Death's Apprentice

29

After Death tried to get an answer out of me for the next hour, and after we almost got caught in the room filled with weapons, we wandered the streets of a small village. Cows dotted the hillsides, both brown cows and the black and white ones you normally see in children's books. Death stared at them with a small grin on his face. Meanwhile, my hand was wrapped around the antique weapon in my pocket.

A small thread tugged at my body, leading off in six different directions. I stopped. "It shouldn't be this hard to find this guy," I said. The string had been relatively easy to follow up until now, with only one other time where my path branched. If there was a way to skip ahead and look at where each path would take me before I decided to follow one, well, I would live my afterlife like a choose your own adventure book.

Death broke his attention away from the cows. "Well, if you would give me the gun then I could track him. Because I actually know how to do it."

"I have to learn sometime. What happens if there's another immortal, and I have to find them without you?"

"Kid, younger immortals are a lot easier to track down. They don't know how to hide their energy, how do you think I found you when you were getting beat up by a five year old?"

"I was not getting beat up by her."

Death rolled his eyes. "If I hadn't shown up I would've been down an apprentice, and she did hit you. If I remember correctly, you didn't land a single blow on her." He wasn't wrong, but that didn't mean I was happy about it.

"She was five," I said, looking at him. "I know you're immortal and don't care, but beating up little kids is highly frowned on. Beating up a kid in the same grade as you might get you suspended, but beating up a kindergartener will get you expelled."

"And you know this how?"

I shrugged. "There are stories." My fingers hovered over the barrel of the gun. "You hear a lot of rumors and stuff. Like teachers cheating on their husbands, coaches forcing injured kids to keep running, who does drugs, stuff like that."

He didn't say anything after that, and neither did I. The only exception was when I decided the best way to move forward was to do Eeinie Meanie Minie Moe. After that, and a comment from Death about how I did the second part, we continued on in silence. We found a bus stop and waited, also in silence. Death tapped his foot and checked his watch.

"It's late," he said.

"Have you ever met a bus that's on time?"

"Do I look like I ride the bus a lot?" A loud yawn escaped him and he covered his mouth. "I should've slept that entire time."

"How did you wake up early?"

"Archangel or not, Uriel's powers don't hold much weight in my domain. The only way they have their intended affect is if Uriel stays and feeds his energy into them. I woke up almost as soon as you left. It took me a while to find you. Mainly because you forgot your scythe."

"Uh, where is the scythe?" I asked.

Death's eyes widened and he face palmed. "It's in the umbrella stand. I'm going to have to call someone. Hopefully, none of them try to charge me a lockout fee again."

Hopefully he was kidding, because I didn't feel like having my nonexistent pay docked because I forgot the scythe first. I leaned forward, looking down the road. The bus turned a corner and proceeded to crawl along the road even though there was no traffic. After several painfully slow moments, the bus's brakes squealed. Air hissed; the doors open.

Death climbed up the stairs and paid our fare. He walked as far back as possible before sitting down, I sat beside him.

"I hope this takes us in the right direction." My hand tightened around the smooth handle of the gun. The familiar weight made me feel better, even with the creepy guy looking at me from across the aisle. The six lines had consolidated into one singular strand, tugging me towards who knows where.