"Omg, is he okay?" she asked, reaching forward, "is there anything I can do?"
A hand pulled her back. Judging by the glint of the glasses and the thick beard, she recognised Professor Wade Anthony. He shook his head solemnly.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly, "there's nothing you can do."
"How do you know?"
"It's that college plague, it's taken hold all around campus. People are dropping everywhere."
"But why?"
"Those that are affected, go into a kind of delirium where they think they can survive on air alone and skip meals. It's a horrible death - starvation. There's only one thing to do."
"What's that?"
"Wait for the Grim Reaper to claim his - and all the others - souls."
"I can't let that happen. I've got to do something."
"Sorry, once his soul is claimed, there's nothing you can do."
"And what if there is?"
"How do you mean?"
"I've heard about people bargaining for their loved ones souls, bringing them back to life etc."
"Those are just fairy tales Sophie. There's no truth in them."
"And I am a fairy. So there must be SOME truth in this matter anyways. If there wasn't, I wouldn't be here. But I am and so that's that!"
She put her hands on her hips and jutted her chin out defiantly. It was the only time, since transitioning into a Young Adult, that she ever dared to defy a person of authority. Wade sighed and shook his head.
"The only time we ever manage to be together, and it just happens to be at the most inappropriate moment."
Sophie glared at him.
"What do you want of me?"
"Huh?"
"It's plainly obvious that you've got an invested interest in me, otherwise you wouldn't text me to meet up .. every.single. day. So what do you want?"
Just then, the chilly night air got even chillier as the Grim Reaper made his entrance. Sweeping silently past the milling crowds, he raised his scythe and muttered a few words, before the corpse began to glow.
From it rose a spectral form. Sophie and the rest of the group were entranced at the simple, yet gruesome ceremony before them. Taking the spirit to one side, Grimmy waited with inexhaustible patience as the ghost pleaded to be saved.
"That's it," Sophie suddenly announced, "I'm going to save him."
Wade grabbed her arm once more and she shook it off, stepping forward.
"Grim Reaper!" she said forcefully, "how can I save his life?"
A thought wave rippled into her head and she half smiled.
"A chess match. Hmm, as simple as that." she lifted her head and nodded in the direction of the chess table in the garden, "okay, you are on!"
Wade hissed at her.
"Are you stupid? Do you even have ANY logic skills at all?"
"Not that I know of, but it's worth a chance."
"You have no idea what you are doing young lady. I insist that you stop right now before you get yourself entangled in even more trouble."
"No. I made this bargain, I'm going to uphold it."
Wade threw his hands up in the air in defeat.
"You're just like your headstrong ancestor, the brother to the king of the Fae."
Sophie stopped dead and turned.
"What. Did. You. Say?"
"I've said too much as it is," Wade replied frowning deeply, "go ahead. You made a pact with the devil himself. You deal with it. I'm heading off home."
Sophie paused uncertain, debating what to do. But then decided that she'd made a promise and she'd uphold it, no matter what.
The chess match lasted well into the early hours of the morning. But she was no further forward. She was cold, hungry, tired, needed to pee and desperately wanted a shower.
In the end, she gave up. She felt the cold mocking of Grimmy as he spirited away that poor student's soul. And she felt terrible that she'd been helpless to save him. She also thought back to what Wade had blurted out to her. But she was too exhausted by then to think straight.
The minute she got through the dining room door, she collapsed from sheer exhaustion.
Saving souls was an exhausting and extremely draining process.
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