The Ferryman’s vessel glided quietly toward the port of the Capital of Shadows. As soon as he saw me waiting for him on the dock, he exclaimed, “Soul Collector! What a relief!”

He stopped beside a ladder that I used to go down into the little boat. “Why are you relieved?”

“Your friend was looking for you last night. She said you were kidnapped.”

It took me a good minute to realise that “my friend” referred to Alexandra. “She asked you for help?”

“No, she went to the old lady who sells antiques, who then told about half the Capital. Someone suggested you’d been abducted by angels, so we all went to the Moonstone Palace to ask the Snow Raven to help you.”

His hood hid all of his face, but I could imagine the proud grin pasted on it right at that moment. It was heart-warming to know that a bunch of demons had been looking for me the previous night. At the same time, it reflected the problematic speed at which gossip traveled around here. Definitely not something to be proud of.

Once I reached the human world, I sat in the tree behind Anna’s house and there, at last, with no one-eyed ghosts around to distract me, I had time to think. I wondered why someone would steal a golem. I’m not an expert, but it seemed to me like a cumbersome thing to hide. And what would the thief use it for, collecting souls? It sounded unlikely anyone would do such a thing, so it might be that the golem had gotten loose on its own. Azrael was getting old after all, she might have forgotten to lock a door or something.

In any case, how did this pose a threat to Anna? The Snow Raven probably thought that the hypothetical thief who had hypothetically stolen the golem might go after the Seer’s heir next. No harm in being careful, I guess.

I sighed and breathed in the night air. It was nice, compared to the stench of the Capital. A little shadow moving behind a window caught my attention. It exited through the door that gave onto the balcony and ran across the lawn. I was pretty sure it was Anna, all bundled up in her coat and scarf.

She stopped under my tree and said, “Is it you?”

I guess my hideout wasn’t as clever as I had thought initially. I whispered, “Go back to bed!”

“But it’s you?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Now, go!”

“Can I sit with you?”

This child posed a threat to my authority. I had to be assertive. “No!”

To my horror, she disregarded my command and started climbing up, branch by branch. After some perilous cracking and then some uncertain dangling by one arm, she reached my spot and sat beside me. She had scratches all over her hands, yet she smiled at me as though there was something to be happy about.

I reached over to remove a twig from her hair. If someone showed up at that moment, they would think I wasn’t doing my job as a guardian properly. I had a quick look at her wrist to make sure she wore the bracelet. It seemed to be working, because I couldn’t detect her power anymore. “How come you’re still up?” I asked.

“I wanted to look at the stars. They’re so pretty tonight!”

I looked up at the clear night sky. Humans didn’t know much about the other two worlds. The Snow Raven hadn’t instructed me to do anything beside watching over Anna, but I thought that, if she was going to become the Seer one day, she might need to know about angels and demons. “Did you know that when someone’s soul is very pure, it becomes a star when they die?”

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“Really? Like angels?”

Oh, good. She already knew about angels. I thought over my stuff a bit. This discussion was already getting political. Maybe I should let the Messenger deal with her education. “Well, mostly angels. In theory, demons and humans can also become stars, as long as they’ve been very good in their lifetime... I’ve never heard of that happening, though. Usually, demons and humans get reincarnated.”

Anna stared at me with huge eyes as though this was the weirdest thing she’d ever heard someone say, which it probably was. I think we tend to underestimate children’s critical thinking abilities. “That’s so unfair!” she said.

“Yeah, I know.”

Thankfully for me, the Messenger landed beside me on the branch at that moment and took human form. 

“Hi, Karim!” Anna exclaimed. She wasn't surprised in the least to see a bird turn into some guy. It seemed they’d had a chit-chat before. 

“Hey there!” he replied.

“Mr. Luca was telling me about the stars!”

“Oh!” The Messenger gave me an uncertain look. Ok, I recognize I may have strolled on a minefield.

“Karim, you’re human, right?”

“Yes, good job, Anna!”

“And Mr. Luca, he’s a…”

She scrutinized my face. I tried to scoot away, but the Messenger blocked my way. “You’re an angel!” Anna declared.

“Of course not!” I burst out, “I’m a demon!”

Her words flicked a switch. It was too late to control my reaction once I realised I had gone overboard. The Messenger placed a hand on my arm to remind me to stay calm. Anna froze a moment and her eyes filled with tears. Crap.

“Well, she’s the next Seer after all!” the Messenger said to defuse the situation. He smiled and Anna’s chin stopped trembling. “Anna, what you just said about Luca being an angel, you should never repeat it to anyone.”

“But…”

He frowned just a tiny bit and she stopped talking. How was he so good at getting people to listen to him?

“It’s important. Understood?”

“Yeah, ok.”

She dangled her feet for a bit and her face lit up again. “Can I ask a question?”

“No!” I answered.

“Sure,” the Messenger said at the same time.

Anna ignored me and went ahead. “Can humans and demons be friends?”

I bet the Messenger made a mental note to be more cautious in the future about answering tricky questions from children. He glanced at me, but I didn’t return his look. This one was his fault, he was on his own.

“I… I guess it depends.”

“Depends on what?”

All right, enough education for today. The Messenger scratched his head. “It’s really late. You should go to bed.”

Anna grumbled a bit for good form. The Messenger insisted and she finally climbed down the tree. My heart skipped a beat at every branch. These tiny humans acted as though they were invincible.

“You can go, I’ll keep watch.”

I was pretty exhausted, so I didn’t make the Messenger say it twice.

Several days then passed without any other incident. Based on this introduction, you probably expect that something meaningful happened after those several days. Well, you’re completely right.

So, as I said, a while passed just as usual. I avoided getting kidnapped by angels, which did a lot to improve my overall mood. The Messenger followed the investigations concerning the lost golem and reported any progress to his bosses. Unfortunately, there was nothing much to report until something strange happened while I was collecting souls.

One of the clues that day led me to the site of a car accident, on the highway. One car had crashed against a lamppost and another one ended up a bit farther on the grassy area that lined the side of the road. There were supposedly three souls to collect in total and the clue was “all of them except the small one.”

Maybe the Seer took pity on me for once and decided to give me an easy clue. I first went to the car that had crashed against the lamppost. There were two adults, one man and one woman, sitting in the front, both unconscious. Neither of them struck me as smaller than usual, so I figured I should collect both their souls. I changed into my funeral form and as I extended my hand toward the driver, I faced a very concerning problem.

The driver had no soul. Even worse, the passenger didn’t have a soul either. I felt a nervous tingle at the back of my neck, but I tried to keep my head clear. The second car was empty and I found its driver lying several meters away. He must have been ejected during the accident. To my relief, this one was still alive. He stirred as I approached and kneeled in front of him. He looked up at me and what he said puzzled me even more.

“I thought you’d let me live, but you came back,” he whispered.

Came back? It was certain this was my first time here that day.