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She started competing in figure skating at seven and won countless silver and gold medals, well on her way to becoming Soulesity’s best female skater. Her grades in school were below average, nearly failing, and she had received detention almost as much as I did.

The exact date of when she ran away was unclear. Soulesity Etherian School expelled her for fighting and she was officially reported missing the next day, on the twentieth of May. Octavius Gautier was tried and found guilty for her murder and grooming, but was now released.

Vasos Aspen Vicary, her older half sibling, moved to another city to work for the government as an ambassador for Soulesity shortly after her disappearance. She also now had a three-year-old half-sister, Marigold Cassia Vicary.

The Underworld database only showed her work as the Grim Reaper and nothing else. Her known kills only dated back to last year.

For someone who had such a high-profile family and was a part of the inner circle of the Kokkino clan, there was barely a thing about her and even less photos of her.

Reaper. Reaper. Reaper.

***

They split our science class into two and swapped half of us with the other class, forcing us to pair up.

“Today, we will be dissecting frogs.” The teacher lifted a sheet of paper. “And don’t forget to fill out the question sheet I’ve put on each table.”

“You haven’t taught us anything about the organs,” one of my classmates retorted.

“Yeah, we don’t know anything,” another panicked.

“You’ll be fine.” The teacher waved the students off just as the other class entered.

My lucky day. Partnered up with Reaper…

“Could I get a new partner?” Reaper asked.

“Yeah, we don’t work well together.” For once, we agreed on something.

The teacher’s amber eyes met ours for a moment before turning back to his phone. “Well, now’s your chance to bond.”

Some of our classmates gave Reaper a worried look, but they were worrying about the wrong person.

I’m the victim here.

I gave Lin a pleading look to switch partners, but he pretended not to notice.

Dog.

Slipping on some gloves, I stared at the animal in front of me. This frog did nothing to anyone.

Why couldn't we use real people instead?

After quickly convincing myself the frog was already dead and anything done to it now didn’t matter, I stabbed the frog in the centre.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Reaper put on a pair of glasses. “Since when did you start wearing glasses?” Not that I actually knew her.

“Recently,” she said, leaning in towards the frog.

“You look like an absolute dork,” I snarked, but she didn’t really. She actually looked pretty cute.

Gross, what am I thinking?

Reaper gave me an annoyed look, then blinked. “Oh.” She squinted her eyes at me, leaning close to my face.

I leaned away from her, my brows knitting together. “What?” Suddenly becoming self-conscious, but I had a really strict skin care routine and if she was going to point out that my eyeliner was smudged, I liked it like that .

Her blue eyes dilated. “You have a lot of piercings.” Her eyes grazed down to my lips. I had several piercings in my ear, one on the arch of my brow, and ring snake bites cuffing the corners of my bottom lip. That's where her eyes lingered and I avoided her gaze.

“How blind are you?”

“Without my glasses? Everything’s a blur.” She pulled back and put her chin in her hands, watching me go back to stabbing the frog.

“You have a lot of piercings too,” I said, causing her to look at me again. “Do you have more than just your ears?”

Reaper didn't try to hold back a smile. “Why?” she asked. “You want to see them?”

I stabbed the frog a bit too hard. “No.” I was just trying to make conversation.

It was silent again between us for a while. “Aren’t you going to explain what you’re doing?”

“No,” I replied, continuing to mutilate the frog.

“You don’t know what you’re doing, do you?”

“Of course I do,” I snapped.

“Then tell me about it.”

I rolled my eyes and pointed to “the heart,” and then what I thought was, “the pancreas.”

“That’s the gallbladder,” she corrected.

Lin snickered next to me, and I shot him a glare.

“If you’re so smart, you do it.” I gave her the knife, even though I probably shouldn’t have.

She adjusted her glasses, slipped on some gloves and took it, pointing at each organ, identifying and giving me the function of each. I turned to Lin, he was the smart one–the book smart one of our group. He nodded, confirming what she had said was correct.

I snatched the knife from her. “Alright, little miss show off. So you’re good at biology. ”

“I’m very good at biology,” she whispered and looked up at me through her thick lashes. “I could come tutor you some time and we could study the human body together.”

My face heated, and I broke the metal scalpel in my hand. She laughed as the two halves clattered onto the floor.

What is she bloody doing to me?

“What just broke?” the teacher called in our direction.

“I broke the knife,” I admitted.

He gave me a weird look. “How did you manage that?”

I didn’t answer, and he shook his head, continuing to text on his phone.

“Are you okay?” Lin nudged me.

“Yeah,” I grunted, picking up the pieces off the floor.

Reaper leaned closer to me with a sinister smile and asked in a low voice for only me to hear, “Am I the only one who makes you lose control?”

I abruptly stood up from my stool, knocking it over and causing everyone to turn their heads in our direction.

How did she know?

I hurriedly made my way to the door before I killed her in front of everyone.

“Where are you going?” the teacher asked.

I tugged off my gloves and threw them in the bin. “Bathroom.”

I slammed the door shut behind me. I was so warm.

My palms felt wet. I’m having another heart attack .

I barely recovered from the last one. I yanked my tie from its knot and released another few buttons of my uniform.

The water fountain was just in front of me and I bent down, sipping water to calm myself.

I needed her gone. I needed her to stay away from me. Why is she even here? After four years of not going to school, who would go back? What was the point ?

By the time I got back to the lab, Reaper was resting her head in her arms on the table, no longer wearing her glasses. She had also finished filling out the question sheet for the both of us. “Alright, Reaper, what game are you playing?”

She peaked her eyes at me and sat up with a sigh. “I’m just bored,” she started. “But you’re fun to play with.”

“I’m not a toy,” I spat.

“You’re my toy, Hyacinth.” She smiled.

The way she said my name did something to me. Bloody hell, her voice was like molten silver. Don’t say it again, for both of our sakes.

I leaned close to her face and whispered, “With the right contract, I can kill you.”

My words only made the mockingness in her eyes grow. “I don’t need a contract to kill you.” Her laugh was so innocent and graceful it even made the teacher look up from his phone.

“Stop flirting in class, Hyacinth,” the teacher snapped at me.

The classroom filled with laughter, but quickly silenced when I took the frog and emptied its insides on top of Reaper’s head. “You talk a lot of shit, Reaper. I mistook you for a bin.”

She didn’t look upset or angry or like she was about to cry, which was the reaction I thought I would get. Instead, she looked more amused.

“Hyacinth!” the teacher shouted, but I was already walking out the door.