Page 18 of Death and Divination
Chapter 8
Ophelia
Nobody felt like eating ice cream, so it all went down the sink and in the trash. Glenda headed home to start work on some healing potions for Sylvie. Aaron and Adrienne hauled the microwave out back behind the house where the trash cans were, then began scrubbing the counter and floors while Bronwyn, Babylon, and I cleaned up the rest of the dinner. Hadur and Lucien went down in the basement to find a can of paint, then began covering up the scorch marks. We all wanted Cassie to return to a home that wasn’t a glaring reminder that we’d almost lost a sister.
One by one we left, hugging each other with the poignant awareness that our bond was a precious one. I was still alive, so I decided to grab the leftover baked ziti from dinner and take it down to the guys and gals at the station as a bit of a thank you for rushing to our aid tonight.
As I went to leave, I found Lucien blocking my way.
“There was a reaper here tonight,” he said. “Hadur and I saw him. Babylon saw him. You saw him.”
There was no sense denying it at this point. “Yes. I’ve actually seen him before—quite a few times before on ambulance runs. When I told Cassie about him, we’d figured he was a ghost or a freaky stalker who had a thing for accident scenes. I didn’t know he was a reaper until I talked to Babylon about him.”
“I don’t know how much experience you’ve had with reapers, but they don’t show up unless someone is dead or is going to die,” Lucien told me.
“Well, clearly this reaper jumps the gun,” I countered.
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Dead is such a subjective term,” I told him. “A heart stopping. Someone not breathing. We’ve got drugs and technology and what used to be considered dead, no longer is actually dead. It’s only at the point where there’s no hope that their bodies will take on those essential functions again that a person is really dead.”
“So, you’re saying this guy has shown up at false calls before.” Lucien eyed me skeptically. “Why don’t they adjust for this sort of thing? Like wait a bit before appearing, just to make sure they’re really needed.”
“I know! It’s terribly inefficient of them. Reapers clearly need to adjust their processes. Especially this guy. Just the other day, he showed up to a drowning and the goblin lived. Dude is gonna get fired if he doesn’t stop wasting his time on people who aren’t actually going to die.”
I said a silent apology to the reaper in question, hoping he wasn’t the sort who took offense. Lucien couldn’t know what I’d done. If he found out, he’d tell Cassie because he told Cassie everything, then my sisters would all know including Sylvie. I didn’t want her to feel guilty that I’d taken her place. I didn’t want her to blame herself. My imminent death needed to seem unrelated to her near miss.
“I’ve never known a reaper to arrive and not be needed.” Lucien narrowed his eyes. “When I saw him there, I knew that Sylvie was going to die.”
“Well, clearly you were wrong. You haven’t been in the human world for long, and your last visit before this was what? Fifty years ago? A hundred years ago? Medicine has improved since then. I’m sure reapers go back empty handed a lot nowadays, and I’m also sure this guy screws up more than most.”
Sylvie would be crushed if she knew I’d given my life for hers. I couldn’t let anyone know. I had to somehow convince Lucien that this reaper had just made a mistake, and then when I dropped dead in a bowl of soup tomorrow afternoon, he wouldn’t make the connection.
Who was I kidding? Of course he’d make the connection. One sister nearly dies but has a miraculous recovery, only for her twin to die less than twenty-four hours later? Lucien wasn’t stupid. And neither were my sisters.
They were going to be so brokenhearted. But they would have been just as brokenhearted over losing Sylvie. There were no good choices in all this, just like in that stupid vision of mine.
“How well do you know that reaper?” Lucien’s gaze bore into me, and I was suddenly reminded of the fact that he wasn’t just my sister’s adoring boyfriend. He was a demon. And not just any demon, either. He was the son of Satan.
“Like I told you, he’s been showing up at my accident scenes for the last two years. He always hangs around, watching me. At least, I think he’s watching me. Maybe he’s watching the injured person instead. Either way, he vanishes by the time we get the patient into the ambulance and I don’t see him again until the next call. And he doesn’t come to all calls, just the very serious ones—the life or death ones. Most times he leaves empty handed, so it’s not like what happened tonight is all that unusual for him.”
“So, you don’t know him that well.”
Oh, for Pete’s sake. “Well, Ididask him out to dinner, but he hasn’t given me a yes or a no on that yet.”
“Stop joking, Ophelia. This isn’t funny.”
“I’m not joking. I really did ask him out. Dinner, or maybe coffee if dinner is moving too fast. Do reapers eat? Maybe I should have just invited him over to Netflix and chill instead.”
Lucien rolled his eyes. “Witches.”
Yes, we were crazy, all seven of us.
“The thing that surprises me is that you can see this reaper. Have you seen other reapers in the past? Why only this one? And why you?”
“No, I haven’t seen other reapers in the past. I have no idea why I only see this one. And it’s not just me—Babylon can see him too,” I replied, ticking the answers off on my fingers.
“Babylon is a necromancer and thus she’s technically a spirit-worker. Although I wouldn’t normally be surprised that an oracle can see a reaper, I wonder why you haven’t seen one before. Why this one? Why now?”
