watched. Someone had their eyes on me, whether they wanted me to know it or not. That didn’t happen often, and I was inclined to believe it was because of the scythe I was still holding.
I looked over my shoulder and past the waterfall. Down by the stream, where we’d been earlier, the Reaper stood. His eyes were on me. I knew I’d sensed something.
“Do you see him again?” Lumi whispered.
“Mm-hm. No ghosts, though. Just him,” I said.
“What is he doing?” she replied.
“Same as before. Watching me.”
“This is getting annoying,” Amelia muttered.
“I agree.” I sighed, then braced myself for what would come next. “I’ll be right back.”
“Wait, what?” Raphael hissed, but I was no longer there to reply.
I teleported myself down by the stream, only to find the Reaper gone. Cursing under my breath, I looked around again, my heart throbbing with anticipation. If this was a game he was playing, I was more than willing to join in until I caught him. If he was simply avoiding us and watching from a distance, again, that wouldn’t fly with me. I moved better on my own, and I knew the crew would understand that.
They said something from atop the waterfall, but I didn’t register the words, only the irritated tones. Instead, I kept watching the woods, until I spotted him about fifty yards south of where I stood. I zapped myself there, but he was gone once more. This time, however, I was quick to spot him about twenty yards to my left.
I dug into my fae-and-jinni nature and made myself disappear, then teleported myself to his spot. Again, he eluded me, already farther away from me.
“I see everything that’s living,” I heard him say, his tone brimming with amusement. He was taunting me. The arrogant jerk was taunting me!
Think fast. Reapers walked between worlds. They could make themselves unseen to the living and to the dead, as they wished or needed. It was a different kind of invisibility, one which pertained to planes of existence. My ability was natural and physical, merely an optical illusion.
Therefore, I had to figure out another way to make myself invisible. One that would fool a Reaper. If that was a possibility, I’d need a Reaper’s set of skills, perhaps… or his multi-powered weapon?
Remembering the scythe in my hand, the thought I had brewing grew with the grace and strength of something much more willful… like an implanted thought. It didn’t sound like me, but I could swear that it was beckoning me to ask it. The blade shimmered gently, as if coaxing me into making my demand.
Giving in to that thought, I pushed myself to believe I could get it to make me disappear like Yamani had done back on Hellym. He’d had that ability without holding the scythe, too, but I couldn’t help but wonder if I could get it to help me this time. I really wanted to talk to this guy, and he wasn’t making it easy. On the contrary, he was practically laughing in my face.
I exhaled sharply, strained already from trying to will a mere object into doing what I wanted. I want to walk between worlds. I want to walk between worlds like a Reaper. I thought that, repeatedly, my gaze fixed on my target, the blond-haired Reaper. Nothing happened. Or, at least, nothing felt different. I sensed a minor drop in the temperature around me, but that could easily be attributed to the ground-level currents coming from the waterfall. Either way, it appeared that the Reaper scythe didn’t work like I wanted it to. But the Reaper’s expression changed. He seemed confused. A second later he vanished and reappeared thirty yards farther to the left. Still, he looked around like he couldn’t see me.
This is odd.
Looking down, I understood his confusion. I could no longer see myself either. A grin stretched my lips as I realized that the scythe had worked after all. It had made me invisible, even to the Reaper—I was between planes of existence now. Nothing around me seemed different in any way. There wasn’t anything to suggest a change in dimensions. Still, he couldn’t see me anymore. How was this possible? I’d considered it a long shot to begin with, given the little we’d learned about Reapers. The scythe allowed its holder to see the dead and the Reapers, yes. It was uncertain, though, whether it allowed Reapers to hide from other Reapers, like I’d just done right now. Setting my confusion