“I need to face him,” Cutter said. “And you need to get to the portal.”
Ru craned her neck around the tree. While there were still some Reapers near the entryway, for the most part, the Keepers were able to set up a perimeter around the portal. If she was going to go, now was the time. “Okay. Be careful,” she said. Realizing that Cutter was about to take on one of her assignments made Ru feel uncomfortable, particularly since she knew what the end result would be, and despite the bargain she’d almost just made with the devil, she still didn’t want to see Nat destroyed. But she had to push those thoughts out of her head. She quickly kissed Cutter’s cheek and scurried off to the next tree closest to the portal.
Nat saw her now, and he began to move in her direction, using his scythe to cut down an attacking Keeper as if he were nothing. Ru swallowed hard and steeled herself, looking for the next place to hide. If she used her powers on Nat, there was a chance she would
One year later… “All right, boys and girls. That is enough for today. We will pick up with Ramona’s story tomorrow afternoon. For now, go ahead and get your backpacks on, and let’s line up at the door.” Groans filled the air as twenty-two fourth graders followed their teacher’s directions despite wanting to hear what happened next in the story. They stood and walked to the cubbies where their backpacks were hung and politely took turns getting their belongings before making an orderly line at the door. Ru took a deep breath and looked lovingly at her students. Even though she’d made the same prediction every year since she started teaching, she had had a feeling about this group of kids from the very beginning. And she was right. They were the best group of fourth graders she’d ever taught. The bell rang and she wished them all a good weekend, gathering up the four students who went to daycare and walking with th
Silence is golden, until it isn’t. The forest was dark, and even though Jim stood just on the edge of it, the fact that not a single, solitary animal seemed to be stirring was even more frightening than the other sound, the one he’d heard a few moments ago that had led him out of his nice warm bed to come and investigate.Wearing his old flannel robe over his pajama pants and T-shirt, he’d managed to stick his feet into his slippers as he climbed from bed even though he felt as if he was still half asleep. His wife was sound asleep, although he didn’t know how the terrible shriek hadn’t woken her. He’d been in the middle of a dream, a good one, involving Tawny Kitaen—the Whitesnake version, not the reality star mess she’d become—when a noise like none he’d ever heard before had him shooting straight up, knocking the blankets off, and nearly dumping the glass of water he’d left precariously
Ru Robertson ran around her quaint two-bedroom house, attempting to get to work on time without actually starting a fire, a feat that was somehow more complicated than most would’ve expected. Today was the day teachers reported back for duty, and with a new school year looming in just a couple of weeks, Ru was both excited and anxious. Both of those emotions tended to stir up a hornets’ nest within her, and if she wasn’t careful, she was going to wreck another straightening iron or toaster.She had one earring in and was struggling with the other as she approached the kitchen, thinking perhaps it would be more economical to skip the toast and just grab a breakfast shake, although there was a chance she could take out the refrigerator, something she’d only done once before, but she didn’t know how much she was willing to risk. It was usually small appliances that died at her hands, not the more industrial sized ones, although
"What am I going to do?" Ru asked, gathering the papers that were finished up out of the tray and taking her originals that had copied off of the top of the machine. She considered unplugging it and plugging it back in, but since this had happened before, she knew it wouldn’t work. They would have to call someone from the copier company to come out and likely replace many of the electrical components.“Machine not working?”Ru hadn’t even heard the door open. She spun around and froze. She was looking into the brightest pair of electric blue eyes she’d ever seen. Swallowing hard, she struggled to compose herself. “Uh… I think… I broke it.”The man before her let out a soft, melodic chuckle. “I bet I can fix it,” he said.Despite her shock at being in the presence of an extremely attractive stranger, Ru managed to say, “I doubt i
Ru walked down the hall toward her classroom, Cutter at her side. She knew he had to walk that way, too, but she still felt a little awkward. “So… she’s something.”She glanced up at him. Even though she was fairly tall for a woman at five-foot-ten, she still couldn’t get over how much she had to tip her head to look him in the eye, which she realized she should still probably avoid. “That’s Jane.” A wise woman at church had once told her, “If you can’t find something nice to say, don’t say anything at all,” and that was one lessen Ru had taken to heart. She really hated talking badly about others, even when Jane deserved it.“Well, I’m hopeful she will let you share your ideas.” They were almost to their classrooms, and he seemed to slow a bit. He had his hands pushed down into the pockets of his khakis.Ru slowed as well. &ldqu
Cutter was inside the solace of his new classroom, readying it for the arrival of his students on Monday, and even though Ru and Candice were across the hall and his door was closed, he had no problem listening to them, should he want to. Trying to tune them out was not as easy as it might seem since he kept hearing references to himself. Of course, they had no idea he’d be able to hear them on the other side of the building if he wanted to.Setting up his classroom had been no problem even though he’d never done it before. After about an hour of work, it was perfect, as if he’d been working on it for weeks. He appeared as if he had been teaching for several years, and he hoped the students would learn something from him for the time that he was here, but that wouldn’t be too long. Mimicking an elementary school teacher couldn’t be that hard, could it?His phone buzzed in his pocket for probably the tenth t
When Cutter walked into the library, a few other teachers were seated at the rectangular tables, talking excitedly, as if they hadn’t seen each other in years—or maybe it was just months. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to work with people you didn’t see for a couple of months every year. As they noticed him, the women grew quiet for a few seconds, one or two even gasped aloud, and then the conversation shifted to whispers, assuring him he was the new topic of discussion.Normally, he would’ve gathered as much information as possible before subjecting himself to this sort of situation, but in this case, the discovery that the one they’d been searching for might actually be here had come with only enough time to get him this teaching position, and as Rider had pointed out, the website for Thomas Elementary was under construction. They weren’t too tech savvy around here, apparently. The Facebook page for
“Okay, let’s get started everyone!” Mrs. Long said, standing at the front of the room. Many of the voices continued to chatter, so she said, “If you can hear me, clap once.” A few people clapped. Cutter tried not to be confused and prepared for her to ask again. “If you can hear me, clap twice.” This time, he was ready and joined in with about half of the teachers. “If you can hear me, clap three times.” This time, almost everyone was with them. “Are we ready then?”Mrs. Long had a captive audience. She was a short woman, probably in her mid-fifties, with reddish-brown hair that came out of a bottle, though likely the bottle of a stylist. She had a nice manicure and was dressed in a black pantsuit. Though she was a bit robust, she had a kind smile, and Cutter had liked her the moment they’d met. She seemed to really know a lot about education. It was a shame he’d had to lie to