Page 15

ten

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After Reaper put together a salad of shrimp, mango, and cilantro, all things I’d never tried before but quickly filled my belly with, they led me up a few levels and across a bridge to a large room that had no furniture or decoration.

The floor was padded, thin sconces like the ones in Reaper’s bedroom were pinned to the walls every few paces.

Stuffed satchels hung from the ceiling in one of the corners and a few other scythes were hitting and kicking them.

Others were spread along the mats talking or sparring with each other.

All of their faces were still covered, their grunts and shouts were muffled beneath the black fabric.

“This is our training room.”

“I see that,” I said, watching two scythes wrestle on the ground.

My heart pounded loudly.

They wore no armor, though they were no less lethal.

After a few moments, one nodded encouragingly at the other before slapping their forearm, pulling their weapon free of their skin and sweeping it through the air.

The clang of metal clashing jolted me back.

“What if they get hurt?”

“Impossible,” Reaper scoffed.

“We are immortal and beyond that, invincible. You can’t kill what is death incarnate.”

“True.” I winced as I continued to watch them swing at and barely miss each other.

“Though, injuries still hurt us and take time to heal, so we always aim to avoid it. Every scythe is needed to keep up with the demands of our duties… Speaking of. Are you ready to try this?”

“Why here?”

“So I have space.” Reaper rolled back their shoulders, the muscles rippling down to their tattooed forearm.

Wrapping their opposite hand around the inky scythe, they drew it forth, tapping it against the floor a few times before shadows began to spill out from their shoulder blades, slinking down their spine to the floor, seeping out into their rough and wild sea.

“Go ahead.”

I stepped forward, hesitating when a long thick arm reached from the ground and wrapped its fist around my tail feathers.

It was like prickling static and I stilled, both scared and curious, watching the shadowy fingers stroke along the plumes before the rest of the form emerged, towering above both of us.

A few other figures rose from the waves, hovering there and waiting.

The scythes that had been training halted their punches and the slicing of their weapons, a galaxy of starry eyes all on me.

Two wings splayed in my peripheral, and sweat beaded across my brow, my palms becoming clammy at my sides.

“Don’t be nervous.” Reaper extended their free hand.

“Same thing you did with Sevren, we’ll see if any of the restless souls awaken.”

I wiped my hand against my feathers before placing my palm against theirs.

“There are so many of them that need me.”

“Just start with one.”

Their thumb grazed the crescent where my thumb and pointer finger joined.

When my eyes met Reaper’s, everything— the soulful sea, the glittering eyes, the room—it all faded away.

“If it begins to take too much from you, we’ll stop.”

I closed my eyes, trying to silence my mind and the pounding of my heartbeat, searching for the notes of their salvation.

Rap, rap, rap.

Rap, rap, rap.

Reaching into myself, I wrapped around the steady pulse of the splendor’s shared beat, drawing on its new strength to imbue me with the courage I needed.

I inhaled, embracing the vibration culled from the depths of my soul and began to sing.

I sang and sang, releasing every emotion into the wind and letting it carry as chords on the breeze, not opening my eyes when my skin pebbled with goosebumps or when gasps echoed through the room.

It was a melody of melancholy.

A tune of tempting hope.

A ballad of bold pleas.

A wish that they’d come to pass.

“I’ve got you, Lyric.” Reaper’s voice curled in my ear, and even though I’d never seen it, I could feel their smile, full of comforting warmth and fierce pride.

“You’re doing it.”

I sang until my breaths became ragged, until my body sagged into strong arms.

“Slow down.” Reaper brushed sweat-soaked strands away from my face.

My shoulders seared, pain streaking down my back.

“Lyric, that’s enough.”

I shook my head, continuing to croon despite the soreness that scraped up my throat, my chords churning into desperate rasps.

“Enough!” Reaper shook me until my eyes opened to find violent stars, bright flecks within the pitch of their stare, blinding me with their intensity.

I turned my face away, though I didn’t release from Reaper’s hold, certain I’d crumple to the floor.

Everything hurt.

My chest heaved against theirs.

“I can do more.”

That rapping was still strong.

I could still draw from it, couldn’t I?

“I’m sure you can, but not today,” Reaper insisted.

“You need to rest.”

They bent and I fell over their shoulder, lifting me up before I could protest, carrying me out from the room.

“N-no I don’t.” I knocked a fist against their back, shadows dodging my frail blows.

“How can I rest, when they’ve been restless for decades.”

A calloused palm gently squeezed the back of my thigh.

“I promise, we will do more tomorrow.”

My tail traitorously curled around Reaper’s wrist as a trail of heat prickled from the point of contact and travelled upward.

I squeezed my thighs together.

“You have already done so much.” Reaper said, turning around so I could see the dozens of new fully corporeal bodies.

“Get them to the infirmary.”

A cluster of splendors, all with beautiful wings held at their backs were in the corner, each being helped up by scythes.

I didn’t have the grandeur about me that came with a long and lush wingspan.

Not like them.

My chest ached, longing lancing me between ribs.

I was so tired, so utterly exhausted, but these were my kin.

My family.

I’d finally get to meet them and learn more about our kind, so many things I’d never understood.

Did they know who I was?

The eldest of the group gave me a knowing smile.

The edges of my vision were blurring, the feathers spanning their wings bleeding out and looking more like an oil painting, plumes smeared onto a fading canvas…

“You’re going with them. I would like for you to get some herbs to help you regain your strength from bringing back so many souls. My fellow scythes and I will be busy getting them settled in.”

The slow thud of my pulse stuttered.

“You’re going?”

“Only for a short while.” Their palm slid subtly up and down with each step toward the infirmary.

“I’ll get you to the healers and then come get you after I’m done.”

It was the last thing they said before my eyes fluttered shut and exhaustion claimed me.

When I awoke, veins of pale lilac feathers came into focus.

I lifted my gaze to face the older splendor from earlier.

She smiled softly.

“Thank you for what you did for us. How are you feeling?”

“Sore,” I croaked, shifting weight off of my aching back and shoulders.

“How long was I?—”

“Almost a full day. We stayed after the healers checked on us and we were brought some food.” She glanced behind her but I couldn’t see what she was looking at, her large wings splayed wide, blocking my view.

“I’m your aunt Sylka, and these are my daughters Eros and Luna.”

Her daughters were beautiful.

One with deep eggplant-hued feathers and the other with soft downy indigo.

I swallowed thickly, trying to smooth out the discordant sound of my voice.

“You’re my family.”

“We are.”

“If you’re my aunt, do you know what happened… is my mother?—”

“Yes, she’s here. Still restless.” Sylka lifted a cool compress to my head, wiping away some of the beads of sweat gathered there.

My entire body was warm, feverish, the gauzy sheet soaked beneath me.

“Along with your older sisters.”

“Sisters?” The corner of my mouth lifted.

“Yes, you are the youngest of five.”

A family.

A real family.

One that I belonged to.

My heart soared at the thought.

I pushed up onto my elbows, hoping to spot Reaper, to beg them to let me sing again even with my throat scraped raw.

I could push through the pain.

“How many of us are there?”

“Twelve, not counting you.” Eros lifted a steaming cup.

Anise and spice hit my nostrils.

“Drink,” Sylka instructed, nudging it against my lips.

I parted my lips, letting the warm cup and hotter liquid seep down my tongue and sear my stinging throat.

“There are others, of course, ones who moved on to Occasus before.”

I swallowed the tea, wincing at the potent flavor.

“What happened to you?”

“Some of us were invited to the palace. One after the other we were made to sing for the Emperor. I lost my voice and tried to escape—” Her eyes darted to her daughters before looking up from under long feathered lashes.

“I was shot in the back with a poison tipped arrow and died before falling into the ocean.”

“We watched it happen.” Luna said, wrapping a wing around her sister, Eros.

Sylka reached her feathers wide, taking them both within the umber of her embrace.

“Soon after, your mother and sisters were brought to the palace. The Emperor sent his soldiers far and wide. Your mother hid you among the trees and used her song to summon the nymphs to help you, the only other living beings we were friends with in the Caprificus Forest. Then she drew the soldiers away. Unfortunately she was discovered, then your sisters. All but you.”

Her other wing swept down, brushing over the thin sheet, warming my body both from the additional downy layer along with the first flares of belonging igniting within me.

With her wings out of view, I noticed a few scythes standing in the corner, disappointed none were Reaper.

A thickly muscled reaper with a trimmed beard, sleek lines razored down his cheek, stared at us.

Well not us, his eyes were pinned to Luna, tracking her every movement.

“What’s going on with them?”

Luna glanced over her shoulder and huffed out a laugh.

“Oh, Silas? He hasn’t let me out of his sight since you saved us. Same with Hex next to him.”

“I’d expect nothing less from my compara.” Eros said, gaze softening toward Hex, who drew a palm up over their heart.

My eyes widened.

“You found them already?”

“Well, we’ve felt their presence but couldn’t get to them,” Luna said.

Her sister took my hand in hers.

“Now thanks to you, we can.”

“Felt their presence?” I sat up a little higher.

“How?”

My aunt pointed to my chest, then reached forward, tapping against my breastbone.

“Feel that? That steady rhythm, the one deep within your soul.”

Rap, rap, rap.

Rap, rap, rap.

My feathers ruffled at my shoulders, a chill streaking down my spine, zinging through my tail that wrapped protectively around my torso.

“I thought that connected the splendors.”

“It does connect splendors, but not to each other.” My aunt cocked her head, gaze narrowing like I should have known this all long.

“Did no one ever explain it to you?”

“That rapping just beneath your breastbone? That beat belongs to them.” She pressed her other fingers against the bone, pity sweeping over her expression.

“Your compara. The one who can hear the true songs of your heart, the one that would recognize your thoughts, your soul, anywhere.”