Page 21 of Shadow Seer (Scythe Grove Academy 1)

I resist the urge to narrow my eyes at the lack of misery in his voice, but people grieve in different ways and I need to learn to recognise that.

"It's no problem," Juliet responds. "Where would you like to talk?"

"Here is fine." He throws a spoon into the sink but misses, the metal clattering against the surface and skidding to the floor.

He ignores it and pulls out one of the dining room chairs to sit down.

The ghost huffs, glowering at her husband as if he's done something truly heinous rather than not putting a spoon in the sink.

"Do you think she hates him?" I ask Mathias in a whisper.

He shrugs. "She might not. Nobody knows how the dead hold grudges, Syxe."

"Her ghost is in the other room, we can go ask her," I suggest.

"You can. I can't hear a word she says. It's all weird noise to me."

"Oh. Sorry. I forgot."

"It's fine. It takes a while to get used to but you will."

"So, can we go ask her? Or should I wait for Tobias to go do it once they're done talking to the husband?" I never realised reapers did this part of after-death care too.

"Why not? We need to find out why she's sticking around anyway so we can do something about it. That's our job before we can reap her," Mathias says.

"What if we can't do anything about why she's here?"

"Then we fill out the forms with all the information we have and submit it to the academy administration who will kick it up to the Reaper Guard, or whoever else is able to take care of it."

"What you're saying is that everyone is using teenage students to do the grunt work," I point out.

"You're not wrong. But it's a good way to learn what we need to do for when we are the people getting the bigger cases."

"True." I head to the other room, strangely confident considering this is only the second time in my life I purposefully want to strike up a conversation with a ghost. I've spent so much time trying to avoid it that it's almost strange to think I'm about to do it.

The living room is much the same as the rest of the house, with nothing truly remarkable about it. A small pile of plates sits on the side table next to the sofa, only reinforcing it's Daniel who is the messier one.

The mournful woman hangs in the air, somehow seeming duller than the rest of the ghosts I've seen. It's easy to tell she's upset, but without asking her, it's difficult to know what's on her mind.

Which is what we're here for. To find out and do something about it. I like the way knowing that makes me feel. I want to help, it gives me a purpose I didn't know I had.

"Hello," I say with an awkward wave.

"Who are you?" the woman responds, her voice full of the same sadness her entire vibe is giving off. I wish I could do something about it.

"My name is Syxe, I'm a reaper." The words are foreign on my tongue, but they feel right. This is who I am and what I'm meant to be. "What's your name?"

"Denise."

I wait for a moment to see if she'll elaborate on that, but she do

esn't.

"We're here to ask you if there's something that's keeping you in this plane." I resist the urge to glance back at Mathias to check I'm doing this right. He won't even be able to answer that if he can't hear what she's saying.

"He killed me."

My eyes widen until I school my face in a reminder I'm supposed to be the professional in this situation. "Who did?"