Chapter 4
Death pulled his hood over his head and swirled his cane until a blueish-grey fog had formed at his and Rio's feet. Although she had done perfectly fine getting her own wood,her dad insisted on showing her the way to the next soul to collect. Rio watched as a bridge made out of the very fog that spilled out of his cane built itself and cleared a path to a field. To Rio,it reminded her of the forest around Agatha's house. Rio's heart beat a bit faster at the thought of the blue eyed girl. What kind of living-human emotion was that?
"So,there are a few rules to being Death."
"Well,yeah,I knew that. It was in the vow." Rio assumed that Death had grinned at her observation,but she really had no way of knowing when the only distinguishable features of his were his teeth. He clicked on one of his temples with his bony pointer finger. "Smart girl. What I didn't mention,though,were the other rules."
" 1.You are only allowed to have an animal apprentice if it is dead. No living animals here. It can either be a ghost or one that's already passed on to the afterlife."
"Animals can go to the afterlife and become ghosts?"
"How do you think we got Casper,Minski,and Cosmo?" Rio shrugged at the question. "Wait,does that mean that animals can become Death?"
"Technically,yes,but nobody's cruel enough to do that to an animal. Maybe Jacques would've done that,but no one else would. Don't be like him!" He pointed an accusing finger at Rio before walking again. "Alright,moving on. 2- Actually let's skip that one. Save that for another day."
" 3. Don't loose any parts of your dagger. If you lose the wood from the afterlife,you will no longer be allowed into the afterlife until you get it back. Vise versa with the wood from here." Rio whipped her head around,taking in the light blue sky filled with fluffy clouds that replaced the cloudy sky tinted in midnight blue. The lush green field had replaced the ground that usually got caked under her fingernails. She hadn't realized they were in the land in the living until Death mentioned the dagger. "So,who am I collecting today?"
" We're collecting the souls of a few baby birds. They died a few days after their birth." Rio knew that the event was tragic,but she didn't know how exactly she should feel about it. Death was a relief,as her dad told her over the years when she wondered what it would've been like if she were a living soul. And when she asked if she ever had of surviving after birth? Silence.
Death knelt down in front of a bush,cupping his hands under a nest of moss and tiny pieces of bark and carefully setting the nest of the grass. He examined the small bodies of the baby hummingbirds,which were about the size of the fingernail on Rio's pinky. She straighted her back to see the birds clearer,their bodies were buzzing and twitching as if they were still alive. Rio could see a hint of purple energy surrounding the bodies that was manipulating the baby birds like puppets.
Death shook his head at the state of the birds and tapped one with his skeletal fingers. The bird let out a weak,barely audible chirp in response,Rio had even questioned if the bird had even made a sound. "What do we have to do to help them?"
"You have to use your dagger. You'll figure it out once it tells you." Although it was vague,Rio could understand it just a bit. She interpreted it as the souls trapped in the wood guiding her to the souls of the poor birds. Carve out a circle in the ground. Rio put her knife into the grass,digging it in deeper until it reached below the thin,top layer of dirt,and traced a circle around the nest. The twitching of the birds had ceased.
Rio's head whipped around as she searched for the birds,so Death turned her head up towards the sky with his cold hands. Rio could see three small shadows trailing behind the two of them as they made their way back to the afterlife. "What happened to those birds?"
" I'm guessing they were killed. You saw it too,right?" Rio nodded in response,Death didn't have to say anything for her to know what he was talking about. That purple energy that was too bright to miss.
Death put a hand on Rio's shoulder,stopping her just before they reached the bridge to the afterlife. "There's another part of Death's job. Comforting the dead and the living." Death's bony finger pointed to the forest, specifically a log that was covered in moss and occupied by a kid who had their arms wrapped around their bunched up knees. "Wait,but I thought that was someone else's job?"
" Well,we have to make sure they at least get some form of comfort when someone they know dies."
"Death has a lot to do. I don't get why."
"I don't really get it either. But hopefully it doesn't steer you away from the job."
Death found its way up into one of the trees,perched like a bird on one of the tree's high branches. Rio had never had to handle any emotions,it was all new to her,so she was hesitant to approach the person who occupied the moss covered log.
Rio shut her eyes for a moment,putting her hand to the grass. She was hoping to grow a flower or anything that would lighten the mood a bit. She could feel a bit of power flow out of her hands,in fact,she could feel the soil below her grow something. Rio opened her eyes to see an orange flower, its small petals formed a big puff that sat on top of the dark green stem. She gently plucked it out of the ground with a small smile.
Rio quietly walked over to the log,taking a seat on it. The person on the log seemed to take notice of the space on the log taken and looked up through their long eyelashes. Rio saw a slight change in their expression,their eyebrows raised a bit,in interest,Rio guessed. She gave the person a little wave.
Rio examined the person's eyes and brows,the only things that she could see in the protective position they held themselves in. They had piercing blue eyes that still looked as cunning as a fox's eyes,even when they were red rimmed and teary. "Rio?"
The girl sat up a bit,giving Rio a bit more view of her surprised face. It was Agatha. "I'm guessing you saw those birds." Rio nodded in response," Well,yeah. Why were you crying,though?"
" I think I hurt the birds. I was trying to grab something with my purple glowy-thing and it hit them. The last time I saw them,they were moving all weird and stuff." Rio noticed that as Agatha was speaking,she used her hands a bit,as if her emotions were too much for her words to just describe. She slumped her shoulders and looked away from Rio,a guilty look in her eyes. "I didn't want to hurt them. I swear I didn't."
"I believe you," Rio said softly. Agatha let out a small hum in response. Although she didn't show it,Rio could tell it meant a lot to Agatha. " It seems like your power is hard to control like mine,so I should give you a pass. And you should yourself a pass too."
Rio left the orange flower she grew earlier on the log as she got up. "Are you leaving?" Agatha asked in a murmur that could barely be heard. Rio turned her head to look at her, "I have to go home to my dad. But I think you might see me around,sometime." Agatha looked a bit disappointed at Rio leaving,so she pointed at the orange flower she left for Agatha,which made a soft smile spread across her face.
Once Rio had left the forest,Death slid down from the tree in the form of a green snake. "You've done some great work here. Do you think you'll be good to start doing some jobs on your own?" Now that Rio knew what she had to do on each job,she felt like it was a bit too much to ask,even for her. But she felt obligated to do that kind of work. "Yeah,I can start doing the jobs on my own. But I have something else to ask."
"Ask away."
"Why doesn't Death live with the living?"
" You can't fall in love if you don't try going near another person." Rio wondered if this 'love' thing really did hurt people,she had never experienced it,at least she thought she didn't. Was love the reason why she could hear her dad shuffling around in the middle of the night,sometimes sniffling and crying?
For Rio,it was another sleepless night. For one,it was too loud,between the noise in the front of the house and the sound of dead souls clamoring and speaking all at once,there was a lot of noise. Rio quietly got out of her sheets,earning an annoyed groan from her dog Casper who was laying next to her. She twisted the doorknob and opened the door to the hallway.
Rio could hear the sounds clearer now that the souls had quieted down,and it sounded like quiet sniffling. She tiptoed down the hall,down to the living room where she could see a figure sitting on the couch, it's back turned to her. Rio could see that it was cloaked,so probably her dad,and it was facing the window.
His shoulders shook a bit as he looked down at something that was holding in his hand. Rio crept closer to her dad,looking over his shoulder to see a drawing of a woman with long,black hair and dark brown eyes holding her two young sons. Rio tried to tiptoe closer but the wooden planks betrayed her and let out a loud creak.
Her dad simply looked over his shoulder to look at Rio. He kept his eye on her for a moment,a tear escaping his right eye before he finally got up to walk to his room. Rio watched as he did,her eyebrows furrowed in confusion,why was looking at her so hard?
Rio had the answer to her question now,love. It wasn't anything that she had to be worried about though, she'd be too busy collecting bodies to worry about that. "So is that why the love thing is in the vow?"
"Yep."
"Have other Deaths fallen in love?"
"I'm pretty sure they have, they're all human. That isn't why it's in the vow, though."
"Why is it in there?"
"I made up the vow," Her dad chuckled. "So I don't have to follow it,"Rio said with a little smile,which earned an eye roll from her dad. "Nope,you still have to follow it." Rio let out a disappointed, "Aw man."
"Think of it like this,rules are here for a reason. Just think back to the first person to ever become Death,he broke the rules and it caused trouble. You don't want trouble in the living world or the afterlife,right?" Rio nodded in response. "So follow the rules."