by Cara Wylde
“I’m afraid that won’t work on this particular nephilim.”
His eyebrows disappeared under the disheveled hair that had fallen on his forehead.
“Your father? He’s not just a nephilim, he’s a Grim Reaper. That’s another story. You can even stop thinking of him as a nephilim.”
“Do you know him? Do you know his parents?”
“I was long retired in these mountains when his parents’ parents were born into this world. I’ve only heard of him. Everyone has.”
“I was hoping…” I sighed heavily.
He looked at me thoughtfully, and for the first time since I’d met him, I saw genuine concern in his shifting blue eyes.
“I’ll tell you a secret, girl. When you want to get rid of someone, anyone, well… except for some cosmic monster, there’s one weapon that will never fail: a pure heart and a hand that has never hurt a thing, not even a fly. The loss of innocence is the weapon.”
Well, that crushed me. It crushed me for good. Not only was I not innocent and had never been, I didn’t know a single soul in this world that was one hundred percent innocent.
“But that’s impossible,” I said. “You’re talking about… I don’t know, a child. A baby. Even babies hurt flies.” Okay, maybe not. “They… they suck on their mother’s breast and bite the nipple. That counts as hurting. When they’re born, they tear their mother’s flesh apart. That counts as hurting.”
He shrugged, unimpressed. “Well then, find a baby who wasn’t born naturally. A C-section basically means the doctor hurt the mother, not the baby. Find a baby that never kicked while in the belly and was never breastfed. Easy.”
I stared at him as if he’d gone mad. Maybe he was mad. I was sure immortality could do that to some. When he didn’t react, I jumped to my feet and started pacing the cramped room. This trip had proved to be useless. More frustrating than anything… What was I supposed to do with this information? Only someone without sin could retire Valentine Morningstar, and Apis the First had said it himself: once the Watchers asked the mages to give them genitals, innocence and perfection was lost from the world.
I had to get out of there, but not in the dusty air of Leh. I was sweaty, dirty, and hungry. GC and his grandfather had started talking about family stuff.
“I’m going back,” I said quickly, my mind made up. There was no point in waiting for him. He was a big boy, he could find his way home, across the world.
GC stood up and placed his hands on my shoulders. I was shaking. He looked me in the eyes.
“Are you okay?”
“Y-yes. No. I’m not okay, this is impossible.”
He pinched my chin playfully. “Not when my goddess is in charge.”
I groaned. “You’re just saying that.”
“No. I believe in you. We all do.” He pecked my lips and let me go.
I teleported straight to my room.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Professor Maat was moving from one desk to another feverishly, handing out our assignments before the field trip to the Carnelian City.
“You will see creatures you’ve never seen before. They are so peculiar and dangerous that they’re forbidden from leaving their pocket universe. Every once in a while, one of them breaks the law, crosses over, and wreaks havoc among humans. These breaches never end well, and Grim Reapers have to reap for days after the intruder is caught. The problem is that most of them are highly poisonous. If they don’t bite, then they carry diseases the human body was not designed to come into contact with. Luckily, most of us supernaturals are immune.” She stopped in front of my desk. “Oh, Mila. You’re… you’re not supernatural.” She was holding my assignment between her long, dainty fingers. “Maybe you should skip this field trip.”
“What?! Professor Maat, no! I want to go!”
“And make me responsible for your death if you catch the scarab flu? I don’t think so. I happen to love my job.”
I sighed. “Please. I’ll be careful.”
“It doesn’t matter how careful you are. You’re human, and you can’t breathe the same air as most of the people and creatures living in the Carnelian City, let alone drink their water or inhale their dust. It’s too dangerous. You’re staying.”
“Isn’t this against the Academy rules? As a future Grim Reaper, I must see and know these places. It’s discrimination!”
Mrs. Maat pursed her lips. When she spoke again, her voice was cold.
“Miss Morningstar, you’re the first human to attend Grim Reaper Academy. I’ve never dealt with this situation before. It is my personal and professional opinion that visiting the Carnelian City is not safe for your kind. I will inform Headmaster Colin, and if he says you can go, then whatever happens afterwards, it’s on him.”
“Thank you.” Obviously, Headmaster Colin was going to side with me. I just hoped he could convince Professor Maat that it was safe for me to go without having to tell her the truth – that I wasn’t human anymore. “Can I have my assignment, please?”
She went through her papers and pulled one out.
“Since scarab flu is the easiest disease to contract, you’re going to research scarabs.”
Content, I looked over the paper. This semester, Geography was going to be a hoot. I couldn’t wait to see Goblin Mountain, the Colossi Valley, and the green fields of Neem, where I heard so many wild animals from our forests retreated to avoid being hunted. Until then, I was excited about scarabs. The class was over, and I was headed to the Library when a flying piece of paper floated right in my face. I caught it and unfolded it, already knowing what it was. When Headmaster Colin called a student to his office, he did it via these stupid papers that had the bad habit to smack us in the face, tangle in our hair, or poke us in the eye. I wondered if he did it intentionally, if he thought he was making some kind of old man joke.
“Miss Morningstar, please find your way to my office at your convenience,” the note said.
I sighed, teleported in front of his door, and knocked.
“Come in.”
My hand on the doorknob, I closed my eyes for a second and swallowed heavily. This was where it had happened. This was where I’d died by the blade of an Unseelie guard who’d watched me for a year and even helped me once. This was where I’d seen my father last. It gave me no pleasure to be in this room, so I hoped whatever Headmaster Colin needed from me, he’d make it fast.
“You wanted to see me.” I stepped in carefully and closed the door behind me. He’d redecorated. The warm colors on the carpet and curtains, the vintage vases filled with flowers from the garden, and the small potion cabinet made me feel slightly better. It was as if Morningstar had never occupied this office at all.
“Mila, you’ve been summoned by the Council. Today, if you can, after classes.”
I groaned. “Why?”
“I honestly don’t know. They don’t tell me everything. They probably want to hear about your progress.” He looked up from his papers. “If there’s any progress to speak of, that is.”
“Sure there is,” I said distractedly. Nope, there’s not. “Can I take someone with me? Francis? Sariel?” I couldn’t trust GC or Paz to behave properly in front of the Council. Most of the time, they were major goofballs.
“They summoned you, and no one else. I believe you can take your pixie, if you insist.”
Corri. I miss her. She’d been gone on the mission I gave her for quite a while. I wondered what she’d discovered. Probably not much, since she hadn’t contacted me yet.
“If this is all…” I made to leave.
He stood up, rounded his desk, and placed his hands behind his back.
“Are you feeling alright, Mila?”
“Sure. Why are you asking?”
“You’ve lost weight…”
I laughed out loud. “The perks of being a revenant!”
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Supernatural Council was made up of two women – a v
ampire and a demoness, and two men – a gargoyle and an angel. I only liked the gargoyle, because he was old and wise, like a grandpa. The others, not so much. The angel seemed too arrogant, the vampire looked like a blonde, plastic Barbie, and the demoness had this penetrating gaze that made me shudder. She was constantly trying to read my thoughts, and every time I was summoned in front of the Council, I had to make great efforts to keep my mind shut, and not think of things that certainly didn’t concern her. Which was rather hard, this time around…
I’d called Corri back, and she had news from Bulgaria. She was going to tell me everything only after the meeting. If I didn’t know anything, then the demoness wouldn’t, either. The pixie had her ways of protecting herself from telepaths.
I was summoned in the same room where Valentine Morningstar had brought Sariel before the Council, accused Mason Colin of being incapable of running the Academy, and demanded they made him Headmaster. There had been many spectators that day, Morningstar having interrupted some public meeting. Today, there were only the four councilors at their rectangular table perched atop its dais, and two other men in a corner, hiding in the shadows. I tried to distinguish their features, but they’d strategically chosen the only seats that weren’t illuminated by the sunshine pouring through the tall, cathedral-like windows above us.
The angel pointed at a chair that had been prepared for me, and I sat down. Corri was on my shoulder – my pixie guardian. I needed her for moral support.
The old gargoyle was the one to speak first.
“We got word that your father was seen in Alaska.”
I cocked an eyebrow. Really? Then why didn’t they catch him themselves? They should have sent a team, hired the Unseelie…
“Do you know anything about this?”
I shook my head. “No. Alaska is not among my preferred travel destinations.”
The man rubbed his temple. “Miss Morningstar, we tasked you with finding him and bringing him to justice. Please tells us you haven’t been wasting our time and yours.”
I sighed. “With all due respect, you realize that catching him is a waste of time, right? Unless he’s decided that he doesn’t want to be a Grim Reaper anymore, I don’t see what we could do about him. And I promise you that whoever told you about Alaska is lying or had him confused with someone else. I am willing to bet my life that he’s not in this universe anymore. He jumped the first time he got the chance. He’s gone.”
“If we’re lucky, maybe he never comes back,” the vampire woman murmured.
“We’d be left with only twenty-one Grim Reapers,” the angel said.
“Twenty-one have been reaping for the past few months, and the world hasn’t ended.”
“The Violent Reapers are working long hours…”
“Maybe the solution is to end wars and school shootings. Then, we wouldn’t need as many Grim Reapers.”
“This conversation isn’t leading anywhere,” the gargoyle cut them off. “Miss Morningstar, if you say he’s in a parallel dimension, what have you done about it?”
“Nothing. I lost my ability to dream jump. I don’t have a solution for you. I don’t even know why you’re calling me here anymore, expecting things from me.”
“Who should we be calling, then? You’re the only one who can solve the mystery that is Valentine Morningstar. You’re his only daughter.”
The temptation to shrug and wave them off again was strong, but this was my chance. The truth was that I was bored of them. Before, in year one, and maybe even year two, I was fascinated with the Supernatural Council, thinking it was this mighty institution that watched over the supernatural world and made sure humans were safe around us, oblivious to our existence. Then my father burst in, scared the shit out of them, and then year three was such a sad mess that I finally had to accept that this Council, just like any governing body in the human world, was overrated and useless. All they did was lounge around their fancy table, listen to people complain, and spend their every waking moment talking and talking, as if moving their lips and making words come out solved anything. Still, they had power. They only had to be convinced to use it.
“There are other dream jumpers in the world. Get a team together, map the parallel universes, and find my mother. Katia Angelov knows Morningstar better than anyone. She’s been living with one of his doppelgangers for the past twenty years. She must have answers to questions you haven’t even thought of yet.”
“Dream jumpers are human,” the demoness said in a monotone voice. “We can’t bring humans into this.”
I rolled my eyes. I was so tired of hearing this excuse.
“We know how much you miss your mother, Mila,” the demoness continued. “But she chose to leave this universe for a better one. She chose to stay there even when she found out that you are still alive.”
“She didn’t choose. He forced her!”
“She can still dream jump, can’t she?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered. “I don’t know anymore. All I know is that she can help us, if only you made the tiniest effort to get to her.”
The councilors whispered amongst themselves for a minute.
“I think I know why she hasn’t come to see you,” Corri said, her whole face pressed to my ear.
“Not now.”
“Just saying… Don’t be mad at her. She would’ve, but I don’t think she can.”
This whole thing was useless. These people were useless. We wasted some more time arguing about nothing of real importance, then they finally told me I was free to go.
“One dream jumper,” I insisted. “Just one. Okay, forget about my mother, but maybe he or she could find a parallel dimension where Morningstar was retired, and learn how.”
It was no use. Very few humans knew about the supernatural world, and they’d already interrogated them, only to find out they weren’t nearly as gifted as I used to be. Camilla Ivanov was one of them. I gave up.
On my way out, I saw the two mysterious men stand up and move out of the shadows. My heart picked up the pace, my blood boiling hot in my veins. I knew them very well. Leopold Saint-Germain and Francis Saint-Germain Senior, father and son. Leopold’s father had been the one to leave Europe in search of the elixir of life. The New World had no elixir to offer him, though, only a secret cult and a monstrous creature sleeping underneath the ground. What are they doing here? Since I became one of them, a revenant, it was as if they never wanted me to be alone with the members of the Council.
“Congratulations are in order, I believe,” my boyfriend’s father said in a nasal voice that made the hairs on my arms stand on end.
“What for?” I was still walking, eager to put some distance between me and them. They kept up with me easily. Despite their age, they looked just as young and agile as any being who’d gained immortality by nasty means. They both had mossy green eyes and brown hair.
“Your first blood sacrifice, of course,” Leopold Saint-Germain said. “My grandson told me it all went well. We were glad to hear it. I know how much he loves you, and even though I personally believe he could have found someone more suited to him and his legacy, alas…” He sighed theatrically. “As long as we only have to see each other at Thanksgiving, all’s well in the world.”
I huffed. “I’m not spending any Thanksgiving with you. Rich, filthy, murderous…” I would have gone on, but I had the feeling my anger only amused them.
“I feel like pointing out you’re describing yourself, and doing a marvelous job, too,” the other Saint-Germain laughed morbidly. Then, to his father: “She may be more suited than we thought.”
I stopped and turned to face them. Corri lost her balance and regained it by pulling harshly at my hair. I winced.
“Listen, I am not like you. I didn’t choose this. I did what I had to do to survive, but that doesn’t make me…” Words failed me. “It doesn’t mean I’m part of your family. And Francis is not like you, either. He hates it! He hates y
ou for choosing for him, for murdering him in his sleep and throwing him in your god’s lair to make him immortal. That’s right! I know. He told me what happened. How it happened. You are two horrible, sick monsters, and you don’t deserve Francis.” I was almost done. “And you know what? I’m going to find a way to kill your Great Old One. I won’t rest until I either banish Yig from this world or teach him what death is. Our universe, our rules, and we have death here. What lives must also die.” I wasn’t sure where that had come from. The two Saint-Germains weren’t impressed, but Corri clapped her tiny hands in admiration, which was still something. “I don’t even care about Morningstar. I’ve made my peace with the fact that I won’t be the one to retire him, and I have a new mission now: to retire your disgusting god.”
“That is impossible,” said Leopold, “but for argument’s sake, let’s say that you did find a way. You are aware your life belongs to the Great Old One now, yes? Francis’s, too. If anything happens to Yig, you will both rot from the inside and die. We would, too, and all the other revenants Yig has saved from the clutches of death.”
“I’m not sure saved is the right word…”
“Would you do that, Mila? Would you kill yourself? Would you kill him?”
I bit the inside of my cheek until I felt blood in my mouth. The wound healed in seconds. He’d pushed me in a corner, and now he was gloating.
“That’s what I thought.” He gave me a sinister smile. “Why don’t you give us a chance to show you this isn’t a bad life, after all? I want to invite you to a little gathering. Yig has faithful servants in Salem and the cities nearby. His wells cover a lot of land. Maybe if you meet our sisters and brothers, and see we are all just normal people trying to make the best of what the Great Old One has gifted us, you will change your opinion.”
“Never.”
“You will never want to meet them, or you’ll never change your opinion? I’m confused.”
He was mocking me. I turned on my heels and left the room. The second I was over the threshold, I teleported back to the Academy.
