die, right? You can keep sulking here…”
“Again with the tone,” Death replied dangerously. “Why did I just go to the trouble of telling you about Thieron, Taeral? Because I like entertaining uninvited guests?!”
Lumi looked at me. “She wants you to help her. She just isn’t very good at asking for help.”
My heart stopped for a moment as the realization caught up with me. “Oh… okay. Yes. We’re in. We’ll help. Yes! If you need Thieron back to stop the Hermessi, we’ll do it. We’ll do whatever it takes! We can use the pink waters to take us straight to their locations.”
Death smirked. “You make it sound so easy. It doesn’t work like that. The pieces are protected by ancient, powerful magical. You won’t be able to use the pink waters for this one, I’m afraid.”
“Nothing about this is easy,” Eira chimed in. “But it’s the only chance we’ve got.”
Death leaned back into her throne, measuring each of us from head to toe. “You’ve gotten yourself quite the merry band of supernatural creatures, dear brother. But the universe does work in mysterious ways, doesn’t it?”
“Our brothers and sisters will likely agree,” the Word replied, drawing my attention.
“Brothers and sisters?” I asked, trying to imagine what the siblings of Death and the Word would be like.
“The universe is fueled by a number of forces, Taeral,” the Word explained. “Myself, Death, and a few others, above the Hermessi. The currents that put everything in motion, that birth stars and clump chunks of rock and metal together to form planets. I’m afraid it’s far above your level of comprehension. You should, perhaps, focus on Thieron for now.”
Dry-swallowing, I nodded slowly. “Like I said, we’re in.”
“Let this be official, then,” Death said. “You deliver Thieron back to me, and I will stop the ritual. My spoken word is a binding contract which I cannot avoid or undo.”
My wrist burned. Eira hissed from the pain. I heard Lumi’s skin sizzle. In an instant, a symbol appeared on our wrists—an uneven spiral, about three inches wide, drawn in what looked like glimmering red ink.
“A blood pact, sister? Do you not trust my student and her friends to carry the mission to the end?” the Word asked, sounding slightly offended.
Death cocked her head to the side. “I’m well aware of the nature of mortals. I’m just making sure they do the job they’ve signed up to do. I really want my Thieron back, and… well, the blood pact stops them from dying until they deliver it to me.”
“Whoa… wait, what?” I croaked, my pulse throbbing in my ears.
“I’ll make it clear. The sooner you find and bring Thieron back to me, the bigger the chances of me stopping the ritual,” Death said. “Should you fail, and should the ritual happen, you, Eira, and Lumi will not die until you finish this assignment. Until you recover Thieron for me. I can’t come fetch it for you—its absence has weakened me enough to keep me here, on Mortis. I won’t do your job for you. I need to see for myself how determined you are. How far you’ll go to save your world. But Thieron back in my possession is what I care about the most. Even if it means you three will live, while everyone else you know and love dies in the ritual.”
My blood curdled at the thought of such a scenario. For a moment, part of me wondered what I’d gotten us into. Eira gave me a troubled stare, as if asking, “Is she for real?” What could I say to that? Yes, yes, she was. Death was absolutely for real, and she’d just bound us into an unbreakable agreement. We had to find Thieron sooner, rather than later—if we didn’t, not only would our worlds die, but we’d be there to see it, to live past it and spend who knew how much time in absolute misery, still searching for Death’s scythe.
Failure was certainly no longer an option. And the thought terrified me more than the ritual itself.
Eira
I’d never, even in my wildest dreams, thought I’d be standing here.
Every minute that passed while Death and the Word conversed about the state of things, I found myself wondering which decisions throughout the course of my life had led me to this place, to this incredible moment.
For most of my life, I’d lived for my career. I loved the military; I couldn’t live without the action, the excitement, the firm discipline, and the honor that came with my