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Poor Wren. She’s going to have to sit inside that room all day until all the reaper hopefuls’ souls have all been reaped for the day.

This is so fucked up. Everything about this situation is fucked up.

Shaking my head, I lead my sister into the administrative building.

A blonde woman looks up with a smile as the door shuts behind us. “Good morning. Oh, you’re one of our graduating students, aren’t you?”

“I am.” Glancing around, I realize I don’t actually know where to take her. “Ummm…I’m sorry. I know where the rooms are, but I’m not sure which one I’m supposed to bring her to.”

“No worries, sweetheart,” she says as she stands, still smiling. “You’re not the first graduate to walk through those front doors. It’s easy to forget where you’re supposed to go in the moment, but you did well getting her to the academy.”

“Ummm…thanks?”

“I’m Barbara,” she says, eyes flashing from me to Wren, all the color dropping from her face. “Is she…”

I scoff. “My twin? Yup. I was sent to reap my sister’s soul for my final.”

She shakes her head. “That’s not supposed to happen. No one is supposed to reap a family member. There must have been a mix-up. I’m so sorry…what was your name?”

“Audrey. Audrey Maddox.”

“I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with this shock on top of this being your final.” Barbara steps around her desk, and from the look on her face, I think she recognizes my name. “I can take her from here. Since you’ve arrived at the academy, you’ve already passed. There’s no reason for you to have to do the rest of this. Wraith would have our heads if he knew we had his mate reap her twin.”

I shake my head. “No. I want to be the one to do this. I’ve already come this far.”

Glancing at Wren, I see she’s not paying any attention to our conversation as she looks around the room with wide eyes.

Barbara hesitates. “Are you sure, dear?”

“I’m sure. Just tell me where I need to bring her, please.” I chew on the inside of my cheek, trying not to lose my temper with the woman who’s only trying to help me. It’s not her fault someone decided it would be a good idea for me to reap Wren’s soul.

My mind flashes to Professor Novak. Surely, he wouldn’t have done this to me, right?

“You’ll head to room thirteen. Whenever you’re reaping a soul to the academy, you’ll want to go to the room number that matches the date. Since it’s the thirteenth, you’ll go there.”

As soon as the words are out of her mouth, it clicks. I remember this from my classes.

Fuck, how had I forgotten?

But one glance at Wren tells me exactly how I forgot. I’m just lucky I was able to remember to bring her to the academy.

Grief and anger wage war inside of me as I try to keep myself in check. Barbara might say I’ve already passed my final, but I can’t be sure of that.

Did someone purposefully set me up to reap my twin’s soul in hopes that I would fail?

I can’t focus on that right now. I need to focus on getting Wren into the right room, then I can seek out my mates and fall apart.

I might be Death’s mate, but I refuse to have anyone say I only passed because of that.

“Thank you, Barbara,” I tell her, once more reaching for my magic. With another tug at it and a picture of the hallway outside of the welcoming rooms, we’re tugged through space and time once more.

“That’s trippy,” Wren says as we appear in the hallway right in front of room thirteen.

I force a smile and nod. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to travel like that again, but I’m glad I was able to—probably because Wren is still with me. I feel like it would’ve been mentioned to us if we could travel like this once we became reapers. “It’s only the third time I’ve traveled like that, so I agree. Okay Wren, I’m going to bring you into this room where you’ll wait for the welcoming speech.”

Reaching for the door, I swing it open, and I’m surprised to see at least a hundred bodies already lying on the floor. I guess that makes sense, considering there will be over a thousand by midnight.

“Why are they all on the floor?” Wren asks, tilting her head to the side.