Inked: The Reaper Chronicles

Six

"You must be more than a little overwhelmed with your new accomodation, I'm sure." Mr Grimm began, delicately sipping from the ornate china teacup.

Ethan nodded. So much had already been happening at the same time, and even in the presence of someone he knew from appearance seemed to understand about the strange, he found himself devoid of saying more.

"It was Alice who alerted us to your possible biological makeup." he went on, and from when the Scarlet attacked you, well, then your fate was just sealed. A shame and all, we couldn't catch that defector right there as added backup."

"I think I deserve to know more than half of what is going on." Ethan stormed, finding his voice again, "because really after the day I've had-!"

The girl-woman, Miss Sweet, paused to stop him, standing up.

"We know all too well what happened and we're deeply sorrow for your loss. But you're not alone, Shields. Most Reapers lose their parents or caregivers by death or estrangement- sometimes they can't control their powers, and their parents don't usually understand what happens to them."

Before Ethan had a chance to marvel at the adult tone of her child-like voice, she went on without as much as a fumble.

"But your caregiver......she.....she was a good woman." she said.

Ethan's eyes widened. "Wait...." he went on unsteadily, "my mother- she knew about all this."

"She and the rest of her family had her connections with us- three days previously, she had actually contacted us to transport you here and keep you safe. She had known something was already after you and had been for a while."

The last sentence seemed to burn into Ethan's soul as he recalled how irritable she had been over the week before her death- something he had just attributed to stress at work, or as she'd so said. He felt his throat painfully rim over with emotion, of how stupid he had been to actually believe it. She had only been trying to protect him.

Sweet seemed to recognise his pain, moving a hand to her side as to vanish the subject of conversation.

She turned to her left, facing the doorway as a heavy treading of footsteps rebounded from there.

"Ah, Julie. Would you mind escorting Ethan up to the spare room, where he can be alone with his thoughts before lunch begins?" she asked.

A hard-nosed blonde girl stood enframed centre, using a small towel to dry off the remnants of sweat from what apppeared to be an intense workout off her broadish shoulders. For something leaving autumnal weather, she was dressed fairly lightly- fairly light, a sleeveless short T-shirt and shorts with high-ankle trainers. She was fairly tall and well-built, unlike the more willowy Alice next to her, her arms and legs expertly muscled, sliding underneath her skin as she walked but still relatively slender.

Hale was the more impressed out of any of the males in the room, lounging appreciatively against the lounge chair.

"Oh, Miss Sweet, may I request a private escort with Ju-" he began, fluttering his eyelashes and grinning in a ridicuously saccahrine way.

"No. No you may not." his teacher snapped back with a delicate sip of her flowery cup.

Hale's face fell slightly, but still looked a little hopeful.

Julie, ignoring Hale with a annoyed grimace, turned to face Ethan.

She smiled solemnly at him. "I'm sorry about what happened, Ethan. It must have been rough on you."

Much to his mildly embarrassed surprise, she strongly gripped his hand before gently leading him along the left wing, up a set of winding stairs.

"So, Ireland huh?" she asked, looking over her shoulder down at him.