“Your friends are here. This’ll make it a little harder to get away, but I trust you’ll let this go now?” Brynn asked.

Pan glanced at her friends. She heard Aria cry her name. She saw Aria and Sotir a block away. A man stood with them, thankfully, not Casimir or that navy man.

Must be the ambassador. Lucky for me.

Pan tore her attention from the others and looked Brynn in the eyes. “Just tell me why. Why kill them?”

Brynn almost laughed. “I already told you. I did it to protect Scaldigir from them. How often do we have to go over this? Really, you can be so remedial.”

“I think you killed them because you were too scared to kill yourself.” Pan pointed at Brynn.

“I beg your pardon?” Brynn put a hand to her chest.

“You thought they were bad only because you felt you were.” Pan narrowed her eyes. She glanced at Aria and Sotir. Stay away, she wished.

“Oh really? Well, what’s wrong in acknowledging the truth? At least, I didn’t quietly pretend to be a ghost seer and deny my true nature. I’m surprised you didn’t reap more of your fellows, but then, I chalk it up to fear.”

“Fear?”

Sotir and Aria crept closer. The other man hung back. He fingered a gun. Brynn didn’t even turn around. She raised a hand, and the man’s gun flew across the courtyard.

Brynn caught it, squashed it, and tossed it to the ground. “Yes, Pan, fear. You never found yourself around arcanes when they died in battle because you never learned how to handle yourself in a battle. You fear it. You also failed to visit the ward because of the ghosts in the hospital. I know you lived in terror of them. You never had a chance to be bad because you crippled yourself by becoming a ghost seer. I used to think things worked out perfectly, with you too fearful to do anything of consequence.” Brynn smirked. “I’m thinking quite differently now. I left you to fester, and you’ve gone rotten.”

“I was supposed to stay quiet? I was supposed to read your mind and agree with your entire approach to life?” Pan pointed at herself. “I’m not a little play thing for you to control. I may be bad at reaping, but you are a worse reaper than any that came before. At least they didn’t murder children.”

Pan controlled her temper no longer. With her telekinesis, she grabbed a mess of gardening equipment from a nearby lean-to. The equipment was bent with age, but it would do. She pulled the rakes, shovels, trowels, and other pointy implements towards Brynn. A wheel barrow led the way, but when the impromptu weapons got to Brynn, they all stopped. Pan tried to force the gardening tools closer, but she couldn’t.

“This is pretty sloppy, Pan. I guess we can add bad telekinetic to your resume too.” Brynn sent a shovel at Pan.

Pan just managed to deflect it.

“Where’s the precision? What? Did you just plan to come onto the battle field and take a tantrum?”

Pan shook with rage. She telekinetically swatted a pitchfork and a rake. Tines twained in the wind and shattered on the steps.

A shovel aimed for Pan. She called upon her telekinesis, and the shovel’s handle snapped right into her hand. She ran down the steps and raised the shovel, ready to whack Brynn.

She never found the strength to bring it down. She breathed hard as a sharp pain stabbed through her back and stomach. Pan looked down to find the pitchfork embedded in her flesh.

“Heal yourself if you can, but this fight is over.” Brynn stalked closer.

Pan couldn’t speak. She called upon one of her new found powers – not healing, but time message. Pan told her former self to stay away from Brynn and use her portals. She needed to remember to use her portals.

           

Pan waited. She sat on the steps, elbow on knees and chin in hand. She wrapped her mind around the impression that once she fought Brynn.

That’s not right.

Pan waited at the church. She hadn’t seen Brynn for days, and Pan never underwent combat training against any of her mentors.

Slowly, Pan’s eyes widened, and she realized a future Pan fought Brynn. Things didn’t go well for that Pan. Pan needed to rely more on portals and keep her distance from the more powerful reaper.

“Didn’t I say to do nothing?”

Pan looked up and saw Brynn. Apparently, she needed the information sooner than she’d thought. Pan snapped to her feet.

“Look at the mess you’ve made. Do you know how hard it’s been for me to get a ship?”

“You don’t have a ship,” Pan scoffed.

Brynn’s eyes narrowed. “Well, not yet, but you’re going to help me.”

Pan didn’t object, but she didn’t agree. She wanted to accuse Brynn of murdering the other reapers, but Brynn admitted to that – twice. 

Pan and Brynn could talk the subject to death, but Pan would never change Brynn’s mind. They might as well talk about something else.

“What were you going to do about me?” Pan spread her hands. “I mean really do about me? You watched me and just let it be.”

“I know.” Brynn smirked. “I should have done something after you reaped Nella, but truthfully, I was a little bit proud of you for actually reaping something.”

Pan frowned. “Were you sure right away? That day you came to the hospital and questioned me – did you know without a doubt that I was a reaper? You suspected because before I came to live among the arcanes, you got me on your team – just like you planned.”

Brynn scrunched her nose. “I knew before you left the hospital. I saw you, and I just knew. I couldn’t do anything about it. I lived in a state of anxiety those first months, wondering when you would go to the ward and take another.”

“I never did,” Pan said. “I never visited the ward to collect dying souls. I reaped only one arcane on a battlefield. I guess that makes me – what? Afraid? A bad reaper?” Pan gestured to herself.

Brynn laughed. “Yes, but that was a good thing. Till now. All these years, I found myself thinking you were simply too sweet and fearful to be much of a threat. I got soft on you.” Brynn beckoned. “Now, come on.”

“Pan!” Aria shouted – again.

With more precise telekinesis, Pan reached for the gardening tools. This time, she grabbed only the shovel, rake, and pitchfork. “You know what would have been a good thing? Not keeping this whole situation a secret from me.”

Pan pulled the pitchfork towards Brynn. The other implements lay in wait, far enough for Pan to maintain control over them.

The pitchfork screamed towards Brynn and stopped in mid-air. It turned on Pan.

“I have a pretty good idea of how to incapacitate you,” Brynn warned. “I’m not going to kill you – yet.”

“Lonely?” Pan asked.

The pitchfork came her way, but Pan drew a portal. The pitchfork sailed through and appeared behind Brynn. It embedded itself in the experienced reaper’s flank and arm.

From somewhere in the background, a man fired his gun.

Before the shot reached Brynn, it glowed. It became a bead of light, twisted, and pulled itself into a four-legged creature. The shape trotted away, leaving Brynn without further harm. Telekinetically, Brynn pulled the man’s gun out of his hand and squashed it.

Pan froze and watched the whole scene. She jumped as a ring of fire, enveloped her and Brynn. Pan stepped away from the edge. She looked back to see the Mother Tree close to the flames.

Brynn freed herself from the pitchfork and bled onto the steps.

Pan remembered her own warning to stay away from her mentor. She looked into the church, drew a portal, and got on the other side of the flames. She found herself still close to the heat. Pan ran past the Mother Tree, past the benches, and through the altar doorway. There she found the rubble of the time messenger’s sarcophagus. Pan pulled the pieces off the floor and swept them around herself into a stone shield.

Brynn caught up, and fire ringed the room. “Good luck getting out of this. Maybe, I will just kill you. Some company you’d make.”

Brynn sent threads of ice over Pan’s stones.

Pan kept the stones moving. She could just see Brynn through the shield’s cracks. As the ice grew in strength, Pan couldn’t budge the stones. She looked up. The area above her head remained clear.

Pan sighted high. Then, she drew a portal beneath her feet. Pan fell through.

As she fell, she sighted the main room and drew a second portal. Again, Pan fell through and came down hard on the altar dais. Pan got to her feet and ran back through the benches, now singed by fire. Even the Mother Tree looked singed, and just around the Mother Tree, Pan saw her friends.

What the hell are they doing? They have soft powers. They’ll get hurt.

Pan detoured for one of the side rooms. Behind her, ice swept over the ground. It missed Pan and trapped Sotir and the man. They cried out as ice caught them up to their knees. Aria sat down on the floor and covered her eyes, probably blinded by the light.

Brynn strode after Pan. “Now, they won’t bother us.”

Pan fled into the side room and lifted a coffin lid. The man carved in the stone held a sword from his chest to his ankles. Pan sent the lid straight at Brynn, but Brynn caught it and sent it right back. Pan couldn’t draw a portal fast enough and took the hit full force.

As she lay beneath the sarcophagus, she realized that Brynn didn’t plan to heal and capture her – not this time. Pan tried to raise her head. She didn’t think Brynn would have to do much to finish her off. With a shuddering breath, Pan sent a message: stay away, use portals, keep in the open, don’t run back towards your friends. Oh, and use the pitchfork.

 

Pan sat on the church steps. She lifted her chin from her hand. She found herself suddenly aware of some future intel. She needed to stay away from Brynn, use her portals, and try to stay away from her friends and enclosed spaces. She also needed to find a pitchfork.

Along with the message, Pan felt a strong sensation of pressure. Brynn would arrive soon, and Pan would talk to her – about the other reapers or maybe herself. Pan felt those topics led to dead ends. How could Pan convince a practiced murderer that what she’d done was wrong? How could Pan ever expect to change Brynn’s opinion?

Pan put her hands on the steps and got ready to rise.

Brynn interrupted, “Didn’t I say to do nothing?”

Pan rose to her feet.

“Why are you worthy of life, when they were not?” Pan asked.

Brynn laughed. “Oh, asking the tough questions?”

Pan gave her a stoney glare.

Brynn sighed. “It’s not a question of worth. I had to make sure they couldn’t hurt anyone. I knew I wouldn’t.”

Pan shook her head. “You didn’t know anything. You’ve hurt a lot of people. You murdered five kids. You would have murdered me. You’re not how you think. You’re not a hero.”

Brynn glared. “I was going to save you from this mess you created, but I think you’ve changed my mind.”

“You haven’t once tried to save me.”

Brynn started a blaze behind Pan. It ringed their little battleground, trapping Pan inside with Brynn. Pan knew what to do. She pulled the pitchfork from the wheelbarrow’s side. It sped toward Brynn and leapt through the flame. Brynn caught it in mid-air, and no surprise, she sent it towards Pan.

Use the portals, Pan reminded herself.

She drew a portal and caught the pitchfork. The portal expelled the pitchfork behind Brynn, right into the older reaper’s arm and flank. Pan smiled.

Brynn grunted as she bent over and tried to free herself.

Pan didn’t wait. She pulled the shovel next. It shot through the fire and almost hit Brynn’s head, but the older woman dodged.

Brynn raised a hand and shattered the shovel. Then, Brynn called for the other gardening implements. For a moment, she held them in fire, and then, aflame, she sent them to Pan.

Pan couldn’t deflect so many. She drew a portal and escaped the sweltering ring.

Unfortunately, she had to go into the church – an enclosed space. If she went forward, into open space, she would encounter her friends. Unable to heed both warnings from future Pan, Pan chose the one that would keep her friends out of harm. Just over the flames, Pan spotted Aria. She thought Aria might have screamed her name, but she couldn’t hear.

Around the trunk of the Mother Tree, Pan fled. She ran between the benches and made for the altar room, where she could flee out the back and into the city.

As Pan entered the altar, she heard Brynn’s footsteps on the church floor. Pan tried to sight her way out the window, but a glare of sunlight accosted her eyes. Pan threw an arm over her face and looked at the ground. There she saw the broken sarcophagus. She swept the shards into a tornado, and once she had control, she sent them for the back wall. They stacked into an array of uneven steps, leading up to the open window. Pan ran up the steps and sheltered her eyes, until she moved out of the sun’s glare.

Just as Brynn entered the room, Pan stepped onto the sill. She found herself high and drew a portal from window to ground. Pan jumped through and landed in an open yard. She turned and got ready to face Brynn.

Before Brynn appeared, a trail of ice snaked down the outer church wall and headed for Pan. To shield herself, Pan drew a portal, low enough to the ground that the ice traveled through and askance.

Pan drew another portal and stepped through. She jumped to the edge of the garden and hid behind a tree. Pan searched the area for something to drop on Brynn.

“Oh, Pan. Where are you?” Brynn called. She walked over stairs of ice and made her way to the ground. “I have the ability to track others. You’re easy to find, Pan. Against your will, you announce your presence with a kind of firework.” Brynn turned and stared at Pan’s tree.

Pan ducked behind it. In an abandoned wagon, she saw a load of rocks. She lifted some and sent them hurtling towards Brynn. Above Brynn, Pan dropped the pile, hoping it would be enough.

Brynn didn’t stop them. She just smiled. The rocks rained down; they turned into woodland creatures of light.

The creatures scurried away.

Pan muttered, “How does she do that?”

Brynn smiled and called, “Come over, and we can have a chat. I’m not shouting the details of my personal life at you.”

Pan froze. Brynn had heard…

After a moment’s hesitation, Pan drew several portals. The first dropped a small shovel on Brynn. The second sent a pot sailing towards Brynn’s head, and the third fluttered leaves above the old reaper.

Brynn laughed. She fairly cackled. She set Pan’s hiding place alight.

Pan jumped back and drew a portal under the tree. She smiled as the flaming tree fell atop Brynn’s head. Of course, Brynn caught it, but the fire licked Brynn’s hair. Brynn’s dress also caught flame, and her dress burned.

With a sweep of her hand, Pan scooped up a bunch of leaves and made them dance around the tree. The leaves each grabbed a spark and burst into flame. Pan swirled them lower and made them dance around Brynn. Little fires sprouted on the older woman.

With a growl, Brynn covered herself in ice. She tossed the tree. The flaming heap of wood headed for Pan.

Pan’s eyes widened. She drew a portal and ducked through. She escaped further into the garden, amid thick bushes. She couldn’t stay. The fire spread, and Brynn could find her. In a state of anger, Brynn might decide to finish Pan in an instant. So, Pan made her next move.

She sighted a point high in the air. As Brynn melted out of the ice, Pan closed one eye, focused on her old mentor, and drew a portal around Brynn’s feet. With her index finger, Pan traced the circle. She could probably draw the portal with her eyes alone, but for now, she needed her fingers to perform this brand of mischief. Brynn fell through, along with the remnant of flame and ice. Pan looked up into the sky and saw Brynn plummet towards the ground.

Suddenly, Brynn was gone.

“I’ve had enough of this, Pan.”

Pan whirled in time to see Brynn, a bit singed and very mad. Brynn pushed Pan away, and Pan found herself against the church wall in an instant. She felt certain that some parts of her were irreparable.

Pan sent the message: Brynn can turn things into light, use telekinesis, start fires, shape ice, heal, track me, hear and see me from a distance, and teleport. Brynn can kill you in an instant. Kill her before she wants to kill you. Pan felt the message leave, just as her view went dark.