Reapers -- The First Familiar (Reapers Chronicles Book II)

6 - Goal

“On my signal,” Millie said from the rooftop of the house just across the Lowry’s.

Her scythe was ready—a short double-ended spear that looked more like a majorette’s baton rather than a weapon. It was made of sort of reddish metal that gleamed in the night. With one foot perched on the tip of the roof, she checked the compact digital timer in her hand.

Letting out a deep breath, I tensed, watching Jim Lowry’s window from the middle of the street. I closed my fingers on the Helcium and began lifting it off my chest. My head started to throb and I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. Just to be frank, I was terrified. And it wasn’t because Millie and I were outnumbered or that there was a potentially indestructible Swarth about to chase me in a few seconds.

It was Alessandra I was scared of. I tried not to panic. Instead, I focused on searching for her little corner deep within me. She was still there, so deeply insentient as if she didn’t know she even existed. That didn’t appease my fears a bit. But I had to steel my guts if I wanted to at least get to the Halo.

“Remove it,” she ordered, her voice unchanging. “Now.”

Slowly, I took off the necklace and shoved it inside my bag’s pocket. Not a second did my eyes leave Jim’s window. I was sure the wraiths would bust out of there any second now. But the night kept its foreboding quiet, making my hands clammy. Several moments passed. Nothing happened.

Bewildered, I looked up at Millie for some help but she just stood there like a statue. I was about to call out to her when she said, “Run.”

It wasn’t much more than a whisper but her voice sent a jolt through me. My legs were already moving before my brain could translate what the word meant. As quick as I could, I streaked through the road and let my instincts take over.

A couple of seconds later, Millie was already in front of me. Despite her short legs, she easily made some distance between us. While her strides were short, her legs were really fast. She ran like a track and fielder—her upper body leaning a bit backward as her legs carried her.

As I decided to quicken my steps, I forced out a deep breath only to be choked by the wind lashing against my face. It just occurred to me that I was holding my breath the whole while as if breathing out might release Alessandra. I did one panicky body check. To my relief, my hands were still my hands. My feet still moved as I wanted them to. I was still me. Yet, I didn’t bring down my defenses. There was no room for mistakes tonight.

Millie glanced back at me, her eyes resting momentarily just above my head before yelling, “Faster!”

Her face was still unreadable, but whatever made her freeze for a fraction of a second urged me to look over my shoulder. When I saw what was behind me, I regretted looking back.

Just an arm’s length away from me was the Swarth, its bulging eyes burning with a feral glow. It hovered closely, the tattered ends of its limbs dissipating against the wind. For a moment, it seemed to leer at me, its lower lip threatening to detach like slough from its hollow face. The rotting black things attached on the creature’s twisted neck wriggled to move up to the face, covering the break as if to try to rejoin the lower lip to where it should belong.

My stomach did a roll, making me want to throw up. But when I saw a legion of wraiths hovering just behind the Swarth, I decided that it was time to focus on the way ahead.

Without stopping, Millie led the way, hurdling over the whitewashed fences of a house ahead. She lithely caught on a tree branch, pulled down and used it to launch herself onto the roof.

“Here,” she called from above me, barely glancing to see that I was still tailing her.

The creatures’ wails chorused behind me as I crossed the lawn and kicked off the wall to grab a hold of the PVC tubes lining the ditch from the ledge. I pushed myself up, and then began leaping from one rooftop to another, after Millie who was now three houses ahead.