were jolts of ice right through my heart.
“Yeah, but it’s hard to find the right words to describe it,” I said slowly.
“Is it saying something to you? Or is it just this weird pull?”
“I think both. I can’t make out the words, but I understand them anyway,” I explained. “It’s telling me to come closer.”
“But the ghosts and the Reapers are telling us to stay away,” she said, wearing a bitter smile. “This is quite the existential conundrum, isn’t it? Go in and die. Stay back and live. But, if we don’t go in, we die anyway, because the Hermessi will kill us all.”
“Not you, though.” I chuckled, reminding her of what she really was.
She gave me a pained look. “I don’t care about what happens to me. I wouldn’t want to live in a world that hasn’t got any of you people in it.”
“I’ll be honest, it’s good to have us all back together,” Raphael said, drawing my focus away from the waterfall palace. “Yeah, we’re in quite a pinch, but at least we have more hands on deck.”
“That being said, we need an entry strategy,” Lumi replied. “We’re not dealing with just Reapers anymore. It seems like, the closer we get to that building, the more aggressive the defenses become.”
“Perfectly illustrated by killer ghosts, which is a term I never thought I’d have to say out loud, beyond the realm of comic books,” Amelia said.
“Let’s think about it this way,” Riza chimed in. “As you advanced toward the palace, without even knowing it was there, for that matter, the Reapers started to appear, right?”
“Right,” I said.
“And they warned you. First just this Baethal fella, then the three of them. They were even close to attacking you, when Lumi’s Word outburst scared them off. And we can all agree that there’s a risk of them coming back to warn us some more, right?”
“Yes,” Lumi agreed.
“Now, as soon as we reached the base of that mountain, the ghosts—in larger numbers than before—became aggressive, and could even hurt us… which is unnatural, while Taeral’s instincts here keep screaming for him to go back there, because that place is calling to him,” Riza continued, making me nod again. “Okay. So, we’d be dealing with aggressive Reapers and killer ghosts. I think we can focus on distracting them all while, say, Taeral and Lumi make it inside that place. We’ll keep the hostile elements busy while you two find Death.”
“We split up, then,” Herakles grumbled, not liking the idea.
I, on the other hand, saw the sense in Riza’s proposal. “Lumi, Eira, and I can go there. I’m not letting Eira out of my sight,” I said, drawing a surprised look from the Hermessi daughter. “She could also act as a sort of Hermessi representative, and she could state before Death herself that there are plenty of elementals who don’t want the ritual to go through.”
“Are you sure?” Eira asked me.
I smiled gently. “I’m positive. You’re not here just for me to protect you, Eira. You’re not some damsel in distress. You’re a Hermessi child, and I think it’s time you start using that position to its full potential.”
“Taeral makes a good point,” Lumi said. “And he’s more than equipped to be a spokesperson for GASP, as he’s half fae and there are five million of his people’s lives at risk before the ritual is even completed. Not to mention afterward.”
“That, plus the fact that he’s got the scythe,” Raphael replied with a cool grin.
“I appreciate the endorsement,” I said, giving Lumi a polite nod. “But I feel like you’re even more important in this endeavor. If the Word reacted against the Reapers, it might have something to say before Death, as well. That, along with your many years in this world, makes you an equally qualified spokesperson for GASP.”
Lumi laughed lightly. “Fine, we’ll share the credits.”
I couldn’t just teleport us all inside the castle because we didn’t know what might wait for us in there. We could easily get zapped into a potentially deadly trap, and Varga had been unable to see through the castle walls, regardless of the shrinking distance. We’d agreed on a calculated and cautious approach—weird spirits and cranky Reapers, we could handle, but we couldn’t risk pissing Death off before we even saw her.
“It sounds like a good plan,” Eva said. “Which means the rest of us will have to work out a good strategy to keep the Reapers and the ghosts distracted. Out here, I don’t see any