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Once more, she seemed younger. Some of the lines from her face had vanished to reveal smooth, sun-kissed skin. There was a gold shimmer on her eyelids like she’d broken into my makeup and stolen the highlighter I almost never used.
Hel recoiled, her head suddenly sideways in the most confused expression I’d ever witnessed on her. The human side of her face blinked like she couldn’t believe what she was looking at.
Perse held her gauzy, Stevie Nicks-esque wrap closed as she bent and grabbed the television remote. The TV flared to life, and a reporter’s voice filled the room.
“Unexplained phenomena occurred in the Adirondack Mountains today,” the male voice said. His moustache rippled uncomfortably over his upper lip.
The scene cut to the familiar mountains, forcing me to forget all about the caterpillar moustache. My mind short-circuited staring at the scene before me. While the mountains were a familiar sight, there was something fundamentallywrongabout the image on the news. When I realized that a mountain wasmissing, my stomach hit the floor.
“What the hell?” I asked, breathless.
“It seems that one of our beloved mountains has left us,” the reporter said. “We don’t have any details as of yet. Scientists are being called in. Everyone has their eye on this natural mystery. Stay tuned for more information.”
The scene cut to a reporter on the street, asking people what they thought had happened. One man claimed that aliens had come down and taken a sample of our landscape for their research. A woman blamed eco-terrorists pulling some sort of media stunt. A teenager explained that the government must have set up mirrors all around the mountain in a stealth-invisibility experiment.
I cringed at the general populace’s opinions, but at least they weren’t onto the truth. They had that much going for them, I guessed.
The door burst open, and Maddox stumbled in. “I lost that damn bastard!”
“Or you let him go because you find a companion in him,” Hel suggested.
I raised a hand and pointed in her direction. “Shut up.”
Perse took one, measured step out of the way. The house was full of supernatural beings. I didn’t think that it would survive if we got into a fight. I knew just what kind of damage Hel and Maddox could cause. Eyeing Perse, I wondered who she really was and just what she was capable of.
The mystery woman was a close friend of mine—which bothered me even more. I felt like I’d been dumped into the middle of a web that had been lying in wait for me. How had I not noticed it before? I didn’t know.
To Hel, I said, “If we catch him, then I want more time. I want more for both Maddox and myself. I’m tired of being everyone’s servant.”
Hel scowled. “You haven’t even begun your duties. How can you be tired?”
Once a Reaper, always a Reaper. There was no escaping what I was or what I was meant to do. It’d been over my head since the moment I took my first breath, and it would be waiting for me even after I took my last.
I was surprised a meteor hadn’t fallen from the sky to crush me, especially after so many of my close brushes with death. The afterlife was waiting for me, but I wasn’t ready. I didn’t think I ever would be.
“I’m doing your dirty work,” I snapped. “I don’t have the ability to free Fenrir, and we both know it.”
Hel’s human face darkened—not with shadows, but with a blush of shame.
