1. Explanations Are Due
Sydney POV
When I woke up again, Joe was gone. Instead some chic that looked sort of familiar was sitting in his chair. She sat up and smiled when she saw that I was awake.
"Hiya!" She exclaimed.
I sat up. "Who are you?"
She frowned. "Joe did say your memory was a little off."
"Wha-" Then I realized who she was. "You're Kairi, the chic that jumped me in that ally."
Kairi looked confused. "Jumped you?" She shook her head. "No, I Shadowed you, and believe me, when you find out about that, you'll wish I jumped you. You see…" She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as if reciting from memory. "You died in Greece. You weren't supposed to die so, Death made me bring you back. The only way to do that is to Shadow someone. To unShadow you, so you can continue to live normally, I have to take you to the Spirit Realm so Death himself can unShadow you."
I held up my hand to stop her. "Stop. You've barely said four sentences and I'm already confused. First, if I wasn't supposed to die, why did Death kill me, or take my soul, or whatever?" I waved my hand in the air.
"He didn't. Death is the boss, he is The Grim Reaper. He has minor Reapers that go around and ferry the souls to the other side. The Reaper saw what you were doing and took your soul without consulting his list."
"What the heck is a list?"
"Every Reaper has a list. Reapers are in charge of a certain area for a certain time. The list tells them who's going to die in that area and when. Reapers have to follow that list or…" She stopped. "You don't want to know. Death noticed that the Reaper who took your soul had one extra soul with him when he turned them in at the end of his shift. Death didn't know what to do at first, 'cause you're a goddess and he hates you guys because of your immortality. If he kept you though, it could've thrown a lot of deaths out of line. So, he had to bring you back. Death can't do that himself because he's too busy. So he has his Returners, which are people like me, the ones he brought back from the dead, do it for him."
I nodded. I think I was getting this. "Okay, so what's the Spirit realm?"
"The Spirit realm is one of five realms branching off from the Underworld. It is the Realm where Returners take Reversers, or Shadowed people, to be unShadowed by Death himself. If the Shadowed person doesn't get there in time-" She froze and gave me a sympathetic look. "Well, we just have to get you there soon. You've been Shadowed for over a month now. It's amazing nothing has happened to you yet. We have to get you there soon. And I mean now soon."
"So, why can't I remember anything from when I was Shadowed?"
Kairi shrugged. "That was a pretty big explosion you caused. You released the Shadow from your aura, it's a miracle really. But the Shadow isn't gone and it will come back. Being in its realm won't help much either."
"Well, what happened when I was possessed, or whatever?"
Kairi winced. "A lot. You are powerful, and the Shadow loves that. When you were evil it was… terrifying. It was like you knew what you were doing, and you were enjoying it." She switched back to her perky self. This chic definitely had some bi-polar issues. "But everything will be alright soon!"
I looked down and took a deep breathe. I stared into Kairi's fiery red eyes. "Tell me everything that happened."
And she did. Every last detail.
I sat back. Stupid, stupid amnesia. "Why can't I remember any of this? This all happened to me! I should at least remember most of this."
Kairi looked at me. "Well, like I said before, it was a powerful explosion, and you were in the center of it, and the Shadow does have that effect sometimes. Besides, it's not like you don't remember anything at all.
"It feels like it." I crossed my arms. I hated feeling helpless. "So how much longer do we have to stay here?"
"Until the doctors say you can leave."
I scoffed and sat up.
"What are you doing?" She looked at me nervously.
"If you think I'm staying here, you don't know me at all." I snapped my fingers and green mist filled the room.
"Wha… what?" I covered her mouth to hide her scream as we warped to Draylon.
Alright, finally posting this! :D This story was a whirlwind of emotions to write. BTW: check my profile for NEW info on the musical. So, what do you think? Review!