“Surprise!”
“No, it can’t be you.”
“Oh, it’s me, I promise.”
I didn’t move from my spot, and he didn’t move from his. I felt powerful, and the fact that I was completely naked didn’t mean a thing to me. For the first time in my life, I felt invincible in my own skin. I could bet he had no idea how to kill a revenant. Even I didn’t know how to kill a revenant.
“It’s not possible. You’re dead.” His voice sounded weaker and weaker. It was clear he had great trouble wrapping his head around what was happening. “I watched you die…”
“And then you dragged me into the forest and buried me.”
“I teleported you into the forest, and Crassus buried you.”
“Tell me, father, did you pay him separately for the grave digger services? Oh, by the way, his daughter is dead. Since it’s your fault, I think you should be the one to give him the news.”
“What did you do? How did you…”
I grinned. “I didn’t do anything. I’ve got loyal friends and lovers. But you wouldn’t know how that works, would you? You’ve always been so utterly and irreversibly alone.”
“What are you?”
“A revenant, they say. Cool, huh? Immortal, so… prepare to be hunted for the rest of your life. Because I will find a way to kill you, and when I do, there will be no escape, no loophole. You will be dead, and you’ll stay dead. I’ll make sure of it.”
He frowned and finally closed the door behind him. He was safe for now, since I’d just told him I wasn’t going to kill him today. Human, revenant… I was still his daughter. Blood of his blood. I had no intention to break my scythe before I even graduated.
“You should leave, though…”
“I’m still Headmaster of…”
“Not for long. See, I’m going to take a shower, have a nice breakfast, and then I’m going to pay the Council a visit. Fill them in on the latest news, how you murdered me, how I came back, how I’m not human anymore, and the prophecy is bullshit. Then, I’m going to ask for two things, and they will give them to me. One, Headmaster Colin will be reinstated. Why? Because you just can’t go around messing with the curriculum, preventing the professors from teaching us basic skills, murdering your own daughter, and still keep your job. You’ve crossed a line, Valentine Morningstar.”
He banged his scythe on the floor and spread his wings wide. His whole body started glowing with unearthly energy, his skin retreated into his bones, and his black cloak whooshed around him, as if blown by an invisible wind. He was no longer a man, but a skeleton.
“You know what? That doesn’t impress me anymore. You can’t hurt me, so cut the theatrics.”
“You’ll regret this,” his voice boomed like thunder.
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I’m not finished, so if you could just wait for your turn, that would be grand.”
He took a step toward me, but I couldn’t give a shit. I crossed my legs and tapped my fingers on the desk.
“As I was saying, that’s the first thing that will happen. Two, I have every intention to convince the Council to instate year four. Grim Reaper Academy is three years, but let’s face it: you fucked up the last one, didn’t you? You wanted to create soldiers, not Grim Reapers. Which makes me wonder… what is your goal here, father? What are you trying to accomplish? And if you want us to be soldiers so much, and fight instead of reap, then it’s clear to me that we must make sure the exact opposite happens. You have my word; the next generation of Grim Reapers will be the best the world has seen so far.”
“They will never agree to…”
“I think they will. I’ve recently traveled to a parallel universe where the students of Grim Reaper Academy were just about to finish year four. If it was possible there, it’s possible here. And I saw something else, too.” I grinned and gave him a moment to think. Not that he could have ever guessed. “You don’t like GC and Pazuzu. In this parallel universe, I was dating Sariel and Francis, too. It got me thinking… why not?”
He sighed. “You really do have a talent for choosing the worst partners.”
“On the contrary, father. I couldn’t have chosen better. Thanks to them, I’m alive. I’m here, and we’re having this pleasant conversation. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a meeting to get ready for. Before I go, is there anything else you want to tell me? Because I have this feeling that we won’t be seeing each other for a while.”
He relaxed, tucked his wings inside the long slits of his cloak, and his appearance slowly returned to normal.
“You don’t know why.”
“Why… what?”
“Why I’m doing all this. Why I’ve trained you to fight, why I locked the gates of the Academy, cut all connections with the outside… Why I want supernaturals and humans to never mingle. And the fact that you don’t know gives me power. So, go ahead, my daughter. Do your worst. You will never take me down. Because I see what’s coming, and when you see it too, you’ll know I’ve been right all along.”