The Revolt (The Reapers: Book Two) (12 page)

“No. I don’t even know where to start.”

“I have some ideas. I’d like to see you and
Bruce to talk about it, but it’s not easy for me to get away.” Jed
was going to be so pissed and he’d never trust me again if he found
out, but I had to do this. I’d considered asking for his help, but
I knew he’d never agree.

“We’ll both be here tonight, any time after
7,” she said, her voice distant. “Aren’t you leaving soon?”

“No. There’s a problem at headquarters, so
we’re staying here until that gets worked out. Jed’s not letting me
leave the condo, though.”

“Dude. That sucks ass.”

“Yeah, tell me about it.” I sighed into the
silence. “I’ll see you tonight. It’ll probably be after eleven.
I’ll call if there’s a problem.”

I hung up and went to the living room where
Jed was stretched out on the couch, reading a book. I picked up his
feet, plopped down and dropped them back on my lap. He sat up and
swung his legs to the floor like I’d burned him.

It bothered me, but I tried to make a joke of
it. “Whoa, calm down. You must be reading a scary book.”

“No.” He closed the book and put it on the
table behind the couch. He rubbed his eyes with his hand. “I’m just
tired and on edge.”

He wasn’t making me feel better about the
fact that my touch made him leap away. I didn’t know if it was
because I’d been so difficult or because of the trouble I was
bringing on him with Caleb, but it was clear he didn’t want to get
any friendlier with me than he had to. I like to touch my friends,
and people I don’t touch aren’t my friends. I was less sure than
ever which category Jed fell into. “Right. I was wondering if you
could get me set up with that site you told me about. For Bruce’s
family. So I can find out how much of the town they really own.” I
added when he gave me a blank look.

He nodded. “Yeah, the laptop’s in my room.
I’ll go get it.”

I watched him walk away and felt guilty for
planning to sneak out on him, then I considered what his reaction
would be if I told him my plan and pushed my guilt aside. “Any
chance I’ll be able to go back to work?” I asked when he got
back.

He started setting up his laptop. “No.”

That made me mad. Maybe I was looking for an
excuse to get mad at somebody, but he could have at least heard why
I thought I should go back to work. He could have at least
pretended to care how I felt. “I want my life back.” I knew my
future wasn’t in Briarton, but I needed to get out of that condo
and do something, anything.

He stopped typing and looked at me. The
sadness on his face dissolved my anger. “You can’t have it back.
From the moment we realized what you can do, you’ve stopped having
any real choices.”

“I get that my life will never be the same,
but it’s still mine. I could choose to go work with Len or go to
Harvest One. I have options.”

“Len gave you a gift by walking out on you
and your mom. He gave you 26 years to believe your life was your
own. He gave you 26 years to make your own choices and figure out
who you are.”

I sat down on the couch with a thud, a
shaking fear and sadness gripping me. “Being stuck in this condo is
making me crazy. I need to get out. I need to do something. I need
to have something that I’ve chosen, that’s mine.”

He rubbed his cheeks. “They discovered my
telekinesis when I was two years old. From the age of two, I’ve
been learning to kill people, Kelsey. I’ve been learning everything
there is to know about reapers and about the system Varius uses to
keep them from taking over.

“It wasn’t until I started working that I
realized the world isn’t exactly what they told me it was. It
wasn’t until Caleb betrayed us all, and Varius welcomed him back
like a hero, that I realized the company that made me who I am
might be wrong about me and Caleb and everything I’ve ever known.
The music I listen to, that’s the first and only thing I’ve figured
out I like for myself. Even the video games I play were offered to
me by Varius as a way to improve my hand eye coordination and my
ability to make fast decisions.”

He was staring at the coffee table, his words
hitting it and bouncing back to me like he was punching the table
with them. I wanted to tell him I was sorry, or that I would help
him, but everything I thought to say sounded too small next to what
he’d revealed. “So how can you sit there and tell me I should just
accept that life?”

“Because you don’t have any choice. Varius
and Harvest One aren’t going to just let you walk away. They’ve
been playing nice, and giving you space, but they’re getting
impatient. If you don’t join them willingly, they’ll find a way to
coerce you. Eventually there’s going to be something you want more
than autonomy, and you’re going to sell your soul to get it. That’s
the way they’d really like to have you, too, because then you’re
stuck with them.”

I shivered and fought the urge to run
screaming into the night. “You make them sound like the devil. Why
do you keep working for them?”

“The devil you know…” He shrugged. “I don’t
intend to work there forever, but for now, it’s the best option I
have.”

I had my doubts about that, but I was tired
of arguing. “So you really don’t know what you like? Are you sure
you like jam bands? Have you tried anything else?”

His face lifted and he almost smiled. “I know
I don’t like that noise you listen to.”

“Okay, the stuff I played the other day was a
little hard for a first entrée into metal, but have you tried
anything mellower, like Linkin Park.”

“There is something truly wrong with you if
you think Linkin Park is mellow.”

What was with people? “Okaaay, or maybe you
just haven’t really given it a chance. Come on, I can play a
sampling for you now.” I was a little nervous insulting the one
thing he professed to be sure about, but he smiled and shook his
head.

“I’m hungry. How about pizza?”

“Yeah, fine. Do you know how you like your
pizza? Because that’s an important thing to know. I’d say it’s part
of a person’s core self.”

He finally laughed. “Look, I didn’t tell you
all of that because I want you to feel sorry for me. I was just
trying to show you how lucky you actually are.”

Maybe, but I’d spent most of my life trying
to hide from my abilities, and I’d forgotten to really figure out
who I was or what I wanted for my future. I may have had more
opportunities than Jed, but I’d wasted them. I didn’t think crying
about my own bad choices in the face of his experiences would be
fair, though, so I kept my regrets to myself. “Who said I feel
sorry for you? I see an opportunity here to mold a good-looking guy
into perfection. You’re like a blank canvas.”

He threw back his head and laughed. “For what
purpose?” He asked when he’d gotten his breath back.

“For the good of all woman-kind.”

“Right, because you know what that is, I’m
sure. Your plan would only work if all women wanted the same things
in a man and I’m pretty sure they don’t.”

“I’m pretty sure that music you listen to
won’t win you any truly hot women, and pizza tastes can make or
break a relationship.”

He stood and headed back to the kitchen. “So
what kind of pizza do you like?”

“Veggie lovers,” I said.

He stopped and pretended to gag. “And what
kind of pizza should I like to win the adoration of women?”

“Veggie lovers.”

“Right. Why am I not surprised?”

He headed into the kitchen where he kept his
cell on its charger and I listened to him order the pizza, or
pizzas as it turned out. One veggie lovers and one meat lovers.

The living room was dark and silent when I
tiptoed out the front door. I put my sneakers on outside and
full-out sprinted to Angelica’s apartment. It had been too long
since I’d been out for a jog and my lungs started to burn before I
was halfway there, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t give the reapers a
chance to catch me.

I fell against Angelica’s door, gasping for
air, and knocked before I’d caught my breath. She appeared almost
immediately, and ushered me into the apartment.

“Oh, my god, Kels. Are you okay?”

“Fine,” I said, taking deep, slow breaths to
try and stop my racing heart. I paced her kitchen at a walk while
she leaned against a counter and watched. Bruce walked in while I
was pacing, but he didn’t say anything. Once I felt like I could
breathe and behave like a normal person, I stopped and took a seat
at the table.

“Sorry, about that. There’re some people who.
. .” The shock and worry on their faces made me stop and think
about what I was saying. “I’d rather avoid, so I sprinted.”

“Should you even be here?” Angelica
asked.

“Probably not and I’d prefer you not mention
it to Jed, but I needed to see you and… talk to you about this
curse.”

Bruce groaned and glared at Angelica. “I
thought we were done with this.”

She raised her chin and shook her head.
“Kelsey thinks she can help us.”

“I’m going to try, but Bruce you have to tell
me everything you know. I get that you think this is silly, but if
Angelica’s life is at stake—”

“Do you think I’d be so calm if I really
believed she was in danger?” he said, working himself up to real
anger. I took the chance to look around the apartment and peer
through the second curtain, but I didn’t see any reapers. There are
layers to the spirit world and most people who can see reapers can
only see them when they are in the layer closest to the world of
the living, behind the first curtain. I could see them when they
went deeper into the spirit world, beyond the second curtain.

“I don’t think it would hurt to do a little
research and make absolutely certain.”

He threw his hands up. “Okay, whatever will
convince you two to let this go and move on.”

“Can you get me some more information about
your family? The name of the first person cursed, or the curser? I
think that might help me find whoever is working the curse in this
century.”

“I’ll get it from my grandmother, but she’s
not going to be happy I’m asking. She doesn’t believe in any of
this and she doesn’t like talking about it.”

“Okay, that would be—” The curly-haired ghost
girl drifted up behind Bruce and placed her ghostly arms around his
neck. He tensed like he felt something, but he didn’t speak.

The girl looked at me, her expression icy.
“Mine.”

“I don’t want to take him from you,” I said,
fully aware that I was talking to a ghost in front of Bruce, and
not caring. I couldn’t lose an opportunity to get information from
her. “I just want to know why you want him.”

“It’s nothing to do with you,” the girl said
with a sneer. She looked like she’d been older than me when she’d
died, but not by much.

“Kelsey? Who are you talking to?” he asked.
Angelica silenced him with a wave.

“It’s everything to do with me,” I said to
the reaper. “He’s my friend and I want to be sure you have no
intention of harming him or Angelica. Are you planning to reap him
and use him in your war?”

She frowned at me. “It’s not my war,
deathwalker. I’m just here to collect the spoils. Gerald belongs to
me.”

“You mean Bruce?”

She looked confused for a moment, but her
expression cleared and she shook her head. “Of course I mean Bruce.
We’re meant to be together and I will have him. This harpy he’s
with will tear him apart piece by piece if I give her the
chance.”

“No. She’s a good person,” I said, not
looking at Angelica, but her whimper assured me she knew I was
talking about her. “They’re really good together.”

“Yes, I’ve been watching them and I’ve seen
exactly how good they are together,” she said with a leer. “But it
won’t last. It never lasts. I will give him what he needs.”

“Did you curse his family?” I asked.

Her expression blazed with fury and she
backed away from Bruce. “They cursed me first. They cursed me to be
alone and loveless, because I didn’t measure up to their standards.
It was to teach them a lesson that I cursed them. To teach them to
feel as they made me feel.”

“Because you stole from them?”

“They stole from me,” she said, her voice a
rough growl. “We were in love and Gerald was going to marry me, but
they wouldn’t allow someone like me to wed their golden boy.”

“So you cursed them?”

“They needed to be brought low to understand
the pain they caused me.”

“But Bruce didn’t have anything to do with
that.”

“He’s mine. He belongs to me,” she said, as
she started to fade.

“Please don’t hurt Angelica—” I said, but she
was gone before I could get any more from her.

“Does someone want to tell me what’s going on
here?” Bruce asked.

Angelica looked at me, and I nodded. “Kelsey
can see and talk to the dead,” she said.

Bruce narrowed his eyes and leaned back
against the counter. “Of course she can. And I suppose you’re going
to tell me that the ghost you just talked to is the one responsible
for the curse on my family.”

“That’s what she claims,” I said. “She called
you Gerald. Does that mean anything to you?”

He shook his head. “Yeah, sure, it’s a family
name, but it’s not like that isn’t common knowledge. You expect me
to believe I’m being haunted by some ghost only you can see?”

I resisted the urge to throw my hands in the
air. “Please, just get me what information you can about your
family and this curse. If for no other reason than to help your
girlfriend sleep better at night.”

He sighed but he didn’t argue. I looked over
at Angelica to find her staring at me, her eyes wide and her face
pale. “Do you think she might—”

“No,” I said, before she could say it. I knew
what she was thinking. “I didn’t see or hear anything that made me
think she plans to reap you.” Her face didn’t get any less pale and
her eyes didn’t lose their roundness. “Just be careful. Try to be
as happy and upbeat as you can. Fear, anger, worry, they can eat
away at you and make you weak. They can make you a target for a
reaping.”