Call Me Grim (14 page)

“Are you just gonna stand there and let them?”

“Normally, I’d walk away.” His lips barely move, his voice hushed with anger. “That’s all I can do, usually. I wouldn’t be able to stop them no matter how hard I tried, and watching it is…awful. But not today. Today is different.”

Makenna screams for help again, and the scream ends in a sob.

“We have to do something,” I whisper. Tears roll down my cheeks.

“Today, we can. Together, we can.” He meets my eyes and slips his hand into mine. “What I’m about to do is pretty scary. But underneath it all, remember it’s just me. Don’t be afraid of me.”

Aaron squeezes my hand once then lets it go and steps back.

He closes his eyes and his legs start to grow. Taller and taller. Then his arms and body stretch like he’s made of taffy and he’s being pulled. When the growing stops, he’s at least four feet taller. The skin around his head and face hangs loose and wrinkled—something I would think impossible after all of that stretching, but I’m looking right at it. His face collapses inward and disappears and his jet-black hair juts forward, but it isn’t hair anymore; it’s a black, tattered shroud. It wraps him from head to toe and hangs from his body like cobwebs on a skeleton. Aaron’s beautiful face is gone, and what’s there instead is hollow, dark, and cold.

The ring on the creature’s boney thumb cracks open and he catches it in his fist before it falls to the ground. It unfolds in his hand, again and again, getting longer, adding bulk, until he holds the black wood of a long staff. A four-foot-long, curved blade springs from the wood like a switch-blade and glitters malevolently in the sunlight.

“I want to stop them,” he says. “But they can’t see me without you. I need your help. Give me your hand.” The voice from the hole where his face should be is a deep growl that rumbles the air between us, and I’m afraid. I shouldn’t be—he said not to be—but I am.

I take a deep breath. The earthy scent of freshly turned dirt wafts from the dark creature in front of me, and I swallow down the fear I feel creeping up my throat. It’s just Aaron. This frightening demon is just a costume. That black shroud is really Aaron’s messy hair. And inside of what looks like a dark, endless hole are Aaron’s full lips and piercing eyes and day-old stubble.

I close my eyes and hold my hand out. His boney fingers close around mine.

A low popping sound, like the crackle of burning firewood, and my eyes spring open. Something must have changed because Grim-Reaper-Aaron suddenly drops my hand and whips away from me. He swoops down the hill toward Makenna and her attackers. He moves impossibly fast, so fast I look at his feet to see how he’s doing it, but they aren’t there. He floats two feet above the ground, and in his wake his shadow writhes and bubbles, as if it’s alive.

The group on the pink blanket doesn’t see him coming. Sweat drips from Scott’s brow as he fights to hold Makenna’s arms down. Travis struggles with her belt as Makenna twists and kicks under him.

Grim-Reaper-Aaron’s skeletal hand extends from the folds of his robe and the crescent-shaped metal of the scythe glints. He hovers behind Travis and lowers the blade in front of the rapist’s face, resting the razor’s edge against his throat.

“I would stop that, if I were you,” Grim-Reaper-Aaron growls, and Travis’ flushed cheeks instantly go white. Scott’s eyes bulge as he lets go of Makenna’s wrists and crab-walks back a few steps.

Aaron points a boney finger at Makenna. “Run.”

Makenna screams and jumps up off the blanket, eyes wide and focused on the horror that is Aaron. Then she follows his advice and runs. She barely misses kicking Scott in the face as she races away.

“Get up,” Grim-Reaper-Aaron says to Travis, but before he can move, Scott rolls to his hands and knees and jumps to his feet.

Grim-Reaper-Aaron disappears from behind Travis and reappears in front of Scott, the point of his blade held inches from Scott’s right eye.

“Don’t try to run from me, Scott Dwayne Walters. You will never get away.” Aaron’s voice has changed from the low growl he used on Travis to a dry, raspy whisper.

A dark spot blossoms at Scott’s crotch and drips down his leg.

“I am the Grim Reaper,” Aaron continues, seemingly oblivious of Scott’s lack of bladder control. “If you touch that girl, or any other girl, ever again, I will come for you. Do you understand that?”

Scott swallows hard and nods. Sweat drips down his pale face and off the tip of his chin.

“Good.” Aaron says the word long and slow, holding the
o
in such a way that it becomes threatening, terrifying, a warning. “Now, get out of here.”

Scott turns and runs before Aaron finishes his last sentence. He scrambles up the gravel hill, onto the train tracks, and takes off without looking back.

Aaron turns back to Travis with the scythe resting on one boney shoulder. Travis cowers next to the little tree, as far away from Aaron as he can get without falling off the edge of the cliff. His pants are still unzipped but at least they’re dry.

“Travis James Harton.” Aaron speaks with the growling voice again. He disappears and reappears directly in front of Travis, holding the scythe to his throat. “Did you hear what I said to your friend?” He says the last word with disdain, and Travis nods.

“Do you believe it?”

He nods again, and as he does, the edges of the long crack in his face pull together, shrinking the size of the gaping, black fissure.

“Answer me with words.”

“Y-yes.” The edges of Travis’ mark touch. The hole in his soul seals with a soft sizzle, like a wound being cauterized, leaving his broad features unblemished.

“You have no idea how easy you’re getting off right now,” Aaron growls. “And how lucky you are you met me today, of all days. But remember this.” He drags the sharp end of the sickle in an arch an inch from Travis’ throat. “Next time you try something stupid like this, you won’t be so lucky. Now go.”

Travis bolts across the field. Holding his pants up with one hand, he follows Scott up the hill and down the train tracks as fast as he can manage.

Aaron’s black shroud billows around his feet as he settles to the ground and walks back to me. With each step he gets shorter until he’s back to his normal height. His face pops forward like it’s a deflated balloon that has suddenly filled with air and the hood pulls back, becoming his normal, black, disheveled hair. The scythe in his hand folds in on itself. When it’s small enough, it wraps his right thumb—the silver ring it was before.

It takes me a moment to remember I’m not supposed to be afraid of him, but then he smiles at me—a big, beaming smile—and I smile back. I can’t help it. I’ve never seen him look this happy before, this real.

He leans in close and, using his normal voice, he says, “Give me a second to figure out how to make us invisible again.”

Aaron grabs both of my hands and closes his eyes. After a few seconds, the popping sound surrounds us and just as quickly as it started, it stops. My mind races with questions, so many I can’t decide which one to ask first.

“We did it. You and me,” he says before I get a chance to talk. “I knew it would work. I
knew
it!” He’s glowing and his wide smile dazzles me. I can’t help but grin back.

“What exactly did I do, again?”

“You and I share powers when we’re together,” he says, like I should know what the hell he’s talking about.

“Yeah, but I don’t have any powers to share with you.”

“Yes, you do. You can interact with the living, Libbi. I can’t do that. You just let me use your power to scare those jerks.” He barks a laugh. “That was fantastic!”

He throws his arms around my waist and pulls me tight against him. My stomach flutters as he lifts me up and swings me around once. He carefully places my feet back on the ground, but his hands stay at my waist, keeping my body close to his. He pulls back just enough to look into my eyes. His thumbs make soft circles in the small of my back.

“You know,” he says. The excited smile is gone from his lips but it remains in his eyes. “I’m so happy, I think I could kiss you.” His gaze locks on mine. He leans down and my stomach twists with panic.

Oh God, he wants to kiss me. And those gorgeous eyes are asking if it’s okay. And it is okay; it would be more than okay, if I didn’t feel like I’m about to puke.

I’ve never technically kissed a boy—well, I kissed Kyle a few months ago, just to know what it felt like, but that doesn’t count. I can’t have my first real kiss end with nerve-induced vomit. That would be so unsexy. I clear my throat and gently push him away.

He blushes a deep crimson and lets me go. His hands leave a hot memory on the skin of my back.

“Sorry,” he mutters. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have.”

“So,” I say before he can continue. I need to say something or we’ll both die of embarrassment. “Remember when I said you’re creepy? Well, with the two freaky voices and the no face and the floating…Aaron, you’re more than creepy. You’re terrifying.”

“Is that why you wouldn’t kiss me?” He fidgets with the hem of his shirt.

“No. That’s not it at all,” I mumble. My cheeks burn. “I just thought it wasn’t a good idea because—”

“You’re right. It wasn’t a good idea.” He cuts me off before I can admit I was afraid of barfing on him, but he steps closer to me anyway. I hold my breath as he gently tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear and his fingers linger on my cheek. Then his eyes turn hard and he drops his hand from my face. “It’s not a good idea.”

I try not to let the disappointment show on my face. I want him to kiss me. Really badly. And now that I’m prepared, I don’t think I’ll throw up. But it’s too late. Thanks to my stupid, overactive stomach, he’s decided it’s not a good idea.

I have to change the subject.

“So, all we needed to do to heal Travis’ mark was scare the crap out of him?”

“Yeah.” He smiles. It’s not the dazzling grin he gave me before he picked me up and swung me around, but its close. “Wasn’t that great? It felt so awesome to actually
do
something, Libbi. You have no idea how many times I’ve wished I could do something like that and I’ve had no choice but to walk away. People do a lot of crappy things when they think no one’s watching.”

“Yeah, but how did that work?” I glance over to where Makenna sat on her blanket. “How did scaring him heal his mark?” If I plan to help Kyle, I need to know everything I can about that stupid mark.

“I don’t think he would have killed Makenna today, but this rape might have started a violent streak in him that eventually ended in murder,” Aaron says. “Or it could have started a chain reaction of guilt that led to suicide. Who knows? Either way, we stopped the rape, put a bit of the fear of Death in him, and ended it before it got started.”

“So all I have to do to stop Kyle from killing himself is stop the chain reaction.” I say the words quietly, more to myself than to Aaron, but his head snaps up and he stares at me.

“What makes you so sure Kyle will commit suicide, Libbi? He could be marked for murder. You’d be surprised at all the bad things good people do in the right circumstances.”

“Yeah, maybe. But I know, for Kyle, it’s suicide,” I say and stalk away from him. I don’t want to hear anything else Aaron has to say about Kyle. He doesn’t know him. He doesn’t know anything.

“You don’t know that,” Aaron says at my shoulder. He’s doing that annoying following trick and I stop myself from elbowing him in the gut. “Don’t get me wrong. I hope it is suicide. I just don’t want you to be disappointed if it isn’t. Be realistic.”

“It’s suicide, Aaron.” I whip around and try to convey determination in my dark scowl. “I know it is, because I know Kyle. He’s no murderer. Speaking of Kyle…” I pat my pockets for my cell phone, but I don’t have it. I must have left it in the car. “What time is it?”

“It’s a quarter to three,” he says without looking at a watch. As he says it, I know it’s true as surely as I know my last name is Piper. And I know if I want to, I can tell the time without a clock too, down to the millisecond. That must be another handy power of a Reaper.

“Crap! I was supposed to meet Haley and Kyle for ice cream at two thirty. They’re gonna kill me. I’m sorry, Aaron, I have to go.” I walk around him and start the climb up the hill to the tracks.

“Wait.”

I stop and look over my shoulder at him, eyebrows raised.

“Your first lesson is tomorrow morning. Meet me here at nine o’clock.”

“Okay,” I call back as I continue to climb. “Nine o’clock.”

The ringtone I have programmed for text messages is so loud I can hear it bleeping inside my car as I race along the last stretch of the bike trail to the parking lot. Then it’s quiet. I swing open my car door and my phone jumps to life again, chirping and vibrating on the front passenger’s seat of my car, right where I left it. I snatch it up and read the message that appears on the screen. It’s from Kyle.

Kyle: Where are you? If you don’t text back in 5 min we’re leaving.

I scramble my thumbs across the screen and type out a reply.

Me: Sorry. Crazy day. Give me 10 min. I’m on my way.

I hit send and say a silent prayer that Kyle and Haley don’t leave. I have a full week added to my life now, and I want these last seven days to be the best they can be. I can’t have my best friends pissed at me.

I jam my key into the ignition and twist. The engine coughs and then roars to life and I slam my foot on the gas. The back tires spit up a rooster-tail of gravel behind me as I tear out of the lot.

The drive through town is short, but I spend every minute of it worrying about Kyle and Haley. I’ve messed up pretty badly with both of them lately. I have to make things right, if they’ll let me.

Foster’s Ice Cream Parlor sits on the corner of Diablo Road and Main Street, in the center of downtown Carroll Falls. Though I can hardly call it a bustling metropolis, the corner of Main and Hell’s Highway is about as close to “downtown” as this town gets. The movie theater across the street from Foster’s added three screens last year when they bought out the supermarket, giving them a grand total of six screens. Next door to the theater is a McDonald’s and an Applebee’s next to that. That’s about all the excitement this town can handle. If you want something more, like an actual mall or a Best Buy, you have to drive forty minutes.