Grim and Bear It
Chapter Thirty-Two

Rule #25: In the rare event of a lockdown, no reaper is allowed to exit Isle of Grim. -The Reaper Code of Ethics, official handbook.

Poppy

I was lucky that without working lungs, I couldn't drown. Of course, it wasn't drowning I was worried about. Water rushed around me as whatever had my ankle pulled me deeper. I frantically fought back against their hold, kicking and trying to lean down to pry off their grip.

I couldn't see at all, everything was black. My fingers glanced off the large hand and no amount of screaming or thrashing seemed to make a difference. My panic morphed into dread.

This was going to be bad. Like really bad. Maybe if Anya-no. There'd be no rescue. I was wanted and charged with banishment. No one was on their way to help me.

I hadn't wanted to be a reaper anymore, but not like this. My daydreams were of me ending up with Jake somehow, living the life we should've had. Jake. At least once I was snuffed of existence, I wouldn't miss him anymore. I closed my eyes and tried to think of every good memory we had shared.

The way his lips felt on mine, how warm I was in his arms, the sound of his laugh, the way his eyes glittered when he was happy. I let myself fall into the memories. At some point, I would either be dead or released long enough to fight back. I refused to live my last moments in fear and panic.

I wanted to live them in love.

My chest burned with emotions as we started to slow. I opened my eyes, preparing for my chance, only to see through the water. We were nearing the surface. What was going on?

Without warning, I was unceremoniously launched out of the water. I screamed when I broke the surface, then dropped like a dead weight onto a small shore. I sucked in another scream when something-no, someone-landed next to me. Anya rose from the sand, stared at me wide-eyed and launched herself at me, hugging me hard. "Oh my god, oh my god."

"What happened?" I asked, completely confused. We separated and both turned to the water to replace the pod of mermaids who had passed by us earlier.

"Thank you for the music," one of them said, and poof, they were gone.

My mouth opened and closed, but nothing came out.

"Music?" Anya asked.

"I played at the old pier," I explained, as I got to my feet and climbed up the bank, peering over the rocks. To my left was a portal to the human world, to my right, a boat dock with an empty boat. "They brought us to a portal." Anya stood next to me. "Whoa. They saved your life."

I laughed in disbelief. "Wish they would've told me before I had to come to terms with my own death. Again."

She wrapped me in her arms. "Get out of here. I'll take the boat back." She stepped back but held onto my shoulders for a long moment, as if committing me to memory. "We'll figure it out, okay? We'll get you back." I nodded. "I have complete faith."

And with one last hug, I took off running. I leaped through the door and tumbled into the human world, skidding across damp grass. I stood on shaking legs, then looked down at my hands and feet, making sure my human glamour was in place.

I was here. I'd made it. I looked back over my shoulder to make sure I wasn't being followed, then started running. I'd never been away from the reaper world for more than four hours, and definitely not without my cloak, sword, and violin before. I needed to replace Jake and get to safety.

It was nearly dark, a full moon creeping over the horizon. Headlights washed over me, but no one could see a barefooted, soaking wet reaper running down the sidewalk. When I reached the ice cream shop, I made a hard left toward Jake's place. I concentrated hard on him, trying to latch on to his location so I could just appear there. I didn't feel him. No pulling in my chest, no unshakable certainty that he was alive and well.

I ran faster.

What if something had happened to him? What if while I was locked inside that coffin of a room, he had died? What if I missed saying good-bye? What if I was too late?

I launched myself in front of Jake's condo, pounding on the door as I crossed through the wall. "JAKE!" I screamed.

Sebastian and Reggie looked up at me from the floor, where they were lying on top of the couch cushions. I stopped, staring. Surely if something had happened to Jake they wouldn't be doing...whatever this was. "Where's Jake?" "Poppy?" Sebastian sat up, pushing back his blond hair. "What are you doing here?"

"Got in trouble, banished, escaped, and so on. Where's Jake? Is he okay?"

"Sí, Esqueleto. He and Paris went to Hayvenwood up north. Got a lead on the case." He sat up and stared at me.

"Where's your cloak?" Sebastian asked. "What happened to you?"

"I tried to break into the main computer system to replace out if Jake was on the master death list, got caught, put in jail, they took my cape and my sword and my violin, then I was banished, which means like the end of my existence, but my sister broke me out and after that, my cousin and a pod of merpeople got me to the other side of the River Styx without anyone noticing and I just tumbled through a portal." It all came out in one breath.

They both blinked at me, not moving for a long moment. "I don't even know how to respond to this," Sebastian admitted.

"What are you two doing?" I asked.

Reggie gestured to the television. "He's Jack and I'm Rose, but I make room for him on the door and create enough buoyancy by putting my life jacket underneath."

I looked at the screen to catch the scene in Titanic where Rose laid on the door singing to the night. "So much room on that door."

"Precisely," Sebastian added.

"How do I get to Hayvenwood?" I asked, turning back to them. "Can you take me?"

They both shook their heads in unison. "We can't go more than ten miles from our home base," Reggie explained.

"Can you just transport there?" Sebastian asked.

I lifted my shoulder. "I'm not sure. We always just appeared where we were working, or I concentrated on replaceing Jake and was able to just poof wherever he was. But I can't feel him. I don't know if something's wrong or if he's too far away." Sebastian was already on his feet, pulling out a drawer on the coffee table. He tried to grab something from inside and grunted when it fell through his fingers. Reggie reached in and grabbed it for him, then unfolded it on the floor. A map of Michigan lay stretched out in front of us.

It had highlights and pen marks, and the creases of the map were worn. This had definitely been used over and over again. I knelt and started searching for the town. I wasn't sure if a map was going to help, but it couldn't hurt. "Where is it? Any ideas?"

"Somewhere near the Mackinac Bridge?" Reggie said. "I don't remember how far, but I know it's north."

I skimmed over the lower peninsula of Michigan and into the upper, reading and rereading the tiny letters, trying to replace the name. "Why can't I replace it?" I shouted, mostly to the map.

Sebastian's finger pointed at a tiny pencil dot with an H next to it. "This is probably it."

"I don't know if I can travel three hundred miles," I admitted. "I don't even know if I can travel three."

Reggie reached out and grabbed my hand. "You can stay with us until Jake gets back. Or we can go to Mina's place. She and Carma are in a safe house with Jake's family. We might be more protected there."

"I must admit," Sebastian added, "I don't know how we could protect you from other reapers. But we shall try."

I nodded. It would be nice to spend time with the two of them. I opened my mouth to agree when something familiar pulled at me. Not the reaper clock directing me to replace a soul, but the same pull I had when Jake was in imminent danger.

I pressed my hand to my chest and looked at them wide-eyed. "He's in trouble. Jake's in trouble!" I stood, panicking. I closed my eyes and tried to pinpoint him, tried to replace a connection to him, but it was like I was still underwater. There were too many miles between us. "Argh, this isn't working!"

Sebastian pushed to his feet. "Perhaps you need something of his to hold, something that connects you to him?"

"Yes!" I took off running down the hall, the ghosts right behind me. I jumped onto his bed and pressed my full hand against the poppy painting, the textures of the petals pressing into my palm. I closed my eyes and thought of the first time that I saw it, the way it made me feel like I was floating in the clouds yet anchored to home.

I thought of the way Jake whispered "kiss me," the way his warm breath moved over my skin. Then I recalled his heartbeat. The strong, rhythmic sound that was the most beautiful music I had ever heard.

I locked on his position.

With a flicker, I was gone.