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Audrey

G lancing around, my eyes land on the dead body. All I can see are the person’s feet and the blood pooling around their body. It’s a lot of blood, leading me to believe this was likely a violent death. Maybe that means the person will be a future reaper.

I’m so focused on the body, I don’t notice the soul at first. It’s a woman, but that’s all I can tell. Seeing a soul isn’t quite the same as seeing a person alive. Until they get to the underworld, they are little more than a glowing golden light. The only reason I can tell that it’s a woman is because I saw the person’s feet.

“Hello,” I call out, but the soul keeps staring down at her dead body. I can only imagine what’s going through her head as she stares down at herself. She has her memories for now, but if she’s heading to the academy, then they’ll be wiped away once we hit the underworld.

Walking over, I take the soul’s hand in mine—or at least, what I assume is her hand. It’s not like there’s any real definition to her at the moment. Flipping it over, I see the purple skull and let out a sigh of relief. I know I’ll have to meet the ferryman eventually, but I’m glad it doesn’t have to be today.

“Hi there,” I try again. “I’m sure you’re very confused about what’s going on right now, but I’m here to take you to where you need to go. We can’t stay here. Unfortunately, you’re already dead.”

The soul turns toward me, a wail falling from their lips that brings tears to my eyes. When it turns back to its body, I can’t help turning toward it as well.

“No… No. No. No. No.” I let out my own wailing scream.

This can’t be happening.

Tears spill from my eyes as I see my face staring back at me. Well, my twin sister’s face.

There’s no recognition in her eyes, and I fucking hate it.

Already, her memories are slipping from her.

Glancing back at her dead body, I bite back another wail. Now, I can see more of her body. Her curly red hair is spilling around her, her green eyes that match mine wide open and blank. There are numerous stab wounds to her abdomen, which explains the blood.

It’s not fair. Not only had I been murdered, but so had my sister. Something tells me Michael had something to do with her death as well. Especially with how he spoke to me.

What the hell am I going to do?

Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes. My sister’s spirit is staring at her dead body as she wails, and I know we need to get out of here. This is hurting her, and I never want her to hurt—even when she has no idea who I am.

“It’s time to go,” I tell her, swiping at my tears.

“Go where?” she asks softly. “Who are you?”

“My name is Audrey, and I’m going to take you somewhere safe.” Without waiting for her to respond, I reach into myself and locate the pool of reaper magic, pulling on it as I imagine Scythe Academy in my mind.

One second, we’re in my sister’s house she shared with Michael and the next, we’re standing outside the gates of the academy where I’ve spent the last six months learning to reap souls.

Now, my sister has to go through the same thing.

This is not what I wanted for her. This is my fault.

If only I’d been able to keep Michael from killing me. Or if I’d been able to seek my vengeance before now. But that would’ve been impossible. Technically, until I deliver Wren’s soul to the room inside the academy, I’m still a student myself.

“Where are we?” she asks, eyes wide as the gates swing open to admit us. Her body has taken shape now, the golden glow almost completely gone, and it’s like staring into a mirror.

I fucking hate it.

I probably should’ve tried to direct us to the room and not just the academy. Not that it’s a far walk or anything, the administrative building is only a few hundred feet inside the gates.

“This is Scythe Academy,” I tell her, wondering if she’ll remember any of this once I knock her out.

Yup. That’s something I get to look forward to doing—knocking my sister out with my reaper magic.

“This is the training center for reapers, which you’ll have the chance to become, but they’ll tell you all about it later.” I squeeze her hand, grateful she hasn’t pulled away—even if she has no idea who I am. “We’re just heading to that building right there.”

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.

I open my mouth to answer her, but no words come out. I snap it closed and finally drop her hand. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

Pressing my fingers to her forehead, I allow the reaper magic to spread through me once more. She immediately falls unconscious, and I barely manage to grab her body before she hits the floor.

Not that she wouldn’t heal from the damage by the time she woke up, but I’m not going to hurt my sister more than she needs to be.

Lowering her to the ground, I can’t help wondering why the Fates would do this to me. Why would they allow this? This has to be something they can control.

Or maybe they’re the ones who made it happen. After all, they told me I had an important part to play in the future, but so does Wren.

In the end, does it really matter who caused me to reap my sister’s soul? It’s already done.

That doesn’t stop my anger, still warring with the grief inside me.

I need to get out of here. I can’t lose my shit where anyone can see.

I press a kiss to Wren’s forehead and push to my feet. Leaving the room, I make sure to press the button to close the door before deciding to check and see if I can still travel like I had with my sister. A quick pull of my magic confirms I cannot.

That just pisses me off more.

I stalk out of the building and veer off to the left. I’m going to cut through the woods so I don’t have to walk throughout campus to get home. The last thing I need is to lose my shit on someone because they bump into me or something.

With that thought in mind, I pick up the pace until I’m jogging. I don’t slow down until I’m deep into the woods.

Hopefully, I won’t get too lost while trying to find the house. As long as I don’t end up walking in circles, I’ll reach it or the gate surrounding the academy, eventually.

How the hell did this happen? How is my sister dead and here at the academy?

Rage rises within me, finally pushing away the grief—for now, at least. I throw my head back and let out a scream. Then another and another until my throat hurts, and I feel a tiny bit better.

Panting, I hear my phone go off and reach into my pocket, tugging it out to read the message.

SCYTHE ACADEMY

Congratulations on passing your final, reaper. For all your hard work, you’ll have the next week off before being moved to your new housing off campus.

Oh, yes. That’s exactly what I need—a fucking congratulations text.

Still pissed, I stalk through the trees with only one intention—find Wraith and make him fix this.