Midnight
I slope downstairs into our apartment. Lex and Bastien are both sat around the kitchen table, their faces soft and full of pity.
Lex is poring over the books Lucy gave her.
“Found anything yet?” I ask.
Lex’s mouth scrunches like she knows damn well I’m avoiding talking about what just happened.
“Not yet, but the books seem promising.”
“You look like shit,” Bastien says.
“Yeah well, Lucy just found out about the deal I made with Ignatius so…”
Bastien shakes his head. “No, it’s not that. You’ve seemed pale as fuck lately. You look peaky, if I’m honest.”
Lex nods. “Do you feel alright?”
“Aside from screwing the love of my life, who I am also still furious with, who now hates me and will never forgive me because I did the one thing she gave her life up to avoid, you mean?”
Bastien clears his throat and rubs his mouth. Lex fusses with her books.
I pull a chair out and slump in it, leaning on the table and putting my head in my hands.
Lex gets up, goes to the fridge and pulls out yogurt-and-sprinkles granola. “Eat this.”
I’m not hungry but I do as she says simply because I don’t know what else to do.
“He’s taken Lucy,” I say. “I thought I’d have more time before he came to get her. I never got to explain.”
Lex tugs at her braids, fiddling with the beads. “Okay, but you have a plan? There’s a plan? We can get her back, right?”
“I mean…”
There’s a rattling at the kitchen window. The morning light flickers as a couple of dozen moths hurl themselves at the window.
“Ignatius,” I moan.
“He’s going to make you keep reaping?” Bastien asks.
“Apparently so. He plans to use me as he sees fit.”
“And then?” Lex asks.
I shrug. “And then my time’s up.”
They both go quiet.
One of the entropy moths flutters into the apartment from gods-know-what crack. I sigh, realising I’m going to have to handle these reapings.
The ground rumbles. Bastien stiffens. Lex’s eyes widen.
“They’re bad,” she says.
Bastien nods. “I heard there was one that tore through the centre of Ora. The city is crumbling.”
“One problem at a time. Can you find Lucy while I do these reapings?” I ask.
“Of course. Any clues as to where he’d take her?” Lex asks.
I shake my head. “Somewhere private. He’s all about reputation.
He wouldn’t want anyone knowing that he’s keeping his daughter locked up somewhere.
We need to know where she is and if there are any easy ways to break her out.
And if you can find out what he wants from her too, that would be amazing. ”
Bastien slaps the table like he’s ready for action. “Let’s start in the private faculty wings. There are some penthouse rooms that are rarely used.”
Lex closes her books and grabs her jacket. “Then we should try the dungeons.”
Bastien groans. “There’s like thirteen sets of them on campus, each one more vile than the last.”
“Which is why no one goes there. And why they’re super private…” I say.
Lex and Bastien glance at each other.
“We’re starting with the dungeons, aren’t we?” he whines.
“Hundred percent.” Lex laughs.
More moths flutter into the apartment and zoom straight for my head. They’re aggressive little fuckers this morning, smashing into my ears and neck. I wave my hand at them, but they won’t stop. They never do. Not until I’m on the road heading towards the job.
“Go,” Lex says, waving me off. “We’ll find her.”
They slip out of the apartment door, and I let the moths land on me. I’m sucked into a vision of a woman. She’s nasty. Scruffing a kid by his collar and kicking him across the room they’re in.
Oh, yeah. I’ll enjoy reaping this one. She spits on him and throws a mop at his feet. I wonder what she made a deal for. Wealth, riches or power no doubt.
Well, too bad bitch, time is up.
The next one is a wealthy old man. I can’t discern what he wanted from his deal, but he looks miserable. Perhaps his desires weren’t worth it after all.
Vision after vision streams through my mind until I’m exhausted from watching all the lives I’m about to take.
Bastien’s words replay you’ve seemed pale as fuck lately. He’s right, I do feel off. Tired in a way that goes beyond. I’m just not sure beyond what.
I swing around to head in the direction of the first reaping, the woman, grateful it’s at least a well-deserved one. I’ll enjoy this.
The moths disengage and flutter away, and I follow them out of the flat door.
I find my bike at the back of the cloisters; she’s not been ridden nearly enough.
I flick off a couple of crumpled leaves and wipe the tank of nature debris.
It’s a crying shame that a beautiful bike like her has gotten dusty.
Though when I parked her up here, I wasn’t sure she’d ever leave. I didn’t think I’d be leaving.
I pull my helmet on, jacket next, and zip it up tight. It’s going to be a long day and probably a longer night by the looks of the new swarm of moths flying towards me.
I swing my leg over the bike and when the engine roars to life, a calmness descends. This is my happy place.
I’m not giving up, though. Lucy might fucking hate me. She can blame me all she wants, but she fucked up too. And getting her out of the underworld to begin with was the only way to sort this mess out.
Besides, I won’t rest until I get her out from under Ignatius. In fact, I won’t rest until I take that motherfucker out once and for all.
The problem is how? Ignatius is practically untouchable. Even with Lucy’s magic, even if I’d had training and could wield it, I’m no match for him. But that makes me think… Lucy.
Lucy has power. Maybe if I can get her out, we can figure this out together. I was always supposed to help her out of her contract with Ignatius.
What if I can help her get out of it permanently? We just need to use her power to do it.
I rev the bike, and the back end kicks out as I hurtle towards the campus gates. I’m coming, Ora. It’s been a while my old friend.
As I exit, the sight of what must now be over a hundred people outside campus takes my breath away. All of them are Societas members. They chant and sing about the end of days and the end of fate.
It’s weird and creepy. I don’t understand what they have to gain by ripping the fabric of our realms apart, but I can only assume Interitus has promised them untold pleasures under her new system.
I speed down the long driveway out of campus and towards the heart of the city. The thick trees surrounding campus thin the further away I get. By the time I hit the outskirts of Ora, a strength and a quiet resolve have settled in my gut.
Lucy and I need a long talk, but I guess what has solidified is that I never want to experience the way she looked at me again. Like I was worse than Ignatius. She stared through me with a callousness that could cut a demon heart, shatter an angel soul and ruin all the realms.
I twist the throttle harder. I am not giving up.
The bike glides like wings and feathers through the city.
I veer through the iconic divided streets.
Bright stones and gilded frames, long elegant turrets and plush gardens on one side.
The other a dingy, decaying pit of chipped bricks and dark windows, shrivelled and rotting plants and buildings that crumble and fester in their foundations.
Such an odd city of two halves. But it’s home, and one day I want to be able to walk these streets and not have to watch over my shoulder. One day, I want to be free.
There are micro tears in the Veil everywhere. Perforations on every street, not big enough to let a wraith through, but enough that the ground seems to constantly quake.
The city really is crumbling around us.
As I sweep down another street, I slow the bike down, then pull into another nondescript road. Much like the others, half of it is bright and clean and the other half shabby. Before I’m even off the bike, the moths are hurtling towards a door on the decayed side.
I stride over and quietly creep in. The house is as decrepit inside as it was out.
Wallpaper peels in thick strips, and beneath the curling paper, mould festers in swirling clusters.
There’s a pungent odour, a staleness that pervades the air and crawls over your skin.
Every room I check is more deteriorated than the last. It’s freezing where the windows are cracked and no one thought to fix them.
The woman from the vision is bent over the boy, his body is so still it sets my teeth on edge. When I stare at his face, I know he’s been dead a while. His lifeless expression is as broken as his body.
This bitch doesn’t deserve the kindness reaping will bestow on her. But it’s my duty and I’ll do it anyway.
“I won’t go,” she growls.
Ahh, a fighter. There’s always a handful. Most resist, even put up a small fight before realising it’s futile. But every so often, there’s a real fighter, one that is hell-bent on making my life difficult.
Given the vision, I’m not surprised.
She grabs for a wooden hammer from the kitchen table. She knew I was coming and prepared, then. Perfect.
My fingers slip to my hip, unfastening the scythe. “Are you Bernadette Paulinski?” I ask.
“Fuck you,” she snarls and raises the hammer.
“I can make this easy for you. Or I can make it hurt. The choice is yours. With the way my day has gone, I think I’d rather you made it hurt.”
She lunges at me.
The hard way, then.
I feint out of her grasp. But she catches on to what I’m doing and drives her fist up and into my ribs.
I manage to twist so it skims my side, but it catches enough of me to take my breath away.
I kick out at her kneecap, she buckles as a crack zips through the air.
It’s a crunch loud enough it makes my stomach heave.
She howls as she limps across the floor to lean against the wall where she catches her breath.
A sheen of sweat appears over her brow as she breathes through her flared nostrils. Trying to control the pain, I imagine.
I’m too busy staring at her bulging dislocated knee to see her pick up the dropped hammer and launch it at my head.