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Chapter 117
“Didn’t Smokey the Bear teach you anything?” Ru heard Lyric’s voice behind her at about the same time a warm gust of air swept over her, making contact with the flames rising up off of the ignited branch, causing them to flicker and then whoosh out, as if they’d never existed. Ru absently wondered if that’s what it was like in the end for everyone. A moment of recognition and then—nothing.
Ru turned to see all four of her friends crossing the yard, headed in her direction. Three of them had concerned expressions on their faces; Rider still looked pissed. Ru would deal with him later. “Which one of you was it?” she asked, looking at each of them. “Who ratted out my mom?”
“It doesn’t matter, Ru,” Cutter said, stopping a few feet away from her. “What’s done is done. And just like Maggie said, it was better to tell them than to risk all five of us getting in trouble. Or worse. We’re no help to anyone if we are decommissioned.”
“Or dead.”
Ru turned and gla
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Reaper's Hollow Chapter 118
Four heads nodded up and down, and Ru wondered if they were just pacifying her. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go blow some shit up.” She took off at a brisk walk heading to the woods behind Angel Grove, which eventually led to the same tract of land she’d gone exploring with Kyle—who turned out to be Nat—not too long ago. There was good reason to think the portal to Hell that was allowing Reapers to go back and forth, conspiring with demons, was within easy walking distance of the house Keepers had built over two hundred years ago in an attempt to find said portal and stop the Reapers from congregating there. “Ru, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Cutter asked, falling into step beside her. “We’ve had a rough night. Maybe we should just call this off until tomorrow.” Without slowing her pace or turning to look at him, Ru replied, “Now is as good a time as ever. Probably better, in fact. The angrier I become, the less of a chance anyone who tries to stand in ou
Reaper's Hollow Chapter 119
The sun had completely set by the time Ru reached the point in the woods where she believed the portal to be located, and darkness enveloped them. Cutter used his hand as a torch, which helped, but Ru was following something other than her line of sight. Memories of the time she’d spent here recently drew her back to the location where she’d been headed with Kyle the night she’d discovered the man she was ready to give her heart to was actually Thanatos. Her team had come out here one other time after that, before they traveled to Los Angeles, in an attempt to close the portal. That night, they had found the three trees that “Kyle” had told her he was looking for the evening he brought her out on a walk, which was really Nat’s attempt to trick her into joining his forces. He’d been planning to take her into the portal, but Ru had realized his plan and escaped, with the help of her friends. He’d mentioned the three trees, though, and Ru had wondered why she’d never heard of t
Reaper's Hollow Chapter 120
The bottom of the ravine was getting closer to her head, and Ru braced herself for impact, realizing no matter how she landed, it was going to hurt. Just before the top layer of leaves and other debris careened into her face, she felt two sets of hands on her. One from above had ahold of her legs; the other, from below, took her by the shoulders. “Did you really think I’d let you fall?” Ivy asked as she and Lyric righted Ru and set her boots downs on the ground. As Ru formulated a response, a line of shadows cut through the darkness, making the places on the ground before the three girls where the shadows fell even more inky black than the rest of the ravine. Having extinguished her light as she was falling, Ru was tempted to relight it, but looking up to the precipice of the ravine across from her, she realized she didn’t need to. Despite the darkness and their black clothing, Nat and his ranks of Reapers were visible. “Oh, good, you brought them to me, Ru.
Reaper's Hollow Chapter 121
Before she could even finish the first phrase, a blast of hot air hit her, sending her careening into the small space beneath the overhang. Her head connected with the rock, hard, and she felt a warm trickle of blood streaming down her face. She turned to see Raven approaching, fast, a triumphant look on her face. Her hair hadn’t recovered from the shock of earlier, and her outfit was also set askew, but her eyes were wild. Ru jumped to her feet. “I don’t have time for this shit,” she mumbled. “That’s right, Ruin. Payback is hell!” Raven raised her hands again, as if she was about to send Ru reeling into the rocks once more. With a sigh, Ru quickly opened both palms, sending a quick blast of blue light at Raven. For some reason, this shot seemed power packed, and Raven went flying backward again. This time, she was sucked up into one of Lyric’s twisters, which, though thin, was several stories high. Ru imagined she might come shooting out the top at s
Reaper's Hollow Chapter 122
An unfamiliar smell invaded her senses as Ru tried to remember where she’d been and what she had been doing. The ringing in her ears was almost intolerable, matched only by the pain in her head. The smell of scorched earth was not a familiar one, but she recognized it as she slowly sat up. Everything came rushing back to her all at once. The portal. The demons. Her father. The Reapers. Her team. Ru turned, bracing herself for what she might see. Behind her, crumpled bodies littered the ground. No one was moving. Ru cried out in anguish, wondering if closing the portal had somehow caused her to kill everyone, including her friends. As tears poured down her cheeks, she managed to pull herself up off of the ground, digging at the earth with burned palms as she found her footing. She realized someone else was moving, however, and she wiped the tears from her eyes to assess the situation. At the top of the ravine, across the way, a figure stood. He,
Reaper's Hollow Chapter 123
Ru heard someone calling her name from a distance, but she couldn’t open her eyes to see who it was. The voice sounded faintly familiar, though she couldn’t place it. It wasn’t Liddy Brown, of that she was sure. How many times had she been startled out of a sound sleep by the sound of her adoptive mother’s voice ricocheting off of her brain? Bedroom lights flipped on, blankets torn off. Or better yet, a slap to the face for some transgression she hadn’t even known she’d been guilty of when she’d gone to bed the night before. Ru settled into the relief that whoever was calling for her, it wasn’t the wretched Liddy Brown. Now, there was shaking, though, and the voice’s persistence intensified, as if the person could annoy her awake. Reluctantly, Ru strained to open her eyes, pushing up with her hands as she did so and making contact with the shaker. Her muscles felt stiff, and as her eyes flickered, she realized the bed she was sleeping in was unbelievably uncomfortabl
Reaper's Hollow Chapter 124
Ru's eyes flew up to meet Cutter's. “What do you mean? The man trying to get through the portal?” He nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t think so either. I mean, not after a few minutes anyway. But who… what was it?” “It was a demon trying to trick you. Demons feel different than Reapers. I’m sure you sensed that.” Ru nodded. Last night had been her first experience with demons, that she had recognized anyway, and she distinctly remembered the sensations coming from the bull and bird-creature being different than the Reapers. “Why was it easier for me to send the demons back to Hell than the Reapers?” “Because the Reapers were ready to fight. Those low-level demons weren’t aware of what was happening. They just saw an opportunity to escape.” “Those were low-level demons?” Ru asked, surprised. Cutter nodded. “The more powerful ones will be more difficult to capture and destroy.” Ru shook her head in disbelief. She hoped she would never come face to
Reaper's Hollow Chapter 125
Accessing Hell from a portal wasn’t quite possible from Nat’s current location, so when his father had summoned him, he’d had to comply through other means. Meeting Azrael, even in another realm, could be both uncomfortable and dangerous, so as Nat waited in what appeared to be an antechamber in a palace he’d never visited before, he paced the floor. The room was poorly lit, with black marble flooring which transitioned to dark stone where it met the walls. There were no windows, and even the ceiling, with its ornate flying buttresses, was ominous. The gloominess matched his mood, and he feared, would fit his father’s disposition as well. Failing at holding Ru off under the circumstances was almost inevitable. He’d been demanding more assistance from other realms for weeks as she grew stronger. It seemed those who commanded the demons felt there was little use in wasting their resources on an elementary school teacher who didn’t even know how to levitate, but they we
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