The Necrodancer

Chapter 3- Check

 Cicero didn't go to school the next day. As much as the reaper insisted on it so they didn't miss their organic chemistry lecture, Reyna and Tilde put their nibling on house arrest for healing purposes. They looked like Frankenstein's monster, stitches wherever the demon's teeth had stabbed too deeply into the skin, and they were still in an immense amount of pain; fortunately, they'd be healed by tomorrow and be back to normal. Until then, however, Cicero would have to take a sick day. Not from work, of course, just from school. Souls still came pouring in, like a river: a powerful, constant current.

Cicero stayed in their room all day, working on homework, making notes for the classes they were missing that day, cleaning their room, drinking too much chai tea made by Tilde, and reading. Despite their apparent desire to bury themselves and never resurface and seeming lack of will to live, they were a very productive person. Not even Cicero was quite sure why they tried so hard; maybe it was that they were trying to be one with those who they were so envious of?

Their favourite books were The Book Thief, Doctor Faustus, and Frankenstein, in that order. They deeply enjoyed The Book Thief for the decently accurate depiction of Death and the transfer of the soul from body to reaper, as it felt the same as the way the author described it. Cicero had to guess that the author was a reaper posing as a human, but there were a good amount of witches and a few humans out there who understood, maybe having had encountered a reaper before, or were just really good writers. Doctor Faustus was the first play that Cicero had ever seen, performed at The Rose during the Elizabethan era. They owned an original copy of the first edition. They also owned The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, The Odyssey, and the complete Harry Potter collection (only for the appearance of a human, they claimed, but they secretly enjoyed them).

They never got dressed, just stayed in their sweatpants and t-shirt. If they weren't leaving, they found no reason to get presentable. Every time they moved, they felt the pain of the stitches in their skin and immediately thought back to the hellhound. They couldn't help but wonder who he was working for and why. Octavius Marsh was safe, but they wondered what business he had with human with a hellhound in his service.

Around ten o'clock, the iPhone went off on their desk, just a little vibration. Cicero walked over and climbed into their desk chair, crouching in it like a monkey. It was a text from Thomas, his name simply "Thomas Camberwell" in their phone.

TC: Hey, just wanted to check in, since you said you weren't feeling well last night.

Cicero typed carefully with two thumbs, responding that they were feeling a little better but taking a sick day.

TC: Get better soon, all right?

The reaper grinned down at their phone as they typed back. I'm sure I'll be well enough to come to class tomorrow, so I'll see you then.

TC: Sounds good. :)

Cicero slipped their phone into the right front pocket of their sweatpants and jumped a little when they felt a sudden tap on their shoulder. Tilde was standing behind them with a warm smile. "Just came to check on you."

The reaper gave their aunt a small grin. "I'm okay."

"I, um," she sat down on Cicero's bed, "wanted to ask you about the human boy that brought you home last night."

Cicero squinted. "What's he got to do with anything?"

The retired reaper shrugged. "I was merely wondering if you liked him."

The young reaper rolled their eyes. "Christ, of course not... not like that, at least. He's a friend."

"He seems nice... awfully cute."

"Tilde," Cicero snapped. "No."

Their aunt put her hands on her hips. "If you are to pose as a human, maybe you should think about dating, that's all!"

"That would put his sanity and my identity at risk! He'd begin to wonder why I look the way I do, why I don't have a heartbeat, why-"

"We can put in a heart?" Tilde suggested. "Your spirit can make it pump."

The reaper rolled their eyes again. "Too much effort," they complained, then sighed, letting some of their annoyance melt away. "I need to go to Purgatory pretty soon. I'm having trouble holding this many souls while healing."

Tilde smiled. "All right. Be home in time for lunch, yes?"

"This should only take six seconds seconds."

Purgatory was an eerie place, even for reapers. There was no light but there seemed to be darknesses that were darker than others. Souls were invisible to one another, but were balls of shimmery light to reapers. They were all different colours and brightnesses. Their voices from life carried on into death, filling the void with whispers, some nonsensical and others muttering about their lives or how they died, and some, which Cicero listened carefully for, were prophetic of what was going on in the world. There was no floor, so Cicero merely floated through the emptiness as they released the thousands of souls that had been locked up inside of them. Cicero carried their scythe, now in the form of a zulfiqar (one of their preferred scythe forms). The only one who was allowed to have their scythe in the actual form of a scythe was the Grim Reaper themselves, as it was the defining weapon, one of the attributes that set the Grim Reaper apart from the reapers, much like a rite of passage into the position.

What felt to the reaper like an hour in Purgatory was, as they promised Tilde, only six seconds on Earth. Tilde was still seated on Cicero's bed. Cicero now felt empty, lighter, but in a sort of relieving way; despite the fulfillingness of having souls in a form, souls tended to weigh down a reaper and make it harder to travel fast.
"Do you miss Purgatory?" Cicero questioned as they ran a hand through their mess of curls.

Tilde frowned and clicked her tongue. "Well, I can't say that I do. It's too sad, too dark, too empty yet so full of voices, all so quiet yet making one loud mess... No. I only miss how quickly I could go where I pleased."

Cicero grinned. "You're still a reaper. I could get you wherever you wanted to go and back here real quick."

Tilde smiled. "Well, I'll have to take you up on that offer at some point, Cicero."