Memories of the Reaper

Chapter Twenty-Four

Before Derek Grey knew it, the horn had sounded.

The fledgling had been anticipating the moment all afternoon. For most of the time, he sat at the cliff's edge with Alpha, mulling over Kendra Lynx's words until Victor came to him, handing him a weighted sack that wasn't allowed to be open until the test began and instructing him to report to the overlook at sunset. The reaper offered minimal encouragement, and left shortly after. The fledgling was thankful for the small reprieve of silence.

Derek had been standing at the overlook as the sun set across the horizon, and, as soon as night covered the land, the horn blew, and Derek opened the burlap sack. There was a leather necklace fitted with Lazarus stones and a note. Glancing at the necklace with skepticism, Derek read the note:

Wear the necklace. Stay in Elysium. Survive by any means necessary.

The trial does not end until the horn blows three times.

Derek turned the slip of paper over, discovering five disturbing words:

We are coming for you.

The night was a writhing organism named uncertainty. Feeling a certain dread wash over him, Derek put the necklace over his head, a hangman's noose in the dark night. All of the reapers could see him, but he could not see any of them. He was surrounded by unseen demons, killers in the blackness. Predators.

Derek was the prey.

In the unknown darkness, Derek had the impression that he was being watched by six pairs of murderous eyes. There were no physical tracks or indications that somebody was following him, but the feeling was there all the same. He knew that he could be seen from every direction, like a fire on a clear hillside after dark. They could see him, and he couldn't see them.

"Oh shit," Derek whispered.

"You're dead, fledgling," Kai Li whispered somewhere off to his right side. Before, the response had been funny—now, it was terrifying. His body screamed at him to remain silent and slip into the darkness like a ghost, but he couldn't silence the light around his neck. Instead, Derek drew two throwing knives and crouched low to the ground, roosting in the bushes like a fearful turkey.

If you have any advantage, use it, Kendra's words whispered to him.

As silently as he could, Derek sprayed a heavy layer of frost along the grass in front of him: although Kai could see the light around his neck, it also distracted him from his surroundings. The reaper's pride also had to be considered. From what the fledgling had learned during training, Kai enjoyed surprising his enemies with up-close-and-personal strikes. The reaper could have thrown a knife aimed six inches above the glowing necklace and ended his life, but Kai's honor demanded a more worthy death.

That was the difference: Derek was willing to throw the knife if it meant surviving.

The fledgling let out a soft breath and used his ears to scan for Kai's location. He heard the faint sound like the crunching of snow and threw the knife at chest level instinctually. There was a muffled grunt as the blade found its mark. Derek threw another one, this time a little lower, and a squishy thud followed; from the sound of it, he had hit something vital. This time, Kai cursed under his breath.

Derek threw a third knife and dashed around the bush, not knowing if Kai had already moved out of proximity. He moved erratically, bobbing his neck from side-to-side to misplace the reaper's aim. Two blades cut through the air, and Derek heard them a moment too late. He dove as the first blade disappeared over his head while the other sank into his shoulder. The fledgling pushed himself to his feet, not bothering to pull it out of skin despite the stinging pain—compared to other things, this pain was nothing.