The Revolt (The Reapers: Book Two) (23 page)

He sighed. “Kelsey, I understand you care
about her, but helping her will risk our entire mission. Most
likely, she’s already dead. Caleb probably went straight there
after he died.”

My shoulders drooped and exhaustion hit me.
Shit, I hadn’t thought of that. How could I not have realized that
reaper Caleb would go straight to his goons and order them to kill
Angelica? By killing Caleb, I’d killed my best friend.

“Tell her, Thad,” Jed said, his voice
raspy.

“I really don’t see how—“”

“Just fucking tell her.” Somehow, Jed managed
to sound menacing even bleeding and halfway to drunk on the
couch.

“Tucker talked to one of their guys, and he
said they want you on board with or without Caleb. He seemed to
think they’d prefer you without Caleb. But that was just one guy
and there’s no way to verify—”

“If she’s still alive then we’ll know he was
right,” I said. “Can I have the car keys?”

“I can’t let you do this. They’ll kill you if
you go there.”

I knew he was right and it probably should
have bothered me that I didn’t feel scared, but I didn’t care.
“This is my fault. I wanted to fight them and now Angelica is in
trouble. She shouldn’t die because of me.”

“There’s got to be another way. We just need
time to come up with a plan,” Thad said.

“Angelica doesn’t have time. I have to do
this, now.”

“Let her go,” Jed said, his voice weak. I
looked at him and he nodded. In his eyes I saw pain, but I also saw
understanding. He didn’t want me to be hurt, but he understood that
if I didn’t do everything I could to help Angelica I’d never
forgive myself. Some things were worse than physical injury. Or, a
dark voice whispered in my head, maybe he wanted to see me dead,
since I’d killed his brother.

“Send Tucker with her. We’ll get her out
before they can hurt her,” Jed said.

“And reveal ourselves when we do. There’ s no
way we’ll get her out without destroying any chance we have of
winning back this town. You can’t do this,” Holly said.

I knew she was right. I knew I was probably
sacrificing the town for my friend, but I was selfish and I
couldn’t give up on Angelica. “Don’t come for me unless there’s no
other choice.” I walked out, trying not to think that I might never
see any of them again. Thad followed me and gave me the car keys.
“I’m sending Holly with you. They already know she’s in town, and
we need her to bring the car back.”

I was almost to the top of the stairs when
Jed said my name. I walked back to him. Lucy was stitching up his
leg, but Jed looked at me without showing any sign of pain. He was
either really drunk, or he had a higher tolerance for pain than I
did.

“I’m sorry, Jed.” My throat tightened but I
didn’t give in to the tears, if I started crying I wouldn’t stop.
“I didn’t want to—”

“I know,” he said, his own eyes damp. “You
saved my life. Be careful and do whatever you have to do to stay
alive until we can get you out.”

I nodded, but I was pretty sure I’d reached
the limit of doing anything to stay alive when I killed Caleb.
“I’ll try.” I touched his shoulder and left.

Five minutes later, a large, overly-muscled
man let me into the home of Bruce’s grandmother without asking my
name. The house was a log cabin with floor to ceiling windows, and
I walked in expecting to see animal heads on the walls and lace
doilies on the couches. Instead, the living room was furnished in a
cozy, but modern style. The paintings on the walls were abstract
and looked to be originals. A doorway in the far end of the room
led to a huge kitchen with granite countertops and stainless steel
appliances.

A girl about my age was seated on one of two
sleek leather couches. She wore a floral print sundress and white
sandals that made her pale skin seem whiter and made her blue eyes
stand out against her skin and her white-blonde hair. Her dress
seemed out of place with snow deep on the ground outside, but I
took another step into the room and heat hit me in the face. A
burly guard stood behind the couch and his glare warned me against
complaining about the heat.

“Hello, Kelsey,” she said without standing.
“I’m Bruce’s sister, Rose. Please come in and have a seat. Holly,
you may go now.”

“I’ll stay.” Holly crossed her arms over her
chest, and Rose nodded her permission.

I sat on the couch facing Rose. I considered
pointing out that she wasn’t Bruce’s sister and asking her who she
really was, but I didn’t see any point in it. She was a reaper who
placed no value on the lives of the living. She was my enemy. I
didn’t need to know anything else about her. “Where’s
Angelica?”

“We made the call as soon as you entered the
property. I should be getting a call any moment now to let me know
she’s been returned to her apartment.”

As though on cue, a phone rang. The man
standing behind her pulled a phone out of his pocket.

“Hendricks… Good.” He hung up. “It’s
done.”

Rose smiled. “She’s back home. You may call
her to check if you feel it’s necessary.”

You better believe I thought it was
necessary. I called Angelica’s home phone, and she answered on the
third ring.

“Kelsey?”

“Angelica. Are you okay?”

She laughed. “Yeah, I’m fine. How did you
know something was wrong?”

“A friend told me.”

“Oh, sure.” She sounded a bit nervous.
“Bruce’s grandmother passed out at the house, and the doctors ran
all kinds of tests to make sure she’s okay, but she’s fine.”

I was silent long enough that she said my
name again.

“Oh, good, I’m glad she’s okay.”

“Yeah, me, too. Do you want to stop
over—”

“I gotta go.”

I hung up and slid the phone into my back
pocket. So they’d managed to kidnap her without really kidnapping
her. I didn’t doubt for one moment they’d have killed her if I’d
turned them down.

“Satisfied?”

“Yes,” I said. Two ghosts had entered the
room while I was on the phone. One was Caleb, glaring at me like he
wanted to kill me, and the other was the man from my dream, the one
who’d told me about Angelica’s kidnapping. He smiled at me and my
heart skipped a beat in fear.

“Good. My grandmother will be home soon and
I’d like you to be gone when she arrives,” Rose said. “We have
accepted you into our midst based on an assumption, one we’d like
to test now. If we’re wrong, we’ll let you go and give you ten
hours to leave town before we attempt to kill you. If we’re right,
we’ll keep you as part of our team. If you try to leave us or
betray us, we will kill Angelica and then we will hunt you down and
kill you, too. Do you understand?”

I was so scared my teeth were chattering, but
I managed to nod.

“Good. I want you to cross over and share
your energy with Houston. He’s our intrepid leader and very
powerful. Don’t try anything funny, or Caleb will be glad to
destroy you for us.”

“Share my energy with him?”

“You’re able to cross over and take from a
guardian, without any ill effects. It stands to reason you ought to
be able to do the reverse. You have a great deal of energy and our
work lately has been terribly draining. Do it now.”

I looked at Holly for some support, but she
didn’t meet my eyes. She looked at Rose and, though her expression
was grim, she nodded. “You should do what she says.”

“But that could completely destroy me.”

Rose nodded and smiled sweetly. “Then you can
say no and we’ll kill Angelica. We’ve been looking for an excuse to
kill her anyway, but some members of our team,” she gave Houston a
look, “would prefer to make as little mess as possible until we’re
in full possession of this town.”

Houston cleared his throat and Rose flushed.
“Not that that is any of your business. If you don’t like the deal,
you are free to leave, Kelsey.”

My skin went cold and my mouth was suddenly
dry. I didn’t want to die, but I couldn’t walk away. “I’ll do
it.”

Holly shrugged, but I caught a glimmer of
respect in her expression.

I took a moment to clear my head and wondered
if I could get away with pretending to try to share my power and
failing. Rose said they’d let me go if I didn’t meet their
expectations. I pushed away my fear and all thoughts of what I was
about to do and let myself fall into the trance I’d been working on
with Tucker. It came to me more easily than I wished. I stepped out
of my body and walked over to Caleb and Houston.

Before I could say a word to either of them.
Houston grabbed my arm. If I’d had the forethought and the
knowledge, maybe I could have prepared some sort of shield to
protect myself. But my arm began to go cold and weak, a terrifying
feeling that continued up my shoulder, spread to my chest and then
through my whole body. I knew I was screwed.

I woke up, back in my physical body, in a
dark room that smelled like pine needles and moth balls. I lay in
bed for a moment trying to figure out where I was. The last thing I
remembered was being in Bruce’s grandmother’s house with Rose and…
oh, yeah, that creepy reaper, Houston, had sucked out my energy. I
couldn’t remember anything after that.

I sat up slowly, testing for aches and pains,
but felt none beyond a slight throbbing in my head. I got out of
bed, discovered I was still dressed, and tiptoed to the door. I
swung it open slowly, but it creaked loud enough to make me
jump.

“There’s no point in trying to sneak around.
I know you’re up.”

I followed the voice through a short hall,
down a flight of stairs, and into a warm, cluttered living room.
Every inch of wall space was covered with small, framed pictures,
all of them of people, most in black and white. A woman sat on an
oversized floral couch, in front of an ancient TV. I moved a pillow
off the matching armchair and sat.

“Where am I?”

The woman smiled. She didn’t look much older
than me and she was pretty, with an open, warm expression and short
black hair styled to frame her face. Even in the dark it was clear
she had a perfect complexion and gorgeous mocha skin. Her brown
eyes were bright, and she had a delicate bone structure that made
her appear somewhat fragile.

“You’re at my house,” she said. “I’m Sadie.”
Her accent was thick with the South, and it reminded me of my
hometown.

“Are we still in Briarton?”

She laughed out loud, a full deep laugh that
made me want to smile. “Yeah, the dead folks won’t send you too far
away now they’ve found you useful.”

“The dead folks?”

She tilted her head to the side and stared at
me for a moment. “Um, I reckon you call them reapers, don’t you.
You work for one of the corporations?”

“No. Not exactly. Are you…?” She seemed
ordinary enough to me, but I had no good way of telling if someone
was reaped or not. There was no fuzzy ghost outline around her to
indicate she was currently borrowed, so she had to be reaped or a
living person working for the reapers.

“I’m a witch, sweetheart.”

“Oh,” I said, my heart sinking. “So you’ve
sided with the reapers?”

“I haven’t sided with anyone and I don’t
intend to. I’m just trying to stay alive until this mess settles
down. They told me they’d look kindly on me and mine if I kept you
here.”

Tucker appeared next to me and I could feel
the anger radiating off him.

“You’ve warded the house?” I asked.

“Yes. Why? You see someone?” She looked
around. When she didn’t see Tucker, I knew she couldn’t see or
sense the dead. That might work in my favor.

“Nope. I was just checking. So you know what
they’re planning to do?”

“I don’t ask. My mother always taught me it
was safer not to know too much about anyone’s business. She’s
sixty-five and still living so I guess there’s some sense to what
she said.”

“They want to take over Briarton. They want
to take the living without any oversight.”

She laughed. “Oversight? Is that what they’re
calling it? The corporations allow the dead folk to reap people as
it suits the corporations. Every reaping can be justified if you
bend the facts the right way.” She studied my face for a moment.
“You aren’t corporate are you?”

“I said I wasn’t.”

She shrugged. “People lie. Especially
corporate folk. You want something to eat?”

“No, thanks.” I sat and stared at the
activity flashing on the TV screen for several minutes, sinking
deeper into the armchair, as I tried to figure out my next step.
“Can I ask you a few questions?”

“You can ask.” She didn’t take her eyes off
the screen.

“I have a friend whose family was cursed 200
years ago. Each generation someone loses the person they love to
accident or disease. I’ve met the reaper who placed the curse and
I’m worried she’s going to hurt my friend. Have you ever heard
anything like this? Do you know how I would go about ending the
curse?”

“That’s an unusually long time for a curse to
last. It would have to be re-instated each generation by a new
witch, and the reaper would have to inhabit a living body long
enough to ask a witch to do it…” She crossed her arms over her
chest. “What you need to find out is who’s paying the witch to
continue the curse. Follow the money. This reaper you’ve met can’t
have any money or easy access to money, and witches don’t place
curses for free.” She returned her attention to the TV. “In any
case, the witch won’t remove it unless the original curser asks her
to remove it.”

“Right,” I said, feeling a bit numb and
hopeless.

“I can ask around if you want. Who’s
cursed?”

I told her what I knew about the curse and
Bruce’s family. She nodded and we watched TV until a commercial
interrupted the show.

“Would it be okay if I made a phone call?” I
asked, expecting to be denied, but hopeful.