Death's Apprentice

27

"Thought you would've been earlier," a woman said the moment Death opened the door. I couldn't see her, aside from a long white sleeve. A drawer slammed shut, and she moved from my sight.

"I'm always early. You're not dead yet." Death leaned against the doorframe. He looked around. "This is a nice setup you've got here, Ivy."

There was a loud groan. "I don't have time for this!" Ivy came into full view. She stood a good foot shorter than me, definitely placing her under the five foot marker. It shouldn't have surprised me. Her features were soft and round, her body looked like a plank of wood; she was a child. Dirty blonde hair hung to her shoulders with hairs sticking in random directions. Small strands escaped the ponytail Ivy pulled it into. She took a piece of white cloth and wrapped it around her head. The moment she finished, she picked up a compact and makeup. Ivy continued talking.
"I have a full schedule today," she said while drawing wrinkles and fine lines with expert precision. "I have to go down the well, and then I need to help build a new clinic and-" She snapped her compact shut. "Do you see my keys anywhere?"

Death looked around and leaned to the side. Metal jingled. He held up a key ring by its soccer ball keychain. "Is this them?" he asked; Ivy nodded, and he tossed them to her.

"Thank you." The keys disappeared into the pocket of Ivy's pant. She pulled the strap of a canteen over her neck, before shrugging on a backpack.

"Since we helped you out--" Death messed with his sleeve, watching as Ivy struggled with the weight of her bag. "--I think you can do something for us in return."

"You found my keys and tossed them to me. That doesn't equal letting you kill me."

"Well, lucky for me, we're actually looking for a key ourselves."

"We?" Ivy asked, no longer slouching under the weight of her pack.

I leaned around Death and waved. "Hi."

"Wow." A lopsided smile appeared on Ivy's face and a small laugh broke from her throat. "Who's the mom?"

"No idea. Kid, what's your mom's name?" Death looked back at me. I pressed my lips together, moving my gaze to the chipped paint. I shrugged.

"I don't know," I said.

"You don't know who your mom is?" He raised an eyebrow. I shook my head, despite knowing exactly who my mom was. A deadbeat who decided to leave her husband and daughter in one of the worst parts of our lives. In all honesty, I don't know why he didn't know that. He said one of his abilities was to know everything about a person. Why wouldn't he use that power on me? The answer to that question turned out to be the same as to who would give a nine year old a license, I don't know. The possibility of it only working on living beings popped into my mind, but I didn't know enough to say if that was it or not.

"Nope."

"How? It's not like she couldn't show up for your birth."

"It''s none of your business."

Death's eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth, but Ivy beat him to speaking.

"Even if I did have one of those keys, which I don't, I wouldn't give it to you." She moved towards Death.

"I know you have one. You used to wear it around your neck."

Ivy shook her head. "Life did a key buyback a couple of years ago. I gave her mine in exchange for being able to do my makeup like this. I know someone didn't sell it back to her, or did she just leave it with them? I can't remember, too much information gets jumbled around and it's hard to read her handwriting."