"So, servant. What did you mean when you said you love me?" I rolled my eyes at the Grim Reaper's teasing tone.

"I love you like a father, not a lover," I retorted. "It would be super creepy if I actually loved you. Blech." I wiped my mouth on the back of my hand. Who would love someone like my master?

"I see." He weighed the bag containing the man's soul in his hand. "I don't love you like a daughter, though. Possibly not ever."

"So heartwarming, but I think I can survive," I chuckled. After what I just saw, laughing felt so awkward and forced. Considering we just killed holy creatures and took a man's soul, maybe it wasn't that unusual. I definitely wasn't going back to my clan any time soon.

We spent the night in Honeycide at a hotel. My eye twitched at the clamor and noise of the city constantly pummeling my ears. Combined with the voices in my head, I wanted to toss myself out the window.

Zoe, over here, a voice whispered.

Yeah, like I'd fall for that one, I thought back, even though it felt like two eyes were burning into my skin. I risked a glance over my shoulder, just in case—maybe the dead man came to haunt me, forever a shadow only I could see.

Instead, a woman stared at me with a lilting smile. She was perched on the windowsill like a cat, so much so I half expected her to lick her hand like a paw and draw it over her ear.

"Come, my young Zoe," she called, and beckoned me.

"Who are you?" I asked. She didn't remind me of anyone I knew, and besides, I was a stranger in this city. Who could've known me?

"I'll explain on the way. Please, the Grim Reaper will come any minute now!" Her eyes were snake-blood-cold, and her arms flexed with muscle. She wasn't like the dainty women hanging around, not at all...

"Your voice... I heard it before..." It could've been my imagination, but what if it wasn't? I chewed on my lip as the woman heaved open the window.

"I'll tell you everything, Zoe, but right now we need to go." She grabbed my arm and yanked me backward, making herself fall in the process. I screamed as the wind buffeted my ears, images already forming in my mind of two females' bodies lying on the grass, the puzzled faces and the hired detectives! Oh, Master would need to find a new apprentice, but would they be as loyal as me?

I kept my eyes wide open, the stars and the moon dazzling my eyes so beautifully, but instead of feeling my body split in two we coasted gently down. I stared at the stranger as she did a double-take and ran into the bushes. "Who are you?" I repeated in a steely voice. "Tell me now, or I'll go back to my master and tell him to hunt you down!"

My voice was so whiny and childlike I cringed, but the lady only glanced at me with eyes like cut jewels as we settled down behind a tree.

"I assume I can't stall any longer." She sighed and smoothed down her outlandish outfit. She wore a long piece of wool pinned in a complicated way, with a belt tied around her waist. She also had a veil tossed over her hair and one hanging on her dress. Her hair was long, dark, and flickered in luscious strands in the wind. She looked like a foreign bride, lost on the way to her wedding.

"I'm the Moon Goddess, and I sent you the message about the Grim Reaper." She raised her head and jutted her chin out proudly.

For some reason, a laugh burst out of me. Giggles kept flowing, and I tried to put a hand over my mouth to stifle them. They still kept coming as the Moon Goddess tipped her head and gazed at me thoughtfully.

"I-I'm sorry," I gasped. "I-it's just—j-just—" I held my sides as they sent tickles up and down my body, laughing and laughing. Oh jeez, I'm really embarrassing. That thought only brought out more laughter.

"I know you've wanted to meet me way back. Now you... think I'm funny?" She sounded confused, and a little hurt.

I gulped in huge breaths of freezing air, and that crushed the warm laughter fighting inside me. "No, of course not!" I assured her. "It's just... you don't look at all like the painting, or how I imagined you."

She had the black hair, but white strands twisted in between. Her eyes looked like tiny moons themselves, washed-out yellow disks blinking at me, and her skin was the color of daisies. Instead of being slender, she had arms thick with muscle.

I gestured to her arms. "I didn't know goddesses worked out."

She smiled and held out her arms for me to inspect. "Usually they don't. Most hate it, actually, but pushing something like the moon for hours on end requires some training."

The Moon Goddess didn't look like she needed a hero to save her, like the paintings we hung up in the Sternenlicht clan did. She looked like she could kick some butt all by herself.

"Prove it to me that you're real," I demanded. This could be some lady tortured by insanity, kind of like me, except not dragging people out in the middle of the night.

"Of course," she replied, as if it was obvious. With a flick of her hand, the half-moon suddenly became a crescent, and the broken piece floated towards her and landed in her hand.

"O-oh," I stuttered as she blew on it gently and sent it back up into the sky.

"Now listen carefully, because we cannot waste any more time." The goddess took my hands in hers, and the iciness sent a shiver up my spine.

"Your master is going to kill a lot more people soon, Zoe. He's planning to make you a part of it, too. Do you want that?"

"No, ma'am," I whispered.

"Good. I knew he didn't destroy you yet. He wants to kill you, my dear, and every apprentice he will ever have so he can stay immortal. I don't know how, but I do know there's a way to stop him."

Oh boy. Such detailed instructions, my brain couldn't possibly handle it!

"Wait!" I exclaimed, and my grip tightened on her cold hands. "Why do I have to do it? Why can't you?'

She gently pulled her hands away and placed them in her lap. "You brought this on yourself. You summoned him, took him on as your master, and I'm busy pushing the moon."

"By accident!" I protested.

"I must go now. The mortals will notice the delay of morning." She stood up and vanished out of sight, gone in the blink of an eye.

"Don't go," I murmured. My hands still stung at her touch, and tears fell down my face at the pure moment of seeing the Moon Goddess right in front of me.

For once, during the conversation, the voices were silent in my head. The Moon Goddess drove them away, but when she disappeared they started up again.

Ignore her! You can't do anything about it because you're an angst-ridden teenage girl! one chastised. My head thumped as if an invisible fist were hitting it over and over again.

I know you separated from your small clan, but the goddess is still your ruler.

She had quite the nerve, silencing us!

I know, right?! another replied incredulously.

I gritted my teeth and stomped back to the hotel. The beautiful moment was over, already ruined. "I could get used to not having you guys around," I muttered, and slipped inside the building.

I used my key to unlock the door, and suddenly Master towered over me with a scowl twisting his face. "Where did you go? I thought that rogue angel kidnapped you or something!"

"Sorry, I just went to go get some snacks," I apologized, and tried to inch past him.

"Oh, really? Then where are they?" he observed.

I clenched my empty-handed fists. Lying is not my strong suit. "I ate them as soon as I got them," I blurted out.

"After all that walking, it isn't unusual for a growing mortal to be hungry," Master mused. He shrugged it off and threw his cloak on a coat hanger.

"Do we return to Moonalila tomorrow?" I asked as I grabbed a pillow and tossed it to the floor. There was only one bed, and the Reaper made it very clear that since I was such a lowly servant, I had to sleep on the floor.

He's such a gentleman, isn't he? a voice commented.

He may be rude, but isn't he handsome? another gushed.

"Yes," he answered as I curled up. The rug's texture scratched against my arms and legs, the individual hairs scraping against my skin. I sighed and adjusted my position. Sleep wouldn't come easily tonight.

"Master..." I began as he situated himself on the bed. "Can you tell me about the power of the Grim Reapers? Like, with their life cycles?" The Moon Goddess's words drifted around my head. He wants to kill you, my dear, and every apprentice he will ever have so he can stay immortal.

"Late-night lesson, eh? I'll allow it for tonight, since the battle will probably haunt your dreams. Well, Grim Reapers are basically immortal, but there is one exception to the rule. They get an apprentice, and when the gods deem that he or she has been trained well enough, the mentor passes away and they become the new Grim Reaper. It's a system to help stop corrupted Grim Reapers that played a little too close to the devil." I shivered at his words. That meant if something, or someone, killed his apprentices, he could stay alive forever.

"But can Grim Reapers not get an apprentice?" I inquired.

"No, they're forced to. It's destiny, another thing controlled by the gods of this world. Grim Reapers never control the cause of death, only bring it, unless the devil gives them power to. Satan gave me the power for smert'likhoradka, so I was able to kill thousands with it." A grin vibrated in his words, and I tucked my legs tighter into my chest so they wouldn't tremble with fear.

Death fever. The deadliest disease in history.

A few moments of silence ticked past, and then my master prompted, "Any more questions, girl?"

"No," I whispered. "I heard enough."