Chapter 1
One More Terrible Idea
Dramatic deaths worked great in songs. If the person died because of their own stupid pride, that was even better.
As the invisible force dragged Jess toward the flames, she felt profound sympathy for the subject of every doomed ballad she’d ever heard. It was easy to get cocky and let yourself walk right into disaster. People were prideful idiots all the time, and on a normal day the worst consequence you had to face was someone shouting at you on the road. You had no idea you’d gotten yourself killed until it was too late, and what was supposed to be a normal day turned into the kind of mess people wrote songs about.
Not that anyone would write this song. The only audience for her desperate attempts to drag herself back up into the dirt was Thomas, who was stuck in this disaster just as deeply as she was. It was her fault he was even here, and if he had any sense he’d let go of her right now and abandon her to her fate. He should at the very least be furious at her for this, but instead he was holding onto her like it was his life on the line. If she got pulled in, Jess had a terrible feeling he'd let himself get dragged in with her.
If there's one thing better suited to a song than an arrogant death, it's a tragedy.
#
The week had started out so good, too.
It kicked off with a walk that was almost relaxing. Clear skies, a cool breeze, and enough moonlight for Jess to see the road stretched out in front of her. She still had a ways to go before she could call it a night, but she piped a steady stream of her favorite tunes as she walked. A few doors from nearby houses shut as she went by, curtains quickly closing, but Jess didn’t take it as a commentary on her music.
Almost no one liked watching hundreds of rats walk down their street.
With each step, the number kept climbing. Rats trickled out of every house and outbuilding she passed by, emerging from cracks and knotholes to join the ever-increasing rat army behind her. She called them with her music, with the thread of power she wove through every note, and they wanted to follow more than they wanted air.
Some people become witches or sorceresses. Other people had magic that was only good for pest control.
The little boy standing by the side of the road didn’t seem to care, though. All his attention was on the rats, watching them with the kind of rapt fascination she hardly ever saw from anyone over the age of 12. She took one hand off the pipe long enough to wave at him, and the kid delightedly waved back.
As if she’d been watching from the window, the boy’s mother burst out of one of the nearby houses. She hurried over and snatched him up, capping the whole thing off by giving Jess her fiercest glare. Jess responded with the most dramatic wink she could manage, making the woman huff and haul her child back into the house.
The rest of the walk was quiet, ending in an empty field with a flaming trench along the far end. It was how rat piping was always done these days, the rats going into the trench while Jess walked across a bridge set up with magical fire protection. It wasn’t the most pleasant process, but Jess enjoyed eating on a regular basis.
The town council representative standing at the end of the trench watched her with a skeptical expression. “Always found pipers kind of creepy, myself. Too close to those sirens you always hear stories about.”
It was hardly an uncommon response. No one really trusted pipers, and they trusted them less when they were young and female. More than that, her olive brown skin and straight black hair made it hard to pass as a local. One more strike against her, on a list that was already long enough.
She put on her best salesman’s smile, imagining stabbing him with the knife in her boot. “I believe you have the rest of my money?”
Reluctantly, he handed her a decently full envelope, then stalked off into the darkness. Jess watched him go, smiling in relief when he finally disappeared from view. “You can come out now.”
Barely a breath later, the emptiness in front of her was replaced by a young man. He had a soft, dark cloud of tightly curled hair, warm brown skin burnished by the firelight, and the kindest eyes Jess had ever seen. She’d been traveling with him for almost a year now, and she still wasn’t tired of looking at him.
“That guy was a jerk.” Thomas Abernathy, official Rat and Mouse Reaper, scowled as he pushed his glasses back up his nose. “If he thinks he can do so much better, why doesn’t he try to get rid of all the mice and rats in town?”
Chest tightening at the fierce protectiveness in his voice, she busied herself with putting both her pipe and the money away in her case. “Thank you for the entertaining visuals. He’s the kind of man who thinks he could order them to behave, then be surprised when they swarmed him.”
Thomas scowled. “He’d deserve it.”
He sounded so serious, as if he was the one who’d been insulted, and Jess had to clear her throat before she could trust her voice. “You wouldn’t have to overhear so many jerks if you didn’t wait here for me during my walk. I’m pretty sure I don’t have another Reaper following me, which means you could come back and do your part of things pretty much any time tonight.”
Thomas’s protective anger instantly disappeared, replaced by a sudden uncertainty she wanted to kick herself for activating. He didn’t like to talk about it much, but Jess had seen it often enough to know staff of the Dr. Abernathy Home for Abandoned Children had a lot to answer for.
He took a step back. “I don’t have to wait here if you don’t want me to. You don’t actually need me to keep track of how many rats and mice you’ve collected, and if you wanted you could just—”
“Hey.” Jess caught the lanyard he always wore around his neck when he was on the job, tugging on it gently. “I don’t want you to stop doing anything. I was just trying to save you a little boredom.”
The uncertainty vanished, his whole face lighting up. “Being bored just means more time to read.” Then his expression softened. “Besides, I like watching you work.”
Anyone with sense would have kissed him for that. Jess had plenty of sense, but she also knew how bad she was for Thomas. If she was nearly as good a person as her partner, she should stay away from him.
She wasn’t going to do that – she refused to let herself say she couldn’t – but she needed to keep herself from making it any worse.
Taking a deep breath, Jess made herself let go of him. “Right now, though, I’m the one who’s keeping you from working.” She tightened the strap on her pipe case to make sure she had something to do with her hands. “Why don’t we—”
The rest of her cover attempt was interrupted by the sound of her pocket magic mirror chiming that she had a new message. Grateful for the distraction, she pulled it out and swiped her finger across the glass. More work for her meant more work for both of them.
Thomas watched her, hesitating as he reached for the I.D. hanging around his neck. “You want to skip following me around tonight, so you can focus on the message?”
“Not a chance. I’d hate to miss hearing you explain something.” Opening the message with one hand, she tried to ignore the familiar tingle as she laid the other hand on his shoulder. There was an entirely practical reason for it – if she let go of him, she’d immediately get dumped back into the regular world and Thomas would end up invisible again. “If you ever want to quit being a Reaper I’m sure someone would hire you as a tour guide.”
Thomas made a rueful noise. “Only someone who was really interested in hearing an itemized history of the local plant life.” He finally slapped his hand against the I.D., making both the darkness and fire disappear in a rush of gray. The only spots of color left in the world were her, Thomas, and the cool blue light of the rats’ discarded life energy floating in small clouds above the flames.
Thomas curled his hand, murmuring a word Jess could never quite catch. An instant later, a glowing, translucent scythe made of energy appeared in his empty grip. According to Thomas, everyone’s life energy stuck around after they died. It normally faded away after a few days, and without the extra boost of the cloak only witches and sorcerers could see it. That meant the less scrupulous ones could absorb the energy as an extra power boost, which tended to be bad news for everyone else.
That was where Reapers came in.
“You know, it’s really not fair that you have to wait until they’re already dead,” Jess tried, watch him carefully swing the tip of his scythe through each one of those small clouds of blue light. The light flared and disappeared, going someplace even Thomas hadn’t dared to speculate about. “Especially with those quotas you have to make every month.”
Thomas shook his head as he worked. “If I kill them, the scythe spell somehow knows and won’t let me Reap them.”
When further explanation didn’t come, Jess frowned. “How does that work, exactly?”
This time, it was his turn to sigh. “Honestly, I have no idea. It’s probably a combination of several spells, but I’ve asked various supervisors and none of them seemed to even know what I was talking about.” He made a frustrated noise. “Not that that’s anything new, really.”
Jess would happily punch Thomas’s bosses, but she didn’t want to make his life any harder. “You could probably figure it out,” she prodded gently. “Take it apart yourself, see how it worked.”
Now his expression turned wistful. “That would be nice.” Then he shook his head, firmly enough like he was chasing the thought away. “I’d probably just get in trouble, though.” He inclined his head toward the mirror. “Besides, it’s your work we should be focusing on right now.”
Letting herself be deflected, she activated the mirror message. The smoke swirling on the other side of the glass cleared, revealing an exhausted middle-aged man with a decent suit and the lingering trace of a farmer’s tan. “Miss Tremeau, my name is Arthur Perkins. I’m the mayor of Kensford, a bustling, prosperous town boasting—” He stopped, closing his eyes like something pained him. “But you don’t care about that.”
“Your clients don’t usually sound this stressed, do they?” Thomas asked absently, still focused on his own work.
Jess paused the message. “Sometimes. If his constituents are complaining, or the last piper couldn’t do the job, he’s getting a lot of extra pressure.”
Thomas considered this a moment, then nodded. “That makes sense. The witches from the mirror group mention that sometimes with clients.”
Jess smiled a little. “Are they still trying to get you named an honorary witch so they can make you a member?”
Thomas’s sigh was both affectionate and long-suffering as he pushed his glasses back up his nose. “They’re just trying to be nice. There’s nothing special about the fact that I read a lot.”
There was no way to answer that wouldn’t completely betray her, so she just squeezed his shoulder and restarted the message. On the other side of the mirror, Mayor Perkins cleared his throat. “We’ve talked to the leaders of some of the other cities and towns you’ve done jobs for, and they all say you’re the most thorough piper they’ve ever worked with.”
Jess had just long enough to feel a glow of pride before he ruined it by continuing. “We had to research a little more extensively than usual since we heard your name in an odd way. We put up our usual posting for a piper, and a man named Crispin St. Clair responded. His—”
Alarm spiking, she shut off the mirror message again. “We both know this is a bad idea, right? The last time I took a job over from him, he almost got us both arrested.”
Thomas’s expression gentled. “And after everyone figured out you were right, he was the one who got arrested.”
Taking a deep breath, she restarted the message. “—reputation is unfortunate enough that nearby towns had already warned us against him, but we were desperate.” The mayor grimaced. “Unfortunately, he couldn’t even call a single rat. When confronted him about his failure, he insisted you were somehow to blame. We began researching you, and after hearing the reports it’s clear we desperately need your help.”
She stopped the message completely, far more tempted than she knew she should be. “At least it sounds like it won’t be boring.”
“You don’t have to talk me into it,” he laughed. “Let me finish up here. Then we’ll get a few hours of sleep and set out for Kensford in the morning.”
Jess grinned. “I’m sure the rats will be excited to see us.” Sending a quick return message, she slipped the magic mirror into her pocket and went back to watching Thomas work.
#
They made it to Kensford by the following afternoon. Rather than going straight to town hall, they took a detour through the market to restock their provisions and get a better sense of the rat situation. If the mayor had been desperate before Crispin screwed things up, there might be additional complications. If so, Jess needed to find out what they were.
Part of that was keeping an ear open for gossip.
“These rats are a menace! They’ll steal food off a table just like a cat!”
“There was one sleeping in my daughter’s bed last night!”
“I mirror called my sister in Hammelin to see if my family can stay with hers, but I haven’t been able to get a hold of her. I’m getting desperate.”
At one point, Thomas leaned in close. “If the rats are really as bad as people say, why aren’t they running wild through this place?”
Jess had noticed the same thing. “I would say the rats are too full to eat anything, but the food is all still out in the open. If they’d spent the last few days fighting off rats, they’d have at least a few protective measures in place.” She poked her head underneath the edge of one of the stalls, lifting the display cloth, but no rat ran out with a stolen prize.
Thomas frowned. “There’s no such thing as a polite rat.”
“No, there isn’t.” Jess straightened. “And from the way people are talking…”
The words trailed off as a rat emerged from under a nearby stall, walking casually as if it had all the time in the world. The few people that were nearby shrieked and ran, making the rat jump and run around in circles. When someone went at it with a broom, the rat started squeaking wildly and backed itself into a corner. Still, it didn’t run for real cover until another rat darted out and chased it into a protected area.
Thomas’s brow furrowed, still staring in the direction the rats had gone. “That is a very strange rat.”
“Which would explain why people are freaking out, even though there aren’t that many rats.” Relief loosened a knot she hadn’t even known was in her chest. “A bunch of them accidentally eat some magical grain or something and start acting funny. People get spooked enough to complain to the mayor, and suddenly the entire town has a rat problem.”
Thomas’s expression relaxed a little, but not enough. “I guess that works as a theory. It would have to be a traveling shipment of grain, though – there’s nothing in this area that would qualify.”
“That makes sense.” She nudged his arm. “What this really means, though, is there’s a chance I might get done early tonight. Which means you’ll get done early tonight.”
The idea made his eyes light up again. She firmly ignored how unfairly attractive it made him look. “Which means we might both get some actual sleep.”
Cheered by the thought, they headed to town hall and wrapped up negotiations with the mayor without too much trouble. That night, Thomas headed to his usual position by the trench as Jess started her walk. A surprisingly large crowd had gathered – the rats really had made people nervous – and Jess made sure to put on an extra touch of showmanship. Even though she was nowhere near a center ring, she’d never forgotten her mother’s lessons about putting on a show.
Then she raised her pipe to her lips and started playing. A few steps later, she closed her eyes and reached deep inside her chest. That was where the magic waited, and just like always it came easily to her call.
Except there weren’t enough rats following her. She could only hear a few sets of little feet, even though she’d gone almost a block. Even if Kensford was exaggerating their rat problem, she normally would have called out at least 10 or 15 by this point.
She thought about the rat they’d seen at the market, how oddly it had behaved compared to every other rat she’d seen. Thomas would probably say it was why she was having so much trouble calling them now, maybe even suggest stopping the walk until she could talk to the mayor.
If she was right, though, the weird behavior was the entire reason the mayor and council had called her here in the first place. They certainly wouldn’t see it as a good enough reason for her not to do her job, which meant she’d be fired.
Just like Crispin.
Appalled by the thought, she reached back down for more magic. She had to dig deeper than usual, but when she made the connection it was like a dam bursting. The power rushed through her, pouring into the song so suddenly she stumbled a little.
It only took a few more steps before the rats started coming. She could hear their tiny claws on the cobblestones, flooding into the street the same way her power had into the song. She didn’t turn around, but she’d been doing this long enough she couldn’t stop her brain from estimating the number from the sounds. One hundred… five hundred… eight hundred… A river of rats, when she was used to a steady trickle.
It was fine, though. Jess told herself that she’d just used too much power, pouring it into the song too fast. It didn’t mean anything was wrong.
But they kept coming. More and more rats found her with every step, the sound of them loud enough now to be heard over the music. The townspeople were growing increasingly unnerved, and it was getting harder and harder to pretend she wasn’t feeling the same way.
As the audience thinned, the number of rats started to slow down as well. She could see the trench fire glowing in the distance, holding onto the image as she made it to the empty field. The rats were still following her like an obedient little army, and she just had to cross one last little stretch of dirt. Then she could get the rest of her money, and she and Thomas could—
The thought cut off as Thomas suddenly appeared in the middle of the field, hurrying toward her at a dead run.
