Page 7 of In Between Death and the Devil

I leaned forward, only to realize Bea and the rest of the new arrivals were doing the same. It broke the spell, sending my pulse skittering. I gripped the bench to ground myself.

“To our new trainees, welcome to my castle.” Death’s smile was magnanimous. “You have taken the hardest and most important step in your journey to become a Judge of Death. Everyone in this room has been where you are. They know the pain of physical death, and we salute your courage in joining us.”

My shoulders hunched at the applause. Courage had nothing to do with why I was here.

“And yet your journey is only beginning,” she continued. “There are thirty of you now, but only ten will make it through the next four years and become my Judges. The rest of you will join my service in another capacity, helping run this castle.”

My hand flew to my throat as shocked murmurs rippled through the people around me.

“Does she mean twenty of us will become servants?” Bea whispered.

An unpleasant taste filled my mouth as I nodded. “How do you think she picks the other ten?”

“It sounds like there will be a competition of some sort.” Bea’s eyes narrowed.

A hot flush spread from my chest to my limbs. What a shitty thing to keep from us. We’d given our lives for a chance to judge souls, to make a difference. We didn’t deserve the bait and switch of more hoops to jump through once we arrived. Well… the others didn’t.

The flush faded from everywhere but my cheeks. I was here to atone. I’d vowed to endure anything. It would make no difference if I atoned as a servant instead of a Judge. Did I think I was too good for such a position?

Death held up her hand. “I understand your confusion. You were not told you would be tested, that only a portion of you would be found worthy. You must trust the process. It has been developed over centuries and serves as the foundation for this realm, bringing order out of chaos.”

The muttering around me only grew louder at her words. The silence from the rest of the room was striking. Most of the Judges sat with blank faces, though I saw a few shift in their seats, as if remembering their own initiation.

“I am the Goddess of Death,” she continued, ignoring the disturbance. “My Judges are responsible for making sure souls learn what they need to and must make judgments impartially and fairly. To make sure every soul is judged the same. Not everyone is capable of that. I must assess whether or not you have what it takes. You must prove yourselves.”

A wave of calm washed over us and the faces of those around me relaxed from confusion into agreement. I resisted the pull of it, unnerved by its power.

“Tomorrow each of you will be evaluated so we can decide where to start your training,” she said, her smile widening. “The first elimination tests will be held over the next two months. Now you’ll be shown to your rooms so you can settle in. And then tonight we’ll adjourn to the Devil’s castle for a feast of welcome.”

With a glance at the woman in the cream sash, Death stepped back and disappeared in a flash of light.

“We have to celebrate with Tempters?” the woman next to Bea asked, her eyes wide.

My jaw clenched at the thought of celebrating with the Devil’s people, and maybe the Devil himself. Not only did they delight in punishing people, their counterparts in the World of the Living actively worked to increase the Devil’s power by corrupting people. Power, money, drink—whatever your vice, the Order of Shadows would help you drown in it, and ensure you’d damn yourself to the Devil’s care when you died.

“We have to work together,” Bea said. “We might as well start getting to know them.”

I knew I wouldn’t be able to avoid Tempters completely, but it hadn’t occurred to me that we’d be expected to socialize. I thought we’d be too busy judging souls.

Judges stood and filed out and up the steps of the Amphitheater.

“New arrivals, this way.” An attendant ushered us out a door to our right. I followed in a daze. My plan had seemed straightforward: come to the In Between and serve as a Judge of Death. Clearly, it wouldn’t be so simple. Not only did we have to fraternize with Tempters, we had to face Death’s assessment and, if we failed, spend the rest of our existence as servants.

I looked at the souls around me, chatting about where they’d come from, staring in wonder at the mirrored walls like they couldn’t believe they were here, or fretting about whether they’d measure up to Death’s standards. Bea reassured an anxious woman that none of us knew what was to come. Anything could happen. Bea deserved to be one of the ten. But me…

Perhaps I could withdraw. Spare everyone the hassle of the testing and become a servant. Take myself out of the running. Leave the competition to those who were more deserving. Except, I couldn’t bring myself to. I wanted to make a difference. To redeem myself. I couldn’t let go of that chance, unworthy as I was.

It’s a calling. Not a choice. I repeated my mantra as we wound our way up more stairs and through more corridors. I lost Bea in the throng. To my surprise, I felt a little adrift without her warmth by my side. It made no sense; I barely knew her. After an interminable number of steps, we arrived at a balcony overlooking an open space. Six floors high and square, it was topped by a clear dome.

“Wow,” someone next to me said, looking up.

I followed their gaze. Balls of light clustered in four large groups like floating chandeliers, with inky darkness billowing and curling on the other side of the glass above them. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to that.

“This is the dormitory,” our guide said. “Judges live on the bottom four floors, trainees on the top. Your rooms are along these two sides. Two of you to a room. Your names are on the doors.”

Waiting for the crowd to thin before looking for my own, I watched two Judges work their way down the halls, checking lists in their hands and removing names. I wondered how many souls had been lost in the transfer this time. At least twenty by the looks of it.

Halfway down the hallway, I found my name.