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Julia sat staring at the television, her milk and cookies untouched. The news station rattled on about a gas tanker that exploded on the crowded highway, but there was no footage being broadcast and only speculation regarding the amount of damage.
She turned her teary gaze in my direction, silently pleading for information that I didn’t have. Isabel had left soon after we brought Julia in the house and she sent me a clear warning to stay put.
That had been at least a half hour ago and I was getting tired of waiting. “Mom, I’m going to take my dirt bike and find out what happened.”
“No.”
There was no wiggle room in her answer, or in the glare she shot over Julia’s head.
“I need to know what happened,” I said, a little more forcefully than I meant, causing darkness to cross over my mother’s face, transitioning it from worry to anger in the matter of a blink.
“Dylan Nicholas Ramsay, you are not going anywhere. You understand?”
Julia stiffened and her hand clasping mine clamped down with enough force for me to wince and snap my attention to where hers was glued. The first footage of the wreckage scrolled across the television and it looked like a war zone. Charred metal and fabric and other unidentifiable remains splattered both sides of the highway, and the area where the gas truck had been was now a smoldering blackened crater.
“Maybe they were still on the bridge,” I said, trying to instill hope where I knew there was none.
The reapers caused this atrocity. Those people, Julia’s parents included, were not supposed to die today and my free hand balled into a fist. My fingernails dug into my palm, tempering my building fury. Julia needed me to be reasonable and calm, not go off half-cocked and get myself killed.
The shrill ring of the phone made us jump and my mother picked it up.
“Hello?” she said and after the flutter of words on the other end, she turned away. “I see,” her voice hitched. “Thank you for taking care of her the last couple days. I’ll contact the funeral home and make arrangements.”
Both Julia and I were staring at my mother when she hung up the phone. When she turned, her eyes were bloodshot and full of unshed tears. “Nick, your grandmother passed away.”
“Do you think my father...?” I trailed off, and a voice cleared from the hallway.
Isabel stood in the shadows and her gaze told me all I needed to know. She was the one who fixed my mistake, not my father. And I could tell from the sadness in her eyes that she couldn’t fix the chain of devastation the rogue reapers started.
“Isabel,” my mother’s cool voice pulled my attention back to the situation. “What did you find out?”
Isabel’s gaze bounced between the three of us and her features etched indecision.
Julia turned toward Isabel and sniffed, wiping the tear tracks from her cheeks and waiting for the axe to fall on her world.
“I’m sorry, Julia,” Isabel whispered.
“What does that mean?” Julia asked, her gaze falling on me.
“It means your parents didn’t make it,” I said, steeling myself for a storm of emotion.
“How do you know that? They don’t even know that yet.” She pointed at the television. “They said it could take days to sort through the wreckage and figure out how many were lost in the explosion.”
“Look, she’s in just as much danger as you and your mother right now and she deserves to know what I am, so we might as well come clean,” Isabel said.
I tightened my jaw and glared at Isabel while Julia fell silent. She turned her pretty doe eyes in my direction. “What does she mean?”
My mother started to speak and I silenced her with the same motion my father had last night. “I got this, Mom,” I said and then met Julia’s gaze. “Do you remember me yelling when Mr. Sanchez died?”
She nodded.
“Well, I saw something behind him.” I paused and traded a glance with Isabel. “I saw a reaper.”
“No one was in the room, Nick,” she said.
“Normal people can’t see reapers, but I can.”
“Look, your cousin just told me my parents are dead and all you can talk about are things only you can see?” Her voice rose to a hysterical pitch and her chest rose and fell with the effort. Tears slid down her cheeks and I reached for her but she pulled away. “You’re insane!”
I grabbed her arm, holding her close. “You said my father scared you and that Isabel was a little strange,” I started, trying not to let the swell of emotion take over, but my voice shook regardless of how much I wanted to sound in control. “You knew they weren’t normal.”
“What does that have to do with reapers?”
“Isabel is a reaper.”
The admission dropped her jaw and her eyes widened like saucers. I didn’t expect her next reaction and when the sting of her palm slapped my cheek, I stepped back, dropping my hold from her and covering the hot skin of my face.
“Izzy, show her,” I ordered and both my mother’s and Julia’s gasp were enough. I didn’t have to turn to know Isabel transitioned into her natural form, allowing Julia to see her without her glamour. Julia moved quickly, clinging to me like a frightened two year old.
“What is that?”
I glanced over my shoulder and shrugged at the cloaked skeleton. “Thanks Isabel, now can you...” Before I finished the sentence, the perky teenage girl again stood in the same spot and I turned back to Julia. “That is a reaper.”
Julia’s eyes rolled back and she went limp in my arms.