💀Death's Apprentice💀

Chapter Twelve: Greenish Makeup

Rose Delaney

          BOOM! The door was blown straight from its hinges, sending Death soaring over Mr. Grimaldi's desk as the door cracked and splintered above him. The desk snapped and gave way under the impact, delivering him onto the hardwood head first. Death's body slumped as he lost consciousness. The Apprentice reared back and gave a solid punch to the stranger's jaw. He barely moved, and when he did it was to glare at the both of us.

"Hck!" I tried to yelp as he grabbed both of us by the throats and lifted us into the air, but all that came out was a strangled hiss. Now that I was closer I could see that the man's face was caked with greenish makeup. His mouth twitched uncomfortably as if it was being held in place. The man let out something between a roar and a hiss as he threw us against the walls opposite each other. My head was hatred against the wallpaper before I fell to the floor in a pitiful heap. Everything felt like it had bruised on impact.

I lifted my head tiredly as I watched the man lumber towards the wreckage that Death lay surrounded in. Everything was foggy, but I willed myself to stay awake. The man leaned over the remnants of the desk and reached into Death's vest, pulling out the tablet and hissing again. This time it was an almost gleeful sound. His eyes travelled back and forth from the tablet to Death.

"Hawthorne will be pleased about the tablet..." He murmured. He works for Cedrick! I tried to push myself up. My head was swimming, but my legs managed to work. "But how will he feel once I've torn Death himself to shreds?" My heart started beating faster as I searched for something to defend myself with. There! One of the pedestals had been knocked over. I couldn't touch any of the items...but the plaques didn't mention the pedestals!

I wrapped my arms around it and heaved it over my shoulder. The man took a long, sharp fingernail and pressed it in a line down Death's face. Metallic silver liquid began to seep from the scratch. The man raised his hand and stretched out his clawed fingers. I took the opportunity to swing the pedestal down on the stranger's head with all my might.

WHAP! The man wailed as the pedestal shattered into rocky chunks and rolled down his crouched figure. It was an awful noise that seemed to fill the entire building. I squeezed my eyes shut as I slapped my hands over my ears. When I opened them the man was glaring at me as he rose to his feet. His hat had been knocked off, and under it lay a patch of scaly, green skin.

"I changed my mind. I think I'll kill you first." He tried to sneer at me, but it looked...off. I tried to dodge his grasp, but he was ten times faster than I was. He grabbed me by my throat again, lifted me into the air, and slammed me into the the wall. Then he started to open his mouth. That's when I noticed them.

Two rows of sharp teeth glistened behind his lips, and it didn't stop there. His mouth opened wider, wider, and wider until the skin at the corners of his mouth began to tear. Only I realized it wasn't skin-it was more makeup! And the makeup wasn't green-his skin was! His mouth opened all the way to the backs of his cheeks. Flaps of rubber latex hung over green scales, yellow fangs, and pink gums. His jaws were so wide now that he could fit my entire head in his mouth if he wanted to. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach that that's exactly what he wanted to do.

His lips fit over my jaw and the top of my head at the same time. His teeth were scratching and pulling at my skin. I felt something similar to a slimy, wriggling worm slide over my cheek as he licked the entire side of my face. I squealed and tried to pull him away from me by grabbing his nose, but I ended up horrified as it ripped right off his face and fell to the floor. Well, that's just great! I become magical just long enough to also become lizard food!

CRACK! Another two pedestals collided on both sides of my attacker's head, causing another horrible, screeching hiss to rack through the building, and right into my ear. I was dropped onto the floor as Mr. Grimaldi and the apprentice closed in on the lizard man. A groan could be heard as Death began to move. He was waking up. The lizard man fixed me with a deadly glare, knowing that soon he would no longer be able to finish the job he had started.

"THIS ISN'T OVER!" He roared at all of us before disappearing through the empty doorway. I could hear his long nails clicking on the floor as he ran on all fours towards the elevator, crashed through the top, and climbed up the elevator shaft. There was an awful sound, like someone took a screw and raked it across a sheet of tin roofing. The elevator lurched. SNAP! Suddenly the elevator plummeted downwards and out of sight. I kept expecting to hear the crash as it landed at the bottom, but the sound never came.

"Let me guess. Lizard people are real?" I asked.

"Oh, did we forget to mention that?" The apprentice asked innocently.

"What happened?!" Death exclaimed. We all jumped and turned towards the sound of his voice. He was finally awake, and he was angry! Death stumbled out from the pieces and litter of the desk, tossing boards and slapping away floating pieces of yellow and brown parchment as he stood quickly. I opened my mouth to speak, but the apprentice beat me to it.

"He got away with the tablet." He answered solemnly.

"You let him get away?!" Death shouted.

"You weren't much help being unconscious after three seconds!" I snapped.

"And you weren't much help being conscious the entire time, seeing as he got away!" Death shot back. Just as I was about to shout back about being useful enough to save his sorry butt he turned away and began speaking heatedly to Mr. Grimaldi. My fists clenched at my sides, and I stepped outside of the office to cool off.

"Destination. Now!" I heard Death demand. I shook my head in anger and began to pace. Maybe if I did it fast enough I could outrun my temper. Mr. Grimaldi's level tone could be heard reasoning with Death. By the sound of Death's tone he didn't like that very much. I started to venture further down the hallway, but the apprentice stepped outside as well. He smiled pityingly at me as I continued to pace back and forth past him.

"How do you deal with him? He's insufferable." I growled.

"I know you have absolutely no reason to believe this, but he's actually not as bad as he seems." The apprentice replied calmly.

"Please. Scared you won't get your Christmas bonus if the boss hears?" I scoffed.

"Summer vacation, actually." He joked. I rolled my eyes. "No, really. I know you've only seen his temper so far, but it's just because he has so much pressure on him. Especially right now. You have no idea what he has to go through for this job. The things he sees and the tasks he has to complete would make anyone else wither away with grief." He crossed his arms and leaned cooly against the wall.

I had never thought of that before. All the different ways a person could die-fair or unfair-he had to take care of them all. My hands unclenched. I still held a grudge against him for blaming everyone else for the tablet, but what the apprentice had said certainly helped me calm down. A deep sigh escaped my lips. I couldn't decide if it was a sigh of frustration or relief.

"That was quick thinking on the pedestals." The apprentice complemented. I smiled and tried to hide it, but the apprentice saw and smiled right back. I realized then that I had only been referring to him as the apprentice. His name was a mystery to me. I opened my mouth to ask him, but was interrupted.

          "London it is. Let's go." Death ordered.

          "How, exactly? Our ride's wrecked." I gestured to the empty elevator shaft.

          "Miss Earhart will escort you to the stairs." Mr. Grimaldi informed us.

          "Miss who?!" I perked up.

          "The what?" The apprentice asked in an unenthusiastically flat voice.