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‘You do realize that you are the servant in this relationship, right? I don’t have to listen to you. I could put you to sleep and fly to the other side of the planet, if I wanted.’

Hector just glared at him.

‘Ugh. Fine. I won’t wander off, for the time being. But I will need to venture out on my own again sooner or later. You’re going to have to trust that I know what I’m doing, eventually.’

The bus squealed to a stop in front of the school, and Hector exited.

‘Tell me how to kill Geoffrey,’ he said as he walked. ‘You said we weren’t prepared for that fight before. So... prepare me.’

The reaper floated ahead of him. ‘You’re already resolved to kill him?’

‘It’s him or you, isn’t it? That’s not a hard choice. I... I would’ve done it before, if I could’ve...’

‘Him or US, Hector.’

‘R-right...’

‘Well. In order to hurt Geoffrey, you have to be able to break the red shadow that protects him.’

‘Okay...’

‘The reason it seemed like an impervious shield was because your attacks were only physical, whereas the shadow was both physical and mental. That shadow is something real and imaginary at the same time, which is why it seemed to constantly disappear and reappear.’

‘Imaginary? But if it’s imaginary... then...’

‘How can it exist? Because reality is relative. Take me, for instance. I’m imaginary. All reapers are. Relative to our servants, and apparently Geoffrey, we exist. But relative to the rest of the world, we don’t.’

‘But... the powers you grant me are definitely real...’

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‘Pure evil doesn’t exist,’ said Garovel. ‘People can only be evil insofar as making evil decisions--possessing an intent to harm or cause suffering. Evil actions. Even people who do evil things purely for the sake of amusement are still human. They’re twisted, sure. They have evil tendencies, but they still aren’t MADE of evil. But... Geoffrey’s aura... I can’t think of any other way to describe it. It was like an evil consciousness.’

Hector raised an eyebrow. ‘So... you’re saying Geoffrey is pure evil?’

‘No! I’m saying he’s NOT! Because there’s no such thing!’

‘So why’d you bring it up then?! You’re making it confusing!’

‘Because it IS confusing! I don’t know what he is yet! And seeing the way he acted, it’s easy to feel like he’s evil incarnate or some shit!’

Hector sighed. ‘Whatever... You’re not making any sense...’

‘Tch. I need to find out more.’

Hector looked at the reaper heavily. ‘You’re not going anywhere without me. It’s way too dangerous with him out there.’

‘Oh, please. The odds of me randomly encountering Geoffrey are ridiculously low. And even if I did, I’d just outrun him.’

‘You don’t know that,’ said Hector. ‘If you don’t even know what Geoffrey is, then you definitely don’t know what he’s capable of... I mean, he could still have abilities we didn’t see before...’

‘Hector, I’ve been doing this a long time. I can handle myself.’

‘You’re not going anywhere without me,’ he repeated.

Garovel lowered his brow. ‘You’re being very unreasonable today.’

‘I don’t care... You’re not gonna go out and get killed while I’m sitting through a fucking biology lesson...’

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‘My dad takes medication,’ said Hector. ‘Sometimes, he has... bad days... and... I mean, even normally, he’s not very... um... talkative. But... he likes to be alone on his bad days...’

‘Hmm. What kind of medication?’

‘Eh... honestly, I’m not sure...’

‘What?’

‘My parents have always kinda... hid it from me... I think Dad’s embarrassed by it. And Mom just... I don’t know...’

‘How could you tell he was having a bad day, then?’

‘He was home when he should have been at work, for one thing. And... I could see the tremors... in his hands. They were weak, but...’

‘Ah.’ Garovel paused. ‘Y’know, I could follow him around and probably figure it out, if you want.’

Hector’s eyes widened, and he shook his head. ‘N-no, that’s... please don’t do that...’

‘Why not? You’d rather not know?’

‘I just... That’s, um... My parents are very private people. My dad even more so than my mom. I don’t... wanna... do that to him... I mean, he doesn’t want me to know, so...’

The reaper shrugged. ‘If you say so. Personally, I think it’d be better to know, but it’s your family.’

On the bus, Hector took the seat behind the driver and stared out the window. Garovel floated right outside.

‘So do you, um... do you really not know what Geoffrey is? Bohwanox thought you might have some idea.’

‘I wish I did,’ he said. ‘But that creature... I’ve never seen anything like it. It was just so...’

‘So, what?’

‘Wrong.’

‘How do you mean...? Like, his aura was really fucked up or something?’

‘Essentially, yeah. But it didn’t seem like a human soul that had become corrupted somehow. It seemed completely inhuman to begin with.’

‘Hmm...’