It was only as the sun reached the highest point in the sky that I finally realized the most important question I wanted answered. It had been lurking in the back of my mind since I’d discovered Tomas’ true identity, and now seemed as good a chance as any to ask. I looked at Tomas for several long seconds, where he’d already returned to his chair by the fire, continuing his book.

“What happened to my father?” I ask bluntly, without warning.

He did not reply at once. His eye remained trained on the book, but they had stopped moving, and I could tell that he wasn’t as engrossed in it as before. His whole body had gone from relaxed to rigid in an instant, and I could tell that he’d been expecting, if perhaps not looking forward to the question.

“You may not like to hear the answer,” he said slowly. “I fear you will not take it well.”

“I don’t care,” I said, feeling my stubborn side coming back to life. “I have to know.”

Another long pause. Finally, he gently closed the book. “He was killed by another Reaper.”

“That much is obvious,” I said shortly. “Who killed him?”

“Will you seek revenge on his killer?”

I sat back, confused and surprised by the question. “Why would you ask that?”

He lifted his head and made direct eye contact with me. The pressure of those blue eyes was impossible to ignore. I couldn’t look away, nor could I pretend that I couldn’t see the challenge in them. They bore into my soul, reading the truth of my emotions as easily as if they’d been printed into his book.

“You are my descendant,” he said seriously. “That means that you too serve the Balance. You cannot allow your heart to be fueled by such poisonous emotions as hatred and revenge.”

“That’s a bit rich coming from you,” I snorted. “You’ve been having a two thousand year vacation while humanity and Granis have been struggling. What do you know of the balance?”

The instant I said the words, I regretted them. I knew that Tomas was only in his predicament because of the actions of both humans and Granis. Sure, it had been humans who’d killed him, but no side was blameless here. Almost at once, I felt my chest get a little tighter, the shame burning through me.

“Sorry,” I mumbled. “I didn’t mean that.”

He held my gaze a little longer before replying. “In any event, I do plan to tell you. It will help motivate you for what is to come. But I repeat, the proper action must be taken for the proper reasons.”

“Meaning that I have to kill the Grand Reaper because he is standing in the way of the balance,” I said. “Not because he is the man who killed my father.”

I somehow knew that my assumption was correct, without having to hear it, but it still caused the anger in my heart to flare when he said it. “Yes.”

“Not that the knowledge helps me any,” I said morosely. “The Grand Reaper is the oldest and wisest of the Clan. I couldn’t hope to beat him in a fight. Besides, there have to be a thousand Reapers that would stop me before I could even lay eyes on him.”

“Eight hundred and seventy-six,” Tomas corrected. “Eight hundred and sixty-six now that our own allies have withdrawn from their ranks.”

Stolen story; please report.

I threw my hands up in mock celebration. “Oh yes. Eight less than before. That makes it much easier. I should be able to just stroll up and kill Mr. Jensen without breaking a sweat. Total cakewalk.”

“Yes, it will doubtless be the hardest thing you will ever do,” Tomas agreed with half a smirk. “But you are forgetting your connection with Granis.”

“Big deal,” I sighed. “I can make flowers grow around me.”

“And you can make the sun shine,” another voice added. “That’s pretty cool.”

I turned and saw Marisha entering the sitting room. Her brown hair was tousled from sleep, and her pajamas hung loosely on her frame, completing the illusion of being younger.

“Cool,” I said drily. “I can give him a killer suntan.”

Unlike Tomas, her smile wasn’t sarcastic. “You still don’t get it. Granis gives the Warden power.”

“There’s gotta be a better nickname for what Tomas does.”

“Good luck convincing millions of souls and millennia of tradition to change it,” Tomas threw in. “Let me know how that goes for you.”

Marisha slipped into an empty chair. “The Warden, in return for providing Granis with life, is granted the proportional power of this plane, to use when he enforces balance.”

“Proportional?” I queried. “That’s an odd word choice.”

“Not at all,” she said. “It’s quite fitting. Granis will provide you with just enough power to accomplish what you need.”

“You just have to learn how to draw it out,” Tomas added. “Don’t worry, I will teach you how.”

“Yes! More training!” I crowed sarcastically. “Just what I was looking forward to!”

Tomas rolled his eyes at that, but Marisha chuckled. I took that as a win. As I looked at her and we locked eyes, I could see the hint of sadness in her eyes behind the smile.

“Listen, Silas,” she said after a brief pause. “I owe you an apology.”

“No you don’t,” I hastily interrupted her. “I know you think you should have told me about this all sooner, but you did what you thought was right.”

Her cheeks flushed and she looked down at her bare feet where they poked out of their pajama legs. By the gods, I was in love with this woman. “You don’t understand. I had no way of knowing if you were Tomas’s ancestor or not.”

“No,” I corrected her. “I do understand. Really. Actually, I’m glad you held off. I got to know you as a remarkable person before having to deal with all this fiasco.”

Her smile came back, and her blush deepened. Feeling heat crawl up my own neck, I looked back to Tomas, eager to change the subject. He’d gone back to reading his book as we’d had our little exchange. He seemed oddly entranced by that book, I thought. But I knew better. He was enough like me for me to realize that, like me, he disliked tough or sensitive topics. I chose music as a distraction, he clearly chose books.

“Okay,” I said. “How do I draw upon Granis’ energy to get stronger?”

“Thought you’d never ask,” he said, closing the book with a snap and putting it on his side table. “Let’s go out to the garden, and I will explain.”

He stood up and crossed to the closed front door, but didn’t make any move to open it. He was clearly waiting for me to take the lead. Confused, I rose from my seat. It was odd how quickly he’d agreed to help me.

“Okay,” I said. “Lead the way.”

He shook his head with an exasperated sigh. “I can’t lead the way. As I have no physical body, I cannot exist alone outside of these walls. I will join you again on your way out.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling a bit stupid. “Right. Let’s go then.”

I’d given and taken control of my own body a few times by that point, but it was still a weird feeling. As I’d opened the door, his body had vanished from sight, and I felt his consciousness once again beside my own. Then, before I could properly acclimate to that, he took control and steered me towards a nearby circle of stones. I noticed that there were runes marked around the outer edge of it, like the stone room I’d been awakened in.

“This is one of many of Granis’s hearts,” Tomas said aloud in explanation. “It is from here that you will first draw forth her energy.”