Mina hurried to the front of the house but saw nothing. Something invisible was ramming against the door.
“Why can’t I see it anymore?”
“You won’t, honey. You only see a death omen once, unless he wants you to see him. But you see where he’s been in hindsight.”
The beast stopped its attack on the front door, so Mina jogged back to the kitchen. Brody handed her mother the rest of the salt. Charlie ran in with a small black cosmetic mirror and handed it to his mother.
Her mom picked the largest chef’s knife out of the cutting block and tested the sharpness against the edge of her thumb. She looked pleased with the results.
“How do you know this?” Mina asked accusingly. “You’ve met him before. Haven’t you?”
Her mother stilled. Her hand wiped a loose strand of hair out of her face, and she turned to face her daughter. “You’re right. This is not the first time Death has come to my door. But this is the first time I can fight back. This isn’t just any Grimm Reaper. He’s not just hunting Grimms. This is Death himself, and he won’t leave until he’s collected.”
“What do you mean?”
Sara looked out the kitchen window and across the yard. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you better. I did the best I could, but without your father, I just wasn’t strong enough. I gave up so much to be with him. I could have done something back then, but I didn’t. I promised him. I had to stay for you… and for Charlie. Mina, listen to me. Find my parents. They’ll help you.” She paused and looked at Charlie and then Mina. “I love you both…very much.”
This was the first she had ever in her life heard her mother mention her own parents. She had grown up thinking they were dead.
Mina watched in alarm as her mother’s deft hands poured the salt into her right hand, picked up the knife, and cast a furtive look over her shoulder. She added a little salt to the knife-hand too.
“Whatever happens, don’t let her follow me out that door. Do you hear me?” The command was directed to Brody, who nodded solemnly. “For any reason.” She stepped out onto the back porch and turned to face them through the window.
“Mom!” Mina yelled and rushed for the door, but
soft hands pulled at her. Mina looked down to see her brother’s head against her midsection as he held onto her in a bear hug. “Charlie, let me go.”
His small head shook back and forth violently, and his shoulders shook with fear. His emotions affected Mina as if they were her own.
The howl sounded again, and Mina watched her mother, whose face was grim. Sara held the mirror up and used it to see behind her. Left and right, she swayed the mirror, staring into it intently. What was she doing? She kept her back to the yard.
Mina pulled out of Charlie’s grip and headed for the door, but Brody intercepted her. He picked her up around the waist and refused to let her down.
“No. Stop it, Brody. Let me help her.”
“You can’t. You need to stay here for Charlie.” His voice was firm.
“Please, Brody, let me go.” Mina cried. “I can help.”
She looked back through the upper glass of the kitchen door and saw her mother’s shoulders stiffen. She must have seen the beast in her mirror. She shifted her posture, and Mina knew that the beast was close. It had stopped howling and was stalking her mother.
A loud snarl ripped through the air, and her mother dropped the mirror and spun. She tossed a fist full of salt into what Mina assumed were the beast’s eyes and slashed at the air.
The beast howled in pain, temporarily blinded from the salt.
Brody’s arms were like a vise on her, and Mina screamed, trying to pull from his embrace. She couldn’t see the beast, but she heard a loud yelp as her mother’s knife struck true. A slash of red appeared midair, and her mother followed her attack with another desperate swing. Another yelp followed, and a deep voice bellowed, shaking the windows in the house.
“Enough!”
The whole world seemed to still. Then, the Reaper appeared on the sidewalk fifteen feet from the house. Close up, he was even larger than before. His white, dead eyes were the stuff of nightmares.
“I’ll kill you,” Sara threatened. “Then you won’t be able to collect.”
“Silly mortal. You can only wound me—even as an omen. Nothing can stop me from collecting.” The dark-haired Reaper laughed like crackling fire.
Her mother gripped the bloodied knife in front of her. “You can’t have my daughter.”
The Reaper hissed his displeasure. “The girl has seen my omen. I am here to collect,” he answered. “I cannot leave without a soul.”
Though her mother’s shoulders shook, she stood even taller. Her voice didn’t quake as she called out loudly, “I know you don’t care whose life you take, as long as it’s a soul. Your omen will not hunt her again.”
“I cannot guarantee that I won’t be sent here again.”
“You will not take her,” her mother repeated. She tossed a handful of salt into the Reaper’s eyes this time. He reeled back in pain, and pressed his hands against his eyes. “Yesss.”
For just a moment, Mina felt like her mother had won. But then her mother tossed the chef’s knife into the grass and stepped off the porch. She walked confidently toward the Reaper.
“Then take your soul.” She held up her hands as if she were walking into her lover’s arms. Her head fell back, and her eyes closed.
The air around the Reaper blurred until the omen stood only feet away from her mother. It snarled and growled and let out a one last long howl.
And then it lunged and disappeared.
“Nooooo!” A young, high-pitched voice wailed.
Mina turned. That wail was her brother’s very first word. “Charlie!”
Brody released her. She wrapped her arms around her brother as he sobbed and cried out in pain.
“No, M-M-Mom.” His eyes were red and filled with tears.
When Mina glanced out the door, the yard was empty.
Chapter 3
“Mom!” Mina shouted. She fled the protection of the salt-circle. Brody reached for her again, but she shoved his hands to the side. He’d held her back! He kept her from saving her mom.
Mina raced outside, ignoring the fresh blood on the back porch. It had to be from the omen. There wasn’t a lot. It couldn’t have been from her mom.
There was no other visible sign. She ran into the grass where the Reaper had stood only moments ago and turned full circle, scanning the woods. Nothing. Only a bit of scorched black grass.
Mina wanted to lash out and scream her pain and her loss to high heavens, but she couldn’t do that. Charlie’s wailing drew her gaze back toward the house. Brody held her brother as he continued to cry loudly.
What a terrible miracle. He was talking. He’d never spoken a word…until now. Until their mother died.
Everything pressed down on her, and she couldn’t breathe. The world grew smaller, colder, darker. Hope was blinking out like a dying star and being swallowed into a black hole of nothingness. She couldn’t survive this. Not when the war was costing the lives of her family.
Her knees collapsed beneath her, and she wanted to give in, give up. The darkness seemed to be her only peace, so she let it claim her. The cold grass pressed against her cheek, and her eyes closed.
