Page 692 -- LXXIX.

--donation bonus week (day 3/5, post 2/5)--
Mariana punched the numbers in and then waved at everyone to back up toward the walls, completely unable to tell them with words.

The floor pulled away below them, revealing an even deeper hole. This one led beneath the platform--the massive structure holding up the entirety of Aguarey. Lights flicked on around the hole, illuminating the dark waters below. As well as a large motorboat.

Mariana wiped her face another time and then returned to Marcos. She was afraid to ask Shenado the obvious question, but before she decided to move him, she needed to know for certain. ‘Is he going to die?’

‘...Yes. I’m sorry.’

It was dizzying, almost. She’d seen people die before. Of course she had. Seen friends fall in battle. Been forced to kill them after they’d lost their reapers. She was no stranger to death. But this was something else entirely. This was her son. Her baby boy. He was only twelve, for god’s sake.

Shenado had to nudge her along. ‘Mariana....’

She bent down and took Marcos into her arms. At his pained groans, she whispered, “Shh... It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.”

And she was not lying. She was not going to let him die. The look she gave Shenado seemed enough for the reaper to understand the truth of this promise as well.


Chapter Seventy-Nine: ‘He who burns fiercest...’
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As he leaned against the wall, Cisco browsed the news on his phone. It was early in the day still, not even past lunch yet, and he hadn’t attended either of his morning classes so far. Nor did he plan to attend any of the others.

Dennex floated next to him, restless as ever. ‘Why do these school days last so long?’ he said privately.

‘Good question.’

To Cisco’s eyes, reapers were hulking, skeletal wolves wreathed in black fire in place of flesh or fur. Their flames flickered and waved constantly but made no sound whatsoever, and their big eyes burned yellow with white at the center. Needless to say, Dennex looked woefully out of place in the middle of a school hallway.