Grim and Bear It
Chapter Twenty-Six

Rule #12: A reaper is never allowed to leave their post during an assignment.

-The Reaper Code of Ethics, official handbook.

Poppy

"You're really quiet tonight," Sylvia observed as we sat on top of a streetlight pole, waiting for an accident.

I shrugged. "Just...thinking."

"About Jake." It wasn't a question.

I stared down at the large traffic light swinging back and forth in the wind. "It made it bearable, knowing he was alive and happy."

"We haven't gotten to the point where we have to take the people we love across the river. We've been lucky."

Pain, dark as ink, spread through me. "I don't know that I can," I admitted. "How could I say a forever good-bye?"

She reached out and took my hand. "We'll figure it out, together." She sighed and then looked up at the rain-filled clouds. "I love the rain. I miss it."

"Me too." I missed everything that wasn't monotonous. The cloudless skies the color of cornflowers, the birds singing a musical song on a soft summer breeze. The smell of freshly cut grass and sunscreen. The sound of buzzing bees and the melody of an ice cream truck that played Christmas music in July. The dark clouds and thunderstorms, the flash of lightning, the taste of snowflakes on my tongue.

Something sharp tugged in my chest, and I pressed my hand there, trying to calm it. It tugged harder, physically jolting me. I threw my arms out, trying to maintain my balance. Sylvia grabbed my arm, steadying me, a touching gesture as literally nothing would've happened to me if I did fall.

"You okay?"

"Something...something's wrong." This wasn't a normal reaper pull. This was a gut-deep, something horrible is about to happen unless you stop it warning.

Jake. His name repeating louder and louder in my mind. Concentrating hard on Jake's energy, I pinpointed his location and disappeared.

"Poppy, wait!" Sylvia yelled as the sound of metal on metal filled the air. The accident we were waiting for had really bad timing.

When I appeared at Café Eleonora, I saw the gun leveled at Jake. No chance in hell. Jumping on his back as he tried to protect Paris, I shoved them both to the ground while shifting to my skeleton form. The bullet deflected off my bones and away from Jake's torso, shooting a hole into my cloak and slicing open some skin on Jake's arm. I paused only to make sure he was still alive, then disappeared. I had to get back to Sylvia.

When I returned to the scene of the accident, I heard my sister's scream first. It chilled me to the bone. I had never heard her scream, at least not from true fear. A demon had launched itself at her and was going for her neck.

I pulled out my sword and dispatched the demon, before stepping in front of Sylvia. "Who's next?"

The accident was gruesome, but the surrounding demons were even more terrifying. Amon was there and judging from the way the other demons copied his pose, so were his buddies.

Sylvia stood in front of five souls, her scythe poised and at the ready. "Make their ears bleed," she demanded, then stepped next to me, taking my sword.

I yanked my violin out of my robe and immediately started playing a hymn.

The demons hissed and covered their ears, then took a step back. One of the souls, a young woman, started singing. The demons grew more agitated. The rest of the group tried to sing or hum along, even if they didn't know the tune. The less-invested demons opened up portals and disappeared, leaving only Amon and two friends.

"Let's go," Sylvia ordered.

Our group moved in sync, one slow step at a time. The demons shifted with us, but it was clear they were debating whether we were worth the effort. Amon grew bold and tried to snatch the young woman who had started singing first.

Sylvia cut off his arm. "Fuck this. Run."

So we ran. I lingered back, playing my violin so aggressively that one of the strings broke. It would've left a mark if I still had skin. I kept playing, ignoring the missing string, but my songs had lost a bit of their sting. They were gaining on us. Anya jumped through the portal and into the human world, with a bucket of Styx River water in hand. She tossed it on the three remaining demons, who gave up the fight and melted back into the ground. Leaders from every religion that had ever existed were constantly doing rituals on the water, which demons did not like. "That was brilliant!" I shouted. I made a mental note to carry a vial of water with me at all times.

Sylvia shoved the humans through the veil, then shouted for Anya and me. We crossed over and leaped into the boat. I shoved off the bank as Anya took the helm.

I slid onto a bench, breathing hard, even though I didn't need to breathe. It was an emotional response. Anya regaled the humans with fantastical stories, her gift of imagination and soothing cadence eased the trip. If anyone noticed the way she scanned the banks more frequently, or that she was moving twice as fast as she normally did, they didn't say.

"You left me," Sylvia accused, barely above a whisper. "This shouldn't have happened."

"I'm sorry." I didn't know what else to say.

She shook her head. "You didn't just screw up. We almost lost souls tonight. And why? Where did you go?" "He would've died."

She gripped the wooden bench seat so tight, it creaked. "You interfered?"

"I...maybe?" Jake hadn't been on my manifest, so was it technically interfering?

"Poppy..." There was so much censure in her tone that I didn't even need to wait for the seasickness to strike for my stomach to knot. "I'm going to have to report this."

My head jerked up. "Sylvia, you can't. They'll reassign me."

"I don't think that's a bad thing. You're in so deep, you can't see that you're drowning."

I grabbed her hand. "It's always been you and me. Please."

She jerked her hand away. "It has because you've always had my back. But if you were mere seconds later today..." She shook her head. "We get these big jobs because we're a team, and it's not fair for me to do them alone. I need to work with someone I can trust, and I'm sorry, Poppy, but that's not you right now."

My world tilted, and it had nothing to do with the rocking boat. My sister had dumped me. My own sister. But you let her down. If I had been a few seconds later... It didn't bear thinking about. Not all reapers made it back alive, and tonight I'd almost lost my sister. Because I had been distracted.

I had to save Jake's life.

Pain echoed in my chest. She was going to file formal paperwork. Our entire family would know that I messed up and never let me live it down. Plus, I would likely lose my coveted spot on a preferred shift. I would have to earn it back. It's not that I had much of a life-er, unlife-it was just that I lived by a schedule.

I knew what days and how long I'd have to work from now until eternity. I knew who the boat captains would be, which reapers I would cross paths with, and how many souls I would ferry on any day. I needed routine to keep from spiraling, like I had my first year here.

But hadn't that routine already been thrown off? Wasn't that why we were in this mess?

"Whatever you feel is best," I finally told my sister. I didn't have the energy to fight her. She was right. I had screwed up and now I had to face the consequences.

"Poppy," she sighed and turned away from me. "I just need some space."