Slaying Year Two (Grim Reaper Academy 2)

“Huh. I thought it was just to call you…”

“And send me away, too.” She beamed at me, but her smile didn’t reach her eyes. That was unusual.

I shrugged and rang the bell. She vanished into thin air. Well, this was easy. Maybe I’ll just give her a vacation and call her back in a few days. I didn’t need a pixie by my side twenty-four seven.

The phone rang four times, then my mother answered. She sounded sleepy, but happy to hear my voice.

“Baby, what happened? Why are you calling so late? Something happened, didn’t it? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine…” My voice trailed. Why had I called her, anyway? Because I’ve just been to Heaven, had dinner with a bunch of stuck-up angels, and I need someone to tether me back to the ground. But how could she help me if she didn’t know the whole truth? “Mom, I need to tell you something.”

“What is it, baby?”

“I know who my real father is.”

And that was how it started. In the next half hour, I told her everything. Valentine Morningstar, the prophecy, my field trip to Heaven, GC and Pazuzu… Sariel, and how his mother wanted us to be together. How I was a freakin’ star now just because my father was the most powerful and dangerous Grim Reaper alive. How Headmaster Colin wanted me to retire him and take over his position. Retire Morningstar… As if. I needed to get it all out, so I did.

“Baby, I’m so sorry… I had no idea. Katia never told me who your father was. I thought she didn’t know. You’re going through so much… You have to deal with so much… If only you could just say the hell with it, the hell with all of them, with their prophecy and intrigues, and come back home.”

“I can’t,” I whispered and sniffed my nose. I hadn’t cried in so long. I wasn’t even sure why I was crying.

“I know your father and I haven’t been the best,” she was whispering now, which made me think Stepan was around. “But at least, we don’t expect you to fight some evil Grim Reaper and then go reap souls all over the world. Since you left, your father has been better…”

“What do you mean better?”

“More considerate… He brought me flowers last week.”

“Oh, mom… flowers don’t make up for years of…”

“Don’t say it, baby. I’m fully aware. But it’s better. It is. And I think it’s all because of you. Oh, he’s here… Do you want to…”

She held the phone away from her ear and covered it with her hand. I’d told her mobile phones didn’t work like that. She exchanged a few words with my dad, and from his voice, I understood he’d heard most of our conversation. Shit. I didn’t want him to know about Valentine Morningstar. What difference could it have made?

“Give me that,” he yelled, and I knew he’d taken the phone from her. “Mila. What’s this about Morningstar whatever? He came to you and told you he’s your real Dad?”

There was an edge to his voice, which I was completely used to, but there was something else, too.

“Yes,” I said. I couldn’t lie now. “It doesn’t matter.”

“He’s not human.”

“N-no. He’s a nephilim.”

He cursed in Bulgarian, then in English. “That piece of shit good for nothing…”

“Dad! Come on, you don’t even know him.”

“He sounds like a piece of work,” he said in a calmer tone.

I rolled my eyes. Well, you got that right. But still… How would you know?

“Mila, the semester is almost over, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

“I want you to come home for Christmas.”

My eyes grew as wide as saucers. I was silent for a few seconds, unsure of what to say, mostly because I was pretty sure I’d heard him wrong.