Grim Crush (Grimly Ever After) (2 page)

Chapter 3

It took a week before Jayza and I were no longer needed in Japan. The older reapers could handle things from here.

We had worked day and night without rest. Reaping isn’t usually tiresome, but I was pooped when I finally returned to base. Jayza and I relaxed for a few hours (reapers never sleep), then we had to get back to our normal areas of reaping. The two of us worked in sections of Arizona.

After responding to a fatal car accident, I was due to reap a soul from a nursing home in a couple hours, so I had time to go back to the cliff where Chad had died. I stood on the precipice again, enjoying the view of the verdant forest and red-orange cliffs.

I like places like this; places that involve danger. It felt like I stood on the border of life and death. I mean, I
guess
standing on the precipice of a cliff would be described that way. Life was standing on this cliff, death was the freefall ahead of me.

Life and death. How ironic. I wasn’t alive, and I wasn’t dead. That’s what made this so exhilarating, standing here with my hair and dress fluttering in the wind.

Okay, I couldn’t lie to myself; this was also a good place to scout the area for a particular somebody.

I wondered if that boy would come around here again. It could’ve been a one-time only thing. If so, it was a huge coincidence he came by in time to find Chad’s body. He hadn’t looked like he was lost. So I believed he would show up again.

I waited. And waited. Time isn’t an issue for a reaper, unless it’s related to someone’s death. In that case, we had better be on time, or we’ll get in major trouble. Not to mention how difficult it is to find a wandering spirit long after it has left its body. That’s probably the reason why reapers have to be early, to make sure no surprises happen.

Fifteen minutes passed as I stood on the cliff. Thirty minutes. An hour. An hour and forty-five minutes…

I spotted movement down below, near a brook of trickling water. I walked left along the cliff edge, closer to a small waterfall that fed into the stream. Yes, I could see it was a person I’d spotted.

After making sure the coast was clear, I teleported into a tree closer to the person. Then I peered through the branches, their leaves tickling my face. The good thing about not being alive was that I didn’t make much noise. So I could spy on the person without them hearing me. I saw that it was a tall, bronze-skinned figure with long hair.

It was him! The reaper-seeing boy.

Silently, I slinked down the tree and alighted gently on the ground, my shoes not making a sound. I peeked around the trunk of the tree.

The boy had sat next to the stream on a cluster of boulders. He looked like he came here often. He must live in the area.

I hesitated. I probably shouldn’t do this. But I had to know more about him. I had to know why he could see me.

Usually, I didn’t change my appearance much. Sometimes I liked to alter my clothing to give it a different style, but I did that only every couple of weeks. A reaper’s dress code is to always wear black, so today I morphed my clothing into a sleeveless ebony blouse with a knee-length, loose-fitting skirt to go with it. I kept my braids pinned up on my head, with a few strands hanging loose.

After checking my appearance over, I strolled out into the open, stopping beside the stream. The boy sat twenty feet off to my right. I wanted to know if he would recognize me.

I listened to the water gurgling over the rocks in front of me. I pretended to be staring at my reflection in it (although reapers don’t
have
reflections), watching the boy in the corner of my eye.

He wasn’t looking this way. He hadn’t noticed me. Maybe I should’ve appeared on the other side of the brook.

I shuffled sideways, closer to the boy. Then I waited again. Finally, his head turned in my direction. I held my breath, waiting to see what he’d do next. Was it too much to hope he wouldn’t see me this time? That maybe I
had
accidentally allowed myself to be visible to the human eye just that once?

Uh oh, the boy was standing. He was jumping down from the boulders. He was coming over…

My heart pounded. I don’t know why I was so nervous. I talked to people all the time, but they were always dead or a reaper. I’d never talked to a living person before. I took a deep breath.

The boy stopped a foot from me. “Hey, haven’t I seen you before?”

I reluctantly turned toward him. “Uh…I don’t think so…”

His brown eyes seemed to be piercing into me again. “Yeah, you’re the one I saw about a week ago, near the cliff where that man died. You’re the weird girl who ran away.”

Weird! Who was he calling weird, when he was a reaper-seeing human? I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why do you think
I’m
the weird one?”

The boy looked confused. “Well,
I
didn’t do anything weird.
You
acted like I wasn’t talking to you, even though you were the only one there. And there was a dead guy right in front of us, but you didn’t even care!”

How could I put this so that I didn’t give away what I was? “I was…surprised. I mean, I was scared. And people don’t usually notice me, so that’s why I didn’t think you were…talking to me.” Did I sound crazy or what? I needed to change the subject. “Who
are
you, anyway?”

The boy had furrowed his eyebrows at me. His face relaxed before he answered, “My name is Shilah.”

“Shilah? What kind of name is that?”

“It’s Native American. It means ‘brother’. What’s
your
name?”

Ah, so he
was
Native American. “I’m Xia.”

“Xia? And what kind of name is
that
?”

“It’s…”
A grim reaper name
. “…foreign.”

“Well,
Xia
, why did you run away the other day? It’s not like you killed that guy, right?”

“No, his death was out of my control. I ran because I had to go somewhere.”

“But you couldn’t call an ambulance first?”

“He was dead.”

“You still should’ve called. I’m guessing you’re not from around here?”

“You could say that.” This didn’t feel right, having a living human stare right at me. I squinted at him. What was it that made him so special? How come he could see me, but other humans couldn’t?

Shilah raised an eyebrow. “Why are you staring at me so hard? Do I have something on my face?”

I quickly drew back. “No. I was just…um…can I ask you something?”

“What?”

“Is there anything…”
How should I put this?
“…different about you?”

“Different?”

“From other people you know?”  I wondered if it was obvious that I wasn’t experienced in talking to living humans.

“Well…I’m the only person I know who has met a strange girl named Xia.” Shilah grinned.

I scowled in frustration. “Forget it. I have to go.” Talking to this boy had been a mistake. I turned and stormed away, toward the woods next to the brook.

“Wait!” Shilah jogged after me.

“Leave me alone,” I growled, still stomping away through the trees. I had to get away from him before I could teleport.

“Okay, I didn’t mean to call you strange. Sorry.” He was still following me.

“Apology accepted.” I sped up my pace.

“Then why are you still trying to get away from me?” He sped up with me, so that we were striding side by side.

“I’m not supposed to be talking to you,” I said through clenched teeth.

“What does
that
mean?”

“I can’t talk to you! It’s against the Rules.” I went around a tree.

Shilah slowed, falling behind. “Against the rules? What rules? Your parents’ rules? You can’t talk to boys or something?”

“No, I can’t.” I stopped and glanced behind me. Shilah wasn’t there. I sighed in relief and continued forward. But I nearly crashed into him as he came around the other side of the tree.

“That’s a dumb rule,” he said, staring down at me with one hand on the tree trunk.

Whoa, he was way too close. I hopped back. It would’ve been impossible to explain if he had found out he could walk
through
me.

“Well, it’s
my
Rule.” I weaved around him and continued striding away.

“
Your
rule?” Shilah began following me again. “You made up a rule not to talk to boys?”

I stopped again and spun around to face him. “Are you always this annoying?”

“Yes. I just want to know who you are. Where are you from?”

I crossed my arms. “Somewhere far away.”

“
Where
exactly? Another state? Another country?”

I sighed. “Another country, I guess. Um…I’m from Italy.”

“Really?” He sounded skeptical. “You don’t
sound
Italian.”

“Not all Italians have an accent. Do you sound Arizonian?” I fired back.

“Okay, if you’re from Italy, say something in Italian.”

A grin spread across my face. That request was easy. “Fine.” I opened my mouth to speak the language, then paused. “Wait, how will you know I’m speaking Italian? You can speak it too?”

He frowned. “Oh. Good point.”

I laughed. “See, you have no choice but to believe me.”

“I guess. So, do you live around here?”

“Yes. And no.”

“Yes and no?”

“I live…everywhere.” This was the strangest conversation I’d ever had. Usually I could admit I was a grim reaper, but I didn’t want to do that. Shilah already thought I was weird enough.

“I’m confused.” Shilah shook his head. “Does that mean you’re homeless?”

“Not really. I
have
a home, it’s just that I don’t go there much.”

“Why?”

I glared at him. “You ask too many questions. I’ve heard you’re not supposed to talk to strangers, and you’re a stranger. So, goodbye.” I walked away again.

“Wait, Xia. If you don’t have anywhere to go…”

“I do. I’m fine. Well, no, I’m not fine because you keep bothering me, but I will be if you stay away from me.”

Silence. I thought I’d finally convinced Shilah to leave me alone, but then I heard him call, “My family is obsessed with death.”

That stopped me in my tracks. I whipped around. “
What
?”

“That’s what’s different about me. I have a weird family.”

I walked over to stand in front of him. “Do you mean Death as in…?”

“You know. Passing on. The afterlife. It’s stupid, really. Who thinks about death all the time?”

If only he knew. “So…what do
you
know about death? Do you know about the Angel of Death?”

“Angel of Death? You mean the Grim Reaper?”

“Yeah. Sort of.”

“All I know is that he’s a skeleton with a black robe and a scythe. He appears in movies sometimes. Why in the world are you asking me about the Grim Reaper?”

I sighed. “This is hopeless. Never mind.”

Shilah eyed me curiously. “Xia–”

“I’m different from other people, aren’t I? Do I seem different to you?”

“Yes. You’re the weirdest girl I’ve ever met.”

I frowned. “But do I
look
different?”

Shilah cocked his head. “Uh…I’ve never seen anyone’s hair styled like that before. And you’re always wearing all black, but the Goths at my school do, too.”

I slapped a hand to my forehead and rubbed it down my face. “I give up. I’m never going to figure you out.” Then I gasped. “What time is it?”

Shilah glanced at his watch. “It’s…2:43. Why?”

“Oh no, I only have one minute! I have to go. And you
can’t
follow me.” I tramped up a small hill of grass.

“Okay, but just answer one more question.”

I stopped at the top of the hill and turned to look down at Shilah. “What? I don’t have time for–”

“Will you ever be here again?”

I paused. “I like standing on that cliff over there during my free time.” I pointed.

“All right. Then maybe I’ll see you again.”

I furrowed my eyebrows. “Why would you want to? I thought I was ‘weird’.”

“You are, but I’m used to weird. And you’re…interesting.”

I lifted my eyebrows. “You really think so?”

“Yeah.”

“Uh…you’re kind of interesting too. But I don’t know. I
might
be back.” I did want to know more about Shilah, but I should probably consult my superiors. Then again, talking to a living human wasn’t one of the three Rules. I couldn’t help that he could see me. So technically I wasn’t disobeying Rule Three.