Page 4 of Shadow Prophet (Scythe Grove Academy 2)

"It's my price for teaching you which boxes to tick."

"Thanks, Jules. For everything."

She beams at me. "You're welcome."

"Isn't this where you say you're just doing your job?"

"I'm not," she counters. "My job was to welcome you to Sakura Grove and make sure you settled in all right. That ended weeks ago."

I know I shouldn't need someone to tell me they weren't hanging out with me because they had to, but it's still nice to hear that she wants to actually spend time with me.

I've never had friends like I do here. One more reason to make sure I don't return to the Shadow Association's care and get to stay at Scythe Grove Academy.

3

I glance at the empty seat next to me while wondering where Mathias is. For all of his joking about skipping classes, I've never known him to actually do it. Though maybe he's just trying to impress me with his attendance record.

Now that I think about it, I find that unlikely. He's probably busy with something or other.

Professor Haines drones on about the first reaper to allegedly fashion a scythe. It should be interesting, and yet he has a way of sapping every last drop of intriguing fact from his subject. The only thing keeping me listening is that I don't know any of this, and it's the quickest way for me to learn it. Though I do have some history books back in my dorm that are helping too. One way or another, I'm going to catch up with my peers on the theory of being a reaper.

The door to the classroom swings open, drawing everyone's attention to it.

Mathias walks in, and heads straight for the Professor, ignoring the sour expression on the man's face. He hands the teacher a slip of paper.

Haines resettles his glasses on the bridge of his nose and looks down at the paper.

"Miss Weston, you're required for ghost duty," he says without sparing me a second glance. I'm not convinced he'd be able to pick me out of a lineup of our class.

I scrape back my chair and get to my feet, packing my notebook and pens up quickly. I've never been pulled out of class for a ghost before. I know it happens as I've seen other students disappear to deal with that part of being a reaper, but all of the ghosts I've had a hand in reaping have all been found during the afternoons assigned to searching.

Mathias holds the door open for me so I can slip through. He follows behind, not saying a word until we're safely in the hall and away from the other students.

"Is there really a ghost or is this your way of getting me to skip class?" I ask.

He chuckles. "I promise there's a ghost. It's been assigned to us."

"Why us?" I ask.

"We're a team. It's not like just one of us can go," he points out.

"I know that. I mean why us and not another set of students?"

"Oh, it's just our turn. All of the teams with a certain amount of reaper points are put on a rotation so when a ghost comes up that isn't found during the normal searches, it's assigned to whoever is next on the list. This time, it's us," he explains.

"So not because we're the best for the job?" I ask.

"I'm sorry, no."

Well, that's disappointing. I'd have liked it if we were the best team for the job.

The two of us head back to the Sakura dorms so we can grab our scythes. It's common for students to leave them in their rooms during none practical classes. Everyone treats them with the respect they deserve, but it definitely cuts down on accidents to not have hundreds of students walking around with huge weapons made of wood and metal strapped to their backs. There's no need for them in history lessons.

I unlock my door and step inside, glancing around the room to make sure everything is as I left it the same as I always do.

Nothing has changed. There isn't even a note under the door to say a parcel arrived for me. It's disappointing, but not unexpected, the results for the genealogy test will probably come by email first. I managed to send it off when we were in town ghost hunting last Wednesday. I need to be patient.

I push thoughts of my heritage out of my mind and focus on today's task instead. I unhook my scythe from the specially designed wall mounts and swing it onto my back. It fits snuggly, as it should. Everything about it has been made specifically for me. As far as I know, I can use another reaper's scythe without any problems, it's just that this one is better suited to me.