- K. A. Meng
- 4 days ago
- 8 min read
I couldn't just end book 1 with what happened so I had to finish off the series with book 2. To be honest, I can write many more in this series, but for now, there will only be two books.
Here is a sneak peak!
Chapter One
A ghost called my name.
I hesitated, then faced her. Her life during the past few minutes flashed into my mind. She fled during the Grim Reaper’s arrival, returning once it departed.
“Yes, Eleanor?” I feigned ignorance concerning her desire.
“Use your ability on me.” She hovered, freezing the grass beneath her. Her transparent body still showed her shorter hairstyle and her white button-down shirt over pleated pants. Her lover killed her for getting pregnant with his child.
My stomach churned because she asked for precisely what I never wanted to do. I called my scythe from my soul and contemplated the world’s wicked murderers instead of her. How many deaths had they caused before law enforcement apprehended them? How many more required stopping? My power turned my blade black as my anger rose. I couldn’t use Eleanor because she wasn’t evil. She had trusted the wrong person, and that led to her death.
“Everly, what are you doing?” my father asked me. His tone filled with anger. He attempted to stand, but he lost his balance. His body still suffered from being frozen by poltergeists for six years. Despite our ability to heal rapidly, he required time and physical therapy before he walked again.
“I’m giving a ghost what it wants. You taught me that.” I ambled down the stone pathway. The surrounding air chilled as I approached Eleanor. My heart raced, and tears sprang to my eyes. I had grown to like her, despite being mortal enemies. She was a poltergeist, and I was a reaper. She was supposed to attack me, and I was supposed to send her to heaven or hell.
“Don’t use our family’s ability against poltergeists!” my father yelled at me.
I ignored him and planted my right leg forward, readying my scythe.
Eleanor closed her eyes. “Thank you,” she said. A single tear rolled down her cheek and turned to ice as it fell from her chin.
I swung at Eleanor and plunged the point of my blade into her chest.
“Everly, stop!” my father screamed at the same time. “Someone stop my daughter!”
Eleanor’s eyes widened as she burst into balls of white light.
I released my anger at the last second and sent her to heaven. She never would’ve let me if I hadn’t darkened my scythe. She believed she deserved to no longer exist. The era she had lived in caused her to make poor choices. She had fallen for the wrong man, who impregnated and left her. She had gone for help, only to become a victim of a botched abortion. If God could not pardon her, I would, but God had, just as I suspected.
I bowed my head, brought my hands together, and told Eleanor, “May you rest in peace.”
“Everly, don’t ever do that again.” My father clenched his fists at his sides. In his current state, he couldn’t stop me. He was incapable even after his health improved. My mother failed whenever she tried.
“Sending a ghost to heaven? You taught me we should always help them.” I released my scythe and joined him under the stone gazebo with my friends. Except for Cherry, she was my nemesis.
“No, sending a poltergeist to the Nothingness,” my father answered.
“I didn’t. If I hadn’t pretended, Eleanor would’ve run away.” I scratched my cheeks, glancing at my friends. They either shifted their weight between their feet or rubbed the back of their necks. They appeared as clueless as I felt. Why was my father yelling at me for something I never did? He had woken up less than thirty minutes before. I was surprised that I lasted that long without getting into trouble.
“Dad, what are our powers?” Brooke asked.
Gratitude rose inside me for my older sister changing the subject. Our father was thick-headed, and he would never understand. He loved to teach, though.
“We see the lives of poltergeists, and we can send them into the Realm of Nothingness,” our father answered.
“Which is?” Brooke ran a hand through her hair.
“The name reflects the Realm of Nothingness. It’s all white or black, and you’re alone with just your thoughts. It’s the worst place a soul can be sent,” our father answered.
“Even more than the River Styx?” I asked. Reapers who disobeyed Death went there.
“Absolutely. You don’t return from the Nothingness,” our father answered.
“Why can’t we send poltergeists there? Some souls deserved to live in a void,” I pointed out. The Black family’s choice to send them there proved better than their annihilation.
“How can you say those words? Our job is to help souls. What has your mother been teaching you since I’ve been away?” our father asked me.
“Not a damn thing,” I answered. My mother had done nothing to teach me about becoming a reaper, and she forced me to hide it. If I got a few things wrong, I deserved leniency.
Levi Silver, my boyfriend, laughed and covered his mouth while sobering. He knew my words were true.
My father pressed lips together. “I’ll have a talk with you and your mother when we return home,” he said to me.
Brooke shifted to stand behind our father, and she pointed at her empty ring finger. She mouthed the word, “Mom.” Yeah, our mother remarried shortly after our father disappeared. She or our sister might inform our father. I had already disappointed him enough for today.
Levi and Chaz White, Brooke’s boyfriend, helped our father down the stone pathway. Reaching the bottom, he declared, “I require a brief rest. I can walk the rest of the way myself.” The men lowered him onto the ground. My father tested his legs, and the tips of his shoes wiggled. He would need more movement for the journey we had ahead.
I sat on the stone that had been my father’s bed.
Levi took the spot next to me and rested his head on my shoulder. “I’m so happy for you.”
“Thanks to you.” I could never have saved my father without Levi healing him or Cherry’s fire to melt the ice encasing him.
“I didn’t know Eleanor’s plan until your blade turned black,” Levi said.
“After you and Cherry released my father, I figured it out.” I probably knew all along, since I saw into her soul, but I never wanted to admit it. Would I have agreed to it if she had told me? I’d never stop searching for him. Now that I had, I wanted to pinch myself. This seemed unreal.
“What do we do about my grandpa?” Chaz asked.
All gazes fell upon the corpse, then turned toward me expecting answers. The Grim Reaper had taken Chaz’s grandfather’s soul for the River Styx.
“We’ll let the council decide,” I answered after a minute. They would investigate even when I told them what had happened.
“Feels wrong to leave him here,” Chaz said.
“Your grandfather tried to kill my sister, so he can stay,” Brooke pointed out.
“He’s still my grandfather. He deserves a proper burial,” Chaz said.
“You can’t carry both him and my dad back,” Brooke said.
“I figured you girls can take him or your dad.” Chaz squished his eyebrows together.
“My dad is six feet and over two hundred pounds of muscle. I can’t lift him, and I’m not carrying a dead body.” Brooke folded her arms and glared at her man.
“The council will investigate James’ death, so we’ll leave him here. If they don’t, we’ll come back for him,” I said to end their fighting. My head pounded against my skull.
“We’ll give him a reaper funeral?” Chaz asked.
“What part of your grandfather almost killing my sister do you not understand?” Brooke asked her man.
“How did he find us?” Levi asked before Chaz rebutted.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“The council wanted to question James, right? No one knew where he had fled, or we were saving your father, but our friends and us,” Levi answered.
James White, aka Jamesass, had released poltergeist bait in popular human towns and caused their deaths along with reapers, who had tried to save them. Seventeen of our people had died because of his actions. The human deaths were blamed on a plague. Why would anyone work with him? Levi’s words played through my head.
“Then one of the council members told him or us. My money is on Cherry,” I joked.
“Why are you blaming me?” Cherry asked. Her voice rose a couple of octaves, and she averted her gaze from me. Why was she acting suspiciously?
“What did you do?” Brooke went to her friend, staring her in the face.
“I…I did nothing,” Cherry answered. Her face turned as red as her hair.
“Cherry Watermelon Red, I know when you’re making shit up. Did you tell James where we were?” Brooke asked.
“He told me he wanted to speak to Everly. The entire situation was a mistake, and only she could fix it,” Cherry stammered.
Whack! Brooke smacked Cherry, and the other girl fell to her knees. “I forgave you once already for trying to kill my sister, but I won’t do it again,” Brooke said. Rage filled her eyes. Her friend had tried twice to kill me, and now she was upset?
Cherry held onto her cheek. “How was I supposed to know James wanted to kill your sister? He said he wanted to talk to her.”
“And you told him without thinking? I knew you were jealous, but this is pathetic. We watch each other’s backs,” Brooke yelled.
“I…I helped save your father,” Cherry stammered.
“And that is why I am not kicking your fucking ass right now.” Brooke ground her teeth together and turned around. “Someone else can deal with her. I can’t look at her.”
“What if I say sorry to Everly?” Cherry grabbed Brooke’s hand.
“Then say you’re sorry to my sister and not me.” Brook shook her hand, and Cherry dropped it.
“She’s more than dead to me,” Levi said to me as he knocked me on the shoulder.
I stared at him, trying to figure out what his words meant. Cherry and I never got along.
Cherry stood in front of me, mumbling, “I’m sorry.”
I slid off the stone and slapped Cherry. The smack made my hand hurt. “Hand of Death,” I told her.
Cherry rubbed the mark and said nothing else. Technically, the reaper council should put her to death for attempting to harm me, but they never believed me, even with Levi bearing witness. The council and I had issues.
I pushed past Cherry and headed toward my father. “Shall we depart, or do you require further rest?”
“Why did you smack her?” my father asked me. My sister had moments before, and he said nothing to her. He was still mad at me.
“Because it is my right with the hand of Death,” I answered.
“You shouldn’t be hitting your friends.” My father shook his head.
“Cherry and I are not friends. Should we depart, or do you require further rest?” I asked him.
My father tried rising, and upon his inability, the men offered support. We slowly made our way back to the Black family mansion. He wouldn’t go to the Institute, saying, “I refuse to step foot in there.” At least I learned where my stubbornness came from.
If you want to know more:
After six years of searching the reaper realms, Everly Black has finally found her father. But he doesn’t agree with her using her family’s abilities. If she doesn’t do her job—sending poltergeist to the Real of Nothingness—she will lose everything. Her friends join her until they’re overwhelmed, and her quick thinking saves them for now.
Everly finds out more poltergeists trapped in the Grim Reaper’s realms flee again. The previous culprits are dead or locked away. Everly and her friends search for answers, but no one knows why poltergeists are escaping. If they don’t figure it out, the answer might tear the reaper families apart forever.
