Cutter’s house was empty when Ru arrived back, and she noticed his parents’ and Cinder’s vehicles were gone. Assuming they’d all gone out somewhere together, she’d tried the doorknob and been relieved they’d left it unlocked. She assumed they rarely went to the trouble to barricade the doors in these parts. Piper took to the stairs as soon as they met them, and Ru thought she might be retreating to the comfort of her own area for a while. Her own bed, dishes, and carrier might’ve been a consolation to her.
Despite feeling a little odd walking through Windy and Walt’s home while they weren’t there, Ru headed for the kitchen in search of a drink of water. When she entered the cozy room, she saw Cutter sitting outside on the steps of the back porch. In the short time she’d lived with him at Angel Grove, she’d noticed he seemed to like to sit outside and think. While part of her thought it might be a good idea to l
“So… my brother….”Ru looked up, surprised. She didn’t expect him to tackle that topic as well, not when he was already clearly uncomfortable. Perhaps he thought it would be easier to get it all out in the open at the same time. “Leaf?”Cutter licked his lips and then leaned back so that his forearms were resting on the porch behind him. “My siblings are much older than me. You may have noticed that with Cinder. She’s ten years older than I am. Leaf was thirteen years my senior.”Avoiding the statement that his mother either looked good for her age or had started out young, Ru only nodded. She’d caught Cinder’s statement that she’d been doing this for a few decades when she’d barked at her the night before.“My brother was my hero,” he continued, still not looking at her for more than split second glances at a time. “My mom did a lot of my training when
Ru wanted to argue with Cutter, especially since she noticed how carefully he’d chosen his words, reassuring her that he thought of her only as a Keeper and not at all a Reaper, even though she had yet to reconcile that other part of herself at this point. Was it really as simple as choosing a side? If she had been capable of selecting an identity growing up, her life would’ve turned out much differently. She wouldn’t have chosen to be the unloved, under-appreciated, cast off “ugly stepsister.” Looking down, she realized his hand was on her arm, near her elbow, and noted this was the first time he had voluntarily touched her since her insensitive comment. The thought was fleeting, and she remembered his statement. “I don’t know, Cutter,” she admitted. “I guess it’s possible. I think it’s more like an ulcer at this point, though.” Her stomach screamed at her whenever she got anxious or upset, which didn’t a
The bedroom she was standing in was even more unfamiliar than the one she’d fallen asleep in likely an hour or two ago. The sunlight peeking through the curtained window revealed it was early morning in whatever dreamland she’d stumbled into. The border at the top of light blue walls consisted of trains, cars, and sailboats. That and the bedspread curled around a smallish, sleeping body revealed this room must belong to a young boy.Glancing around, Ru realized the room might be in need of updating. There were no toys similar to the ones in the border; instead, a table full of Legos took up a huge amount of space against one wall. There were figurines on a shelf, mostly Minecraft, Star Wars, and Pokémon. This child must’ve been about ten or so, she thought, though he seemed short for his age or was just really good at rolling into a ball. “Why am I here?” Ru whispered, not wanting to disturb him, but she was c
“Really?” Kyle asked. Before she could answer, he dropped to his knee. “Hey, Ira, how would you like to go to a place where everything is made of Legos? You can build whatever you want to, all day long. No school. No interruption. Sounds cool, doesn’t it? Wanna go?”She could tell by Ira’s excited reaction he was considering it. Regardless of his preferences, she put both hands on his shoulders. “No!” she said, pulling him back a few steps. “You can’t do that! You can’t lie to him to get him to come with you.”“I’m not lying,” Kyle protested. “It’s true. What do you say, buddy?”Ira pulled away from her, giving her the harsh look he dealt to those who touched him without permission. “Stop, Ms. Roberts,” he insisted.“Ira,” she said, ducking her head to look into his eyes, “this is
Ru breathed a sigh of relief but then looked up to see Thanatos, looking every bit like himself, no longer needing the ruse of Kyle, standing by the closet door. His forehead was bleeding and she assumed there was another gash in the back. “You ready for more?” she asked, raising her hands.“You know I can hurt you, too?” He stuck out his hand in her direction, as if he were about to shoot something at her, and Ru took a few steps backward.“I already sent for the others!” she shouted, hoping it would be enough to deter him. “They’ll be here any second.”At first, he seemed to be in doubt of her proclamation, but then something changed, and Ru wondered if someone really was coming. Perhaps he could sense it. She was likely not as sensitive as he was. With a loud exhale, Thanatos said, “This isn’t over!” and just as he had disappeared in the woo
Ru erupted back into Leaf’s bed with a resounding boom which shook the room. She’d never experienced anything like it, but as her eyes flew open, she realized her body was gyrating and the bed was vibrating across the floor. The lights were still off, as were the other electronic devices, but the feeling in her stomach seemed to be surfacing, and as she watched, the darkness came to life as the pain seemed to gather into a sphere inside of her and erupted out of her hand in a surge of energy. Confusion swept over her as she realized this wasn’t the warm blue light she was used to. Even in the darkness, she could see the blackness ejected from her right palm, leaving trails of smoke in its wake as it dissipated into the room. Her eyes were wide with bewilderment. It looked just like the puff Nat used to propel himself into another realm.Before she could even begin to consider what might’ve been happening, the bedroom door flew open and Cutter was stand
Rider opened his mouth to say something, but once she finished her statement, he laughed. “Bleed his own blood?” he repeated, shaking his head. “Okay, Ru. I get it. But… for the love of God, we’ve got to get you fully trained. We are past the point where having little convos with the enemy is going to do us any good. If we could actually take him down, it would make our jobs a hell of a lot easier.”“I understand that,” Ru said, taking another deep breath to calm herself. “But… he is willing to talk to me. And the more he says, the better chance we have of knowing what’s going on with the Reapers. He says he won’t threaten any more of my students, but we still need to let Sky know about this.” She was addressing Cutter now, and he nodded when she looked at him. Turning her attention back to Rider, she said, “I wasn’t even sure if anyone was coming. I was just trying to figure out what
London wasn’t exactly what Ru had imagined it would be. In her mind, it was the hauntingly beautiful, foggy world of Dickens and Peter Pan. In reality, it was a lot like every other noisy, crowded city she’d ever visited, although some of the architecture was unlike anything she’d ever imagined. Perhaps if she’d had more time to actually visit some of the touristy places, she’d have come away with a different impression, but for now, she would rather read about the capital of Great Britain than actually visit.She had plenty of time to reflect on the city as Rider steered their rented van down winding rural roads leading out of the congestion toward the serene Holy Island. It would be a seven-hour drive, and a glance at the time on her phone told Ru they weren’t even halfway there.They’d had to plan their trip carefully because of the tides that covered the causeway every day. She’d left all the planning to other team me