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CHAPTER ONE

The needle dug into ly slow pace I keptthe artwork chaotically plastered all over it, andThe pain felt good It felt real The incessant buzzing of the tattoo machine disconnected me from the here and now I’d picked a complex model, so I’d be stuck under the needle for at least three hours Gloria, the tattoo artist, had tried to convince me that we could do it in two sessions Two hours now for the black ink, and another two hours next week to add the color Anyone who knew uessed my answer No Four hours Now She could take her time, too Make it five hours, Gloria I have nowhere to be

Five hours under the needle That should have exorcised some of my demons Except ere three hours in, and the ache in o My hands turned into fists I pursedcloser to my spine, where the skin was more tender Flashes flew across o away, otherwisefists would find their way into my mouth, and my teeth would sink into the flesh before I’d have time to control myself

“It’s co well,” Corri flappity-flapped around the chair She floated a few inches fro over my sweaty forehead I s it,” she breathed A cute blush spread across her pale cheeks “I thought you were joking…”

“I never joke about tattoos” One week before, she’d done et a tattoo of her, so I was doing it now Corri’s pretty pixie self on my left shoulder blade And not just because she was ainst my father’s rules, but also because the whole endeavor was sufficiently coh to have a good shot at forgetting about the small blades in my bedrooant red lines on h Too visible They would only tell on star that his plan had worked I was nearly broken

After year two at Gri his plans into action As the new Headmaster, he had every intention to turn the professors, the curriculum, and the Academy rules and traditions upside down, eliminate all that didn’t suit his vision, and replace it with so better Why was it better? Because he, Valentine, the greatest Gri the first andto spend the su to break up with od GC Apis I did spend the summer vacation at his castle in the Scottish countryside, but I didn’t break up with uys We had teleportation devices now Distance wasn’t an issue

When I disappeared for two days in Hell, uard A tall, bulky fay with dark eyes and long, black hair, all dressed like soame It was theirCrassus followwhen I wanted to see Paz and GC So, I disappeared for another three days Corri helped star punished her with one week in the Blank He punishedme out to reap

“You’ll reap in h, that fake smile on his stupidly handsome face! “I’m Headmaster now, and my responsibilities lie with the Academy I can’t do two jobs at the sahter You’re so talented, such a natural, that I know I can send you on the field and rest assured that you’ll do a great job even if you’re not officially a Grim Reaper”

I had to adet rid of me, and at the same time make sure I was too damn busy to run away to see GC and Paz, but I still couldn’t help feeling proud of raduated year tith another year to go, and I was so good that Morningstar said I could go reap on my own I could, basically, take over his job Oh, how naïve I was

He didn’t only send ues and asked the jobs Thecases were passed down to ot them I had no idea how that was possible, how they could control a systeht was randost serial killers, rapists, mobsters, and the poor The poor always had it the worst Thank God the war-ridden countries kept it light, but I did get summoned in the middle of a tribal conflict in Africa at the end of July, where I couldn’t believe what hu again My thighs, at first, then above the he endless lines froarette burn ht red roads and pale, long-healed dots

It was bad