Page 7 of Reaper’s Ruin (Reaper’s Ruin Trilogy #1)

My words seemed to calm her. “Okay, that actually sounds like what we have where I’m from too. A bunch of different religions—some totally different—but a lot kind of believe the same core idea. Good place, bad place.” Her eyes widened. “Wait... so I’m not in the bad place, right?”

I shook my head.

“No. If you were going to the ‘bad place,’ a rip would have appeared beneath you the moment your soul left your body. You would’ve been pulled down by the flames immediately.”

She let out a slow breath. “Okay. Well, that’s something at least. But I should have gotten a door to the good place then? Why didn’t I? ”

I shook my head slowly. “I don’t know. Usually it’s a soul who refuses to give up their connection to the living. Unfinished business. But they can’t linger here in Faelora. It’s unnatural.”

She stopped mid-ramble, blinking at me. “Wait—Faelora? That’s where I am now?”

“Yes. This is Faelora, the realm of the fae.”

“Fae? Like... fairies?” Her eyes grew impossibly wider. “With wings and pixie dust?”

I frowned. “Wings and pixie dust? No. Nothing like that.”

“Where I’m from, we have stories about fairies,” she said, as if that explained anything. “They can do magic and fly and have pointy ears.”

I shrugged. “Well, they can do magic, and some of the Storm Court can ride the wind, so I guess they can sort of fly, but no wings.”

Her eyes popped wider. “Seriously? Magic is real? Holy shit.”

I furrowed my brow. How was this surprising information to her?

Every fae had some connection to magic, though others had more powerful magic than others.

“Of course magic is real. Where exactly are you from?” I asked, more and more curious about how this human soul was so confused about her afterlife and Faelora.

“Oakridge, Minnesota,” she said, as if the words should mean something to me. “Little town about an hour north of Minneapolis? Near the lake with the funny name that everyone mispronounces.”

I stared at her blankly.

“America?” she tried. “United States? Earth?”

Understanding dawned. “You’re from the Mortal Realm,” I said slowly.

“The Mortal Realm? So, there are seriously like, realms? And this is what, like the fae realm?” She lifted her eyebrows sinking back on her heels. “I’m really starting to hope this is some horrible acid trip and I can sue the company that made my kettle corn for tampering with it.”

I ignored all the words she’d just said that I didn’t understand at all. “If you’re from the Mortal Realm, how did you get here?” I asked, still stunned I was speaking to a human. And one from the Mortal Realm at that. “Humans don’t just appear in Faelora. The barriers between realms—”

“I don’t know. But if I’m in the wrong realm, does that mean I can’t get my door?” Suddenly her eyes went big. “My mom. Is she here too? Please, I need to find my mom. She... she was killed too.”

A twinge of sorrow for her pinged inside my chest as I looked at her, eyes pleading, searching for answers I didn’t have.

“There are no other human souls on Faelora that I’m aware of.”

Her lip quivered as she spoke. “But, I went home. I didn’t see her soul there either, just her.

.. her body. So, if she’s not there, and she’s not here.

Where is she?” Fresh tears started to spill, and I had an unnatural desire to reach out and touch her shoulder.

Comfort her. But I stayed my hand, not that I could touch her anyway without a dark shadow letting me cross.

“Most souls can’t leave the place where they died. They can only wander a small distance. So, if she wasn’t there, the likelihood is that she got her door right away and moved on.”

Her eyes lit up. “Really? So, she’s probably safe? In Heaven?”

I honestly didn’t know how to answer her, but I nodded with the truth. “It’s the most likely explanation.”

“That’s comforting at least. She was such a good person. Of course she got a door right away. But if my mom is in Heaven, and I’m stuck in this... Faelora place, how am I supposed to find her?” Fresh tears welled in her eyes. “I can’t be separated from her forever. I can’t. ”

The raw desperation in her voice struck something in me. I remembered that feeling—the wild, clawing need to reach those who had been taken from me. To find them again, somehow.

“Your door would take you to the same place as your mother,” I said, hoping it was true.

I had no idea if this “Heaven” aligned with Solarium, and honestly none of us truly knew what lay behind those doors.

Those secrets were kept only for those who had crossed through them.

But I couldn’t bear to watch her crumble again, so I told her what she wanted to hear, whether it was the truth or not, it wouldn’t matter.

Her destiny was not on the other side of the door but at the end of my scythe.

Though I couldn’t seem to bear to tell her that either.

“Really?” Hope lit her face once more. “So, I just need to find my door and I’ll see my mom again?”

I nodded, though I had no way of knowing if that was true. The rules of death weren’t something reapers discussed. We simply performed our function.

“So, how do I do it? How do I get my door?”

“I don’t know. It should just appear. Nothing about what is happening to you right now is normal.”

“But I still don’t understand,” she continued, her brow furrowing. “How did I get to Faelora? I died in my house. In the Mortal Realm, or whatever you call it. And then I was just... here. Jumping between places.”

I frowned, studying her more closely. The soul frequency I’d been tracking had appeared in Faelora only days ago, just as the Veil Lords had said. But if she’d just died... was it possible she hadn’t had time to get her door yet?

“And you still haven’t told me who you are. If you’re not an angel, and I’m not in Heaven, then who are you, and who were those dark shadowy things popping up all over before you? ”

I knew I should stop this line of questioning and put her out of her misery quickly, luring her to the shadows then pulling her into the Shadowveil so I could reap her, but each time I imagined slicing my scythe through her, it caused a flicker of guilt and agony inside me instead of the usual thrill and joy that came with reaping fae.

She was human. And a beautiful, scared human soul at that.

There would be no joy in ending her existence and denying her an afterlife with her mother she coveted so much.

“Please, tell me. Who are you? Are you here to help me find my door or something?”

I considered not answering, but those eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes seemed to pull the truth from my mouth. “I’m a Reaper.”

Her face froze. “A Reaper? Like Grim Reaper ?”

I scrunched my brow. “I don’t know anyone named Grim Reaper, but I’m not him. I’m a Reaper, and it’s my job to deal with souls who refuse to move on. To ensure they don’t linger and poison the living world by haunting them.”

She let out a breath. “Damn. Okay. Well, you definitely look more like a Reaper than an angel, so that explains that. I always thought Reapers like showed up to pull the soul from the body. Like you killed us.”

I shook my head. “No. Reapers don’t kill the living. In fact, we can’t harm the living. We only deal with the souls who don’t move on.”

“Okay. So that’s more of our lore we got wrong. Fairies don’t have wings or fly. Reapers don’t kill us. So, Reapers help us find our door? That’s your job?”

I struggled to say the next words, and the moment I did, I wanted to shove them back inside my mouth. “No. Our job is to extinguish the souls who refuse to move on. Erase them from existence. ”

“You mean... help them move on? Right? That’s what you meant by extinguish?” she said, her words slowing this time as realization started dawning on her that I wasn’t here as some friendly soul shepherd meant to be her helping hand to the afterlife awaiting her.

My jaw clenched as I shook my head slowly, a strange flicker of something erupting in my gut.

Guilt? Was that what that feeling was? It had been so long since I’d felt it, I couldn’t quite place the strange sensation.

Her breath trapped in her lungs as her eyes widened in fear. “What? What ? No. What the fuck! You’re here to erase me? Like for good? Like no Heaven? Is that what you’re saying?”

“I’m sorry. It’s my duty to keep the balance. If a soul won’t move on, I must eradicate it from existence.”

She pushed back away from, scrambling backward on her hands. “No! Oh, God. Please no. Please don’t erase me!”

That thing, that... emotion, I believed it was, twinged inside me again as I looked into those terrified eyes. “I’m sorry. I can’t leave you lingering here with the living. Souls who don’t go through their door must be erased.”

“But... I haven’t had time to find my door!

One of those things, a Reaper, I guess, came for me almost immediately!

” she continued, her words spilling out faster.

“How am I supposed to find peace when I’m running for my life?

Or, afterlife? Whatever! I mean, what the fuck?

I literally just found out I was dead like two seconds ago and you’re already going to erase me?

That’s... bullshit! You know what? Total bullshit!

I... I want to speak to your manager! Do you have a manager?

” She slammed her eyes shut. “Oh, God. I’m a Karen in the afterlife, but damn it!

This is not fair! Please! I want my door!

I swear I’m not going to like haunt people or some weird shit like that.

Just give me time. I need time! I want to find my door and get to my mother more than anything! Please ! ”

Something cold settled in my gut as she begged, hot tears spilling faster by the second.

She’d just died? Just realized her human life had ended?