The Daughter of Death- *RAYOR*

Chapter 22: Not Heartless

She was upset, obviously, but it didn't help.

I crossed my legs. Blake was staring aimlessly into space. Arielle was hugging her. She was good at this kind of thing. She knew what to say, what not to say, what to do. I looked down at the ground.

"What happened?" asked Arielle again. Blake mumbled a half-story, keeping her eyes trained on the ground. I only caught vague words- didn't want, can't leave, changed- until I later looked to the flickering fire. It was the second day after we had arrived to the Cave of the Lost, and Blake's brother hadn't returned. It was cold, the only trees evergreens or leafless birches.

Footsteps made my eyes shoot up to the cave entrance. There was a rustle, and then the boy from yesterday appeared. He was holding something in his cupped hands. He gave me an odd, twisted smile that didn't quite seem real.

"Willow, was it?" he said, softly.

My only thought was that he was as eerie as Blake had been as a reaper. "What was your name again?"

"Gabriel," he said.

Blake looked up. "Gabriel!"

"I got your powers," he said. He shrugged. "It was easy." He held out a glowing ball of something that I couldn't look head-on, like a very bright light. It was like darkness in a gas form, I supposed, swirling and swirling like a hypnotic spiral.

"How do you keep it contained?" asked Arielle in admiration.

"I'm a reaper," he said, without looking at her. "Heads up, Blake," he said, and threw the darkness at her.

It hit her before she was ready. Something seemed to change subtly- it got a little darker, a little colder. When I looked back, I saw Blake changing, her hair darkening, her skin paling, features shifting a little. It was also as if something inside of her had changed- she almost went black-and-white, like an old picture, and was painted back in, like she'd died. The haughty air about her was back. But she seemed different from the reaper I had met what seemed to be a million years ago- a little shyer, a little kinder.

She flexed her fingers nervously, reached out a hand, and a silver scythe appeared.

She stood up, her eyes glittering with happiness. "Oh, Gabriel!" she stepped forwards, as if to hug him, but he stepped back. She dropped her eyes in embarrassment. There was no blood in her to make her blush, but it was almost like she had got paler.

"You have to go, now," said Gabriel. "Maria will find and kill you."

"I don't care, Gabriel," she breathed. "Honestly."

"I care," he said. "Maybe I just don't like you."

Her cheeks paled again. "I'm a reaper again, and I can bring you back without your consent."

He crossed his arms. "You've been out of practice," he sneered.

"Out of practice? You've been gone for three years," Blake said, her elatedness disappearing in a flash.

Gabriel turned on his heel, leaving without another word. If there was a door, I supposed he would have slammed it. Blake was grinding her teeth angrily.

"Maybe threats won't... help," I said, quietly.

"Oh, I don't care about Mother!" she stormed. "Maybe I should give her a reason to hate me!"

"Lie low for a while," I said, "He may change his mind."

Blake glared at me. It was clear that it was the last thing that she- or he- would do.

***

Quiet days were spent, musing, talking angrily. Gabriel came now and then to talk to us, and check whether or not we have left. Mostly he talked to Arielle. He seemed uninterested with Blake or I. Maybe he sensed that Arielle was special. But these times when he came wrong lasted less than half an hour.

"We won't!" Blake had said vehemently, that time when he looked in to see if we have left. "How dare you!"

It seemed there was nothing Blake could do, and, I knew, she would suck it up and go home. After all, Gabriel was right about her being out of practice.

But that time wasn't going to come soon.

That night, Blake and I sat together, watching the sun sink lower into the sky. "I'm sorry," she said. Her voice was a little colder than usual, stiffer, but maybe I was used to her being human. "I've been a bit... invested."

"It's fine." I looked at the sun, thinking. "Who controls the Sun, in your world?"

She shrugged. Maybe she was used to thinking about it as science, but, back in her world, the Fates dictated. "To me? Helios. To the Romans, Apollo. To you, maybe, Amun Ra. I did find you in Egypt. Why were you there?"

"I have a lot of houses," I said. "But for Ari and I, our home is in Russia. That's where I'll go when we go back."

"So you're rich?" she said flatly.

"Yeah," I said, smiling. "You could say that. Our grandmother was the tsar's cousin."

Blakely smirked. "Is this when I curtsey?"

"No need," I said. I considered my words before saying carefully, "You loved Gabriel a lot, didn't you?"

She struggled against something, before saying, "Even as a reaper." Her voice, usually sharp, was softer and quieter. The trees rustled behind us. "It's stupid."

"It's not stupid." I said. "That kind of love is the best. It's unconditional. Romance and love aren't the same. You don't just have to love a prince. You can love a friend, or a sibling, or a mother. There isn't any shame in that."

She touched my arm, and I was surprised at how cold she was. "You're freezing."

She gave a half-smile. "I'm dead."

She tilted her face up, kissing me. It wasn't the same as before. It was the first that we'd both been aware of. The first that felt unconditional. As a human and as a reaper, we still had that bond.

The trees rustled again behind us. We didn't notice.

*

The next day, Gabriel came to visit again, looking stiffly cautious, materialising out of the darkness. Arielle looked up from her crocheting(she'd brought wool and was making a very lumpy scarf), and I turned a page on my book. We were a little, but not a lot, outside of the cave.

"I changed my mind," he announced.

"What?" I could see the hope in Blake's eyes.

"I think you're an absolute idiot and foolish and unkind, but you're not heartless anymore."

Blake was fighting to keep her face neutral. "Oh."

Gabriel offered a careful smile. Probably glad that Blake had controlled himself. "I'd..." he hesitated. "I'd love to see Father again. With you."

Blake threw herself at him, hugging him fiercely. He looked surprised and then alarmed. "Thank you." He pulled her off. "Maybe save the celebrating until we're five or six miles away from this place."

"Oh, Maria can't do anything," Blake said. I heard a rustle behind me and flipped around. Arielle was trembling, clapped between the branches of a tree.

"Arielle!" I ran to her, trying to pry away the branches. But, like those from the gorgon's maze, they clung on tightly. I looked back to Gabriel. "Gabriel! Don't just stand there! We need a knife-"

He had somehow become paler. "She's here," he said. "Blake, run!"

She stood, frozen like a deer in headlights, staring at a tree. From behind it stepped a woman.

Maria.