Styx & Stoned (The Grim Reality Series Book 2) (14 page)

“I want.” Like a tractor beam, the
gleaming scythe drew me in. We stopped at the display rack of hand carved
handles and blades of varying size. “They’re beautiful.”

“Custom made,” the vendor said. He
touched a pole with skulls carved along the handle. “You can pair this handle
with any blade. If you want something a bit more feminine we have carved
lilies, or maybe something simple like this black polished handle.” He picked
up a cylinder that was slightly larger than a beer bottle. “We even have our
compact model.”

He held the cylinder in front of
him and pressed the silver button at the side. From either end a wooden pole
extended, and from there, another length at the bottom shot out. A thin curved
metal blade snapped out from the upper section and locked in place, creating a
scythe a little shorter than me.

“Whoa.” I took the weapon from him.
It was surprisingly light and my hand fit around it perfectly. “That is so
cool.”

“What do you do with it?” Mara asked.

“What do you mean what do you do
with it? It’s a scythe.” I swung it in a shallow arc, not wanting to damage
anything or anybody. “It’s a reaper’s signature tool.”

“Well…” The vendor gave me a
sheepish grin. “Mainly they’re for show or decorative purposes.” A nervous
laugh escaped him and he gestured at me. “I’m sure you already know how reapers
obtain their scythes.”

I did not. Until I saw the gleaming
weapons, I’d basically thought most folklore about grim reapers was untrue and
hadn’t given the scythe a second thought. “Refresh our memories.”

“It’s bestowed on them, either
inherited from a family member or after performing an act of epic proportions
at great cost to themselves.” His head bobbed up and down. “From what I hear
there’s only a few hundred true scythes in existence.”

“Oh, right, I remember reading
about that,” I lied, handing the scythe back to the guy, the gleaming weapon
losing its appeal. I didn’t want a fake, something to hang on my wall, which
undoubtedly would raise questions. I wanted a real, working,
personally-bestowed-upon-me scythe. “Thanks for showing this to us. It’s
amazing.”

“You bet.” He twisted the base and
the weapon contracted. “I’ll be here until Sunday if you change your mind.”

“Sounds good,” I said. That was my
stock answer, which meant I wouldn’t be back but didn’t want to be rude. We
headed toward the exit. “I wonder if Charon has a scythe.”

“You would think so if he’s the
ferryman,” Mara said. “He’s always holding one in all the artwork I’ve seen.”

“I think I’ll ask Nate when I see
him.”

“Ms. Carron? Ms. Mara?” a voice
said from behind us. We turned to see Tabris’s tall assistant standing a few
feet away. “Mr. Tabris would like to speak with you if it’s convenient.”

I glanced at Mara and she nodded.
“Okay, we’ll head there now.”

“Very good.” He bent in a shallow
bow. “I’ll let him know you’re on your way.”

We strolled across the open area
and when I glanced back, the guy was gone. The fact that he suddenly
disappeared didn’t faze me was a testament to how numb I was becoming to the
paranormal world. Things that would have made my jaw drop a year ago now barely
made a blip on my radar.

“I wonder what Tabris wants,” I
said.

“Probably wants to know if we ran
into any problems.” She glanced at me. “What should we tell him?”

“The truth.” We turned down the
hall, passing several convention attendees headed to the Expo Center. “He
probably knows everything already.”

“And we should mention the gold.
Make sure it’s okay that we used the toll money.” We stopped in front of the
golden doors. Mara lowered her voice. “I’m also going to ask him to reimburse
us for the clothes.”

I knocked. “Especially since your
pants got ruined.”

A growl rumbled from her. “I
freakin’ loved those pants.”

The door opened before I could
agree, not surprisingly by Tabris’s assistant.

“You sure do get around,” I said,
entering the room.

He smiled. Unlike his usual
placating expression, mischief laced this grin. It was the first time I noticed
the intelligence in his eyes. Normally he drifted in and out, only noticed for
a second. No doubt he’d overheard more confidential conversations and knew more
secrets simply by being a fly on the wall.

“Ladies.” Tabris skirted the gold
desk, a white smile gleaming against his coppery skin. “I’m anxious to hear how
your first adventure went. Smoothly, I hope.”

Mara and I glanced at each other.
“Not too bad,” I said, looking back at Tabris. “We had a few bumps in the road,
but nothing we couldn’t handle.”

“Excellent.” He turned to Mara.
“And you had no problem following the river?”

“Nope.” She shook her head. “It
hasn’t changed much. A few more branches off the main stream, but everything
seems basically the same. We did run into a situation when we docked at the
juncture.”

“But we handled it,” I said,
jumping in to reassure him. “It seems Charon pays the guy fifty gold pieces to
open the cabin once they dock.”

“We didn’t have any gold on the
first trip,” Mara said, picking up the story. “So we took it from the toll
plate at the arch.”

“I hope that’s okay.” I tensed,
unsure what his reaction would be.

“You may spend your money however
you wish,” he said.

Relief washed through me. “Okay,
great, I didn’t want to break—” His statement suddenly sunk in. “Don’t you mean
the
money, or
Charon’s
money?” An unsure giggle slipped from me.
“You said “your”, sounding like you meant it’s my money.”

“That’s right.” He slipped his
hands into his front pockets, pinning me with a coppery stare. “When you passed
through the arch and were vetted, you officially became the new ferryman, or in
this case, ferrywoman. At that moment, all rights and benefits of the job
reverted to you—including the gold.”

The breath stopped in my throat and
I choked out, “You’re joking?”

“I’m dead serious,” he said,
smiling.

My gaze cut to Mara and she
appeared to be equally surprised. “I guess that whole clothing reimbursement
issue is solved.”

“Wait.” I followed Tabris to his
desk. “If I’m the one now getting paid, what about Charon?”

“Unless he signs a new contract and
returns to the ferry, his wages are cut off.”

“Okay, but isn’t he going to be a
tad pissed off about that?” The thrill of being a hell of a lot richer warred
with the fear of facing Charon when he found out.

“It doesn’t matter,” Tabris said.
“What’s done is done.” He scooted the white leather chair up to the desk. “The
gold is exchanged and will be transferred into your account.” He slid an index
card toward me. “You authorized direct deposit when you were hired. I hope it’s
all right that we used that same account.”

“Way all right.” I looked at Tabris.
“What about Mara?”

“The position is only authorized
for one person. Any arrangements for compensation for her will have to come out
of your pay.”

“Of course we’ll split the money.”
It didn’t matter that I was the designated driver. Without Mara by my side, I
would have died at the abyss, not to mention lost all the souls. Hell, I
probably wouldn’t have even managed getting into the elevator with Hal. I
grabbed her arms. “And we are so buying you some new pants.”

“Sweet,” Mara said, nodding.

“Also,” Tabris said, interrupting
the list of ways I was going to pamper Mara and myself. “Nate updated me about
last night and Charon. As I’m sure you’ve already figured out, finding him was
the easy part.”

“Yeah, he’s being very stubborn.” I
didn’t mention the chat I’d had with him, or that I’d planted the seed they’d
gotten somebody else to ferry. Most certainly the board of directors hadn’t
told us everything, either. “Any suggestions on how we get him to agree to go
back?”

“Not yet. We’re batting around some
ideas.” He smiled at me, but it didn’t radiate through his eyes. “Some possible
changes for the future.”

“Well, as long as we can get this
done by Sunday.” I laughed and Tabris’s smile tightened. “I’ve got a third
grade choir concert to go to.”

“A concert.” His body remained
perfectly still and his face blank—except for his eyes. If someone could stare
sarcastically, then that’s what Tabris’s eyes were doing.
OMG, she’s got to
be kidding
practically emanated from his amber orbs, but I wasn’t fazed. I
would be back for that concert. He slowly stood. “Thanks again for the update,
and great job with the ferry.”

Though polite, we’d definitely been
dismissed.

“You’re welcome.” I backed up a few
steps. “And thank you for the pot of cash.”

“You earned it.”

With that, Mara took my arm and
discreetly, yet forcefully, guided me out the door. We didn’t speak until we
rounded the first corner.

“I’m sorry, but did you get the
impression he wasn’t telling us everything?” Mara asked.

“Yes, I definitely got that
impression.” I glanced over my shoulder. “And now I’m officially the new
ferryman, and officially getting paid for it. How did I officially get a job I
never applied for?”

“This all seems very sketchy on
their part.” She nodded. “And he never did tell us how we’re supposed to
convince Charon to return.”

I stopped and spun toward her.
“What if they don’t want him back?”

“He has to go back. Who else would
they get?”

We stared at each other, neither of
us wanting to answer that question. Me. I was the only option, but that was crazy.
I had a family and laundry. No way could I be the next ferryman. Then again,
hadn’t I said the same thing about being a grim reaper?

A text alert dinged in Mara’s
pocket. She pulled out her phone. “Cam needs me in one of the banquet rooms.”
Slipping the phone back in her jacket, she sighed. “I wonder what’s going on
now.”

“Nothing bad, I hope.” Events and
responsibilities seemed to be piling up on all of us. “I’m going to go take a
nap. I’ll catch up with you later.”

“Okay.” As she started down the
hall, she said over her shoulder, “I’ll call you later.”

“Roger that.”

The possibility of a nap pulled me
to the elevator. I prayed Tandy wasn’t in the room, but it wouldn’t matter. At
this point, I could sleep through a train crash. It wasn’t just the physical
strain of ferrying and attending the conference. It was also the emotional
burdens heaped on me.

Not telling Nate about our
extracurricular activity was starting to feel more and more wrong. As much as I
hated to admit it, he was much better at taking a situation and viewing it from
all sides. I worked from emotions, where he worked from logic. Though I was
only going on gut instinct, it felt as if a lot more was going on than Tabris
cared to share.

Only the hum of the air conditioner
greeted me when I opened the door to my room. It was blissfully empty. I tossed
my purse on the chair, kicked off my shoes, and crawled into my already-made
bed. Snuggling under, I found a comfortable position and closed my eyes.

The seconds ticked by but my body
refused to relax. I turned to lie on my other side and blew out a breath,
trying to quiet the thoughts bopping around in my head. After another few
minutes I rolled to my back and let out an exasperated growl. No matter how
much I wanted or needed a nap, I wasn’t going to get it.

I threw off the covers and sat on
the side of the bed. Attending classes seemed like unnecessary torture right
now. At this time of day, the kids were in school and my mom was at her yoga
class, so I couldn’t even call home. Still, I needed a little down time.

I dug in the dresser and pulled out
my black one-piece swimsuit. If I could find a lounge chair in the shade by the
pool, I might be able to relax enough to read the book I brought. The sunscreen
I’d brought was thick enough to not let me burn during a solar flare. I tossed
the bottle, a towel, water bottle, my book, and sunglasses into my bag. Over my
swimsuit, I put my black sweatpants and T-shirt back on. Not traipsing through
the hotel in a sheer cover-up was a favor to all hotel guests. I shoved my feet
into black flip flops, grabbed the room key, and headed to the pool.

The place was packed and none of
the women there looked like they’d never let the juicy goodness of a hamburger
pass their lips. Normally, I would have been intimidated but my view of what
was and wasn’t important had changed over the last twenty-four hours. I’d
captained a ferry on the river Styx. I’d met angels, demons, and a primordial
deity, and I’d saved Mara from a freakin’ horde of water zombies. A little more
junk in my trunk didn’t even ping my self-confidence radar.

Already it was getting hot. The sun
reflected with blinding strength off the rippling surface of the pool. I fished
my polarized sunglasses out of my bag and put them on. Instantly, the glare cut
to a tolerable level and I realized my first assessment of the pool had been
wrong. It was packed, but the majority of the lounging people were spirits. My
stress level amped up. We must have ferried over two-hundred-thousand souls last
night. Why were they still popping in?

Ignoring everybody, dead or alive,
I worked my way around the gigantic pool to a row of orange cabanas. A few had
been taken by living people and another claimed by the ghost of a fat guy,
wearing thick gold chains. Wanting to stay as far from him as possible, I chose
the cabana on the end and spread my towel over the beige cushioned lounge
chair. I had no idea if these cost extra or if I was supposed to reserve it
first, but I figured I’d play dumb until they kicked me out.

The heat felt good and the sound of
splashing water soothed me. Little by little, the tension eased from my
shoulders and neck. It was nice out here, away from the convention hubbub and
pressing matters. I felt safe inside the cabana, almost like the paranormal
world couldn’t touch me out here—almost.

A shadow fell across my chair and I
opened my eyes, shielding them with my hand.

“What a coincidence.” Charon stood
above me, smiling. “Do you mind if I join you?”

Yes!
I should have been excited about
getting one-on-one time to try and convince him to return to Styx, but at that
point I just wanted to be alone—to not have to talk, lie, or connive. I forced
a smile. “Of course I don’t mind.”

He pushed a lounge chair over until
it was a mere foot from me. This guy needed a lesson on personal space. Once he
was settled, he folded his hands in his lap and looked at me. “Did you have a
good time last night?”

“Yeah, it was quite a party.” I sat
forward and grasped the back of my chair, pulling it up a few notches so I
wasn’t lying down. “Did you ever find your elephant?”

“Not my elephant.” Charon stroked
his goatee. “A beloved pet of one of my guests.”

“A pet?” I shook my head. “Gee, I
won’t even let my kids get a cat.” I settled against the chair and let my gaze
roam over the pool area. “Lots of spirits.” I looked back at him. “More today
than yesterday.”

He stared at the frolicking ghosts,
a smirk quirking up the corner of his mouth. “There sure are.” His gaze skated
to me. “Guess they haven’t replaced me yet.”

“Guess not.”

“You said last night they’d
mentioned something about giving the ferry run back to my brother.” Though he
didn’t look at me, his tone was definitely digging to see what else I knew
about the situation. “Perhaps you misunderstood them.”

You wish I misunderstood them.
“Maybe.” I smiled and shrugged.
“I’m just a reaper—low man on the totem pole.”

“I highly doubt that, Lisa.” Now he
did look at me. “Lowly reapers don’t meet Nyx.”

“That’s only because your brother
is my porter.” I screwed up my face, working up my best lie. “It has nothing to
do with me personally.”

He harrumphed and shifted to face
forward in his chair. Stretching out his legs, he unbuttoned the sheer black
shirt he wore to expose his chest. There was no arguing—he was a good-looking
man. I glanced away, feeling pervy about finding my grandfather good looking,
even if he was a thousand times removed.

This was probably a great
opportunity to work Charon toward returning, but there were things that weren’t
adding up for me. Tabris had said only a few could ferry and none of them were
available at the time. He must have meant to permanently ferry the boat because
the living couldn’t survive. That had been the reason behind Charon replacing
Hal. But there were still things that didn’t add up, like why did Tabris choose
me to ferry? Was it simply a coincidence of Hal being my porter and Mara my
friend? Or, was there some other reason I was chosen? “I’m curious. If you’re
the ferryman, why can’t any of your offspring take your place and run the
ferry?”

“You can thank my mother for that.”
He scooped his fingers through his hair and closed his eyes. “It was one of the
conditions for me taking the helm. I can create a legion of grim reapers but
none of them can ferry.” Shifting again and settling against the lounge chair,
he gave an indignant sniff. “It seems a little short-sighted on her part if you
ask me.”

“Yeah, it does.” A dull ache
throbbed behind my eyes. I didn’t know if it was from the heat and reflecting
sun, or trying to fit all the pieces of the puzzle together. My phone erupted
in my bag. I jumped and fumbled inside, pulling it out. “Hello?”

“Hi, Lisa,” Mara said. “Sorry if I
woke you up.”

“You didn’t. I’m at the pool,
talking to Charon.” I thought that would make her happy, but it seemed to have
the opposite effect.

“I was wondering—” She grunted.
Then came the sound of shattering glass. “If you’re not too busy, could you
text Nate, and both of you come give Cam and I a hand?”

Cam’s distant shout and then what
sounded like toppling chairs interrupted Mara. A series of scuffles erupted, as
if she’d pressed the phone to her chest and then she barked something at Cam. I
held the phone away, looking at it, and then pressed it to my ear again.
“What’s going on?” When she didn’t answer I raised my voice. “Mara?”

“Yeah, sorry,” she panted. “Hall D.
Hurry!”

The phone call ended. Not wasting
any time, I texted Nate and then stood. “I’ve got to go.”

“Anything wrong?” Charon cracked
open one eye to gaze curiously at me.

“Nothing you need to worry about.”
I tossed all my stuff into my bag and hastily dressed. Mara asking Nate and I
for help, mixed with the angry shouts, meant something was definitely wrong.
“Catch ya later.”

“You can count on it,” he said,
closing his eye again.

I jogged through the hotel to the
convention center, which in itself was amazing. I don’t run, not even walk-jog,
unless my life or the lives of my children depends on it—or if the liquor store
is about to close. Though I knew where a couple of the rooms for our events
were located, I had to stop for directions. Rounding the corner, I saw Nate
hauling butt from the opposite direction. We arrived at the doors at the same
time.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

I shook my head, breathing a little
heavier than I was proud of. “I don’t know. Mara didn’t explain.”

The hulking security guard who had
been stationed at the door of the Expo Center now stood in front of the double
doors, hands folded in front of him, legs spread wide. When he saw us he
stepped aside and flicked his head toward the room, not speaking. My nerves
were strung tight and the fact that Mara and Cam needed a guard outside the
door didn’t help calm me at all.

We reached for the door handles at
the same time and yanked the doors open. The chaos and destruction inside
stopped us in our tracks. Dozens of tables had been upended, their tablecloths
tossed about the room. Glittering glass shards sprinkled the dark carpet and an
empty gold frame rested against the wall near the door.

“Don’t let them escape!” Mara shouted.

I didn’t know what
them
was,
but Nate and I tugged the doors closed and turned back to the mayhem. Cam and
Mara stood in different areas of the room, looking up. My gaze tracked to the
ceiling.

“Sweet Jesus,” Nate whispered.

“What—?” I grabbed his arm and
pointed. “—the hell is that?”

Attached to the ceiling, directly
above Cam, its yellow eyes blazing, was a skeletal creature straight out of my
nightmares. An identical monster skittered up the back wall. It slithered like
a lizard, its arms and legs moving independent of each other. Chills raced up
my neck and I couldn’t help shuddering against this things unholy movements.
Mara tracked its path up the wall, never taking her eyes off it.

“Demons,” Mara said, pointing to
her right. “We need you guys to hold that mirror up.”

My eyes snapped to where she
directed. A rectangular mirror set in a silver frame rested flat on the floor.
It stretched about three feet across and was a lot nicer than the ones in the
Expo Center.

“We’re going to drive them toward it,”
Cam said. “But make sure the demons don’t touch you. These guys are nearly
impossible to get out once they’ve possessed you.”

“Possessed me?” Even though I knew
I’d heard him correctly, the question had to be asked. “As in invading my
body?”

“Yeah.” Mara leapt for the demon
but missed, landing squarely on her feet again. The thing continued to creep
along the top of the wall toward us. “Remember
The Exorcist
and those
demons locked in the bowels of Hell?”

“Yes?” Nate and I scooted toward
the mirror lying on the ground, never taking our eyes off the creatures.

“Well, these are their slightly
less dangerous cousins.”

“Shit, shit, shit.” That seemed to
be the only word I could form.

The mirror was heavier than it
looked. The metal prickled unusually cold against my palms and I could have
sworn the mirrored glass churned like liquid mercury. I pulled my fingers back,
making sure to keep them on the frame. No way did I want to find out if these
mirrors worked on reapers, too.

“Ready,” Nate said.

“Speak for yourself,” I mumbled.

Never again would I complain about
being a reaper. Spirits, even those of violent criminals, were a walk in the
park compared to these horrifying monsters. One of the demons leveled its
piercing yellow gaze on me. Jagged, black fangs flashed when its thin lips
pulled into a jack-o-lantern grin. My grip loosened and the mirror slipped
toward the ground. The demon hissed its threat. The urge to run swamped me, and
my breath caught in my throat. I knew that thing would run me down in a matter
of seconds and nothing the others could do would stop it.

I tightened my fingers and adjusted
my footing, fortifying my determination. Whatever Cam and Mara had planned, I
was ready.