Trialled by Reapers

by Amy Starr

  They were now in another small room. Like the hallway they were just in, it was filled with the cloaks of fallen reapers. Gold scythes lay on the floor next to the cloaks.

  “Mortals! Stop!”

  The reaper’s voice came through the tear.

  “Quick, put one on.” Morgana hissed, pointing to the empty cloaks.

  Moving quickly, Hudson and Poppy pulled the robes on. Morgana stopped Poppy from putting her hood on.

  “No, you’ll be our captive. I’ll pretend that I caught you and that the others ran away.”

  Hud screwed up his nose in disgust as he put on the disguise. It stunk of ashes and smoke. It was only when Hudson was fully dressed that he realized that the ashy smell was most likely the remains on the deceased reaper. He was not sure how to feel about this, but it mostly gave him a sensation of uneasiness. Hudson wondered what happened to dead reapers. Was there another afterlife that they went to? Before could ponder on the idea any further, the reaper that had been chasing them appeared through the hole in the wall.

  Morgana, disguised as a reaper, gripped Poppy by the scruff of her neck. The psychic glanced downwards, her purple hair covering her face.

  “Do not worry, I have caught one of the interlopers.” Morgana spoke in a deep and gruff voice.

  The reaper floated over to Morgana and Hudson and inspected them. Hud felt his breath catch in his throat. Surely this deliverer of the dead would pick up on their flimsy disguises. Morgana and Hud were tall, but they were nowhere near as tall as the reapers were.

  “Good work.” The reaper replied, seemingly unfazed by this. “Return this one to its room. I shall find the other one.”

  With that, the reaper floated away through the wall.

  Morgana let go of Poppy and she rubbed the back of her neck, glaring at the other woman. “You didn’t have to grab me so hard.” She muttered.

  The black-haired woman shrugged his shoulders. “I have to make it look realistic. Would you rather be caught and sent to the Purgatorium for the rest of eternity?”

  “How did they not realise we weren’t reapers?” Hud asked, mystified.

  Morgana pulled her cloak off and studied it in her hands.

  “The cloaks block any sense of mortality, I think. Once you wear one, all reapers will perceive you as another reaper. Pretty flimsy design, but it works well for us.”

  Still wearing the hood, Hudson approached one of the blank walls. “Looks like we’ll have to keep cutting open the walls until we get out-”

  Without warning, his hand passed through the wall with ease. Hud pulled his hand back, blinking in shock. Morgana quickly walked over and stuck her hand in. After a few moments, she pulled her hand out and stared at it. “Well I’ll be damned. These coats are what cause the reapers to pass through the walls. How did I not realise that before? Nice catch Hud.”

  Morgana gave Hudson an impressed smile and he could not help but smile back at her.

  “Quickly, get a coat on Poppy. Pick up a scythe too.” Morgana said to the psychic.

  Poppy grumbled and pulled the cloak on.

  The black-haired woman pulled the map out of her pocket and stared at it. “Well, we’re going to head towards Justice Hall. We need to make sure we stay in disguise the entire time.”

  “What happens if we get detected?” Hud asked.

  Morgana gave him a sombre look. “Impersonating a reaper is a grave crime. It could mean a one-way ticket to the Purgatorium for all of us.”

  Chapter Four

  It only took the group about a half-hour to navigate the blank halls and reach justice hall. Along the way, the trio continued to run into the empty cloaks of dead reapers. That was bad enough for Poppy, but what made it worse was how obnoxious Morgana was acting around Hud.

  “This is bad.” Morgana murmured, placing her hand on Hudson’s shoulder and giving him a nervous glance. “The demons must have completely infiltrated the reaper population.”

  The black-haired woman let out a small sigh. “I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the high reapers are demons in disguise. This is going to be bad for us.”

  “Why is it bad?” Poppy asked and in response Morgana glared at her as if she had asked a stupid question.

  “It means that mortals will not be judged fairly. Reapers are designed to give fair and unbiased judgement. A biased judgement system will cause more mortals to end up in hell.”

  “It’s amazing that you know so much about this.” Hudson said to Morgana, a pleased smile on his face.

  The black-haired woman chuckled and waved her hand dismissively at him. “It’s pretty common knowledge for long-time demon hunters. I’m honestly surprised you don’t know about it. I’ll fill you in on it once we escape from here.”

  “I’d really appreciate that.” Hud replied.

  Poppy could not help but feel a little peeved by how quickly Hudson was warming up to Morgana. They had only met this woman a few hours ago, and yet Hud was already getting chummy with her. When Poppy realized she was getting jealous, she suppressed a laugh and shook her head. Was she seriously getting envious over Hudson talking to another woman? What was she, an angsty teenager?

  Despite how silly she knew she was acting; the psychic could not help but feel a bit green over how Hud was looking at Morgana. Every time the alluring woman spoke, Hudson’s eyes were all over her as if she was a genius. Even from under his hood, Poppy could see him checking the other woman out.

  Not wanting to interrupt their chatting, she stormed ahead. Morgana must have noticed this as she let out a small chuckle and called out to her.

  “Ah, be careful Pops. If you go too fast, you might run into a reaper, or a demon.”

  Poppy stiffened up. She whirled around and glared at Morgana. “Do not call me Pops.”

  The black-haired woman gave the psychic a playful smile from under her hood. “Ah, sorry. I wasn’t trying to offend you, I thought it sounded cute.”

  Poppy went to stomp off, but the moment she passed through the next wall she paused, her mouth open in awe. Morgana came up behind her and placed a hand on the psychic’s shoulder before leaning in close to her ear.

  “Welcome to Justice Hall.”

  Directly in front of them was a large marble floor where several reapers were floating about, talking amongst each other and carrying dusty tomes. Several paces away stood a set of golden steps that lead up to an expansive hall. At the very end of the hall were several pews and a horseshoe shaped set of stands that reminded Poppy of a criminal court. Behind the stands were several reapers with golden scythes.

  “That’s where the high reapers judge mortal souls.” Morgana whispered to the two of them. She pointed to a portal to the right of them. “That looks like an entrance to the Purgatorium.”

  Poppy’s eyes widened when she saw the swirling black portal. It was exactly like the one Harkness had come out of previously.

  “You’ll need to figure out the code to reach your sister’s personal Purgatorium though.” Morgana added. “Enter the portal without figuring it out, and you may end up in a random Purgatorium.”

  The black-haired woman glanced over to the court. “I am going to go sit in on some judgement sessions to try and fit in. I might even see if I can find any hidden demons. Once you are both ready to go, come and get me.”

  With that, Morgana sauntered slowly over to the pews, imitating the way the reapers floated.

  Giving each other a small glance, Poppy and Hudson slowly made their way over to the entrance of the Purgatorium. There was a huge volume sitting on a stand near the swirling vortex. It somehow looked as though it was older than time. Poppy wandered over to it and squinted at the writing on its golden pages. There were hundreds of names written on it in silver writing.

  “Ah, Hud this is a directory, I think. It looks like it’s in alphabetical order. Find your sister’s name.”

  Poppy took a step back and Hudson approached the tome. He began flicking through the pages, his eyes darting fro
m one word to the next. He searched for so long that his eyes were beginning to ache. It was not long before his excited smile turned into a frown.

  “She’s not here.” Hudson murmured

  “Are you sure?” Poppy asked softly.

  “Look for yourself.”

  Poppy approached the grand book and flipped through it from front to back. After a few moments, she concluded that it contained the names of every person who had recently died in it. As hard as she tried, she could not find any trace of Emma-Lee’s name.

  “It has to be here somewhere…” She muttered as she began to search through the book again.

  Without warning, she felt someone grab the back of her hood and pull it down. Freezing up, Poppy turned to find a tall reaper glaring down at both of them.

  “The lure worked; we have found the mortals.” The reaper’s eyes glowed.

  With no way to escape, Hudson and Poppy were both dragged into another blank room by two reapers. They sat on two white chairs as a tall reaper holding a golden scythe came and sat in front of them. It glanced from one to the other, its eyes glowing menacingly under its hood.

  “You are both being charged with interfering with matters of reapers and the deaths of 22 high ranking reapers.” The reaper said in a menacing tone. “What have you got to say about this?”

  Poppy’s eyes widened with shock. “We didn’t kill any reapers!”

  Hud nodded his head, his face turning pale. “We were just trying to find my sister. She is tethered to the Purgatorium. We did not harm anyone or anything, we swear.”

  The reaper placed its scythe down and folded its arms. “I have to admit, I found it unusual that a psychic and a demon hunter could harm a reaper, who is more powerful than the two of you combined. However…”

  The reaper leant in close, its eyes glinting. “…if I recall, you both killed a reaper in the mortal realm, so how is there any way I can trust you here?”

  Poppy had no idea what the reaper was talking about, until she thought right back to around the first time she met Hud. They had technically killed a reaper – the one that had threatened her own life and was going to send her to the Purgatorium because they had not been able to catch Hudson.

  Hudson slammed his hands on the table. “That reaper was going to send an innocent living human back to her death!” He growled, pointing to Poppy.

  The reaper stood up and glared down at Hudson, making him shirk back slightly.

  “And if you had just taken her rightful place, she would have been fine. Hudson Cooper, according to my records, you are supposed to be dead. Why is it that I can still sense your body in the land of the living?”

  Poppy watched as Hudson sat up straight and stared directly at the reaper. She could tell he was terrified but he was trying hard to stand his ground.

  “Some…some strange pale guys in a van gave it back to me. I’m certain they were angels, I think. I beat their game, and I won my body back fair and square!”

  The reaper let out what sounded like a growl and slammed its bony hand down onto the table.

  “Everyone is interfering in our business now.”

  It glared from Hudson to Poppy.

  “Listen you mortals, this is what is going to happen. Once Harkness the Reapling’s trial is over, you shall both be trialled for your own crimes. If you are both found guilty, not only may you lose your own lives for good, but you will be forced to wander your own personal Purgatoriums forever.”

  “We did nothing wrong!” Hud protested.

  The reaper leant in so close to Hudson that its hood starting to go over his face.

  “That is for the high reapers to decide.”

  With that, the reaper stood and left the room. Hudson sat back in his chair, panting softly.

  “Holy shit.” He murmured.

  “I should have told them about Morgana.” Poppy muttered, rubbing her face with her hand. “No, I bet she set this all up. This was a trap from the start.”

  Hudson glared at Poppy in such an angry way that is shocked her.

  “You don’t know that. She’s been trying to help us from the moment we met her. I’m sure she’s trying to find a way to get us out of here as we speak.”

  The psychic scoffed. “You’re joking, right? She knows this place far too well for someone who is apparently lost here. Face it Hud, she’s got you by your balls.”

  Hud let out a chuckle and rubbed his forehead with his hand. “Oh, I get it. You’re jealous of her, aren’t you? Because she’s a demon hunter, right?”

  Poppy stood up from her chair so quickly it clattered behind her. “Why the hell would I be jealous of her for being a goddamn demon hunter? She’s a lunatic! Fuck Hud, you’re so up yourself.”

  The psychic turned just in time to see Morgana frowning her from under her hood. Poppy let out a shocked cry and stumbled backwards, almost falling over her chair. The black-haired demon hunter glanced from the astonished Poppy to Hudson, letting out an exhausted sigh and shaking her head.

  “Good job guys, we’re going to have to move fast now.”

  She tried to help Poppy up, but she stood up on her own, glaring at Morgana. In response, the tall women approached Hudson and gently placed her hands on his shoulders, squeezing them gently.

  “From the rumors I’m hearing floating around, you’re both about to be introduced into the trial of Harkness.” Morgana said, continuing to rub Hudson’s shoulders.

  Morgana gazed into Poppy’s eyes and gave her a playful smirk.

  “Don’t do anything stupid, okay?”

  The black-haired woman leant down by Hudson’s face and gave him a small kiss on the cheek whilst placing her hand against his waist. Poppy gritted her teeth as Morgana ruffled Hud’s hair and quietly made her way out of the room. As she walked past Poppy, she let out a small tinkling chuckle.

  “Good luck.” Morgana said to her in a breathy whisper. “You’re going to need it.”

  Chapter Five

  With little fanfare, Hudson and Poppy were brought into the back of the trial room by a trio of reapers. They both sat at a booth to the right of the stands where the six high reapers stood. On the other side of the stands stood Harkness, gripping its scythe tightly within its bony hands. Its hood had been lowered, exposing the haphazardly stitched together two skull halves that made up Harkness’s face. Hudson made eye contact with Harkness and they both gazed at each other for a few moments before gazing away.

  In front of them, crowds of reapers watched on, their faces hidden by their hoods. He glanced over at Poppy on his right, but she was staring in the opposite direction, refusing to look at him. He had no idea why she was still acting like this, but he was not going to let that get to him.

  Hud could not see Morgana in the crowd, but he could still feel her lips burning into his cheek. He pressed his fingers onto it and looked at Poppy and a sense of realisation came over him. How could Poppy think that he was going to replace her with this other woman? He was going to have to straighten this out with her later.

  He rubbed the side of his face as one of the six high reapers stood and lifted its hand outward “Fellow reapers, we are gathered here for the trial of former reapling Harkness. Harkness, you stand accused of not only interfering in the matters of mortals multiple times, but purposely leaving your place of banishment, how do you plead?”

  Harkness stood and gripped the front of its booth tightly with one hand. As it spoke, its skeletal mouth clacked up and down. “Your honor, I understand we are in trial, but this is a matter of great urgency. Please let me explain what is occurring in the Infernal Region.”

  The high reaper glared down at Harkness.

  “Harkness, do you plead guilty or not?”

  “I plead guilty, but your honor-”

  The high reaper nodded its head. “So, you know what you have done was wrong. Harkness, you were bestowed a great duty, to bring mortals from the Purgatorium to judgement here before they are sent either above or below. You understan
d the reason why you were banished originally, correct?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “You allowed a mortal to escape the Purgatorium.”

  Hud thought back to how it had happened. The glowing portal had led him from the sea of darkness to tumbling out of Poppy’s fridge. If Harkness had not of accidently created that portal, none of this would have happened.

  The high reaper gazed around the room before addressing the accused reaper.

  “Harkness, the collective of the high reapers is unclear as to why you created this portal to the mortal world. It was certainly no accident that it was created, especially considering how inconvenient its placement was. Why did you do this?”

  Surprisingly, the reaper in the booth seemed a little dazed. It wobbled and held its skeletal head in one hand. After taking a few moments to steady itself, Harkness spoke.

  “Your honor, I…I cannot recall why I created it.”

  “You cannot recall?”

  “I apologize. My memories are fuzzy.”

  A soft murmuring came over the crowd of reapers until the high reaper raised its bony hand. The room went deafly silent as the high reaper spoke in a soft voice that frightened Hudson.

  “Harkness, a reaper has perfect memory. The fact you are having difficulty recalling such simple information concerns us. Could it be that your past is coming back to you?”

  The accused reaper went quiet and tilted its head to the side. “My…my past?”

  Hud let out a soft hum. All of this was becoming quite interesting, but despite how curious the trial was, a strange nagging began to tap at his head. It was as if a small creature was wriggling around in his brain. No, not a creature, an idea. An idea was spinning around in his mind like a siren on the top of an ambulance. He dug his nails into his knees, but the concept that circled his mind only grew louder.

  Suddenly, all other thoughts left him. The only thing that mattered to him now was to complete the task that nagged at him. Feeling sweat forming on his forehead, Hudson reached into his pocket and pulled something out. It was long and silver and shaped like the tip of a large dart. He felt the cool metal in his hands. It felt right. Everything about this felt so right.