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.
It smashes against my forehead as a blow that will definitely leave a bruise.I touch the spot it hit, and my fingers come away bloody.
“Oww.Demonsake, could you be more of a cunt?Just let me reap you already,” I hiss.
But this bitch is not giving up.She lurches forward, lunging for me, despite the visible pain she’s in.
As she swings her fist at me, everything slows.The ground rumbles, like the Veil is tearing.It’s a violent shake, far more than usual.I hope the city is okay.These quakes are getting bad.
The woman stumbles over the boy’s broken leg and ends up flying through the air.
I snatch the hammer off the ground and grin down at her.Not this time, fucker.
“Too bad.I’ll take your insult as confirmation of your name.Now.Whisper your last truth and I’ll carry it to the dark with me.”
