Dark Destiny by Thomas Grave Page A

Hope’s picture, he brought the phone to his ear. “Hey, what’s up?
    “I got it,” she replied.
    “Got what?”
    “Ahold of Jared. Well, sort of. You see, I have this app on my phone that lets anybody within our plan locate each other. I didn’t think about using it because I didn’t know how to set it up.”
    “And you got it set up?”
    “It took me a few minutes, but yes. He’s in the downtown area.”
    The Elder spoke. Jared Ryan, age 17. Time of death: 9:14pm .
    Awkward silence.
    Sebastian turned to face the book. “What did you just say?”
    He knew exactly what the Book had said. Still he stared at the Book, waiting for a response.
    Hope answered instead. “I said he’s downtown. I’ve been driving around, looking for him. I’m worried.”
    Something crept in his chest. His gut told him not to look at the clock, but he couldn’t help it. His eyes darted to it.
     
     
    9:10pm
     
     
    His face suddenly flushed.
    The hairs on the back of his neck stood. Goosebumps blanketed his arms. Every muscle was tense. His heart beat fast and hard. A warning. “Hope, no. Listen to me. Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it.”
    “Sebastian, you don’t have a car. I do. I called to let you know not to worry.”
    “Hope! No, listen!”
    “Relax, Sebastian, don’t worry. You’re being silly. I’ve been to the city before. I’ll be fine. Good night.”
    She hung up.
    Tapping his finger, Sebastian felt a stab of panic. “Damn, I need to get to —”
     
    . . .downtown?
    Directly in front of him was the Chesapeake Bay with the Baltimore city skyline behind it. The bright lights from buildings and street lamps reflected in the rippling water. Off in the distance, police sirens wailed.
    He glanced around and quickly took in his surroundings. He was standing in what appeared to be a corner of an alley with the large Book, what he now knew as the Elder. Now, it was as light as a paperback in spite of its size. He heard a skittering noise coming from his right, and turned to see a rat running between two green dumpsters on one side of the alley. Beer bottles and torn open bags of trash surrounded the dumpsters. Farther back past the dumpsters a late model, abandoned car sat on deflated tires.
    “How did we get here?” he said aloud.
    You did it . . . with my help.
    “I did?” Sebastian asked, hearing the confusion in his voice. God, if his mom caught him in the city, especially this late at night, she would kill him.
    Yes.
    “What are we doing here?”
    Think about it, Reaper. You are—
    “I am . . .” Sebastian blew out his breath explosively. “I have no idea what I’m doing here,” he replied, shaking his head.
    Reaping. And here is your first assignment.
    Near the front of the alley, Jared was coming out from the backdoor of a coffee shop. In one hand, he held some sort of pastry. He took a sipfrom the coffee cup in his other hand, grimacing as though it burned his tongue.
    “Jared,” Sebastian whispered, his stomach suddenly heaving and churning sourly.
     
    After a long day of pain and misery, Jared decided it was time to head home. Hope had called him numerous times, but he couldn’t bring himself to answer. He just couldn’t deal with anyone right now, not Hope, and not Sebastian either. Jared knew he was being selfish by avoiding everyone, but he just needed to be alone. True, Sebastian needed a best friend, but he could wait a day.
    He pitched the coffee cup into the dumpster a few feet from him then fished his phone out of his pocket. Scanning through his contacts, he found his sister and was about to click on her name when a familiar voice called out to him.
    “Jared. That’s your name, right?”
    He thought he recognized the voice but he wasn’t quite sure. He turned to see one of the guys from the subway car.
    “Guppy? Is that you?” he asked.
    “What did you just call me!?” Guppy yapped, his left eye twitching vigorously.
    “ Step. Aside,” called a voice from the