Transform.

  Ever opened one eye.

  *Mentor?*

  Get into reaper form, it's show time.

  For a moment, Ever thought about mentioning the fact that the first day of the year was typically a holiday. Instead, he held back and obeyed his mentor. No sooner had he become translucent did he start being moved away from the park.

  So how was the talk with Chaos? Death asked.

  “You weren’t watching us?” Ever asked. He stood up and summoned the scythe as Death continued to take him to his reaping.

  I wasn’t, no.

  “Well… it wasn’t much of a conversation.” Ever said. “He only looked at me once.” That wasn’t entirely true. If all those eyes he could summon each were a viewpoint, then he technically looked at Ever hundreds of thousands of times.

  You thanked him for trapping you in the ice cream shop with Taylor?

  “I did.”

  And what did he say?

  “Nothing.”

  Death snorted through his imaginary nose. The guy’s a troll. Disdainful as it was, Death said this much quieter as if he were afraid of being overheard. So what did he actually want to tell you?

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  “He said,” Ever had to think for a moment. “‘There is another. He may help, or he may hinder.’”

  ‘Another’? Another what?

  “That’s all he said.”

  Huh.

  Ever pondered as they left the city, moving to the highway heading eastwards. There were a few more cars driving in and out of the city, but the world was still largely quiet, almost as if humanity ceased to exist if it weren’t for their routines.

  “What could he have meant, Mentor?”

  Hard to say, Death responded.

  “He seemed…” Ever passed the scythe between his hands thoughtfully. “Worried?”

  Chaos? Worried? Ha! A bone, heavier sounding, clacked to the floor of Death’s office. Ever surmised it was his jawbone from the sudden laugh. Nothing worries the first being in existence.

  “Wait, I know this place…” Ever said. Death was taking him uphill. During the daytime it was hard to recognise, but the road signs gave it away. “This is the place that Zoe and I went to just yesterday.”

  Yerp.

  “Someone died on New Year’s Eve?” He gasped. It was the first time Ever had celebrated the event but even he felt a tinge of sadness that someone wouldn’t be able to fulfil their New Year’s Resolution.

  People die everyday, young soul, Death said matter-of-factly. Only because it happened on the last day of the Earth year doesn’t change the fact that it’s a soul that’s between worlds and needs your help to move on.

  They started slowing down. Ever turned his head as Death took him past the houses on the hill. Instead, he took them into bushland, similar to where Nyx, Zoe and himself walked to find their viewpoint yesterday. Only difference was that this bushland was denser, perfect for hiding in.

  Not sure if it makes you feel any better, but it’s not a human soul I want you to reap today. A pair of eyes peered out from an animal laying on its side.

  It’s an animal soul.