Abdication of the Fourth

Chapter Eleven

Days had passed and still no sign of Thana. Tim had spent every waking moment scouring the streets, calling the hospitals, the police, anything he could think of that might bring Thana home. But of course he had had no luck. Wherever she was she seemed to be out of his reach.

He should have prepared her better. He should have told her her history, and her future. Not everyone could handle being told they were destined to become the reaper, but he was sure Thana could. If she didn't laugh in his face and call him crazy.

She could have handled it, knowing. It would have been an asset to her. She'd be able to protect herself from all the things that want to reach death, that want to beat death.

But it was too late for what ifs, he told himself. If Thana was alive she likely had already learned of her job, her fate. When he got her back -- and he would get her back -- he could be facing a different person.

All the while the boy hovered. Every time Tim turned around it seemed he was at the front door of the house asking about Thana. He was trying to be helpful, Tim knew that, but his suggestions of posters and news pieces were useless. Except for the boy himself, nobody noticed Thana. That was part of the design. The Next was there to learn about humanity the best way they knew how, by being human. They weren't there to make many friends. The Others allowed one or two for the sake of realism, but generally speaking death walked about unseen.

So although Tim agreed to posters around the neighbourhood, he didn't expect anything to come of them, if anyone noticed them at all. No, he had exhausted all his mundane options. It was time to call the Others and pull them into the situation.

Sighing, he pulled out a worn clay bowl. Unconsciously his fingers traced over the various chips and cracks that had accumulated over the years. This bowl had seen some rough times, but he never had to use it for something like this. He began to fill it with the various herbs and powders needed to connect with the other side.

This was not going to go well.

Bending over to see his reflection in the bowl, he felt a touch foolish, and by the end of the conversation he felt incredibly so. As he had suspected, the Others did not take kindly to his revelation. No one in the history of death had ever lost a reaper. Because of this, no one had thought to develop an otherworldly location spell. Sure, he had spells that helped him watch over Thana, but they were spells meant for Earth, not the other side. They were useless to him, not to mention he had already tried them with no success.

The Others had not minced words. He was to find Thana or risk his position. And that, he knew, meant an eternity of having no purpose. Being with no purpose didn't last long on the other side. Usually they went crazy. Sometimes they died. Other times they simply vanished. Going down that road certainly held no appeal.

Head in hands he recalled the one bright note in the conversation. There were books and scrolls and tablets that might have more information on how to find Death. People around the world had attempted to gather the creator's word in their scriptures. Some may have achieved a modicum of success and might tell how to find the reaper.

But the other side had documents as well, and they were more likely to contain accurate information. Or so Tim hoped. They forbade him from returning to the other side to do research. For now all he could do was take advantage of the information available to him in the mundane world.

Which was an enormous amount of material. Given the sheer number of world religions, each with their own sacred documents, well, it was the proverbial needle in a hay stack.

Flipping open the Qu'ran, Tim sighed. Just as he was settling in, the doorbell rang. It could only be the boy, Kevin. Tempted not to answer Tim waited for a second ring before getting to the door. As soon as he opened it his visitor came speeding in.

"This is gonna sound weird, but I can guarantee you that Thana is not dead."

Which Tim was already quite clear on, but how could the boy be so sure? "What? How?"

"No one's dead. Like, it's freaky but no one has died since the day Thana disappeared!"

"Well, come in then", he said to the boy. There was no point in leaving him to stew in his own imagination. "What do you mean, no one has died?"

The boy shoved a newspaper in front of Tim, jabbing with a finger at the headline. It took Tim a minute to process what he was seeing, but in the end it was clear: cities throughout the world were panicking because no one had died in several days. Some thought it was the end of times, the apocalypse, the rapture, whathaveyou. And they weren't that far off, was Tim's grim thought.

If Declan had Thana this had to be connected to them. Things were supposed to die, that was the way creation was supposed to be! Who knew what catastrophes could occur if no one ever died?

And why in Hades had he not figured out this could happen?!

Kevin was staring at him. "What is it?" he asked the boy.

"Why don't you seem bothered by this? Everyone is losing their minds about how the end of the world is upon us, and you're just standing here all 'huh'.

Now that he looked, Kevin did look shaken and scared. He could only imagine the panic that was going on in the world. Certainly the newspaper now in his hand painted a bold picture. Cities, states and entire countries declaring a state of emergency, preparing their armed forces – for what, no one seemed to know. He idly wondered what good they thought weapons would do if no one could die.

But Thana's friend had a point. He wasn't reacting the way he should be if he wanted to keep his cover. But did he want to?

Tim sighed. "It's ...complicated," was all he could say, and it didn't look like Kevin believed it. "You better come in."

Despite his invitation, once Kevin was seated, eagerly awaiting more information, all Tim could do was pace in silence. What was he going to do? This boy, barely out in the world on his own, was his only ally. Well, there were the Others. They would certainly help him but whether or not they would exile him afterwards was a rather haunting question.

But to break his cover after millennia of guarding the Next? There was no going back from that, even if it was only to Thana's roommate.

"Thana's...unique," he said, stumbling forward.

"Well yeah, I know that." Kevin said, somewhat derisively. Tim shot him a look of annoyance. Now was not the time!

"She has a great deal of responsibility and power, and that power could have gotten her kidnapped."

"Are you part of the mob?!" Kevin gasped, looking both impressed and nervous.

"The what? No no, I'm not part of any mob. Look, you've heard of the grim reaper, have you not?"

"Sure, who hasn't, the guy with the robe and the scythe."

"Well, it's real."

"What is?"

"The Grim Reaper."

The boy burst out laughing. This was not going well.