The 13th: Destiny Awaits (11 page)

She loosened her hold on the sickle and it rattled on the floor. It seemed that she had to wish it away for it to disappear. She glanced at the spirits visible through the glass, then her gaze slid to the curved blade on the floor. She touched it with her toe.

If she could only talk with somebody, rant and whine about it -- she never complained about any of it to anybody. Not even to her psychiatrist. How could she? She had promised her mother she wouldn’t tell anybody about the ghosts, and she had made a promise to herself not to tell anybody that her mother had tried to kill her. Actually her mother had succeeded, since her father had had to give her CPR, but they told the police only that her mother had attacked her. She couldn't have taken it if they knew. She got too many looks of pity as it was. And the rumours...

She exhaled, then glanced at the colours again. They were waiting for her, hoping that she would appear before them with her scythe. Why hadn't they appeared in her mother's room? Because of the pentagrams?

She stood up and picked up her sickle, a sad smile on her face. What if she were never able to help her mother? What if it was stupid to think and hope that she could? What if learning to be the Reaper was just a waste of her time?

But even if being the Reaper wouldn’t help her mother,
they
needed help. Helping
them
wasn't a waste of her time. Even if her mother believed that her powers were an abomination and she a monster... She was what she was, she couldn't change that. Not that she didn't try.

She went to the living room and then through the French doors into the garden. Yeah, they needed her help, and since they were already there, maybe she could use them for a chat. Yeah, why not?

“...parents will never listen to their children. And you can't help people who don't want help,” an elderly man with an azure halo said. “I'm the proof of that.”

“What do you mean?” Kate tilted her head while she lazily brandished her sickle at the ghost on her left, ignoring the explosion of yellow light.

“I died because I didn't listen to my children's pleas and ignored their attempts to help me,” he said. “I was an alcoholic.” He gave her a small, sad smile. “How easy it is to say that now, but then -- I wasn't able to admit it, not even to myself.”

Kate nodded, her blade releasing another spirit from this world.

“It's not because you didn't love them, right?” a young girl with a red aura floating beside the man asked.

“Alcoholism is an addiction, and like all addictions, it’s hard to shake it off. And I... I couldn’t even admit that I needed help. I think it's the same with your mother. She isn't able to admit that she needs help and until she does... You have to know, whatever happened to your mother, it wasn't your fault, and she's not your responsibility,” the man said to Kate. “The only thing you can do for her is give her your support, that's all.”

“I know that.” An orange glow lit Kate's profile before the reaped spirit vanished.

“In your mind you do, but not in your heart.” The girl put a hand on Kate's shoulder. It went right through it. “If she doesn't want to see us as we are, you can't force her. You have to let her go.”

But it was hard, especially since learning how harmless ghosts are should instantly relieve her mother of her anxiety. Kate shifted away from the trunk of the willow, which stood at the right edge of the garden, and looked at the girl.

“Maybe that boy of yours can help you with that.” The girl grinned.

“Yeah, right. I shouldn't have told you about him.” How easy it was to talk with them. She only had to say hello to them, show readiness for conversation, and a few spirits always came forward, keeping her company and talking with her while she reaped. Like now. “And he's just my mentor and employer.”

“I was alive and in love too, you know. You like him. I can see it in your eyes when you talk about him. They sparkle,” the girl said.

“Like Ethan?” Kate made a face. “I don't think so.” She might feel attraction toward him -- how could she not with his looks -- but as soon as he opened his mouth... “He's an overbearing, pushy jerk. Well, with two or three redeeming qualities.”

“I wouldn't know about that.” The girl shrugged her shoulders.

“Yeah.” Kate looked at her phone’s display to see the time. Ethan was going to pick her up in half an hour. “I'm going to have to wrap this up, so if you are interested in crossing, you should step into the line.”

“I thought I already was in the line.” The girl gave her a smile, flew toward the sickle and through it. Her aura exploded in red light and she vanished with it.

“Neat.” Kate glanced at the curved blade and massaged her right shoulder; it had started to ache after two hours of wielding the sickle. Next time she would just instruct them to bump into the sickle on their own while she read a book or something.

She reaped a few more souls, and then, after she picked up the bag of training clothes Ethan had bought for her, she went back into the house, where Ethan already waited in the driveway.

“You’re late.”

“Five minutes.” She slid into the passenger seat, tossed her bag on the backseat and fastened her seat belt. “I was reaping.”

“On your own?” He frowned.

“Is there something wrong with that?”

“No.” He started the car and drove off. “I just never expected it, not when you seemed so against reaping. When did you change your mind?”

“Change my mind?” she quietly repeated, her gaze on the road before them.

“I thought you would need more time and more persuasion.”

She folded her hands in her lap. She hadn’t changed her mind, not really, she just used reaping as a distraction, since books weren't able to draw her mind away from her Friday visit -- or from him. And the spirits did need her help.

She snorted. Thinking about helping the spirits when not that long ago she had only wanted to get rid of them... Maybe she
had
changed her mind. She noticed Ethan lifting a brow. “What?”

“Something is amusing you. Share.”

“It's nothing.” She leaned back deeper into the seat. So what now? Dive into this reaping business and become the best Soul Reaper she could be? “When am I going to meet the Keeper?”

“I'm afraid that's still not possible.” At the intersection Ethan turned left.

“Why not?”

“If you want to talk to her, we could call her.”

“Why not?” she repeated her question.

“We’re here.” Ethan drove the car into a narrow alley that widened into a parking lot. He parked the car at the far end of it, across the street from the dojo, which was nestled between an office building and the local community centre.

“She was your mentor, right?”

He nodded, climbed out of the car, took their bags from the back seat, hung them over his shoulder, and shut the car door.

She got out of the car, too. “I looked up the Keepers in the handbook.” They were called Keepers of Balance, the book said. Each world only had one of them, they were immortal since they didn't have a body, and they were in charge of a Reaper's training. Since they were the only 'whole' spirits outside of the 13th, they had a high spiritual energy and a high empathy level and as such they were very receptive to other spirits' energy and to people's feelings. She closed the car door and went around the car, joining him. “Their main obligation is the training and welfare of the Reaper. She should be here in your place, introducing me to the reaping. Why isn't she?”

She had looked up Awakeners, too. They were rare. One only became an Awakener when a Soul Reaper died and was then revived. The power of reaping that was transferred to them at the Reaper’s death, making them the next Reaper, was taken away at the revival and replaced with the power of Awakening. That meant that if she had died that time, he would have been the next Reaper, or if her mother hadn’t tried to hurt her, she would probably have never met Ethan and Ethan would have been normal.

“Why don't you ask her yourself?” Ethan locked the door and strode toward the dojo.

Kate followed him. “By calling her? I'm not good at talking over the phone, especially with strangers. And what am I supposed to say? Hey, I'm the Soul Reaper you should be monitoring. Why aren’t you here?”

“You already learned how to use butterflies; you could contact her that way.” He stopped at a pedestrian crossing and looked left and right.

“You have to concentrate on the recipient, and I don't know her, do I?”

“Since she is the Keeper of this world and you are the Reaper, if you think about the concept of the Keeper, it should work. I think.” He hooked his arm around hers and since the road was empty pulled her across the street.

Like she would try that? Kate let him lead her through the glass door past the small reception area; she nodded to the older lady who always seemed to be there, reading a book.

He guided her past a large, slightly elevated platform with blue padding into a hallway with two locker rooms, one for women and one for men.

He gave Kate her bag and shoved open the door of the women’s changing room, gesturing for her to go inside. “We only have the place to ourselves for an hour, so hurry it up, please.”

He could be such a slave driver. “Yes, master.” She saluted him.

He narrowed his eyes at her.

Oh, so he didn't like that. Kate inwardly smiled as she passed him. She closed the door behind her and changed into her sweats. When she came into the training hall, Ethan was already waiting for her. After warming up, they started with tai-chi, continued with rolls and then he took two long sticks from a niche in the wall that held wooden swords.

“It should weigh the same as your scythe.” He tossed one to her.

She caught it and hefted it. “It does.”

“Good. Now let me show you how to fight with it.” He positioned himself two steps before her and started to twirl the stick above his head, then brandished it left and right.

“Show off,” Kate mumbled under her breath.

“Now you try it,” he said.

“To attack you?”

He chuckled. “You can try.”

Overconfident idiot. She tilted her head down, hiding a smile, then slid her hand down the wood.

He leaned on the staff. “I’ve been training in jujitsu for more than ten years. There's no way you could --”

She swung the stick. The wood made contact with his legs and he stumbled. She used the stick's end to poke him in the hip, hoping that it would make him tumble.

He seized the end of the staff, using it to steady himself, then shoved it away. “That was low.”

“I thought you had better reflexes.” Kate pressed her lips together, but the corners of her mouth turned upwards anyway. She drew the stick back to her side. “How long did you say you’ve been training in ju -- whatever it’s called?”

“You caught me off guard,” he grumbled, rubbing his hip. “Really low.”

She rolled her eyes and focused on the staff. She waved it around. “It's different though, the stick. With the scythe, I feel like it's an extension of me, while this is just a stick.”

“You could fight with the scythe, it’s not like people could see it -- well, unless they possess the sight -- but it might look strange.”

Usually they had to share the hall with other groups. Having it all to themselves today was an exception. Not for long though; she could hear the door opening and closing, followed by people's voices.

“Maybe some other time,” she gave him the staff. “Since it seems that our time is up.”

“We could prolong it.”

“I don't want to.” She stepped off the mats and into the slippers she had placed there.

“I will double your rate.”

That should have tempted her; it had the other two times he had proposed that, but today... She faced him and scrutinised him.

“What?” A crease cut into his forehead.

Could she really like him?

“What?” he repeated, a slight whine in his voice.

She shook her head. Nah. “It's nothing.” She went to have a quick shower and change. When she came out of the locker room, he was already waiting for her at the entrance of the training hall, chatting with the old lady and --

What were Mandy and Tyler doing here?
She asked them that as soon as she reached them.

“We’re joining you,” Mandy said.

“Joining us? Aren't you a bit too late for that? Our lesson is over.”

“What are you talking about? What lesson?” Mandy asked. “We are here to join you on your date.”

“On our date?” Kate frowned.

Ethan moved to her side.

He was getting too close again, Kate thought.

A yellow butterfly rose from Ethan's finger and glided into her hand. She made a fist around it, a tickle against her palm before she could hear Ethan's voice in her mind.
Play along.

“They know how you’ve been helping me,” Ethan said.

“Yeah?” Helping him with what? The crease on Kate's forehead deepened.

“You are really nice to take Ethan out on dates so that girl will give him a break.” Mandy hooked her arm around Kate's. “But you should have told me that you two were going out so we could join you. I see you so rarely lately.”

Kate glanced at Ethan, innocent-looking as he was. What had he been up to? “I see.” So they had been out on dates of which she knew nothing. “And where should we go tonight?”

“I don't know,” Mandy said. “Where do you usually go?”

“Where
do
we usually go?” Kate turned to Ethan, a smile playing on her lips.

“Oh, here and there.” Ethan said.

“What's up with you guys?” Tyler's brown eyes darted between them. “Are you trying to hide something from us?”

“Hide? Me?” Kate pressed her hand against her chest. “Never.”

“Oh, shut up.” Tyler shook his head at Kate.

Kate gave him a small smile of gratitude. He knew she had secrets, but he had never asked her about them. Well, except his one-time inquiry about the pentagrams cut into the bamboos in the garden. She’d never told him, though.

“Should we meet at Julie’s?” Mandy, who still held onto Kate, looked down at her. “You are riding with us, right?”

“Shouldn't my fake girlfriend arrive with me?” Ethan looped his arm around Kate's free arm and tugged her against his side.

“Can’t she go with us?” Mandy pouted and wrapped her arm tighter around Kate's arm.

Kate hid the grin that curved her mouth. They sounded like two children fighting over a toy.

“Could you leave, already?” the old lady interrupted them. “You’re blocking the entrance.”

“Yes, yes.” Ethan opened the door and went through it, pulling Kate with him.