Page 23 of Reaper's Quest

The creatures continued to fly overhead, but they hovered frightfully high in the sky, leaving the train and my team alone. For now, anyway.

I started to lift my bag but stopped and let it drop back to the seat. Freed my hands from the straps, because…

Chace leaned close and peered over my shoulder to what lay beyond the window.

Many windows adorned the platform side ofthe train, and he chose to look out the same window as me? Pressing into my personal space, no less.Ugh. So utterly annoying.

His body heat pressed uncomfortably at my back, and his breath warmed my cheek. Unwanted shivers raced up my spine as my muscles stiffened. The situation, although not quite like having the enemy crawl into my bed, rang awfully similar. Too much so for my liking.

“Mind backing up?” I said, a growl lacing my delivery.

He hummed, extended his head forward to better see beyond me, and murmured. “I might.”

On the awaiting platform, weeds cut through cracks in the stone floor, vines clung to surrounding supports and the ticket booth, and dirt and leaves littered the patch. Beyond the platform, a beltway of trees and nature softened the view of a distant wall to eclipse all other walls.

Surely, it reached into the heavens.

“I don’t like it,” Chace said, his focus tight on the scene beyond the train.

I spun to face him. “You know what I don’t like? You standing so insufferably close.”

Pressing my palm to his chest, I forced him to step back. His body vibrated with silent chuckles, sending tingles through my fingers, even as the strong thrum of his pulse beneath my touch?

My thoughts screeched to a halt, and my heart fluttered with the fierce intensity of a trapped bird’s flapping wings.

With lightning speed, I snapped my hand back and pressed it to my breast.

Mr. Aldine approached and glanced over me. He tried to smile, but the expression failed. “Like it or not, this is wherewe get off. I hope you brought some of that fine success you experienced on your last task.”

So do I,I thought.So do I.

Without the soul-stripping accessory, of course.

I grabbed my bag and said a silent prayer to the death god Thanatos that whatever contraband my father had slipped inside my bag would be exactly what we needed to complete this task and go home.

No sooner had the three of us exited the train and stood on the platform than the train blew its whistles and turned its gears. It chugged away from the station at such a speed it conjured images of a locomotive anxiously escaping hell.

I placed the train’s departure at my back, willing myself not to dwell on the transport’s exit. Instead, all my focus fastened on what lay ahead.

The platform broke into paths on either side, which moved in opposite directions. Mr. Aldine pulled a map from his pocket and gave it a cursory glance, an action appearing more for show than need.

He jabbed a point to our right. “This way. The citadel’s main gate should only be a few hundred yards from here.”

“Lead the way,” Chace said to Mr. Aldine, then he glanced at me.

His face appeared blank, but his shoulders stiffened, and his arms tensed. I swore his throat bobbed. He must have been as excited as I was about this task. Excitement that ranked in the negative digits.

We walked at a slow and steady pace, keeping watch for any danger that might pop out at us along the way, but everything remained relatively quiet—if we didn’t count thecries of the creatures in the sky. Cries that sounded too similar to sobs. A fact I tried not to dwell upon.

Mr. Aldine chose a broad path, one bordered by enormous trees, and weaved through an overgrown landscape. The sky morphed from shades of gray to the dark of night, and the density of the trees shifted from thick to thin as our journey continued. We walked until the tree line ended and gave way to an overly long, wide stone bridge. At the far end of the bridge, a blocked gate stood within the heaven-reaching wall.

“The Royal Citadel of Veritas, I presume.” I kept my tone calm and sarcastic, but inside, my gut roiled, churning with nausea.

I linked my arms behind my back, ready to grab my travel scythe at the first sign of trouble.

“You would presume correctly.” Mr. Aldine positioned himself at the edge of the bridge and studied the forward path.

He clicked his teeth and scratched his beard.