supposed to take, like, the whole thing, right?”
“Yeah.” I felt cold inside. I hated to do it this way, but Rod had left us no choice.
I reached checkpoint delta too late. Three catfish lay on the ground, covered in dirt, each one shaved clean of its whiskers. The small clearing reeked of dead fish.
I didn’t know who to feel sorrier for: the slaughtered fish or myself and my friends, who weren’t going to graduate. And my poor aunt.
I hunkered down and stared at the fish, mesmerized by the rainbow light glinting off their opalescent scales.
I flailed and landed on my ass when one of the fish flopped about in the weeds. It—the fish, not my ass—was still alive! I grabbed it around the fishy equivalent of its neck, mindful of the barbed spikes on its sides. (And for the record, can I just say , Ewww!) I plopped it back in the small stream nearby, tossing in the other two in the vain hope they might be alive as well. They didn’t float back up to the surface so perhaps they’d survived.
Maybe being a Reaper didn’t mean everything I did had to be about death.
I rinsed and rinsed my hands in the stream, murmuring, “Out. Out damn slime.”
After a while I felt cleaner. At least my hands, anyway. I hoped the others had found and taken all the other tokens.
I hated to play dirty. But sometimes you had to. And if I had anything to say about it, that skegger Rod was going down.
Chapter 9
Time Well Bent
SEVERAL MINUTES—OR HOURS—LATER, I checked in with the gals. Kali had found both her checkpoints, but it was the same story: no scavenger bits to be had. Amber reported no better luck. They’d run into M’Kimbi and Ira. Both of them had come up empty, as well. We were well and truly skegged.
“Let’s head back to the clearing. Maybe when Rod shows up with everything, Sergeant Schotz will give us a do-over.” Static hissed and sparked. I could hear the disappointment in Amber’s voice even over the bad connection.
“Not likely,” I said. “He’ll probably fail us all and give Rod the highest commendation.”
“I’ll destroy them all!” Kali shouted. A blast of scorching wind nearly fried my ear.
“No, you won’t.”
“I know, but I feel better when I say it.”
I understood. I wanted to wring Rod’s weasel-like neck, so the god of death and destruction must want to rip his head off. I compared my position on the phone’s map display with the position Amber had given me and began to jog back toward the clearing where we’d met up before. “Maybe we can lay in wait for Rod and . . . Oof! ”
I fell face-first onto the path and something smashed into my shin, but I kept my death grip on the phone. “ Ow! Ow! ”
“What?” said Amber.
“What?” said Kali.
“What?” Ira’s voice. He must have stumbled onto our channel.
“Nothing. Ow! Nothing. I just tripped.” Great. Not only was I going to fail the class, but I was going to do so with a massive bruise on my leg. I rolled into a sitting position, brushing dirt and twigs and not a few bugs off my jeans.
“You okay?” Amber asked.
“Yeah. Fine.”
“What did you trip over?” Kali asked.
“What the skeg does that . . . ? Oh, God!” Like Kali had a short time ago, I fell back into old habits, using a Coil swear word. Stinky blue smoke colored the air before me. “God,” I murmured a second time.
“What?” said Amber.
“You talking to me, girlfriend?” said Kali.
“I’m homesick,” said Ira.
“We might as well go check in.” I deliberately didn’t answer their questions as I picked up the object I’d tripped over and used my shirtsleeve to wipe some of the grime off its crystal surface. “Gather everyone, including Rod, and meet me at the clearing just inside the woods.”
“Even Rod?”
“Yeah. Especially Rod. Horace must have his hellphone number. It was on the class list.”
We all met up in the clearing, straggling in one disappointed classmate at a time. We shared our experiences in
“Yeah.” I felt cold inside. I hated to do it this way, but Rod had left us no choice.
I reached checkpoint delta too late. Three catfish lay on the ground, covered in dirt, each one shaved clean of its whiskers. The small clearing reeked of dead fish.
I didn’t know who to feel sorrier for: the slaughtered fish or myself and my friends, who weren’t going to graduate. And my poor aunt.
I hunkered down and stared at the fish, mesmerized by the rainbow light glinting off their opalescent scales.
I flailed and landed on my ass when one of the fish flopped about in the weeds. It—the fish, not my ass—was still alive! I grabbed it around the fishy equivalent of its neck, mindful of the barbed spikes on its sides. (And for the record, can I just say , Ewww!) I plopped it back in the small stream nearby, tossing in the other two in the vain hope they might be alive as well. They didn’t float back up to the surface so perhaps they’d survived.
Maybe being a Reaper didn’t mean everything I did had to be about death.
I rinsed and rinsed my hands in the stream, murmuring, “Out. Out damn slime.”
After a while I felt cleaner. At least my hands, anyway. I hoped the others had found and taken all the other tokens.
I hated to play dirty. But sometimes you had to. And if I had anything to say about it, that skegger Rod was going down.
Chapter 9
Time Well Bent
SEVERAL MINUTES—OR HOURS—LATER, I checked in with the gals. Kali had found both her checkpoints, but it was the same story: no scavenger bits to be had. Amber reported no better luck. They’d run into M’Kimbi and Ira. Both of them had come up empty, as well. We were well and truly skegged.
“Let’s head back to the clearing. Maybe when Rod shows up with everything, Sergeant Schotz will give us a do-over.” Static hissed and sparked. I could hear the disappointment in Amber’s voice even over the bad connection.
“Not likely,” I said. “He’ll probably fail us all and give Rod the highest commendation.”
“I’ll destroy them all!” Kali shouted. A blast of scorching wind nearly fried my ear.
“No, you won’t.”
“I know, but I feel better when I say it.”
I understood. I wanted to wring Rod’s weasel-like neck, so the god of death and destruction must want to rip his head off. I compared my position on the phone’s map display with the position Amber had given me and began to jog back toward the clearing where we’d met up before. “Maybe we can lay in wait for Rod and . . . Oof! ”
I fell face-first onto the path and something smashed into my shin, but I kept my death grip on the phone. “ Ow! Ow! ”
“What?” said Amber.
“What?” said Kali.
“What?” Ira’s voice. He must have stumbled onto our channel.
“Nothing. Ow! Nothing. I just tripped.” Great. Not only was I going to fail the class, but I was going to do so with a massive bruise on my leg. I rolled into a sitting position, brushing dirt and twigs and not a few bugs off my jeans.
“You okay?” Amber asked.
“Yeah. Fine.”
“What did you trip over?” Kali asked.
“What the skeg does that . . . ? Oh, God!” Like Kali had a short time ago, I fell back into old habits, using a Coil swear word. Stinky blue smoke colored the air before me. “God,” I murmured a second time.
“What?” said Amber.
“You talking to me, girlfriend?” said Kali.
“I’m homesick,” said Ira.
“We might as well go check in.” I deliberately didn’t answer their questions as I picked up the object I’d tripped over and used my shirtsleeve to wipe some of the grime off its crystal surface. “Gather everyone, including Rod, and meet me at the clearing just inside the woods.”
“Even Rod?”
“Yeah. Especially Rod. Horace must have his hellphone number. It was on the class list.”
We all met up in the clearing, straggling in one disappointed classmate at a time. We shared our experiences in
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