Seizing Year Four (Grim Reaper Academy 4)

“You’re a Violent Reaper. You get called to dark alleys, torture chambers, prisons, warzones… Do the perpetrators deserve a second chance? Is that how you feel when you reap the souls of their victims?”

I sighed, defeated. “No.”

“That’s what I thought. So, here’s an idea. Next time you go reaping, remember the face of the murderer. When your cosmic god gets hungry, you’ll know where to find a meal it’ll enjoy.”

“That thing is not my god.”

“That thing made you immortal, so I beg to differ.”

“You don’t get the god you want, you get the god you deserve,” I mumbled.

“We should meet,” she ignored my pathetic remark. “All of us. Down in the cavern, the Arcane Cabal…”

“The AC,” I laughed.

“Hah. The AC. We need a plan.”

“I’m tired of plans. They never work.”

“So, are you just going to give up?”

I shrugged.

“You said you’re a villain. Didn’t you know that villains never give up?”

Fuck. I had to give her that.

CHAPTER FOUR

Corri and I were the last ones there. The AC was waiting for us. Why did I let Lorna choose the name? It doesn’t even abbreviate right. Francis and Sariel were tending to the candles, while GC and Pazuzu were whispering heatedly in a corner, arguing about something.

“Morningstar was all up in my ass, I couldn’t do shit,” GC was saying.

“You didn’t try hard enough. Teleport in, teleport out. It’s not rocket science.”

“As if it’d have stopped him from killing her…”

“It could’ve.”

“Don’t blame this on me, mate.”

I walked over to Klaus and Lorna. Joel was there, too, sitting a few feet away from them, on a rock, his head in his phone. He was playing something. Weird. When they were in the same room, Joel and Klaus were usually smooching. Something’s not right here. Patty came over to me, arms crossed over her chest.

“Finally! We don’t have all day. I have to go back and help the girls make the smoothies for breakfast tomorrow.”

It struck me she was the only one who was doing actual work around here. She and Joel, that was. He was working in the kitchen, too, mostly peeling veggies and doing the dishes. My super-secret group was made up of people who would’ve never talked to each other if it weren’t for me and my problems.

“You look good,” Lorna said.

“Thanks?”

“Not dead and rotten at all. Your first ritual went well, then?”

Did we really have to talk about this right after dinner? I nodded, hoping she’d let it go. Corri flew off my shoulder and onto Klaus’s, as if Lorna had just reminded her what her Mistress was.

“I like your tat,” the mage girl tipped her chin toward my inked arm. “It’s cool. I heard Pandora say she wants to get one. It’s becoming a trend.”

“Never thought I’d be a trend setter…”