CHAPTER 195

The bones of Death's hand started to smoke, but the reaper didn't seem to mind. He looked over at Beth. "Did you happen to see what happened to all my maps? My home is in a state of disrepair, and I am now worried that harm may have befallen them."

"He destroyed all your maps!" Beth yelled. She wasn't certain if this was true, but the grim reaper was officially her best chance at defeating the shadow. "He came here to hurt Mike, and destroyed all of the maps in your office!"

"Mike Radley has been a good friend to me, why would you wish to hurt him?" Death looked at the shadow with childish curiosity.

The shadow hissed, and the orb shifted colors again. Death watched in fascination as the now-yellow beam caused his sleeve to catch on fire and his hand to glow.

"You have ruined my candy and damaged my maps. I didn't want to do this, but you've left me no choice."

Death stuck his free hand in his robes and dramatically pulled out a toy spider. He held it up to scrutinize it, then allowed it to dangle from the bit of elastic that had been tied around its middle, even giving it a few bounces for effect.

"Why. Won't. You. Die?!?" The shadow seemed frustrated that Death was ignoring him. "You are nothing more than a poor copy of something I have already defeated! And why are you back so soon? That map I left you was supposed to lead you to the other side of town!"

"This spider was supposed to be part of a prank," Death informed Beth, as if letting her in on some big secret. "Please do not tell Mike Radley, for I wish to prank him later." He looked at the shadow. "And as for your map, the goblin Tinker ate it and introduced me to a fun joke involving toilet paper on someone's home. I would have been home sooner, but we got lost after running from a car with flashing lights. It was great fun."

"Uh...okay." Beth didn't know what else to say.

Death discarded the toy spider and stuck his hand back in his robes again while continuing to block the beam with his free hand. When he pulled it out this time, it was like watching a cartoon pull a hammer from its pocket. A long staff emerged, taller than Death himself, and when he tapped it on the ground, a curved blade appeared. He gave the scythe an experimental swing, and it made a soft whooshing noise similar to someone whistling in a graveyard.

"Ah, there we go." Death turned his attention toward the shadow. "It appears that I missed you the first time, but I shan't miss again."

The shadow's features distorted, and he shouted something in a foreign tongue. The remaining spirits rushed in toward Death, yelling battlecries with their weapons held high.

Death moved so fast, it was like watching ink splash across the yard. He swung his scythe and tore through the warriors like paper, their faces frozen in shock as they shattered like glass and fell to the ground in pieces and then melted. The shadow's beam couldn't keep up with him as he danced around the yard, his scythe ripping through the shadow's remaining troops.

"No! No!" The shadow spun around and pointed at the house. The surface of the sphere rippled before becoming a fiery orb that cast light much like the sun. Beams of light barreled into the house, and Beth caught a whiff of wood-smoke.

The bird on top of the house stomped its feet, and then tumultuous rain from above fell on the house, extinguishing the early flames. The shadow let out a cry of anger, and spun around in time for Death to cut him in half.

Instead of evaporating like the other spirits, the shadow let out a shriek and fell apart like sand. Tiny pieces of his body hit the ground and sparkled like gemstones, many of them crumbling into ash. Death tilted his head in curiosity, then knelt down to pick one of them up.

"Is he gone?" Beth had picked up the Grimoire and now stood next to Death. "And I can see you. How can I see you?"

"He was barely here in the first place, his soul was like a string that held these poor, trapped souls together. There wasn't even enough of him left to tell who he was." Death flicked the soul he was holding into the air, where it vanished with a pop. "As for my presence, I think you already know that today is a special occasion."

Sulyvahn limped over, then knelt down to pick up one of the fragments. "If ye dinna mind, this one technically be my responsibility. And kin I say, an honor meeting yerself in the flesh, as it were."

Death said nothing and just watched as the souls sparkled and then fizzled out. As the last one vanished, Sulyvahn's horse came over and let out a soft whinny.

"You have a very fine steed," Death said, then put his hand out toward the spectral beast. The horse pressed its nose into Death's bony hand and let out a huff. "It is almost as big as my own."

Sulyvahn chuckled, and then moved next to Beth. "Well lass, t'was an exciting night. Hopefully Lord Mike won't be too angry when he sees how ye left the place."

Up above, the lightning and rain died down as the last trickle of souls left the home. Somewhere in the distance, Cerberus howled, and Beth let out a sigh as the night went silent. Unfortunately, she could hear water running inside the house, and hoped it was something Tink would be able to fix.