classes with an unmistakable white aura, she’d had a panic attack. She’d caused such a disturbance that someone called an ambulance, and she wound up making a briefvisit to the mental health ward. Her school psychologist, to whom, of course, she lied, eventually diagnosed her as agoraphobic, which helped her secure online classes for most of the remaining semesters.
Since then, she’d been a shut-in, and when her mother got ill, it had been easy to push off job hunting. Now what was to become of her?
This whole reaper business was boggling. Was it even a real job? Did they actually get paid?
Good grief.
As the water turned cold, she put the brakes on that train of thought and started mentally assembling a rather long to-do list. She left the shower, dried off and got dressed. After a haphazard attempt at detangling her hair, she gave up.
* * *
When she returned to the kitchen, Deacon appeared to be making a list of his own. She was pleased and more than a little relieved that he had yielded to her threat and stuck around. Rummaging through the cabinets for an after-midnight snack, she was surprised to realize that she already had the munchies again. Settling on the only piece of fruit in the house, a soft, blackened banana, curiosity got the best of her, and she peeked over his shoulder.
“What’s up with the list?”
“Grocery list,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “You’re going to need a good stash of high-calorie foods on hand for post-reaping replenishment. Fast food is the best because it’s super high in calories, but you may not always be able to stop somewhere. These will do in a pinch. You’re going to need to carry abackpack with you with plenty of portable snacks in it and probably a change of clothes.”
She glanced down at the list and whistled after a moment. “Who are you? Bob Harper’s evil twin?”
The list consisted of peanut butter, Snickers bars, chocolate, avocados, energy drinks, bacon, beef jerky, mac and cheese, nuts, mashed potatoes, lots of frozen dinners, and meat, meat, meat.
“You gotta be kidding me. If I eat all of that every week, I’ll be five hundred pounds. They’ll have to cut my dead and bloated body out of the house with the Jaws of Life. Seriously, I saw it on The Learning Channel.”
“Ruth, each time you reap or travel through the network, you’ll need to replenish. The process will burn thousands of calories each time, especially reaping. You might do six reapings in one day. What are you, about a size eight? Maybe a hundred and fifteen pounds soaking wet? Eighteen hundred calories a day will
maintain
that. Subtract six thousand plus calories a day, and you’ll be a bone sack in a week.”
She considered this revelation. There were a lot of negatives to being able to see auras. All of her life, she had only seen it as a hindrance. She’d spent years thinking she might be dangerous and avoiding people because of it. As a result, she had become the campus cat lady…without the cats. And now,
today,
at twenty-seven, she was finding out that she could eat as much as she wanted without repercussions because she was a reaper. She knew a gaggle of sorority girls at the university who would have
killed
for that opportunity. Of course, mostof their calories would have been liquid, but still. On the food front, all she could see was an upside.
It’s good to know the rules.
“So, what happens if I don’t eat? Will it kill me?”
“No, but you’ll grow weaker and weaker. If you go too long without replenishing yourself, you’ll most likely be rendered immobile, which will leave you vulnerable to attack. Reapers
can
be killed, Ruth. We aren’t immortal, but we are close. After you’ve reaped enough souls, your body will transition, and you won’t expend quite as many calories when you’re working. You may even develop some enhanced abilities similar to the ones you’ve already seen me use. Yours may be the same or they might be different.
Since then, she’d been a shut-in, and when her mother got ill, it had been easy to push off job hunting. Now what was to become of her?
This whole reaper business was boggling. Was it even a real job? Did they actually get paid?
Good grief.
As the water turned cold, she put the brakes on that train of thought and started mentally assembling a rather long to-do list. She left the shower, dried off and got dressed. After a haphazard attempt at detangling her hair, she gave up.
* * *
When she returned to the kitchen, Deacon appeared to be making a list of his own. She was pleased and more than a little relieved that he had yielded to her threat and stuck around. Rummaging through the cabinets for an after-midnight snack, she was surprised to realize that she already had the munchies again. Settling on the only piece of fruit in the house, a soft, blackened banana, curiosity got the best of her, and she peeked over his shoulder.
“What’s up with the list?”
“Grocery list,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “You’re going to need a good stash of high-calorie foods on hand for post-reaping replenishment. Fast food is the best because it’s super high in calories, but you may not always be able to stop somewhere. These will do in a pinch. You’re going to need to carry abackpack with you with plenty of portable snacks in it and probably a change of clothes.”
She glanced down at the list and whistled after a moment. “Who are you? Bob Harper’s evil twin?”
The list consisted of peanut butter, Snickers bars, chocolate, avocados, energy drinks, bacon, beef jerky, mac and cheese, nuts, mashed potatoes, lots of frozen dinners, and meat, meat, meat.
“You gotta be kidding me. If I eat all of that every week, I’ll be five hundred pounds. They’ll have to cut my dead and bloated body out of the house with the Jaws of Life. Seriously, I saw it on The Learning Channel.”
“Ruth, each time you reap or travel through the network, you’ll need to replenish. The process will burn thousands of calories each time, especially reaping. You might do six reapings in one day. What are you, about a size eight? Maybe a hundred and fifteen pounds soaking wet? Eighteen hundred calories a day will
maintain
that. Subtract six thousand plus calories a day, and you’ll be a bone sack in a week.”
She considered this revelation. There were a lot of negatives to being able to see auras. All of her life, she had only seen it as a hindrance. She’d spent years thinking she might be dangerous and avoiding people because of it. As a result, she had become the campus cat lady…without the cats. And now,
today,
at twenty-seven, she was finding out that she could eat as much as she wanted without repercussions because she was a reaper. She knew a gaggle of sorority girls at the university who would have
killed
for that opportunity. Of course, mostof their calories would have been liquid, but still. On the food front, all she could see was an upside.
It’s good to know the rules.
“So, what happens if I don’t eat? Will it kill me?”
“No, but you’ll grow weaker and weaker. If you go too long without replenishing yourself, you’ll most likely be rendered immobile, which will leave you vulnerable to attack. Reapers
can
be killed, Ruth. We aren’t immortal, but we are close. After you’ve reaped enough souls, your body will transition, and you won’t expend quite as many calories when you’re working. You may even develop some enhanced abilities similar to the ones you’ve already seen me use. Yours may be the same or they might be different.
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