To Allie, it felt like a simple shift in the wind. The world was warm, and then it was cold. She knew, though, what that cold meant. Fighting to keep calm, she turned to face the Reaper.
“We meet again,” it said. The voice was low and husky – not male, or female…not human at all. It was the sound of the end.
Allie stood her ground. “You can’t have her,” she said. “You can’t take her. I fought you off once, I’ll do it again.”
The Reaper stared at her hard, and shook it’s head slowly from side to side. A small, subtle move, but one that rocked Allie to the core.
“She wasn’t mine to take last time,” it said. “Now she is. There is no fighting Time.” In Reaper’s voice there was no emotion, no expression, and Allie knew – this time she couldn’t save her mother.
Leaving a wisp of black fog, the Reaper vanished, only to reappear next to Bianca. Corbin watched too, and Allie wondered what he thought of her conversation with Death. She hung her head and began to sob. For Bianca, there was no pain except that of leaving her family. She had a full and happy life, one that she had extended with magic again and again. It was her time, and she was ready to step into the Other, and to be with Joel again.