The Revolt (The Reapers: Book Two) by Katharine Sadler Page A

could
speak. “Those two guys were a warning. These guys today had the
manpower, plus reaper back-up to take us out.”
    “They obviously didn’t,” Jed said, looking a
tiny bit cocky, after I’d told him what Tucker said.
    “They were obviously idiots,” Tucker said.
“I’m just saying I don’t think the person running this operation
ordered that hit on you, and I don’t think he or she wanted you
dead. Especially not when you were already leaving town. We’re
going to try to use that to get those guys taken out.”
    I relayed what Tucker said, and Jed shrugged.
“I’m going to call headquarters and find us another way out of
here.”
    Jed headed back to his room and Tucker sat
down on the couch next to me. His gaze got distant for a moment and
then he smiled a rather scary smile. “The fellow looking into the
curse has returned. He’s at the window. Would you like to step out
onto the balcony with me?”
    “Can we talk there? What about the
wards?”
    He looked at me like I’d grown a second head.
“The wards don’t extend to the balcony, there’s no roof there. Cat
should have told you that.”
    “She didn’t.”
    “Obviously.” Tucker headed out to the balcony
and I followed him. The ghost who was waiting for us looked to be
all of about sixteen, and had the attitude and swagger to
match.
    “Good timing,” Tucker said, the words heavy
with sarcasm.
    Our snoop shrugged, his shaggy blond hair
flapping over his eyes. “Yeah, well, you weren’t easy to find, and
you left a bit of a mess at the airport.”
    Tucker just glared at him.
    “Anyway, it isn’t exactly a secret. Dude was
cursed seven generations back by a grade four witch. No one knows
why or what exactly the curse does, but they were all happy to tell
me about the bad that has befallen that family.”
    “What kind of bad?” I asked. Bruce told me
people had died, but the reapers might have more information.
    “Nothing compared to the bad that will hit
them if you get involved,” Tucker said. “You spend any time with
Bruce and Angelica, or show that you care about them even a little,
and the reapers will target them.”
    I leaned against the balcony railing and
sighed. A few hours ago, I might have argued with him, but after
what happened at the airport, I could absolutely see reapers
targeting my friends just to cause me pain. They must be watching
me all the time. They’d seen us pack bags into the car and they’d
taken their opportunity. Even so, maybe I could help Bruce and
Angelica, as long as I kept my distance from their actual persons.
“What kind of bad… um, I didn’t catch your name,” I said looking at
the snoop.
    “Ghoul,” he said, with a smile that suggested
he’d like to get to know me better. Tucker slapped him on the back
of the head and Ghoul glared at him. “Like you said, people dying
kind of bad. It’s always people who get involved with the family,
rarely actual family members. ‘Cept for Bruce’s mom. She and her
boyfriend were killed together in a car accident.”
    I shivered and rubbed my arms. “And you’re
sure the deaths were caused by the curse?”
    “I’m not sure of anything. What I’m telling
you is the gossip I got from reapers who’ve been hanging around
town for the past hundred years or so. There aren’t many of ‘em,
but they love to talk. You can’t be sure of anything until you talk
to the witch who’s casting the curse.”
    “You know who she is?”
    Tucker sputtered. “No he doesn’t and, even if
he does, he’s not telling you. The last thing we need is for you to
piss off a witch on top of everything else.”
    I ignored him like he was an overprotective
parent, and met Ghoul’s gaze. “Do you know who she is?”
    Ghoul smiled and didn’t even look in Tucker’s
direction. “I’ve got no idea. Witches don’t live longer than
regular people, so the witch who placed the curse would have to be
long dead. As far as I or anyone else knows, a witch’s curse