Sirens wailed as police cars came tearing down the street. Snow White groaned and quickly change directions, not to mention she nearly giving me whiplash along with it. She pulled me between two of the college’s buildings and farther away from the sirens. “Sometimes the police are just a tad inconvenient.” I heard her mumble under her breath and that was when I remembered who I was with.

“You’re Snow White!” I gasped, “The Snow White!”

“Yes,” nodded Snow White as she looked over her shoulder to make sure the police weren’t following us. I tried very hard to hide my shock. Honestly, I did. It just wasn’t enough. I stopped dead in my tracks and nearly pulled Snow White off her feet when I did.

“You’ve been around for ages. Protecting us mere mortals from the likes of those monsters!” I sputtered.

“Yes, yes, I am.” Snow White said as she tugged on my arm. “I’m glad you remember the newspaper articles.”

She sounded young, or at least my age. I couldn’t see her face but I was almost willing to bet that she didn’t look anywhere close to being the decades old warrior I’d always envisioned. “You’re a lot younger than I would’ve imagined for someone who’s been around for awhile.”

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that since we have more important things to worry about. We’ve got to get you out of here.”

I let her pull me further down the narrow alley between the two college buildings. “What do you mean get me out of here? Shouldn’t I talk to the police or give them my statement or something?” I asked in confusion.

“No,” Colin told me firmly. He tried to grab my free arm again. I quickly moved it away from him though. Colin looked hurt but seemed to get over it pretty quickly. “You’ll be in danger if you stay there. We don’t know how close they are to actually getting to you.”

This time I really did pull Snow White off balance when I stopped. She cried out and scrambled to catch herself. I would’ve turned to help her but I was a little more preoccupied. “What do you mean ‘get to me?’”I demanded angrily.

“Now really isn’t the best time.” Colin pleaded. “They could be following us.”

He reached for my hand again. This time I smacked it away with a sound that was audible in the quiet alley. My eyes narrowed. “Who’s they?” I hissed.

“Good job Colin.” snapped Snow White, “We weren’t supposed to freak her out, but hey! Who cares about little things like that.”

I backed away from the pair. Obviously the paper left out that the Queensmen were out-of-their-minds nuts! I was ready to go back to the real world where things actually made sense somewhat. I jerked my thumb over my shoulder as I started backing away from the pair. “Right, well while you two figure that out for yourselves, I’m gonna go hop a cab back home.”

I spun on my heel and walked away as fast as I possibly could. “Gen wait!” cried Colin, “I can explain! Just give me a chance!”

“Stop calling me Gen! I don’t know you!” I yelled over my shoulder. I kept walking.

The next thing I knew, Snow White grabbed me by the back of my shirt and pulled me around to face her. That I really didn’t like. “Listen to me for half a second, please!” she begged me, “That Troll at the college was looking for you.”

“For me?” I snorted.

Snow White nodded her head, “Yes, for you.”

All the anger that had been running through me fled. “But… but why?” I stammered.

Then something else shot through me like lightning. Luke! If that Troll had been looking for me then it might have stumbled into Luke in search of me. I started to turn away from Snow White but she must have guessed what was going through my mind.

“Your brother is fine,” she told me confidently.

“How can you be sure of that? What exactly is going on here and don’t start with the ‘we knew each other a long time ago’ crap.”

She winced. “I will. We will but not right here. It’s not safe here. We have to…”

Something moved behind us and Snow White fell silent. She gasped as she shoved me to the ground. “Gen!” Colin yelled from somewhere behind us.

I heard a dull thud. I picked my head up off the asphalt. An arrow lay embedded in the ground, still shaking from the impact and inches from where my head had been. The quiet shift of arrows in a quiver sounded like a breath being exhaled. My eyes landed on a tall figure. “Oh no,” I breathed as I stared at the figure with wide eyes.

Simply put, it was a skeleton. Stark white bones contrasted harshly against the dark alley. Tattered remains of clothes hung off its frame. It grasped what looked to be a bow made out of the same stark white bone. On the bowstring was a jet black arrow, poised and aimed at my head. Some instinct, buried deep inside me, brought fear flooding through me. My heart beat wildly against my chest and fought the urge to hyperventilate. “A Reaper,” I whispered in horror.

I’d never seen one before. I’d never read about them in the papers. I’d never heard about them on the news programs. In fact, I couldn’t remember ever hearing or seeing the term Reaper in conjunction with the figure in front of me anywhere! However, the name instantly sprang to my mind. Probably thanks to the same instinct that had me shaking. I didn’t know how it was possible.

Colin jumped in front of Snow White and I, pulling a sword from nowhere. “What is a Reaper doing here?” he hissed angrily and made my blood run cold.

Snow White pushed herself to her feet before yanking me to mine. “Trying to kill us, obviously. Same as that Troll.” she replied hotly.

“It shouldn’t be here,” Colin snapped. The Reaper took one empty, soulless look at the sword in Colin’s hand and let the bowstring go slack. It took both bow and arrow in its skeletal hands and pulled.

Slowly, the bone bow began to change, like putty in the creature’s hands. The bow stretched into a long, slim, stark white, wicked looking sword. Both Colin and the Reaper raised their swords. “Get Gen out of here. I’ll take care of this thing,” Colin told Snow White.

Snow White started to pull me down the street. I honestly had no problems with being dragged along now especially when I could hear the clangs of metal on metal coming from behind us. I heard a human yell and knew that nothing like that would ever come out of a Reaper’s mouth. “We can’t just leave him there!” I cried as we ran.

“Trust me, if anyone is capable of taking out a Reaper, its Colin.” She didn’t even look back when she spoke.

I turned my head to look behind but we’d already rounded a corner. Neither Colin or the Reaper were visible. Suddenly, Snow White was no longer running and I ran headlong into her. She growled in frustration. “I just can’t catch a break tonight!”