We flew up in the air, over the line of souls, and only dropped down once we were right outside the gazebo.
A hell hound stood guard at the entrance, ensuring the souls entered only when it was their turn.
This hell hound was Thanatos's favorite. He'd named it Spot because, "It has a spot of white on the tip of each of his ears."
"Hey, Spot," I whispered and held out my hand.
He licked my hand and then growled at Takumi's soul.
"No, I'm processing this one. Dad's orders," I told Spot.
Spot stopped growling and let out a huff.
"Hey, baby sister. What are…" Thanatos stopped when I turned and he saw my face. He looked at the soul beside me and his mouth opened. "Oh, no. No. Lorie." Thanatos stood. His wings spread behind him a moment before they refolded behind him. Even so, the tips of his wings dragged along the ground due to their enormous size. He wrapped me up in a hug and I wrapped my arms around him, beneath the base of his wings. "Let it out," he whispered.
Thanatos, on top of being kind, had the ability to make you feel safe and unleash emotions you didn’t even realize you were feeling.
He rubbed my back and within seconds, the floodgates opened and I sobbed into his chest. He held me tightly as I broke apart.
"He was my friend. More than a friend. He had pledged his life to me, Than-ny. He loved Kiko and they'll never know if they were a good couple or not. She'll never know what could have been. We spent so much time with him this summer and then he was assigned to us at the school. Now, we'll never hear him laugh, or practice fighting with him, or do any of the fun things he did with us when we were forced to isolate and he guarded us. I just want to hear his voice. One more time. To tell him how much he meant to me. I never told him. I never told him because I know everyone dies and expressing my feelings means opening up to them and accepting them. Dammit, stop using your powers." I pulled back and Thanatos wiped my cheeks with his thumbs. "I hate when you use your powers to make me psychoanalyze myself."
He smiled and stared down at me. "Father is busy. So, I am going to break one of his rules. This one time, okay?"
"What rule?" I asked, sniffling and wiping my nose with the bottom of my shirt.
"One last chance," he whispered.
Beside me, Takumi's soul flashed bright green. Green smoke seeped down from the orb and formed into Takumi's humanoid shape. He took a breath and became fully physical and just as he had looked this morning.
There was no telling how long Thanatos would allow him to be in this form. If Dad or Grandpa showed up, he would have to turn him back into just a soul.
Not wasting the opportunity, I threw my arms around his waist and hugged him. "I'm so sorry. You meant so much to me and I never told you. I'm going to miss you so much."
Takumi hugged me tightly and lightly kissed the top of my head. "I've always known, my little raven. I spent my time with you preparing you to be strong. You three will go far. Never take each other for granted and always watch each other's back. And, always call each other out when your actions aren't in line with your morals."
I pulled back and smiled up at him. "Lecturing me even with your last words. I'd expect nothing less. I love you."
He smiled. "I love you, too."
With a poof of green smoke, he turned back into a bobbing blue soul.
"Come, you can write his name in the Book," Thanatos said.
I hugged him tightly. "Thank you. And never, ever, tell anyone I have emotions."
He patted my back. "Your secret is safe with me."
I stepped up to the desk, grabbed the feather quill, dipped it in the black ink, and with even strokes, wrote Takumi's name in the Book of Death. "Enjoy your afterlife," I whispered. Takumi's soul spun around me once before flying out the exit and towards the entrance to the afterlife. I hadn't seen it yet, so I wasn’t sure what it looked like. I hoped it was nice for Takumi.
"Good job, Loralie," Dad said from behind me.
"Dad!" Thanatos and I yelled at the same time.
He looked down at me and said, "Having emotions isn't a bad thing, Loralie. Takumi deserves to be mourned."
I nodded, unsure what to say in response.
"I'll take you back to school. I know you can't shadow travel that far and exiting here is still hard for you," Dad said.
I winced. He'd made me try to exit over one hundred times in one day. I'd ended up sleeping for a week afterwards and Mom had yelled at him. "Thanks."
Thanatos hugged me one more time and I patted Spot on the head before Dad rested his hand on my shoulder. "It gets easier. I am here if you need me."
I hugged him and sighed. "Thanks, Dad."
Twenty-Four
FRANCES
We returned to school after a funeral for Takumi was held at the Wolf mansion. Loralie didn’t cry during the funeral, but that was normal for her. Plus, it allowed her to console Tsukiko and I as we balled and drenched Loralie's shirt in tears. All of the elites had attended, having used Takumi for guard detail for all of us at some point. The hardest part had been seeing Takumi's mother kneeling at his grave silently screaming. I couldn’t imagine how much it hurt her to lose her only son. I hoped I never had to find out.
Three weeks later, Baba Yaga was called for an emergency on the other side of the world. Since there were no recent human attacks, she felt it was safe enough and left in her house, the massive chicken legs carrying her far away.
Things started to return to normal.
"Pop quiz!" Mr. Sampson called out from the front of the classroom. He handed a stack of papers to the student at the front of each row and smiled at us. "Hopefully, you kept up on you’re assigned reading and paid attention in class. If you did, this will be a piece of stardust cake for you. If you didn’t, well, we will discuss that when I hand back your tests tomorrow."
I gulped as the stack made it to me.
"Why do you look nervous?" Loralie asked with a scowl. "You'll ace this no problem."
"We, on the other hand, will likely face whatever punishment Sampson deems necessary," Tsukiko said with a soft whine. Her ears lowered as she looked at the paper. "So doomed."
The quiz was a single page with a very faint outline of a chimera on it. At the top it said, "Label each part of the depicted monster, both internal and external."
"So, doomed," Tsukiko said and dropped her head until her forehead lightly thumped against her desk.
"You have five minutes. Begin!" Mr. Sampson yelled.
Five minutes! That wasn’t enough time.
I had done all of the reading and paid attention most of the time in class, but chimeras were one of the monsters I had the most trouble with.
With a deep breath, I focused and started by labeling all of the parts I knew for certain. Labeling those ensured that I, at the very least, got points for those ones. Next, I would turn to the ones I wasn’t certain of, but I would label them softly with my pencil so I could easily erase if I was wrong and remembered.
There was no clock or timer and yet it felt like I could hear the seconds as they ticked by.