of the two of you, and everything else thats comingits all your fault.
Chills crawled up my arms. Whats my fault? Whats coming?
A slow, creepy smile spread over his face. Until next time, little bean sidhe
No! I realized he was about to blink out of the alley with less than a second to spare, and in my desperation to take the soul he carried before he left, I accidentally unleashed my bean sidhe wail at full power. Top volume.
Thane flinched and slapped his hands over his ears. Glass rattled in the windows of the doughnut shop behind me, and something actually shattered inside the Dumpster. If I hadnt been inaudible to everyone else, anyone within a two-block radius would have wanted to claw their own ears out of their heads.
Id grown as a bean sidhe over the past few months, and death had further strengthened my skills, a fact Id been kind of horrified to realize during my training.
What are you? Thane asked, arms spread for balance as the soul hed stolen began to leach out of his body like smoke sucked out the only open window in a room. But I had to read his lips, because I couldnt hear him over my own screech, and I certainly couldnt answer.
The soula formless foglike shapebegan to coalesce around him, and for a moment, I panicked. I didnt know how to actually get it into the not-a-locket. Desperate, and acutely aware that I was running late for school, I took the locket off and held it by the chain at arms length. To my immense relief, the soul began to spiral toward the locket, and as I watched, it soaked into the metal, just like Mr. Becks soul had soaked into the dagger Id killed him with.
