I could suddenly feel it--the tingle of the darkest power crawling across my flesh, rolling through the earth beneath the snow.

Something dark flashed to my right. Then it flashed to my left. He was circling me.

I hated when they hunted me back. I held my swords closely. The flames didn't melt the snow around me. Angelfire only ever burned evil and left everything else untouched.

Footsteps crunched the snow in front of me. The reaper had finally decided to show himself. He stepped closer, allowing me to get a better look at him. He gnashed his teeth with the promise of death, and his black fur glistened with a dark, lurid liquid. Blood. I didn't know what, or who, it belonged to.

"You are a fool for hunting me, Preliator," he growled through wolflike jaws, jaws that should never have been able to speak human words. "This is my territory. The souls in this land will be mine. You will meet your end in this forest."

I scoffed and tightened my grip on both helves. "I may, but before I die, I'll make sure you don't leave this forest alive either. That is the price you pay for taking so much blood."

The reaper lifted his head, his black eyes watching me curiously. "And what price do you pay? For all the blood you've spilt?"

"This is my duty."

He ignored me. "Loneliness, I suspect." His voice was so deep, it hurt my ears trying to hear him.

"Stop trying to get into my mind and just fight me, Holger."

He lowered his head, and his muzzle formed a strange wolfish smile. His eyes were nearly invisible against his black fur, revealed only by the angelfire cast across their glossy surfaces. "You know my name."

"I know a lot more about you than that."

"Does that knowledge make you fear me?" he asked, frighteningly hopeful. He was old--older and more powerful than most of the reapers I had fought in recent years. Three hundred years was certainly something to boast about.

"That would make you happy, wouldn't it?"

"Yes, yes it would," Holger said, the words rolling over his giant tongue. "Where is your Guardian, Preliator?"

"Not far behind." It didn't matter. I had to destroy the reaper on my own or he would send more innocent souls to Hell.

"Well, that is quite fortunate for me."

He launched, jaws and claws spread wide. I bolted and he landed to the side of me, sliding through the snow and spraying glittery white powder. He leaped for me again, and I dived behind a tree. He collided with it, shaking half the tree free of snow and gouging a massive hole in the bark with his body. He roared in fury, and every tree near him shook with the force of his energy. His power exploded and he bashed a tree trunk with his paw, his talons ripping the trunk nearly in half. The tree groaned, and I stared up as it came crashing down; but I fell back before it pinned me to the ground. Though it missed me, the log had trapped one of my swords beneath it and the flames went out. I grabbed the handle and tugged, but the blade didn't slide free. Holger climbed over the trunk, and then his snarling muzzle was inches from my face. He snapped his jaws, lashed his thick tail in anger, and lunged at me, but a powerful blow to his skull knocked him off the tree. My heart leaped when I saw Will. He pounded the reaper's head again, crushing Holger to the ground. Will snapped back around to face me and bellowed, "Your sword!"

I nodded and gave the Khopesh another strong tug, grinding my boot into the trunk for leverage, and finally the blade slipped out. Angelfire burst from it. I turned my head just in time to see Holger charge at me where I lay. His jaws snapped at me, but I twisted away, and his teeth clamped down on earth and snow instead of flesh. With a desperate cry, I swung my sword as hard as I could. The blade cut deep through his neck, and his body burst into flames. Holger's head toppled off his body and onto my face. I cried out and my chair slipped out from under me. The racket echoed through the classroom as my butt hit the tile floor and the chair crashed.

Everyone around me was silent, too shocked to laugh, but I didn't dare look up. My entire body flushed with heat. Oh God, oh God . . . Both my hands covered my face as I sat on the floor, absolutely mortified.

"Holy crap, El ie, are you okay?" asked my table partner. I looked up to see his face peering down at me. "The chair . . . it slipped."

5

THE REST OF THE DAY WENT BY WITHOUT ANY MORE incidents. No more daydreams, I told myself firmly. My nightmares were scary enough and I had no desire to have them while awake. The memory of what I had experienced during history was fresh in my mind and stung like a paper cut; the episode fluttered around school, so by last period I was already known as that chick who fel on her ass during class. I'd have to move away. Probably to Alaska.

At last, school ended and I hurried to my locker. My interlude there with Kate and Landon was brief--I had other things on my mind. Like getting my car. And my nightmares coming to life.

I halfheartedly agreed to meet Kate at the mal on Saturday to get our outfits for my party, as we had discussed during math earlier. After saying a hasty good-bye and thanking Landon once again for the roses, I headed outside with the vase in my arms to meet my mom.

She seemed as excited as I was. "Honey, who are the flowers from?"

"Landon," I said, smel ing them again.

"Wel , that was very sweet of him," she offered, eying the vase.

"I suppose he's making up for al the snowbal s he's thrown in my face and shoved down my shirt over the years."

She nodded slowly and her brow flickered. "If you say so."