A tall building stood in the barren land of the dead where none of the trees had leaves left on them. Crows sat on top of the branches, cawing and making noises like the ones inside the main building. "This is the third Grim who has gone missing and the guards have not been able to track where he last was?!" one of the three creatures who sat on top of the raised platform demanded the creature that stood in front of them.
"The Fourth Grim infects people when he wants. We didn"t know if it was because he was waiting to plague the lands," answered the reaper who kept records of all the reapers work.
"It is your duty to keep track of where they go! Three Grims have fallen into the land of the living. Refusing to reappear here in the court," hissed the same creature who was seated at the left end of the chair that had wild creepers circled around the legs of the chair, "Go place a bounty on them. Whoever brings them would fight for the t.i.tle of Grims."
Similar to the existence of council in the land of the living, there was a court in the land of the dead which was run by three creatures called the Hawverts. The Hawverts consisted of the three reapers who were the oldest compared to most of the reapers.
"Where is the second Grim? She was supposed to get back the report, check if she is still there in the land of the living."
"You need to calm down, Goron," spoke the reaper who sat in the middle of the two reapers. The reaper had not spoken a word and had his back placed against the throne like the chair he was seated in, "Creatures of the dead sometimes crave for life. Once the bait has been placed, it won"t be difficult to find them."
"More than two decades and the Grims have been trying to slip out. Hmph!" Goron huffed, his bare skull glaring at the one who was sitting next to him to get up and leave, "What are you standing here for, go and get the bait," he scolded the one who had been listening to them and the hooded cloak finally stepped away from there.
"He is being impatient," spoke the other Hawverts to receive a chuckle from the person who had been sitting in the middle, "What are we going to do with him, Crane?"
"He is growing old. Slipping control is never a good sign. Build the funeral box, he might need it soon," answered Crane with a soft chuckle, "Also find out the dates of when the Grims disappeared. Fourth, tenth and thirteen have gone missing during different periods of time."
"Have you planned how to punish them?" asked the creature who sat next to Crane.
"What they have done is treason by leaving the land of the dead. The tenth Grim revived a soul and the thirteenth Grim took the soul before time. What did the fourth Grim do?"
"There has been no information about him."
Crane"s red eyes moved to look at the wide and empty hall they were seated in, "Find out what his last work was. Send Edith to find out. If you find the reapers have attached themselves to the land of the living. Take those things away from them and kill the people who they are attached to, it wouldn"t be long when they"ll come back."
Back in the land of the living, Belle continued to stay in her bedroom without stepping out. Every time she thought about Lucas, her mind started to muddle and her body started to heat up thinking about the places his hands were on her.
Belle was embarra.s.sed yet there was this sweet sting she felt in her chest. The grip on her waist had turned her nervous but at the same time, it excited her. For someone who had never been touched like that, Belle couldn"t stop thinking about his hands.
She had felt his breath, his lips next to her ears, speaking to her in that polite tone yet holding something very dangerous that turned her curiosity. A sigh escaped her lips and she fell back on the bed. Softly gulping down for her slender throat to move, she looked at the ceiling.
Lucas might have thought he had scared her but Belle was not going to give up!
Belle who was now fully clothed, decided to go pay a visit to her parent"s cemetery. The cemetery wasn"t too far from the Adams residence. Getting up from the bed, she went up to the door and locked it from inside and then stepped out into the patio.
The reaper who watched Belle go to the patio, "Where are you thinking to go? As much as rebellion is good you are still a creature of the living and also I am bored," he said seeing her back. He tried to move his body again and started to move back and forth to fall flat on the ground, "Ouch!"
The more time he was spending here, the more he would be turning to be part of this land and less of where he actually belonged which wasn"t good. The little sound had Belle turning her head to look at the stuffed rabbit that had fallen on the ground which she had placed on the bed.
There were days where Belle found Mr. Fluffs positioned to be moved or changed, making her look at the toy suspiciously.
Getting back inside the room, she picked up Mr. Fluffs in her hand and looked at the rabbit.
Barron stared back at Belle, this time not bothering to make a move and acting as if he were dead, "Why do you keep falling?" asked Belle to him to receive no response and she sighed. It would be good to have the rabbit along with her, thought Belle to herself and she locked the doors of the patio in a way that would appear it was locked from inside and she stepped out and away from the mansion.