The Revolt (The Reapers: Book Two) (6 page)

Angelica watched me like Jed wasn’t in the
room. I didn’t give her anything. She nodded and left without
another word. It had been a lot of years since I’d talked to the
dead for anyone, but I still remembered the way living people
looked at me when I gave them a message. The hurt, anger, and
sorrow were always directed at me, because the dead never say what
the living want to hear. Death doesn’t change the dead, but the
living always expect that the spirit will have gained some sort of
insight by leaving the body. They think the mother who never showed
them love, the lover who cheated on them, the daughter who left
them, will be repentant and loving in death, but I’ve never seen
it. If I’d been smart, I’d have lied to the living, but I was never
a good liar and I’d always felt a tinge of satisfaction when the
woman, man, boy, or girl who called me a freak, or ignored me,
heard harsh words from their dead. Knowing that made me hate myself
a little bit, but I couldn’t change it.

I felt sad and angry and terribly, terribly
lonely, like I had when I was a child. I’d thought I was past such
emotions, but I guess you’re never too old to be a freak. I pulled
my knees up to my chest and rested my head on them. I understood
that my life in Briarton had come to an end. It was time for me to
move on and I could only hope that people would be more
understanding at Varius.

“Why’d you get so mad at her?” Jed asked.

“She made me a promise.”

He grunted. “We’ve got to go.”

I stood and tried to shake off my anger and
hurt, then I pulled on my coat, shoes, hat, gloves, and scarf and
followed him out.

Jed drove me to the airport in a car full of
reapers. Tucker was the only one I recognized and the one
responsible for gathering the dead bodyguards. He sat between me
and Jed in the front, squeezed on top of the gear shift. Every time
Jed shifted, his right arm passed through Tucker and appeared to
touch him in a sensitive location. And every time, Tucker giggled
and made some sort of lewd comment or sound. I did my best not to
laugh and encourage him.

Tucker kept one hand firmly planted on my
thigh. I didn’t ask him to move it. I liked the implication of
comfort, even if I couldn’t feel it. Whatever had allowed us to
touch the morning before wasn’t in play at that moment.

Jed made several attempts at small talk and
even resorted to making fun of the other drivers and cars we passed
at speeds I chose not to think about. We were turning into the
airport, when he gave up trying to be lighthearted. “You couldn’t
help her even if you wanted to. We don’t interfere with
curses.”

I sat bolt upright and Tucker swore. “You
mean the curse is real? It’s not just some myth passed through his
family?”

Jed cleared his throat and concentrated on
the road. “Oh, I don’t
know
anything about Bruce. It’s
probably not real.”

“But curses are real? It’s possible that
Bruce is actually cursed?”

“Technically speaking, yes, but I didn’t see
a curse in his aura.”

I faced Tucker. “How about you? Have you
heard anything about Bruce and a curse?”

Tucker looked like he wanted to hit someone
and I was betting on Jed. “I haven’t heard anything. My attention
has been on you, which is where your attention should be.”

“Can you find out for me? Please?”

He shook his head. “To find out I’d have to
leave you, and I’m not willing to do that.”

Anger boiled up under my skin. After the
morning I’d had, I was looking for any excuse to fight. “It’s
either you or me, Tucker. I’m not going to leave town when my best
friend might be in trouble. Bruce said the curse causes people to
die early.”

“Kelsey, be reasonable…” Jed started.

I didn’t hear the rest of what he said,
because one of the three dead guys in the back piped up. “I’ll do
it. I know some folks in town, and I can find out right quick.”

Tucker looked back at the guy with what
appeared to be seething rage. “Go. If you aren’t back before the
plane takes off, meet us at headquarters,” he said.

The guy popped out of sight. “One of Tucker’s
friends is going to town to find out about the curse and I’m not
leaving until I hear what he says,” I said, twisting around to look
out the windshield.

“I will carry you onto the plane if I have
to,” Jed said, with a smile in his voice that said he’d enjoy it.
“I’ve been looking forward to showing you my skills.”

He was referring to his telekinetic abilities
and I had to admit I did want to see what he could do. I just
didn’t want to be involved in the show. “Let’s hope he gets back
quickly,” I said. Angelica had crossed a line with me, but she
deserved to be safe and happy and loved.

Jed pulled into the long-term parking lot and
started looking for a spot. “It doesn’t matter what he says. I’m
not letting you go back there.”

“It’s not up to you,” I said, trying to stay
calm.

He parked the car. “Look, I get that this is
all new to you. I’m trying to ease your transition as much as
possible, but it’s my job to keep you safe. I’m not going to let
you risk your life for some girl I don’t know. Especially not if
this thing with the reapers is bigger than we think.”

“You said it isn’t…” I said. He was already
out of the car and heading to the trunk. I opened my door to follow
him.

“He’s wrong,” Tucker said. Sympathy lay heavy
on his face, but his eyes were hard. “The reapers are looking for a
war and I’m afraid they’re going to get one. We’ll need you on our
side.”

I studied Tucker’s face for a moment. I
didn’t know him well enough to know whether or not he might lie to
keep me safe, but that line he’d just given me sounded like some
bullshit from a movie. “You can’t seriously think… there aren’t
that many reapers are there?”

“There are enough,” Tucker said. “Placed in
the right positions, and believe me they would go after the
wealthiest and the most powerful people, this country could
potentially be run by reapers and the reaped.”

That all sounded pretty fucking awful, but it
also felt pretty damn impossible. And a hell of a long way off. “So
I just pop back to Briarton and fix Angelica’s problem, then go
fight in the war. It’s not like Varius is going to let me do
anything useful, anyway.”

Jed’s face was getting redder by the moment.
He waited, with our luggage, until I got out of the car and started
following him to the airport. “Oh, right, we’ll just ask the
reapers for a time out so you can go save your friend from her
boyfriend’s curse.” Jed readjusted his grip on a suitcase and took
a deep breath. The suitcases were on wheels but it couldn’t have
been easy jostling all of that luggage. I reached for my bag, but
he gave me a look that would have scared a woman twice my size and
I stepped away from him as we kept walking. “What I don’t get is
why you’re so concerned about this curse. Bruce said what? Two of
his grandpas died before age 40? Forty’s a long way off for
Angelica, but you’re acting like she’s on the brink of death.”

“She said she’s had a couple of accidents. I
just want more information before we leave,” I said as calmly and
rationally as possible. We walked into the terminal and headed for
the ticket counter.

“Sure,” he said. “Or you’re looking for an
excuse to stay in Briarton.”

I swallowed the outrage I wanted to spew at
him, and forced myself to admit he might have a teeny-tiny little
point. “Can you blame me for wanting to avoid your psychopath
brother?”

He winced at that and opened his mouth to
retort when a security guard stopped him with a hand on his
shoulder.

“Sir. Ma’am. You’re going to have to come
with us,” he said in a low voice.

A second security officer placed his hand on
my elbow, and steered me away from the ticket counter.

“They’ve got reapers with ‘em,” Tucker said,
his voice breathy. I looked over my shoulder to see him and his two
buddies already in a fist fight with four beefy looking
reapers.

“Reapers,” I hissed to Jed, but he didn’t
look my way.

“Can you tell us what this is all about?” Jed
asked.

“This is about us bagging two of our most
powerful enemies,” said the one holding my elbow. He must have been
a complete idiot. He should have waited until he’d gotten us
somewhere secure to start revealing his plans.

Jed threw his first punch so fast I wasn’t
sure I really saw it happen. It didn’t seem to faze the thin, wiry
dude holding him. I froze for the briefest moment, but when my guy
started dragging me away I twisted in his grip, flattened my hand
and hit him in the throat with the side of it.

The hit wasn’t as hard as I’d hoped it would
be, but it took his air and surprised him long enough for me to
wrench myself free and kick him in the balls with everything I had.
He shrieked like a little girl and doubled over, cupping himself.
Yeah, there was nothing honorable about the way I fought, but I
wasn’t trying to be the next MMA champion, I was trying to keep my
soul in my body, and I would do it anyway I could.

Someone grabbed my arm. I shook him off and
spun, ready to fight again. I came face-to-face with Jed and
lowered my guard. “Come on, we need to get out of here, now,” he
said.

I started toward the ticket counter, still
shaking a bit from the fight and the adrenaline, but he grabbed me
and pulled me back the other way. “No, we’ve just assaulted two
security guards. We need to go back to the car.”

I let him take the lead. He still had the
suitcases and the carry-ons, but I didn’t waste time offering to
take one. I just tried to keep up.

“Tucker?” I managed to gasp when we were
halfway through the parking lot.

“He can take care of himself,” Jed said, not
even breathing heavy. I used to jog every day and I’d been training
with Cat for three weeks, but, next to Jed, I might as well have
been a couch potato with a smoking habit.

We made it back to the car. Jed threw the
bags in the trunk, and we got in. It was then that we saw security
guards running after us. Jed got the car started and sped out of
long-term parking, throwing up bits of gravel as we took off.
Tucker sat in the back, alone and silent, and I didn’t have the
heart to ask what happened to his friends. At least, not until I
got my breath back.

Jed drove and juggled his cell phone, calling
and re-calling Varius. “I can’t get anyone to pick up,” he said.
“We’re going to have to go back to the condo and regroup. I don’t
want to try a different airport until I know what’s going on out
there.”

Once inside the condo, our bags in a pile on
the living room floor, I looked at Tucker. “What happened to your
friends?” I asked.

He sighed, looking pale and spent. “We lost
one. The other headed to town to spread the word of what happened.
I’m guessing it was an unauthorized hit and whoever is running this
show is going to be pissed.”

“Why would anyone care that they tried to
take us out? I’d think they’d be applauded.”

Tucker shrugged. “Maybe, but if the reapers
running the show really wanted to take you out, they had plenty of
opportunities, yesterday.”

I opened my mouth to mention the two guys
who’d hassled me and Jed, but Tucker shook his head before I could
speak. “Those two guys were a warning. These guys today had the
manpower, plus reaper back-up to take us out.”

“They obviously didn’t,” Jed said, looking a
tiny bit cocky, after I’d told him what Tucker said.

“They were obviously idiots,” Tucker said.
“I’m just saying I don’t think the person running this operation
ordered that hit on you, and I don’t think he or she wanted you
dead. Especially not when you were already leaving town. We’re
going to try to use that to get those guys taken out.”

I relayed what Tucker said, and Jed shrugged.
“I’m going to call headquarters and find us another way out of
here.”

Jed headed back to his room and Tucker sat
down on the couch next to me. His gaze got distant for a moment and
then he smiled a rather scary smile. “The fellow looking into the
curse has returned. He’s at the window. Would you like to step out
onto the balcony with me?”

“Can we talk there? What about the
wards?”

He looked at me like I’d grown a second head.
“The wards don’t extend to the balcony, there’s no roof there. Cat
should have told you that.”

“She didn’t.”

“Obviously.” Tucker headed out to the balcony
and I followed him. The ghost who was waiting for us looked to be
all of about sixteen, and had the attitude and swagger to
match.

“Good timing,” Tucker said, the words heavy
with sarcasm.

Our snoop shrugged, his shaggy blond hair
flapping over his eyes. “Yeah, well, you weren’t easy to find, and
you left a bit of a mess at the airport.”

Tucker just glared at him.

“Anyway, it isn’t exactly a secret. Dude was
cursed seven generations back by a grade four witch. No one knows
why or what exactly the curse does, but they were all happy to tell
me about the bad that has befallen that family.”

“What kind of bad?” I asked. Bruce told me
people had died, but the reapers might have more information.

“Nothing compared to the bad that will hit
them if you get involved,” Tucker said. “You spend any time with
Bruce and Angelica, or show that you care about them even a little,
and the reapers will target them.”

I leaned against the balcony railing and
sighed. A few hours ago, I might have argued with him, but after
what happened at the airport, I could absolutely see reapers
targeting my friends just to cause me pain. They must be watching
me all the time. They’d seen us pack bags into the car and they’d
taken their opportunity. Even so, maybe I could help Bruce and
Angelica, as long as I kept my distance from their actual persons.
“What kind of bad… um, I didn’t catch your name,” I said looking at
the snoop.