#quote #1 Love is as hard as climbing a mounting. The journey is tough and painful, but when you reach the top, the view is beautiful. And it's an experience you'll never forget.

Silent Reaper ～ Chapter ❻ ～ I began walking back to the house after my second encounter with the reaper boy. I thought about what happened for a while, occasionally stopping to stare at the sky. He said I was half reaper, it wasn't a question of believing him anymore, who would know about that let alone lie about it? I had no real choice but to believe him. I sighed. A slight feeling of burning in the back of my head startled me. It felt like I was being watched. I turned my head to look behind me. Of course, no one was there though. No one was ever there, things just liked to stalk you here. I turned my head again and began walking. I didn't care about being stalked, after all, I had a body guard now - well at least I think I do, if he's telling the truth... I continued down the path with Doom at my side until reaching home. As soon as I opened the door I smelt some strange aroma. Mom was home. "Hey, mom." I called into the house. Doom ran in and wagged his tail at the full bowl of dog food. "Welcome home," my mom called back to me. She turned away from her dangerous cooking and smiled at me. "Your home early," I noted, removing my shoes. She nodded. "I have something I wanna talk to you about," I began. She smiled and hummed as she turned around to tend to her cooking. "Sure, what is it sweetie?" I thought about how I would phrase this... "I met a boy today," I said. She stopped cooking and looked over her shoulder at me curiously. "I mean I met him before, and his name is Ethan," I looked at her expression, seeing no sign of recollection. I decided to be blunt. "And he's a reaper," she said nothing for a moment and then she turned around, turning off the cooker and serving two plates of what... Looked like pasta. She set one plate down infront of me and I took a bite. It was as good as always. "Ethan," she repeated, stabbing her fork into her meal. "He said that dad was one too," I said. "And I'm ... Uh... Silencer, right?" She didn't say anything for a while, after all, when these kind of conversations occurred the person would say 'what? Where did you hear that!' But I had already broken that option, saying Ethan had told me and Ethan was obviously a person and by the looks of it, a person she knew. "We saw no point in telling you," she said finally. "Because your father had stopped being a reaper, he gave up his power for me so that we could have you so ... That's why I guess he died, he couldn't defend himself against one of his own anymore." I looked down at my plate. I wasn't really hungry anymore. "Why did you marry him?" I asked. "What kind of reaper was he?" I had so many questions in my mind that I just blurted a few out. She looked at me and sighed. "He was an Energy taker one, and well... Your young still, you wouldn't understand how it... Happened, why we married..." She trailed off. I stopped. That was enough information. I wasn't actually angry I was more confused, why they didn't just tell me. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you Hanna," she mumbled. "I just didn't want you to get involved with these things. But since you know now there isn't anything I can do to stop you from craving more information." I looked at her and then down. "It's fine," I muttered. "I'm sure ill find out sooner or later," I said referring to Ethan. "Ethan's father was a trusted friend of Pete and you two actually grew up together... But you were so young I'm not surprised you don't remember." She smiled slightly as if it was nostalgic. "I knew him before?" I asked, stunned. She nodded. I stood up then and walked quickly up to my room. I opened the balcony door and stepped out. "Ethaaaaan!" I called upwards. He appeared then, standing on the thin piece of wood. Honestly I didn't think he'd hear me but nothing surprised me anymore. "You called," he said. I looked up at the dark figure and stepped aside so he could step down. As he did so I quickly decided to suffocate him with questions, and one specific one entered my mind. "Can you fly?" I asked. He looked at me with a strange expression. "Fly?" He repeated. I nodded. He shrugged. "Not fly per se, but I can jump pretty high and I always land on my feet," he winked. "So like a cat?" I joked. He glared and shook his head. I looked at the garden below the balcony. I unsteadily climbed up onto the thin balcony. He caught onto what I was doing and quickly caught my wrist. "Why're you..." "Show me," I said, smiling. He sighed, defeted, and jumped up onto the balcony too, somehow infront of me, balanced on the thin line of wood. Then, we were falling. I quickly enclosed my arms around his neck, covering my face in his shoulder. Then everything was still. I looked up worriedly and saw that he now had me in a princess hold and he had, after all, landed perfectly. He put me down and I wobbled slightly before regaining my balance. "I have a feeling you have a bunch of questions." He sighed. I nodded quickly. "Alright shoot," he said, siting down in the grass. I sat next to him and fired away. He listened and answered every question. "What's an energy takers reaper?" I asked after we had been out there for about an hour. He hesitated then spoke. "They do what it sounds like. Take energy." He averted his gaze from mine. I sighed and looked up at the sky, changing quickly to a different question, sensing his negativity. "Can you be two reapers at once?" I asked next. He looked at me puzzled. "What do you mean?" He asked. "You know... You said your elemental AND an energy taker... Right?" Great I didn't change the subject at all! He nodded slightly. "I don't know, to be honest," he said shrugging. "How do you take energy ...?" I asked curiously. If he didn't want to speak about I'm pretty sure he'd say something... "Well," he began. "If I were to kiss you right now you'd lose energy..." I gaped at him and then he laughed, patting my head. "I'm kidding," he said smiling. I rolled my eyes and sighed. There was so little I actually knew about this but I guess that was understandable. "What powers... Do you have if your elemental?" A grin appeared on his mouth. "You really wanna see?" He tested, holding out his hand. I hesitated but nodded. His grin widened as a small flame began to appear on his hand, gradually getting bigger, until the heat reached me.

Silent Reaper ～ Chapter ❺ ～ It had been almost a week since my last encounter with the boy who claimed to be a reaper. It was Tuesday evening and I was still at a loss about how to understand the information I had obtained. I hadn't told my mother of what had happened nor anyone else, but I guess that reason lies with the fact I only trust few people. I let out a sigh as I ate the tangled spaghetti on my plate. My mom looked at me with a worried expression. I looked up to meet her gaze. "I'm fine, mom." I said trying to reassure her. She was unconvinced. I sighed again. I did want to tell her what I found out but I also didn't feel like I could. It's not all that I didn't want to worry her, I was more afraid she wouldn't believe me. Maybe I was paranoid, I didn't know. Once I was finished I looked outside at the light that seemed to refuse to fade away. I washed my dishes and picked up Doom's lead. "I'll just take Doom for a walk," I smiled and opened the door. My mom nodded and sighed slightly as she picked up her plate and began to clean it. Doom pulled me forward, tugging the lead as he explored every rock and lamp post. I looked around as the pale orange light of the sun began to finally set. As soon as we stepped foot and paw into the forest I thought of the reaper boy. I wondered if he was lurking around here. I didn't feel worried per se, but slightly nervous. Doom liked this forest though, and it was obvious he wanted to sniff around here. I quickly got a hold of myself and released Doom from his lead. He scampered off into the trees. I perched on a near by rock and studied the floor. Tomorrow was the reaping night. I sighed. Reaping. Reaping. What did it actually mean? It was beginning to frustrate me that I knew so little. Why had my dad never told me about this or that boy reaper that claimed to know about me? What about mom, did she know? Does she know? I heard a rustle in the trees which distracted me. I looked up following the sound. I felt my skin heat up. The wind seemed to accumulate out of no where and blew heavily through my hair. I looked around. I couldn't see anything. My heart began to thump as I realized all traces of light that was present not long ago was gone. "Hanna," a voice came from behind me and I jumped twenty feet out of my skin, turning around to look at said boy. "JESUS!" I yelled. "Stop doing that!" I wiped some sweat that had appeared on my forehead. "Sorry," Ethan chuckled. "I didn't know your sensing skills were so... Bad." He slipped his hands in his pockets. His hood was lightly over his head still exposing half his head - his hair spiked out of it. I had a feeling that he looked good when he didn't try. "Sensing?" I repeated, sitting back down on my rock. He nodded swiftly. "Yes." He paused and looked at my expression. "You don't know what that is, huh?" I shook my head and he sighed. "I really shouldn't tell you-" I quickly interrupted him. "But I'm sick and tired of not knowing! Enlighten me!" He seemed slightly amused at my rant and that just annoyed me further. I ground my teeth. Ethan sat down on the floor infront of me. "There are people called Silencers. They are half human half reaper. As you can probably guess, not many people get," he pursed his lips as if searching for the roght word. "Get involved with us so therefore offspring are very rare." When I didn't say anything he continued. "Silencers have many abilities, one includes being able to sense when reapers are close by. Others, well that depends on the Silencer." I stared at him. "So this... Silencer, am I..." As the words began to leave my mouth, the more ridiculous all of this sounded. "Did you ever wonder why you had a mark of a crescent#moonon your left wrist?" He asked. I looked down at my hand and looked beneath my palm. I had always thought it was weird that I had that mark on my skin but I just thought it was a birth mark. I looked back up at Ethan. "So," I tried to keep my voice level but it was hard. "My... Father was a..." I tried to say the word but it didn't come out. "A reaper," Ethan finished for me. I nodded slowly and looked down. "My mom... Married a... Reaper..." I was definitely going to confront her about this. It was like marrying the devil! They were demons! Half of me is demon... Like him. I calmed myself and thought back to the book. It had mentioned the existence of good reapers so... My dad was good. Right? "What kind of Reaper are you?" I tried to mean it as a question but it came out more as an accusation. He didn't seem swayed by my mean tone. "Elemental," he said. "Can you guess the element?" He grinned at me. I looked at his sunset eyes and thought about it. "Fire." I answered. He nodded. "Correct," he winked. "Are you good or bad?" I asked bluntly. He looked slightly taken back. "If I was bad," he said his icy smile reappearing. "You wouldn't be alive right now." I felt my heart thump and my breath catch in my throat. "Don't worry I can't do anything. Pete entrusted you to my care." "Dad did?" My eyes widened when he nodded. "So stay outta trouble," he stood up and smiled although his eyes were frowning. He slipped into the blackness of the wood and I made a mental note to begin to get used to his sudden, unannounced appearances.

Silent Reaper ～ Chapter ❹ ～ I heard the birds in the trees above me grow silent. I noticed the wind that had been gently flowing around the wood, stop. I stared at the boy infront of me. Of course, he was lying. Who would just announce to a complete stranger that they were reapers? No one. That's why he was lying. So why did I believe him? As the moments ticked by I thought about what my response would be. It was utterly ridiculous to even consider what he was saying — but I found the question creeping back into my mind. What if he were a reaper? What if he was actually telling the truth and not playing some absurd mind game. The silence dragged on. His pose seemed never to change as he looked at me, his sunset eyes seeping into mine. Part of me - the logical part - said that he was a disturbed person where as the other part of me, I don't know which part, said he was telling the truth and honestly, the look on his face and strange features didn't exactly help me think otherwise. Distracting my train of thought, the boy spoke. "I guess you really don't know," he sighed slightly. I looked at him not sure what to do or say. When he didn't hear a response he spoke again. "Never mind," he spoke gently this time and faced away from me. "If you don't know I guess your father didn't want you to." He turned to look at me over his shoulder and gave an icy smile. "After all, Hanna," I gasped at the sound of my name. "Good old man Pete wanted his daughter safe from all this." His cold smile turned sly, and then he was gone, gone before I could have possibly began to understand what he was talking about. I felt as though I had been rooted to the ground. I felt suddenly really uncomfortably warm, but on the inside I felt as though my blood had turned to ice. I started to hear Doom's growling. I looked down at the dog whom was still looking at the place where the reaper boy had stood. How did he know my name? How did he know my fathers name? Does he know what happened when my father had died? Did he know what strange things were going on in my family or, and what I prefer to think is the solution - was he just a seriously capable stalker? I allowed myself to laugh at that thought. I began walking back to my home, with Doom close at my heels. It was about seven in the morning now and I knew mom would have already left for work. What would I do today? Once I arrived back into the safety of the house, I began pacing around my room, looking at my fathers book then pacing again trying to make sense of what was going on. I let out an exasperated sigh. What was I trying to find out? If that boy, Ethan, really was a reaper, then what kind was he? What was his over all purpose and why was I still alive? Nothing was making sense - not the village's stories and understanding of reapers, not any of the books in the library, not my mothers stories or my fathers for that matter. For the first time in a long time I felt truly alone.

Silent Reaper ～ Chapter ❸ ～ A cold wind crawled at my heels, dew was still fresh on grass. The air smelt fresh and slightly cold, birds were chirping confirming dawn. I inhaled deeply and smiled at the light blue and slightly orange sky. Doom's tail whipped around my leg and he licked my knee. I smiled down at the dog and release him from his lead, as he went scampering off into the forest. I followed after him slowly, inspecting the light mist that encircled the shrub at my feet. I noticed a small blue and white flower. I bent down to examine it. It was really pretty. I took out my pocket sketch book and small pencil and began drawing the rare flower. Not soon after I finished did I jump and the sound of someone's voice. "That's pretty good," the voice said. My head spun around, startled at the sudden presence. It was a boy in a fitted black hoody and a pair of dark blue jeans. His hair was black but had red tints to it and his eyes were out of this world gorgeous... I mean, his face too, but his eyes... They were a strange sunset color, not quite orange, not quite red, but all of those colors, a tint of dark red around his iris instead of the usual yellow. The rest of his eye was dark orange, yellow, light orange as well. When I could drag my eyes away from his, well, oh-so-godly-magnificent eyes, I realized the frightening aura he emitted. It was strange, I knew I should be afraid but I wasn't. "Who Are you?" I asked when I could recollect my brain. "I'm Ethan," he answered simply. I mouthed the letters to his name. Ethan. Hmm. "What're you doing here?" I asked suddenly defensive. "What're you?" He replied. I stared at the boy infront of me skeptically. "I mean what're you doing HERE?" I emphasized the last word. He straightened up from where he was bent looking over my shoulder. "I saw this girl weirdly crouching over here so I decided to come look, then I saw her drawing a flower and it was pretty good and .. Yeah, your up to date," he leaned back casually and put his hands in his pockets. I stared at him wide eyed. Who was this guy? He looked my age and I was sure he was about five or more inches taller then me. I stood too, confirming my earlier thought of his tall ness. "Who are you again? I forgot," I said crossing my arms over my chest. "James." He answered, his face contained no emotion. "I thought you said you were Ethan," I retorted. "I thought you said you forgot who I was," he replied easily. I sighed who was this smartass? I called Doom and he appeared at my heels. Once noticing Ethan, he growled scarily and even seemed to glare at him. I looked down at the hound questioningly. "Doom?" I muttered. "Your dog doesn't like me," he said stiffly. I looked over at the boy. "I noticed," I said. "I wonder why..." I added. "Maybe because I'm a reaper," he said casually. My eyes widened and my heart began to thump. Did he just say what I think... He said?