I turned away and glared at Adrian as the elevator jolted
downward. His blonde hair spiked out from underneath his cloak and
shadowed his bored expression. “Don’t mess this up,” I warned. This
was my third reaping and I was determined to do it right.
He grinned, and his pink scar crinkled along with his skin.
He messed up the reaping by preventing me from harvesting the
elderly man’s soul. I was the one punished because I let it happen.
I sat huddled in the corner by the fireplace in the sitting room
when Adrian found me. He knelt in front of me, his image blurred by
“I’m not going to hurt you. I’ve had thousands of doses of Felix’s
Felix was the reaper that kidnapped us. I’d watched him torture
Adrian several times. I’d learned to fear him early.
I let Adrian take my arm and he rolled back my sleeve. Three
angry gashes glared up from my pale forearm, blood oozing out like
boiling water. The whole right side of my body was on fire with the
pain, all due to the poisonous knife Felix had used to cut me. It used to
hurt worse but I learned to accept it. You can only do so much
complaining before getting tortured again.
