💀Death's Apprentice💀

Chapter Nine: London Or Cairo?

The Apprentice

         "Excuse me?" Death sneered.

         "I said no." Rose repeated firmly. "I'm the one that stole the Scythe, made him go to the manor, and got the Scythe stolen. Cedrick Hawthorne took the Scythe from my hands-not his. So don't blame him. Blame me." Death went rigid with shock and anger.

          "...I could literally turn you into a frog right now..." Death seethed.

          "Then why don't you just turn Cedrick into a frog?" Rose argued.

          "That's not how it works! I have a specific amount of power left over from my time with the Scythe! Cedrick Hawthorne has the Scythe in his possession, which means he has unlimited power. That means he would just turn himself back, turn me into a frog, and back and forth we'd go until my power ran out." Death sighed as if he were explaining the concept to a child. Rose balled her fists in impatience, but kept quiet.

          "Right, because that's what's wrong with that plan." I quipped.

          "You're still on the thinnest ice to ever exist!" Death stunned on me before spinning back to Rose. "Even with his extreme lack of experience with the Scythe he would still be able to beat me in combat. This can only be fixed with intelligence. I'll have to outsmart him. Which is why I want you two-" Death pointed to the both of us at the same time. "-out of the way!" He looked at Rose darkly. "I thought I made it very clear I wanted you to leave. And I thought I locked the door!"

          "Magic!" Rose professed. She gave Death an evil grin as she made sarcastic jazz hands. Death fixed me with a glare. I stared at the ceiling and pretended not to notice. Death only crossed his arms and have me a knowing look before rolling his eyes and turning back to Rose. He crossed his arms.

          "And how did you know about magic?"

        "It just happened." Rose lied.

          "Fine. None of that matters right now. What matters is that I get the Scythe back."

          "We." Rose insisted.

         "Pardon?!"

          "I'm the right hand woman of Cedrick's entire empire. I might have been kept in the dark about most of his illegal enterprises, but that doesn't change the fact that I know pretty much all of his personal information. I've known him for years. I'm your best bet to figuring out where he is. Any other way will take up more time and give him more advantages." Rose explained smugly.

"And let me guess: your conditions are to stay alive and keep my apprentice employed?"

"Yep. I mean he is an apprentice after all. The job is made for learning from mistakes. If he makes a mistake and you fire him that doesn't make him a bad apprentice. That makes you a sucky boss." Rose announced as she leveled her calm gaze at him. Death's eye twitched. The room was silent for a good, long while.

Death was contemplating. I watched him to gauge his reaction. He was thoughtfully rubbing his chin as he stared at Rose. She raised her eyebrows as a silent question. 'Well?' She seemed to say.

"I will keep my apprentice." Death acquiesced.

"And me alive?" Rose crooned.

"...Fine." Death sighed. There was a hint of malice in his voice. I frowned. He obviously couldn't let her live! That would defy the laws of nature and result in a butterfly effect of catastrophic measure to deal with on top of the current situation. The only explanation for Death agreeing with her was that he didn't intend to keep his word.

           "So..." Death forced a smile onto his lips. It didn't reach his eyes. "Where is he?" I scrambled out fo the way as he spun towards the orb. With a wave of his hand the mixed images disappeared into the swirling blue mist behind the glass. "This orb shows anything anywhere."

         "Unfortunately, it's only run by a third-tier level of magic." Death elaborated. "Very mechanical. As it happens the Scythe has the ability to ward off this type of magic. I can't find it. But if you can give me a specific location, then I might be able to override it and get a general idea of where he is." The mist began to glow in patches, and suddenly gold continents formed, turning the orb into a giant globe.

          "His family has five houses." Rose replied. "There are manors in New York, London, Cairo, Paris, and on an island somewhere near the Bahamas." Death sailed his hand over the globe, and the map faded until only the places she had mentioned remained. "He wouldn't be stupid enough to stay in the same place, so we can cross New York off of the list. He hates the one in the islands and the Paris one. He's lost family members in both of them. That leaves London or Cairo."

          "So which is it?" Death implored.

         "I'm not sure yet."

         "You said you knew!"

         "I don't see you doing any better!"

        "Well that's just fantastic!" Death threw his hands up in the air. He paced back and forth for a little while, grumbling to himself as he tried to come up with a solution. He stopped as it hit him. "There's only one place that we can get the information needed to narrow it down to one." He rubbed his temples. I cringed...I knew where this was going.

          "The underworld." I nodded solemnly.

          "As in literally?" Rose gasped.

          "No. As in crime." I groaned.