LOGINShare
Chapter 3
Last Updated:
2021-03-28 07:37:32"What am I going to do?" Ru asked, gathering the papers that were finished up out of the tray and taking her originals that had copied off of the top of the machine. She considered unplugging it and plugging it back in, but since this had happened before, she knew it wouldn’t work. They would have to call someone from the copier company to come out and likely replace many of the electrical components.
“Machine not working?”
Ru hadn’t even heard the door open. She spun around and froze. She was looking into the brightest pair of electric blue eyes she’d ever seen. Swallowing hard, she struggled to compose herself. “Uh… I think… I broke it.”
The man before her let out a soft, melodic chuckle. “I bet I can fix it,” he said.
Despite her shock at being in the presence of an extremely attractive stranger, Ru managed to say, “I doubt it.”
“Let me take a look.”
She stepped back out of the way as he approached the copier. Trying not to stare, Ru couldn’t help but notice he had the physique of an athlete, perhaps a runner. His blond hair was slightly darker than hers, though still light compared to most blonds, and he had to be close to six-four, at least. As he examined the machine, he set his jaw, and Ru had to look down at her shoes. He had the face of a Greek god.
“Let’s try this,” he said, the sound of his voice somehow seeming to calm her anxious stomach, even though she was certain that whatever “this” was, it wasn’t going to work.
He flipped the power switch off and then back on again. Ru was already shaking her head, thinking she’d need to tell this new guy that she knew that wasn’t going to work, but before she could get the words out, she realized the copier was working again. “Oh, my goodness! How did you do that?” she asked, stepping toward the machine, but being careful not to touch it.
“I have my ways,” he said, his charming smile causing her anxiety to morph into butterflies. “Do you have more copies to make?”
“Oh, yeah. Would you mind? I don’t want to touch it again.”
“No problem,” he said, taking the three sheets from her. “How many do you need?”
“Just three of each. They’re for my team.”
He nodded and punched in the correct number before putting the papers through the feeder. “What team are you on?”
“Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t even introduce myself.”
“That’s okay,” he replied, grabbing her papers out of the tray and taking the originals. “I didn’t either. I’m Cutter. Cutter Michaels.”
He extended his hand, and even though she was afraid she might ignite him with some sort of an electrical charge, Ru placed her hand in his. There was definitely some sort of transfer of energy the second her palm touched his, but it felt more like a warm vibration than an electrical shock. She wondered if he could feel it, too. Perhaps it was just her imagination; he was likely the most attractive man she’d ever seen, after all. Maybe this was the sensation all those romance writers were trying to capture when they spoke of tingles shooting up their heroines’ arms.
“I’m Ru Roberts,” she said. “Nice to meet you. I teach fourth grade.”
“Roo?” he had started his question midway through her introduction, and she wasn’t even sure if he’d heard the rest of her statement. He had a bit of a puzzled look on his face, but that was common when she was introducing herself.
“Yes,” she replied, withdrawing her hand and trying not to make a face. If she did so, he might ask follow-up questions. If she was able to convince him that Ru was a typical, perfectly acceptable name, perhaps he wouldn’t inquire further. “What do you teach?”
Before he could answer, the door opened. “Oh, good, the copier’s already on.” Jane rushed in with a stack of papers. “We are going to need these for our meeting.” She set the pile down on a nearby table. “Hi, Cutter. Did you get all moved in?”
“Just about,” he replied. “The copier is free.” He handed Ru the copies he’d run for her.
“Didn’t you have copies to make?” Ru asked, wondering why he’d even come in, though she realized he didn’t have any papers with him the moment the question was out of her mouth.
“No, I was actually just looking around.”
“Oh….” Ru thought that was a little strange, but then, if he was new, he might’ve just wanted to see the copy room and other common places.
“How was your summer, Ms. Roberts?” Jane had a fake smile plastered to her face, and Ru realized she was just trying to play nice in front of Mr. Michaels.
“Wonderful, thank you. How was yours? Did you have a nice time on your cruise?” Two could play at this game.
“It was delightful.” Jane shook her head and began to run the first stack through the copier.
“Say, Ms. Roberts, I hope you’re planning on bringing this flow chart example to the meeting. It looks great. I used a similar one when I taught fifth grade last year.” Cutter was gesturing at the paper on the top of the small stack Ru was still holding.
She’d come to the realization that Cutter was the new team member a few seconds ago when Jane called him by name. How she felt about that still wasn’t clear. “I am,” she said. “I felt like the rest of the team might want to use it, too.”
“You know you don’t have to bring anything,” Jane reminded her. “I have plenty of fresh ideas for my whole team.”
Jane loved to remind everyone that she was the team leader, despite the fact that Mrs. Long was the first to point out that every teacher in the building was a leader. Before Ru could say anything in response, Cutter said, “Oh, I had some ideas I wanted to run by the team, too. I know I’ve never taught fourth grade before, but I think some of the tools I’ve collected over the years might be useful. We don’t collaborate?”
“No, of course we collaborate,” Jane said, turning around to face him and taking a step closer than necessary. “It’s just… some of our team members have a tendency to bring ideas that aren’t really feasible.” She looked at Ru as if she were an insect.
“Well, this one is awesome. In fact, so are the other two I was looking at before you walked in. I can’t wait to hear about them.”
Ru could feel the gratefulness radiating from her eyes, and she hoped Cutter could pick up on it, too. Perhaps he hadn’t chosen a side, per se, but for now, she would take this as a sign of victory. “Thank you,” she said.
He turned so his back was to Jane and winked at her. “You bet.”
Her legs suddenly felt like jelly, and even though she knew she was acting ridiculous, Ru had to pull her eyes away. She grabbed the rest of her papers off of the table and headed for the door. Cutter got there first and held it open for her. “Thank you,” she said, smiling up at him. “See you in a bit, Jane.” She turned and smiled at the team leader who only glared in her direction until she realized Cutter was looking at her, and then her face morphed into a freakish, forced smile.
Related chapters
Reaper's Hollow Chapter 4
Ru walked down the hall toward her classroom, Cutter at her side. She knew he had to walk that way, too, but she still felt a little awkward. “So… she’s something.”She glanced up at him. Even though she was fairly tall for a woman at five-foot-ten, she still couldn’t get over how much she had to tip her head to look him in the eye, which she realized she should still probably avoid. “That’s Jane.” A wise woman at church had once told her, “If you can’t find something nice to say, don’t say anything at all,” and that was one lessen Ru had taken to heart. She really hated talking badly about others, even when Jane deserved it.“Well, I’m hopeful she will let you share your ideas.” They were almost to their classrooms, and he seemed to slow a bit. He had his hands pushed down into the pockets of his khakis.Ru slowed as well. &ldqu
Last Updated : 2021-03-28Reaper's Hollow Chapter 5
Cutter was inside the solace of his new classroom, readying it for the arrival of his students on Monday, and even though Ru and Candice were across the hall and his door was closed, he had no problem listening to them, should he want to. Trying to tune them out was not as easy as it might seem since he kept hearing references to himself. Of course, they had no idea he’d be able to hear them on the other side of the building if he wanted to.Setting up his classroom had been no problem even though he’d never done it before. After about an hour of work, it was perfect, as if he’d been working on it for weeks. He appeared as if he had been teaching for several years, and he hoped the students would learn something from him for the time that he was here, but that wouldn’t be too long. Mimicking an elementary school teacher couldn’t be that hard, could it?His phone buzzed in his pocket for probably the tenth t
Last Updated : 2021-03-28Reaper's Hollow Chapter 6
When Cutter walked into the library, a few other teachers were seated at the rectangular tables, talking excitedly, as if they hadn’t seen each other in years—or maybe it was just months. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to work with people you didn’t see for a couple of months every year. As they noticed him, the women grew quiet for a few seconds, one or two even gasped aloud, and then the conversation shifted to whispers, assuring him he was the new topic of discussion.Normally, he would’ve gathered as much information as possible before subjecting himself to this sort of situation, but in this case, the discovery that the one they’d been searching for might actually be here had come with only enough time to get him this teaching position, and as Rider had pointed out, the website for Thomas Elementary was under construction. They weren’t too tech savvy around here, apparently. The Facebook page for
Last Updated : 2021-03-28Reaper's Hollow Chapter 7
“Okay, let’s get started everyone!” Mrs. Long said, standing at the front of the room. Many of the voices continued to chatter, so she said, “If you can hear me, clap once.” A few people clapped. Cutter tried not to be confused and prepared for her to ask again. “If you can hear me, clap twice.” This time, he was ready and joined in with about half of the teachers. “If you can hear me, clap three times.” This time, almost everyone was with them. “Are we ready then?”Mrs. Long had a captive audience. She was a short woman, probably in her mid-fifties, with reddish-brown hair that came out of a bottle, though likely the bottle of a stylist. She had a nice manicure and was dressed in a black pantsuit. Though she was a bit robust, she had a kind smile, and Cutter had liked her the moment they’d met. She seemed to really know a lot about education. It was a shame he’d had to lie to
Last Updated : 2021-03-28Reaper's Hollow Chapter 8
The GT presentation was only supposed to last until 11:00, but it was almost 11:30 before Cutter made his way to Ms. Owen’s room for the fourth grade team meeting. He walked in to see she already had stacks of papers prepared on the table with each of their names on them. Sitting down in front of his stack, he glanced at the others. “Oh, you spell it R-U,” he muttered, noticing the writing on the stack across from him.Ru sat down in the student’s chair, which she fit in much more comfortably than he did. “Yeah,” she replied, with a shrug.“Is it short for anything?” He flipped through the papers in his stack, trying to seem nonchalant, but he really needed to know.“No,” she replied, another shrug.Cutter raised an eyebrow in her direction.“It seems you’re not the only one with an unusual first name anymore,&rd
Last Updated : 2021-03-28Reaper's Hollow Chapter 9
Ru pulled into her driveway a little after 6:00. The sun was starting to fade behind the horizon, and she was both exhausted and starving.Pushing open the front door, she found Piper there to greet her. “Hello, kitty. I’m sorry. Mommy had to stay late at work to set up her classroom.” She bent down to scratch her pet beneath her chin, dropping her bags on the floor as she did so. She’d come back and take care of that later, but first she needed to make sure Piper had some food and water in her bowls.Her cell phone rang as she was filling up the water dish. Glancing down at the name, she groaned. Should she take it now or put it off? “Better get it over with,” she mumbled, slogging back into the living room as Piper dug into her fresh bowl of food. “Hello?”“Where have you been?”Not even a greeting. Certainly no, “How was your first d
Last Updated : 2021-03-28Reaper's Hollow Chapter 10
Cutter had stayed at work until after Ru left, watching discretely out the window as she made her way to her car. Sadly, she wasn’t the last to leave, and Cutter began to realize he’d had some misconceptions about public school teachers, but then, he’d never gone to public school, so he hadn’t really known what was typical.Once she was in her car and out of the parking lot, he grabbed his lunchbox and headed out as well. The light had been off in his classroom for more than two hours. He wanted everyone to think he’d gone home. Several people had stopped by that afternoon, after the final meeting of the day, and he was getting tired of pretending to be interested in their lives. They were all nice people, but he wouldn’t be staying there long enough to get to know any of them.He noticed Ru left the door to her classroom open and the light switch on when she left, though it had extinguished itself no
Last Updated : 2021-03-28Reaper's Hollow Chapter 11
Ru’s classroom was almost ready to greet students Monday morning. She just needed Candice to come help her with a few things, and she’d be all ready, which was a good thing because that day—Friday—would be full of meetings. She always wondered why administrators thought it was a good idea to plan a day of trainings on the last possible day before students came in, as if teachers wouldn’t be completely distracted, wanting to be in their classrooms.She’d met her students the night before at Meet the Teacher, and she just knew this was going to be a great year. There were some familiar faces since she’d been teaching here long enough to start having siblings of former students. A few of the parents told her how happy they were that they had another child in her class. That was one of the rewarding parts of being a teacher, getting to interact with families who really appreciated what she was doing. Sometimes, paren
Last Updated : 2021-03-28
Latest chapter
Reaper's Hollow Chapter 158: Epilogue
One year later… “All right, boys and girls. That is enough for today. We will pick up with Ramona’s story tomorrow afternoon. For now, go ahead and get your backpacks on, and let’s line up at the door.” Groans filled the air as twenty-two fourth graders followed their teacher’s directions despite wanting to hear what happened next in the story. They stood and walked to the cubbies where their backpacks were hung and politely took turns getting their belongings before making an orderly line at the door. Ru took a deep breath and looked lovingly at her students. Even though she’d made the same prediction every year since she started teaching, she had had a feeling about this group of kids from the very beginning. And she was right. They were the best group of fourth graders she’d ever taught. The bell rang and she wished them all a good weekend, gathering up the four students who went to daycare and walking with th
Reaper's Hollow Chapter 157
“I need to face him,” Cutter said. “And you need to get to the portal.” Ru craned her neck around the tree. While there were still some Reapers near the entryway, for the most part, the Keepers were able to set up a perimeter around the portal. If she was going to go, now was the time. “Okay. Be careful,” she said. Realizing that Cutter was about to take on one of her assignments made Ru feel uncomfortable, particularly since she knew what the end result would be, and despite the bargain she’d almost just made with the devil, she still didn’t want to see Nat destroyed. But she had to push those thoughts out of her head. She quickly kissed Cutter’s cheek and scurried off to the next tree closest to the portal. Nat saw her now, and he began to move in her direction, using his scythe to cut down an attacking Keeper as if he were nothing. Ru swallowed hard and steeled herself, looking for the next place to hide. If she used her powers on Nat, there was a chance she would
Reaper's Hollow Chapter 156
A Reaper stepped through the portal opening. Tall, with ebony hair, he wore the long black cloak she expected to see, a scythe in his hand. The man quickly ran to the left of the portal, and then another Reaper appeared on his heels. Dressed identically, with the same weapon, he ran to the right. Then, another sprang forth, and another. Ru watched, her eyes wide as the Reapers continued to pour out of the portal, as if Hell had spilled an inkwell and the thick, black substance was covering the entire earth. “Holy Hell.” It was hard to pull her eyes off of the sight, but she turned to see Cutter standing next to her. “We’ll never be able to take all of them.” It was Ivy, and Ru glimpsed a look of defeat on her face as she came to a stop behind Cutter. “We have to try,” he said. Ru could see the resolve in his face and noticed his hands clenched into fists at his sides. “Ivy and I will hold them off while you concentrate on the portal.” There ha
Reaper's Hollow Chapter 155
The demons were up again, too, and the battles picked up where they had left off. Everyone else was engaged, which left Ru to face this Goliath all by herself. “Kill it! Kill it!” Rider shouted at her as streaks of blue wrapped around the snake’s midsection. He seemed to be closing in on his prey, and Ru tried not to let the sight distract her. He was right. It would be best to take out the giant before he was fully formed. With a deep breath, Ru drew upon all of the strength she had inside of her and aimed her blue light at the giant. It was difficult to figure out where to aim since he was only out of the portal up to his shins. Still, she hoped it would be enough. Perhaps it was because of his size, but she felt the need to shout even louder this time as she recited the incantation almost word for word along with Rider who was also sending the snake into oblivion. “Infernus et perdere faciam te in nomine Domini!” This time, Ru didn’t feel as confi
Reaper's Hollow Chapter 154
There it was, right in front of her, the portal. The final one. And all she had to do was raise her hands and say the incantation. All of this would be over. If Thanatos wasn’t here, she couldn’t kill him. Surely, Raphael would understand that. She’d just close the portal and sneak away, leaving that confrontation for another day. Except she knew it wasn’t that easy. Just because she didn’t see him didn’t mean he wasn’t there. And even before she could raise her hands, the pull from inside of her became overwhelming, causing Ru to double over. The air between the edges of the portal continued to ripple and wave, and Ru recognized the sensation from both of the previous portals. Something was coming. She looked at Cutter and for the first time she could remember, she saw fear in his eyes. “They’re coming,” she whispered. He opened his mouth to say something, but before anything came out, a rush of heat shot out of the portal opening. Both of them instinctively
Reaper's Hollow Chapter 153
“Well, that doesn’t even make sense.” Lyric rolled her eyes. “If you’re in charge, then why do you have to do what someone else told you?” Flint launched into a defense of his decision, but Ru shouted over him. “Flint! Look, the reason their numbers were so low at the beginning of the battle is obvious, isn’t it? It’s not because this portal doesn’t mean anything to them—it’s because it means everything to them. They’re not on the battlefield yet. They will come through the portal!” She had him by the shoulders, which caused him to jump backward, shaking himself free, and once Ru finished her statement she took a step back as well. “What? No,” Flint argued. “They’re not going to send them through the portal. That would be suicide. They’d have to come through a small opening into enemy controlled territory.” “Yeah, into a stream of five whole enemy fighters who cannot possibly hold them all off,” Rider reminded him. “You have to close in behind us.” Ru
Reaper's Hollow Chapter 152
Aokigahara sprawled in front of her like the untamed wild it was, trees encroaching into the neighboring farmlands and open spaces as if the forest insisted on reclaiming what used to be hers. From this direction, it was difficult to tell where the forest began and civilization ended, though Ru thought for certain she’d know when she crossed the line. She stifled a yawn and kept moving forward, one boot at a time, toward what might be her very last mission, if she had her way. Though she had fallen asleep for a few hours, for the most part, she’d gotten her wish and was able to stay up most of the night, with Cutter’s help, and the activity he’d chosen to occupy her certainly didn’t make her feel less worn out. The few hours she had spent in oblivion had been dreamless, as far as she knew. At least, if there had been dreams, they had been unmemorable. Her friends surrounded her as they made their way into the forest. Cutter was in front of her, Rider b
Reaper's Hollow Chapter 151
Navigating airports was hard enough for Ru when she was in countries where most everyone spoke English. Flying to Japan would’ve been completely overwhelming if Ivy wasn’t fluent in Japanese and Mandarin, especially when they had to switch planes in Shanghai. Luckily, the gentle-natured Keeper had managed to keep all of them in line and they’d made their way to Shizuoka Airport with little incident, though Rider complained about the lack of legroom on the commuter jet nearly the whole flight. Thank goodness for headphones, Ru had thought to herself. The entire van ride from the airport to their hotel, a place Ru hadn’t even attempted to try to pronounce for fear she’d embarrass herself, her eyes were glued out the window. From the buildings, to the natural surroundings off in the distance, to the smiling faces of those they passed along the streets, Ru was fascinated. By the looks she was getting, so were the people staring back at her. Five tall blondes with blue e
Reaper's Hollow Chapter 150
Cutter squeezed her leg, and Ru realized it must be apparent she wasn’t paying attention. She tuned back in to hear Sky say, “Now, the team we are meant to protect so that they can get in and close the portal will be given the code name Alfred. This will allow us to be briefer in our communications about the team.” Sky continued to talk, and she knew it was important that she listen, since Ru would be involved in whatever the blue-haired Keeper was discussing presently, but curiosity got the better of her. “Why Alfred?” she whispered to Cutter. Without turning his head, he replied, “Alfred Nobel.” “Huh?” Ru was still confused. “The inventor of dynamite.” “Oh.” Shaking her head, she turned her attention back to Sky, who was giving her the same look Ru might give a student who wasn’t paying attention. Ru swallowed hard and made herself concentrate. “Alfred will be dispatched from here, a break in the forest away from the typical entrance
