to get an answer. We knew she'd be in touch as soon as she could, but we couldn't help our concern, after the dead Reapers we'd found on Mortis.
We left the woods behind as evening settled over this strange realm. There were two moons in the sky, two pearls that cast their white light over the purplish grass and the tall mountain ahead.
It was a massive peak, with stony ridges and rose-colored forests, white streams that burst from the rocks, and a single, solitary beaten path, which others had clearly taken before us, many times over the years. Wildflowers blossomed on both sides, with tall blue stems and yellow petals. I felt as though I'd been treading a dreamworld, where my subconscious had spilled watercolors in all the wrong places.
There was beauty in this strangeness, but I could also sense the danger looming over our heads. Raphael took my hand in his, squeezing gently as we smiled at one another. No matter what, with no words needed, we both knew we were together in this, all the way to the end.
"She's up there," Soul said, raising his scythe. Its glow intensified, confirming his assessment.
Phantom and Widow agreed, as well. Seeley, however, didn't seem convinced, and it worried me. In certain respects, I trusted him more than any other Reaper we'd come across.
"I’m not feeling her so far," he murmured. "It's not right. I'd have sensed her if she were here."
"Then explain this," Soul replied, nodding at his incandescent blade.
"Let's just go up there and find out," Lumi said, more impatient than all of us put together.
We'd started this mission with good intentions, but the pressure and the urgency of it all was already clamping down on us, making it difficult to concentrate. I could almost hear the clock ticking in the back of my head, getting louder with every hour that passed. This sort of anxiety was bound to cause friction among us, and not because we were prone to it, but rather because we simply couldn't help it.
Even so, none of us dared contemplate the prospect of failure. Despite the occasional snarking and eye-rolling, we pushed through. In this instance, we worked our way up the mountain, carefully following Soul's scythe. I, for one, found an ounce of comfort in knowing that, while the local Hermessi had caught wind of our presence, they couldn't find us straightaway, thanks to our Devil's Weed.
"It's at the top," Soul declared, and vanished into thin air.
"Son of a… Now he zaps out of here!" Riza gasped.
We linked hands, and she teleported us to the mountain's peak. We appeared next to Soul on what looked like a carved platform. It had been sculpted into the mountain peak, hidden between thick, white clouds. The cold air made my lungs tickle, but I loved it. This was freshness like nothing I'd experienced before. The low temperature was a welcome change, as well, compared to the first half of our trip in this world. The ground level was much warmer and significantly more humid. Up here, however, it was cooler, and it gave me a strong sense of clarity.
Soul's scythe hummed with delight, as if Death was literally within our reach, but she was still nowhere to be found. The platform was empty.
"Okay, smartass, riddle me this, then," I said, my tone clipped, motioning around us. "Where is she?"
What I didn't like was that Soul, Phantom, and Widow were as lost and as confused as the rest of our crew. It didn't bode well. To be honest, I would've been more at peace with Soul withholding some other valuable piece of information just for the fun of it, like he'd done until now.
An ignorant Soul Crusher put us all on the same page. A blank sheet of paper, with Death still missing and absolutely no direction to go in.
"I… I don't know," Soul mumbled, frowning at his scythe. "This is weird. I don't get how the tracking spell is working, if she isn't here."
"For what it's worth, I still don't sense her," Seeley said, walking around the platform. His gaze wandered all over, as if he was searching for something—what, exactly? He didn't know, but I had a feeling he would, once he found it.
"How can this be?" Phantom asked, then gave her brother a nudge. "Are you sure you did it right?"
"Did what right?" Soul replied, scowling at her.
"The tracking spell."
"Don't be a dweeb. Of course I did it right! Don't insult me," Soul retorted, already