“I don’t understand,” said Suzie, her voice low. “Almost everyone stares at me, but some don’t. You and Jason aren’t being mean either.”
“Those kids are first years,” said Billy. “They don’t even realize anything’s weird about you. As for me, I remember how difficult the adjustment was, living here. No one should make this harder for you.”
“Thank you, Billy,” she said, smiling.
“I like you too,” said Jason, looking up. She turned to him, and he looked down again.
“Let’s skip lunch in the Hall for now,” said Billy. “I’ll take you guys to Weston, the nearest village. We can buy some lunch and head to Silver Lake.”
Billy led them away from the Tower. As they walked through courtyards and corridors, Suzie noted the reactions of the men and boys they passed. The oldest Deaths gaped in horror, and the older boys stared. The youngest boys ignored her; many of them seemed terrified themselves. The College was full of men and boys of every size and ethnicity: from tall, white-bearded men in robes, to young, acne-covered boys in jeans. One teenager with a Yankees cap threw an apple core over her head, and Billy chased him away.
They reached the ring of massive scythes and walked under the blades. A cobblestoned street led away from the College toward a cluster of houses. In the distance, snow-covered mountains held up the sky, craggy peaks blanketed in trees, shadows, and cloud.
They walked along the road. Suzie continued to receive stares but she ignored them. She could get used to this. They stared, but nothing else. She looked at a tall hill standing apart from the others, behind the villages. Billy followed her look.
“Widow’s Peak,” he said. “On the shore of Silver Lake.”
Widow’s Peak, she remembered reading. Where Lovethar was burned. She had been here less than a day, but kept encountering the strange woman, the only other female Death.
Weston was a cluster of houses and small shops centered on an open square and a fountain. Suzie and Jason sat on a marble bench circling the gently rising fountain water. Cool drops splashed onto her cheek. A slight strawberry-scented breeze blew through the pleasant air. Billy went to a store on the corner to buy them food.
“I want to go home,” said Jason.
“Me too,” said Suzie. “But this isn’t such a terrible place. It’s pretty here, and besides we’re only here for a year.”
“Maybe.”
Suzie put her arm around Jason, but he didn’t respond. Billy walked out of the store holding two bags. He smiled.
“You guys will need some money, if you ever want to go off the College campus.”
“How do we get money?” asked Suzie.
“Same way you get money anywhere,” he said. “You work. Regular work as a Death isn’t paid unless you’re licensed, which takes years. I work in an office, help out with paperwork. You don’t need money on campus; it adds up. C’mon, I bought us a picnic. We can eat at the lake.”
She got up, eager to visit Silver Lake. The more time she spent in this world, the better she felt. Sure, people stared, but she’d only be here a year. Besides, it was beautiful here.
Jason trudged behind while Billy led her away from Weston. Suzie looked at some of the houses. Who lived here? What was a family like, if there were no women? A world of men was such a strange idea.
The cobblestones ended, sinking into a narrow dirt lane. The lane twisted to the right. Mountains looked down from the horizon, and the ground swelled into small hills. Trees grew on either side of the path, strange trees with old, gnarled trunks and bright, yellow-green leaves with tiny red berries. A pair of birds with blue-tinged feathers watched her from a tree, chirping.
They climbed another hill, emerging onto a clearing. In front of them, Silver Lake glistened in the sunlight. Widow’s Peak, the lone hill, stood off to her right. Scattered clouds covered the sky, while the sun shone above, casting its reflection onto the lake.
The path veered farther to the right, toward Widow’s Peak, but Billy led them onto the grass. They sat near the shore of the lake, and Billy opened the bags.
“I have gorgers, fruit, some cookies, and a few bottles of water.”
“What’s a gorger?” asked Suzie.
“Typical Death food,” replied Billy. “First time I had one, I thought they were magic. Here, try.” He unwrapped a nondescript sandwich and handed it to her. “Before you eat, imagine your favorite food.”
“What?”
“Trust me,” said Billy. “What’s your favorite food, or at least something you love to eat.”
“Chocolate. Though, right now I feel like a cheese pizza.”
“Well, pick one. If you want the pizza, get a clear idea of pizza in your head. Visualize everything from the cheese to the crust.”
“Okay.”
“You got that image? You can practically taste that pizza?”
“Yes”
“Now take a bite of the gorger.”
Suzie took a bite, and her mouth filled with the taste of hot cheese dripping off a Tony’s Pizza, her favorite pizza parlor.
Suzie took a few more bites and looked at Billy. “This tastes like pizza. I don’t understand.” She turned to Jason who was clearly enjoying his.
“Mine’s a ham and cheese sandwich,” said Jason.
“A gorger takes whatever taste you want. My teachers insist it’s not magic, but they won’t explain further.”
Billy took off his shoes and socks, walked over to the edge of the lake, and dipped his feet in the water, while chewing on his own gorger. “Right now I’m eating a bacon cheeseburger. I try to have different tastes each time. We’ll get these a lot on campus.”
He finished his gorger and tossed an apple to Suzie, who caught it.
“You don’t catch like a girl,” said Billy.
“Not funny.”
“I’m teasing.” He lay back on the grass.
Suzie finished her lunch and lay down on the grass, watching clouds drift overhead. A strawberry-scented breeze blew gently across her face. Billy rolled onto his side, watching her. She looked at Jason; he sat looking out at the lake.
“Well, what do you want to do next?” asked Billy.
“Let’s go to Widow’s Peak,” she replied.
“All right. I’ve never actually climbed up.”
They continued to Widow’s Peak. Its slopes rose from the fields, falling straight into the lake. Overgrown grasses and clover blanketed the sides of the large hill, which had no path.
“We’re here,” said Billy. “Doesn’t look like it’s worth going up. No one comes here, I guess.”
“I want to go up,” said Suzie. She pictured the wild-haired Lovethar in flames. What had actually happened to her? Why had she betrayed the Deaths?
“It’s only grass,” said Suzie. “I’m going to climb up. You guys can stay here.”
“You sure?” asked Billy.
“I’ll climb where those rocks jut out. Should be easy enough. I’m curious.”
“Be careful,” said Billy.
Suzie walked up the hill, which was steeper than she had realized. She stumbled but caught herself and didn’t look down. She climbed over rocks and through grass until she reached the summit.
Silver Lake glistened beneath her. Turning, she saw the stony towers of the College in the distance. A structure stood on the peak of the hill, an old building. She walked up to it.
A marble staircase rose for a few feet; its top had fallen into a heap of ruins. Weeds poked through the stairs, which appeared thousands of years old or older. On the other side of the staircase, the remnants of a stone tower lay on its side, with broken walls. The entire site seemed ancient.
Suzie climbed up the stairs and leaned over the tower. A window faced skyward, covered in dirt and cobwebs. A flock of birds fluttered out of a tree whose roots grew right through the ancient stairs.
“What is this place?” she whispered.
Suzie remembered Lovethar, burned on the top of Widow’s Peak, burned where she now stood.
Flames
.
The vision startled her. What had happened?
Bright
red
flames
.
Burning
,
burning
,
burning.
Images of fire poured into Suzie’s head. Her skin burned and charred, she felt the heat. She screamed, waving at the air.
Red
flames
,
searing
,
scorching.
Red
eyes
,
burning
with
red
heat
.
Eyes
filled
with
rage
.
Suzie fell into the tower, and the wall collapsed beneath her. She crashed through dust, landing hard. As she tumbled through stone and dirt, a pair of glowing red eyes surrounded by flames watched her.
The red eyes cooled, changing to green.
Beneath the green eyes, the faint outline of a flame-lit smile flickered.
She blacked out.
Echoes and Expectations
“Suzie? Suzie, are you all right?”
She opened her eyes. Billy stood over her, his face full of concern. She was in a ruin; broken stones lay all around. Her body throbbed with pain, and something sharp was digging into her back.
“What happened?”
Billy shrugged. Jason’s head popped up behind his, also worried. Suzie sat down again, groaning in pain.
“Slow down,” said Billy, “you’re stunned. We came up when you screamed. You must have fallen into this old ruin.”
“My side hurts,” said Suzie, “but I’m okay. What is this?”
“I have no idea. I've never been up here. Were you trying to climb the ruin or something?”
“No, there was—” Suzie stopped herself.
“What?”
“I had this weird experience.”
“What?”
“It was weird.” Suzie didn’t want to say any more. She was the only female Death; she didn’t want them to think she was also crazy. Were visions normal in this strange world? Somehow, she guessed they weren’t.
“What did you see? What happened?”
The pain continued, but was bearable. Billy held her in his arms, helping her stand. Suzie blushed.
“What happened?” repeated Billy.
“A bird,” she lied. “A big, strange bird flew at me.”
“A bird made you scream and fall into this?” Billy eyed her skeptically. “And that was weird?”
“The bird flew right at me, and scared me. Anyway, what is this place?”
“Looks like an old tower,” said Billy.
“With weird pictures on the wall,” said Jason.
Suzie stood up, wincing at the pain in her back. Billy helped her walk over to Jason. He pointed to a carving on one wall, which was broken but showed a bat-like wing.
“I think they’re Dragons,” said Jason. “There are some more pictures over here.”
“We should get out of here,” said Billy.
“Look at this picture of a woman,” added Jason.
Suzie nodded, wincing again. “Billy?”
“Yes?”
“In my pocket. Aghh.” She grimaced. “Can you get my pouch?” She hurt too much to move.
Billy leaned her against a wall and looked at her. She nodded, but blushed when he reached into her pocket and pulled out the small bag. He handed the cake to her.
She bit into Athanasius’s cake. Instantly, her pain flowed away and her muscles relaxed. She put the cake back in the pouch.
“The woman,” she asked Jason, while studying the images of Dragons. “Where did you see her?”
“Here.” He pointed.
Suzie looked at a section of the crumbling wall. A woman with long hair and a fair face looked out from the stone. The carving was beautiful, and more detailed than the crude Dragons. A group of Deaths stood to one side of the woman, carrying away a bundle. The woman’s mouth was open and her arm outstretched. Was she supposed to be Lovethar? This picture looked nothing like the wild-haired witch burning in fire. However, there were no other women in this world.
Until now.
“Let’s go,” she said.
They climbed out of the ruined tower
“I wonder what that place was?” asked Jason, taking another glance back at the pictures.
“Don’t know,” said Billy, “but we should probably keep this to ourselves. The Dragons are the enemies of the Deaths. I’ve only seen one once, from a distance. There are rumors of them on the borders from time to time. The senior Deaths go out and fight. One of my teachers came back missing an arm, nothing left but a charred stump. I tell you those things are evil.”
“Lovethar was supposed to be connected to the Dragons, and my history book said she was burned up here,” said Suzie. They climbed down Widow’s Peak as they talked, working their way to the bottom of the hill.
“You studied before you slept?” asked Billy. “I’m impressed. School hasn’t even started yet.”
“I was curious. She was the only female Death…until me.”
“Hope you have a better legacy than she did,” muttered Billy.
“I’ll be gone in a year. I wondered what she was like.”
“Right, well, be careful about what you do. I was worried. If you die in this place, you cease, you’re done.”
“They mentioned that before,” said Suzie. “I don’t understand.”
“We don’t know what happens after people die,” said Billy. “Whatever happens, we bring them to their fate. We’re ferrymen in a sense, escorting souls. However, if a Death dies unnaturally they cease, they end. Every memory of them vanishes, and it’s like they never existed. Imagine your parents and everyone you loved suddenly forgetting that you were ever born. It’s scary.”
Jason shuddered.
“I don’t want to die here,” said Suzie. “I’ll do whatever I need to, to get through the year, and then I’m going home.”
They reached the bottom of the hill. For a split second, Suzie thought she glimpsed movement behind a tree across the path. She stared but saw nothing.
They continued back through Weston and then walked back through the Ring of Scythes.
“I’ll show you around campus a bit. We can do dinner back at the house,” said Billy.
He led them through the stone maze, by mounds and windows, over courtyards, and under rocky bridges. Reactions to Suzie continued to be mixed. Younger boys ignored her, while many older ones stared. A skinny Death with black hair smiled at her, but another, noticing the smile, punched the black-haired boy in the side.