School of Deaths Read Online Free

month.”
    “And my family? My mom and dad? What about my brother or my friends?” Suzie thought of Mom and Dad, of Joe, of Crystal and Monica, even of Nurse Cherwell and Dr. Fox. “I can’t vanish for a year.”
    “They will be worried. This will be difficult for your family if you do go back after a year. The few, and I do stress extremely few, who have returned often find their absence hard to explain, since they have no memory from the year. Yet it has been done.”
    “This is impossible.” Suzie’s mind spun. This had to be a dream, or some sort of trick. Maybe her illness had spread to her mind. Even Dr. Fox hadn’t been certain what was happening.
    “Plamen,” said Athanasius. “Show them in.” The green-eyed boy emerged from the corner and walked to the door behind her, opening it. Cronk came back into the room with something behind him. The beagle barked, leaping at Suzie. She recognized him at once, though it couldn’t be.
    “Bumper?” she asked, astonished.
    “He lives in the Land of the Dead,” said Athanasius. “We can bring more souls to convince you; most find the reality of this position difficult to accept.”
    Bumper appeared young and healthy. The limp in his leg was gone, but something different stared from his eyes. He had a dull, glassy look as if part of him was somewhere else, far away. Still, he was definitely her dog. She’d known him for ten years; they’d grown up together. He licked her face and she petted him.
    This was real. Bumper was real. Somehow, everything here was real. The Deaths, the world, the possibility of going home in a year, the danger she’d be trapped here, the possibility of dying if she went home now. She sat, petting Bumper for what felt like hours.
    The world turned, whatever world it was. The In-Between, with two suns, dead grass, and the smell of eggs and strawberries. The Death with a stutter and the Gate-Keeper who looked like a goat. It was ludicrous, but real. She wanted Mom and Dad, wanted desperately to go home, yet there was only one way home.
    “If I go home now, I will definitely die?” Suzie said.
    “I’m sorry,” said Athanasius. “An old rule, to encourage more Deaths. You can only return when your contract has been fulfilled. I’m afraid there is no other way.”
    “I will sign,” she said. “But I’ll pass your stupid test. I’ll spend one year as a Death, and I will go home.”
    “That’s all we ask,” said Athanasius. He picked up a large quill pen and dipped it in ink, before passing the parchment to her.
    Cronk took Bumper outside again. Suzie didn’t turn to say goodbye. She fought back tears when she took the pen.
    “It will be quite difficult for you,” said Athanasius. “This won’t be easy. You will be the only one in the entire world.”
    “The only girl?” Suzie blinked but a tear still fell.
    “Yes,” said Athanasius. “They will mock and scorn you. Many will say you will not complete the year. I fear for you, Susan.”
    “I was sick. I understand what it’s like to be different, and I’m not afraid.” She put the pen on the paper and scrawled her name.
    Athanasius took the contract from her and stamped the parchment with wax. He added it to the piles on his desk.
    “I admire your courage,” he said, peering at her with his snakelike yellow eyes. “I have seen many who were terrified or who denied this place to the end. Hundreds came here only to return home.” He sighed. “Hundreds who died a needless, ignorant death.”
    “I don’t want to die.”
    “Nor should you, my dear. No one should wish death before their time. Though death comes to us in the end, it must not be sought out in haste. Wait and fade gently, that’s my motto.” His expression softened. “Don’t listen to an old man, Susan, I’m foolish I suppose.”
    “My friends call me Suzie.”
    “Do they indeed? May I call you that?”
    Suzie hesitated, but she needed every friend she could find. She nodded.
    He laughed.