My voice echoed across the nothingness, but no one answered. Time seemed to slow down, or maybe it was just my impression. Perhaps everything was warped here, including my consciousness.

  After a while—which, to me, seemed like forever—a figure formed in front of me. She was petite, with pale skin and long black hair. There were galaxies in her eyes, and she wore a long white nightgown with ruffled lace sleeves and a black satin bow on her chest. She smiled softly, but it did nothing to soothe my anxiety.

  We were running out of time, and I was… I had no idea where I was.

  "It took you a while, but congratulations," she said, though her lips didn't move. I heard her in the back of my head. "You completed the challenge."

  "Phantom? You're the Phantom?" I croaked.

  "Underwhelmed? Also, just Phantom is fine."

  I shook my head. "More like creeped out. You've got a terrifying imagination."

  The memory of everything that had happened, including who I thought I'd been in her dream world, came back at furious velocity. I was bombarded by thoughts I'd had, and thoughts I'd dreamed I'd had. It was an abstract notion, but I was baffled by how my mind had functioned under Phantom's challenge.

  She'd played us all like fiddles, including Brendel, and we'd nearly lost this entire war. Part of me wanted to grab Phantom by the throat and choke her to death, but my realistic side reminded me that she was one of the First Ten, and definitely not someone I'd want to piss off.

  "I did my part, and you did yours," Phantom said. "How that happened doesn't matter. What does matter is that you followed your instincts. You found Phyla, you remembered, and you stopped at nothing to get it. For that, you have my eternal admiration."

  I nodded slowly, trying to accept an ancient Reaper's compliment. It was a hard thing to do, after everything she'd put us through. I'd watched Amelia get burned alive, for Pete's sake.

  Phantom smiled. "You have a lot you'd like to say to me, I presume. Just don't hold on to that grudge for too long. It's unhealthy."

  She was right. I did have a question, one that burned hotter in my mind than anything else.

  "How'd you get Brendel into the challenge? She had no idea who she was, right until the very last moment," I said.

  "I am very powerful inside Phyla. Brendel never would've been able to take Phyla away, but she could've ended the challenge. She could've defeated you. She could've done many nasty things, so I decided to even the playing field a little bit. I was also curious as to how she'd fare. I'm a little disappointed. Her instincts are garbage. All she has is power and an obsession for that stupid ritual."

  "So it's over?" I asked.

  She shrugged. "Maybe. You have Phyla. You can complete Thieron. But it must be delivered straight to Death's door, wherever you left her. No artifices. No Reaper help on this one. Nothing. You must travel to—"

  "Mortis. She's on Mortis."

  "Mortis. Makes sense." She giggled. "You must go there yourself and give it to her. That is how the challenge was made, and that is how it must be completed."

  My heart swelled from the anticipation, until I remembered something I deemed to be equally important to me in this wretched quest. "What about my father? The Soul Crusher said I could resurrect him with Phyla. Brendel killed him. It's unfair. It's unnatural. I have to save him…"

  "Soul didn't lie. You can do that. You can resurrect your father with Phyla, but… be honest with yourself, Taeral. Do you have time for that?"

  Knots twisted and tightened in the pit of my stomach. A voice in my head whispered, telling me that maybe I should start considering the prospect of a life without my father in it, but I couldn't bring myself to give it any credence or consideration. The idea was simply too awful.

  "Brendel is in a momentary limbo because she got sucked into my game," Phantom added. “As soon as you are out, as soon as you come to, you will be open and vulnerable to her. Do you think she'll let you go anywhere with Phyla?"

  "Then what was the point of all this?" I blurted, my voice shaking, my eyes stinging. "I lost my father. I'm about to lose my planet, my friends… my everything. What was the point?!"

  Phantom hovered closer to me, peering deep into my soul. "Normally, I'd have let you struggle, but, I admit, I have my weaknesses. You've impressed me, Taeral. Tell you what, I can't let you become Brendel chow. You're right. There's no sense in that. But there isn't much Phyla mojo left in me, just enough to do one thing, and that’s all," she said, waiting for me to say something. I could barely think in that moment, so she did me a favor and finished her proposition, instead. "I can take you and your friends through Phyla to one place, and one place only."

  "What… What are you saying?"

  I felt tears rolling down my cheeks, but my whole body was soft, like butter. There wasn't much I could do, other than listen to what Phantom had to say. I was tired. Exhausted. Drained.

  "I can take you to The Shade, where you can resurrect your father, but, five minutes later, Brendel will be all over you. I've been in your minds, Taeral. I've seen what you've seen, and, unlike you, I'm able to ascertain that an ancient Reaper like me is helping Brendel go after you. Chances are that Reaper will support her again, and your quest to save your father will only end in more tears."

  Her statement floored me. However, upon thinking it over, I realized that she was right. There had to be some Reaper knowledge involved for Brendel to heal so quickly after I'd first struck her with Thieron. "I hit her with Thieron in your dream world, as well. All it did was trigger her memory," I said.

  "That wasn't the real Thieron," Phantom replied. "None of it was real, except Phyla."

  "So, if I go to The Shade now and save my father, Brendel will catch up with us," I said.

  She nodded. "You've come so far. It scares her. She is relentless, and she will stop at nothing to stop you or to throw you off your game. She's got Reaper help too, which, to be honest, kind of worries me. Your entire quest might end in failure if you choose to go to The Shade."

  It hurt me, deeply. I couldn't bring myself to turn my back on my father at this junction, but I had to ask her. "What's the second option?"

  "I use the same amount of leftover mojo to take you to Mortis, instead. Straight to Mama's door. Reapers can't normally zap mortals around like this, but with Phyla I can. You complete Thieron and hand it over to Death, and perhaps she will rescue your father, once she's done flambéing the Hermessi's asses. Sherus's death is unnatural. We're both in agreement here."

  These were my choices. Save my father and risk blowing this entire mission because of Brendel. Or complete the mission and rely on Death to save my father. I'd listened to my instinct until now, and it had gotten me through Phantom's challenge. My heart cried out for my father, but my instinct was pulling me in the opposite direction.

  "You don't have time to think about it too much," Phantom said.

  My heart broke into millions of little pieces. What were the odds that any of these options would truly end well, based on everything we'd gone through so far? I wanted to save my father. I needed him back. But Death needed Thieron, and we needed Death to come through for us. The choice sounded rather easy, but the ache in my chest told me it would be anything but.

  Kelara

  Fear was not something I'd experienced much of since I'd become a Reaper. Dying had sort of washed most of the emotions away. For a while, I'd struggled with the longing, with missing the taste of food and drink. But I'd taken comfort in still being able to listen to music wherever I went, to watch conversations and relationships unfold over time. There were silver linings to my existence between life and death. Emotions had felt like extra baggage after a while, and I'd eventually learned not to miss them.

  Out of all of them, fear was the one I didn’t want to welcome back, and yet it was precisely what I was experiencing in this moment as I stood before Nightmare and Dream. They were infinitely more powerful than I ever would be, and, if I wasn't sharp and careful enough, I'd end up feeding them like the sleeping tribespeople on the riverbanks. They didn't care about what I had to do, about what needed to be done to help Death and the living against the Hermessi.

  "It's not our fight anymore," Nightmare said, taking another step toward me. They were definitely planning to knock me out and munch on my dreams. "It hasn't been for a very long, long time, Kelara."

  "You're honestly better off staying here with us for a while. I'll make sure your sleep is sweet and sound. I promise," Dream added. Oh, she could easily seduce anyone's mind. What an enchantress she could be, if she set her sights on a person. But I had to resist. I had to find a way to get them to help me.

  If there was a treacherous First Tenner out there, like the Time Master, for example, he needed to be revealed and neutralized before he could do any more harm. The universal balance had been damaged, and it had to be restored.

  "I must find the Time Master," I said, determined not to go down easy. Pulling my scythe out, I hoped it would remind them that I wasn't one of the local creatures for them to play with as they wished. "You're either going to help me, or you'll direct me to someone who can. I have no interest in staying here and fueling your addiction."

  "What part of 'we don't care' did you not understand?" Dream shot back, narrowing her galaxy eyes at me. If she wanted to come across as menacing, she didn't have to go to great lengths. One scowl from her was enough.

  "Taeral is about to get Thieron back to Death," I said. "One way or another, he will succeed. He's gotten past the Widow Maker and the Soul Crusher already."

  Nightmare laughed. "Oh, honey. But the Phantom is a wholly different ballgame. She's too powerful, too complicated in her craft to be defeated by anyone. I've known her since the dawn of time. I'm well aware of what she can do, especially if she's powered up by the likes of Phyla."

  They inched closer to me, and I moved back. I had to reason with them somehow. They were too strong for me to resist in any way, and chances were I wouldn't be able to shake them. Perhaps the truth might set me free, regardless of what the Spirit Bender had said.

  "Can I be honest with you?" I asked, stalling for time.

  Dream nodded slowly, eating me up with her gaze. "Of course, darling. Honesty is tastier than deceit."

  The way they talked about abstract concepts as if they were delicious morsels on a food platter was certainly chilling, but not nearly as bad as the prospect of ending up as their dinner, so to speak. They fed on people's energies. They put them to sleep and they infused their heads with dreams, from which they then drank, insatiable and unwilling to stop until they had the very last drop, leaving behind a pile of desiccated husks.

  "I'm not looking for the Time Master because I need his help. I'm looking for the Time Master because I think he's the one who helped Brendel steal Thieron in the first place. He's the one who's been helping her against Death and against the living," I said. Their expressions changed from delightful anticipation to deep, darkened frowns. "One way or another, Death will get Thieron back. The challenger is too far down the road to stop now, and it's my understanding that he can't even die until he completes this. So, when the curtain falls and Death has her full powers back, whose side do you want to be on? The traitors'? Or your maker's?"

  They were speechless, but they weren't moving. I felt I was moments away from driving the point home. So I kept going.

  "When she's back to her grand, whole self, do you want to be on her naughty list, or do you want to be known as the Reapers who helped?" I continued.

  Dream scoffed. "Are you serious?"

  "Do you see me smiling?" I shot back.

  "Where'd you get your information regarding the Time Master? How do you know he's your culprit?" Nightmare asked, crossing his arms.

  Relief washed over me, as their stances relaxed. They weren't coming at me anymore, and I could breathe again. Slowly, I slipped my scythe back in its leather holster, steady on my hip.

  "Something didn't make sense when I first heard about Brendel swiftly recovering from a Thieron hit, even though the scythe was incomplete at the time. I began suspecting Reaper involvement, especially when Brendel was given a location no one among the living would've given her, and certainly no one among the rebel Hermessi."

  "How do you know that for sure?" Dream asked.

  "Because both the living and the rebel Hermessi were trying to hide and protect the Hermessi children from Brendel," I said. "The only one who would've revealed their location had to be someone who knew but wasn't among them. A Reaper. Combined with the extensive knowledge it would take to heal an elemental or any other entity from Thieron's blow, it just made sense that we'd be talking about one of the First Ten."

  "And how'd you reach the brilliant conclusion that it was the Time Master?" Dream chuckled. She didn't believe me.

  "The Spirit Bender told me. Out of all the First Tenners, the Time Master was the most disgruntled regarding his immortality and inability to move on into the world of the dead. The only one who longed to find his final rest."

  Dream and Nightmare burst into laughter. I'd told them one hell of a joke, apparently. For a moment, I felt rather silly. Had I been mislead, somehow? Had I trusted the wrong guy? The thought alone was enough to make me shudder.

  "Well, that makes sense," Dream said, still giggling. "Spirit played you so well, you didn't even see it coming."

  "What do you mean?" I asked.

  "Out of the First Ten, the only one, the only one who ever bitched about being stuck as a Reaper was the Spirit Bender. Nobody else," Nightmare replied, a muscle twitching angrily in his jaw. I had a feeling he didn't like Spirit much. "He stuck around after his release from duty because he didn't know what else to do. At least, as a Reaper, he had some kind of routine. We always pitied him for being so linear, so boring. We'd often joked that Death had made a mistake by creating him."

  "And contrary to what that lying, whining sack of regrets told you, the Time Master, while very much a loner type, would never, absolutely never betray our maker like this," Dream added. "We may be awful by your standards. Selfish and whatever. Crazy and so on… but we are still loyal to Death. She was never the best mother, but we would never take up arms against her. Except, maybe, the Spirit Bender. He was always spiteful and vindictive."

  "Skeevy, deceitful bastard," Nightmare muttered. "I can't tell you how many times he sowed discord among us before we all told him to bugger off. It's why he wound up back on duty in Reaper-Town. None of us First Tenners wanted him around."

  I could barely breathe at this point, horrified by how easily Spirit had manipulated me. "And since none of you were around these past millions of years, he could lie to me or anyone else who asked, because we couldn't verify any of his claims…"

  Dream smiled and picked up her liquid light bottle, taking a long sip. "It's your lucky day, Kelara. We're not touching you with a ten-foot pole, but not because we don't crave the taste of your dreams… trust me, we do… but because we don't want to play that jerk's game."

  "He sent you down here to divert suspicion from himself and so we would keep you busy while he goes around doing whatever the hell he's doing," Nightmare explained, slightly insulted. "He figured we'd knock you out, nibble on your dreams, while he continues with his web of treachery and deceit. Personally, I find that unacceptable."

  Suddenly, these two had a moral compass. It was fascinating to watch, but it also revealed my biggest underlying problem. I had let Spirit go without telling anyone about him—more than an hour had passed since I'd last seen him, which was enough time for him to pursue his agenda against Death. By the time I reached out to Seeley or anyone else, Spirit would be long gone.

  In the wind, impossible to track. Looking at Dream and Nightmare, I understood what needed to be done. Spirit had to be stopped, no matter what. And I needed powerful Reapers by my side, because I, on my own, didn't stand a chance.

  But would Dream and Nightmare be willing to help? Or would they just scoff and send me on my way, claiming that they'd already helped? Was this the most I'd get out of them?

  Amelia

  I was suddenly awakened from what had felt like a distant but extraordinarily vivid dream. We were all inside the glass bell, groaning and gradually coming to. My first instinct was to look for Raphael. I found him next to me, equally confused as he looked around. His jaw dropped, and I followed his gaze to find Taeral sitting up, holding Phyla in one hand and the rest of Thieron in the other. He was crying.

  "Tae," I managed. "What… What happened?"

  "Oh, crap, she's still here!" Herakles gasped.

  A bumbling ball of fire was inside the glass bell with us. Brendel. She was smaller than usual, and she didn't strike me as being conscious. "She was in the dream with us," I whispered, the memories coming back with frightening speed.

  Raphael and I exchanged glances, my face burning as I remembered our dream relationship, the love-making, the disillusionment of learning that none of it had been real. But those thoughts faded quickly as the immediate threat came into focus.

  "She's going to wake up soon," Taeral said, tears streaming down his cheeks.

  "Why are you crying?" Eira asked him.

  Looking behind me and beyond the glass, I saw Seeley, Widow, Soul, and Kabbah staring at us in disbelief. They couldn't believe we'd made it, I figured. Farther up the white step structure, dozens of Hermessi flashed in vivid color, threateningly swelling as they began their descent. What had they been doing until now?

  "There's no time!" Taeral shouted, and put his arm out, clutching Phyla tightly in his hand. "Link to me. We have to go!"

  "What the hell is happening?" I heard Kabbah shout. His astonishment was equal to mine, because I couldn't understand much of this, either. My head was an absolute mess, blending dreams with reality in a familiarly irritating manner.

  "Just touch me!" Taeral snapped.

  We linked hands as Brendel's fire form glowed brighter, the flames threatening to fill the entire glass bell. Eira caught Taeral's Phyla arm, keeping the physical connection. Seconds later, we disintegrated and vanished from sight.

 

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