Page 16 of Death and Divination
“Oh, that reminds me! There’s fudge topping,” Cassie exclaimed, scooting her chair back.
“I’ll get it.” Sylvie waved at her to stay seated. “Should I heat it up?”
“Just pop it in the microwave,” Cassie called after her.
“Screw the hot fudge. I’m not waiting,” Bronwyn announced, digging into her ice cream.
The next minute was a blur, stretched out and abnormally long as time gets when something causes adrenaline and fear to shoot through your system. I remembered tasting the cold creamy bite of ice cream, hearing the slam of the microwave door, the beep of the buttons, and the hum.
Then the explosion.
It started with a pop noise, then a bang and the sound of twisting metal. The air smelled hot, like melted plastic and burned chocolate. I didn’t hear Sylvie scream or shriek or yelp. I didn’t hear her say anything at all, and that frightened me more than the explosion.
Shoving my seat back so hard it fell, I ran for the kitchen, clearing the doorway before my chair crashed on the floor. Everyone else had sat frozen in surprise, but my movement got them going and soon the lot of them were up and racing after me. What I saw when I entered the kitchen made my breath catch. The microwave was smoking, flames along the back, sparks sizzling from the cord. Sylvie lay crumpled on the floor, her one hand blackened, her body eerily still.
“Call an ambulance,” I shouted, dropping down next to my sister. “Someone go get my bag out of the car.”
No breathing. No heartbeat. I saw the burns on her hand and realized this wasn’t a burn from the fire beginning to consume our microwave or from the explosion. It was electrocution. Tears blurred my vision and I started CPR, trying to shove my emotions back until I had time to deal with them.
“Come on, Sylvie, come on,” I chanted as I timed chest compressions. In the background, I heard Glenda on the phone and the slam of the door as someone ran for my medical bag. I heard Cassie’s wail of fear and grief. Lucien stepped up and snapped his fingers, extinguishing the microwave fire before yanking the cord from the wall. He yelped as he touched it, shaking his hand. Good thing he was a demon, or I’d be trying to do CPR on two instead of one.
“Comeon, Sylvie,” I demanded, bending to breathe into her mouth.
A figure stepped up next to us. Even before I raised my head, I knew who it was. Babylon gasped, confirming my suspicions. I knew no one but me could see the reaper—well, no one but me and my necromancer sister.
“No, no, no!” Babylon shrieked, then burst into tears. “Go away. You can’t have her! Go away.”
“Who?” Magic sparked along Cassie’s fingers as she scanned the room. “Who can’t have her? Lonnie, who’s here?”
“A reaper,” Lucien said. He and Hadur were both looking right at the man. Evidently demons could see him as well as me and my youngest sister.
A reaper. Babylon had been right. I heard the sounds of the siren, felt my own pulse roaring through me as I counted out chest compressions. Sylvie couldn’t die. She couldn’t. She was my twin, half of my whole. Electrocuted by a damned microwave? She was a luck witch. How could this possibly happen to a luck witch?
I guess even luck witches weren’t lucky forever.
No. It wasn’t going to happen. I wasn’t going to lose my sister. Looking up, I motioned for Bronwyn to take over and stood, ready to assist the paramedics coming through the door. That’s when everything stopped.
I meanstopped. The paramedics were halfway through the kitchen door with bags and a stretcher. Bronwyn was doing artificial respiration. Babylon was mid-sob. The only two people who were moving in this weird frozen tableau were me and the reaper.
“A life for a life, my darling,” he told me. “It’s time for you to make a choice, and either way you choose, nothing will be the same.”
A choice. Like on the mountaintop in my vision. I’d need to make a choice, and there was death down either path.
I caught my breath, realizing what he was saying, what the vision must have meant. The reaper was asking me to trade my life for my sister’s. Either way, my family was going to lose somebody today—me or Sylvie. Call me a coward, but I didn’t even hesitate. I couldn’t live with the scenario where my twin died in my arms, where I was unable to save her. I only hoped that Sylvie was stronger than I was and that she’d recover from my loss.
“Yes. Save her. I’ll do anything to save her. I’ll trade my life for hers, I’ll give my soul to the devil, I’ll give up all my witch powers. Anything. I’ll even let you have my car and every dime in my checking account. If you’ve been looking for a sweet Audi A4, then the keys are in my purse by the table. Take it and go. Take me and go. Just don’t take my sister.”
Something sparking to life in his dark eyes. “I’m a reaper. This is my purpose—to ease souls from their mortal forms and usher them into their afterlife. It’s not my job to make the decisions in who lives or dies. I merely assist in the process.”
I stepped forward, my decision made. “You said make a choice; well, I’ve made it. A life for a life. I’m good with that. Deal.”
The pallor of his skin warmed. Not quite tan, but not quite so pale. The black eyes became more of a dark brown. “If she lives, she may live for another week, another year, or another three decades, but eventually she will die. You can never escape death, only delay it.”
“Well, how about delaying it for another seventy years or so? How about she just not die today? Let her live.” I stepped into him and reached up to touch his face. His skin was cool and dry, but not cold. “You’ve done it before. The goblin? The man in the car accident two years ago? That gargoyle the other night? You say you have no control over life or death, but that’s a lie. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen miracles occur, and I believe those miracles were because you willed them.”
“It’s one thing to delay and allow magic and medicine more time to save a life. This is different. I can’t let this one go,” he insisted, reaching up to take my hand in his. “This is different. If she lives, another dies.”
“I told you that I’d trade my life for hers. That’s my bargain.” I told him. “I’ll do anything for her. Anything. Just please, please don’t let her die.”
