“I was thinking.” Lorelei started. She sat at a desk covered in books and loose papers. In her hand she held a quill. She didn’t look up when she spoke to Death. “If we are giving vampires, incubi, and succubi second chances, should we do the same with the Gods?” Death stared at Lorelei in utter confusion.

“Don’t you hate the Gods?” Death asked Lorelei. She looked up from her papers to stare back at Death, with a slightly lost look on her face.

“I do,” Lorelei replied simply. She then sighed and put down her quill. “But the way I see it, we’re creating a school to end ignorance. Until now, we’ve been focused on the ignorance of these other factions.” Lorelei’s face twisted as she continued. “But if we want to do this right, we’ll have to face my ignorance as well.” Death stared into Lorelei’s eyes. Lorelei tilted her head, and her eyes shifted away quickly. “Unless you can think of a reason to exclude them, but like it or not, they do count as one of the factions.”

Death sighed heavily as she rubbed her temples. “You know better than anyone else how deep my distaste for those creatures goes.” Death grumbled, “But,” she looked off into the distance, biting her lip. “Maybe they could help us find-”

“To be honest, it’s better that she’s gone.” Lorelei cut her off abruptly. Death narrowed her eyes at Lorelei, but Lorelei pretended not to notice as she changed the subject. “Well, if you agree they should join us, then it looks like we’ll have to visit the void dimension.” Lorelei returned to her papers and started writing.

Death observed her as she gently rubbed her chin. She tilted her head to the side as she said softly, “Nathaniel will be returning. I’ve asked him to teach at the school.”

Lorelei’s heart trembled, and she inhaled sharply. “O-oh. Okay. Well, uh, Thank you. He’s been around a long time. He’ll have lots of insight for the, uh, students.” Death scoffed before she snapped her fingers, disappearing from the room. Light and warmth returned, and Lorelei exhaled from relief.

Lorelei looked back up and stared at the spot where Death had just been for a few moments. “Nathaniel.” She sighed and gripped the quill tighter as her heart clenched. “Why him?” She forced herself to loosen her grip so she could place her quill down carefully and sat back in her chair. “And like that, I am small once again.” Tears ran down her cheeks and Lorelei rested her neck against the back of her chair as she stared at the ceiling. It was entirely made out of glass. She was able to stare at the sunny sky, lost in thought for a moment.

She could remember that day, so many years ago. The sun was high, everything felt so alive. Just like this day, right now. Meeting a reaper? On such a day? Such a twisted fate that spelled. Youth is naive, innocent, and no matter how much she denied it, it made her the same as well.