Grim For Ever After by Elizabeth Haley (the kiss of deception read online TXT) 📕

"But you can call me Penn!" Rae's mouth dropped open and Penn the death bearer went on.

"Hello Rae, please Close your mouth, surely my presence isn't more shocking then the return dead of your bff. 

His brilliant blue eye's scanned Tess and then settled on Sarah who didn't return his stare she looked down at her unfinished nails trembling. The death bearer "Penn" positioned himself right in front of Sarah gripping her chin and forcing her face up.

"I give you the gifts of temptation and you waste it on teenage hormones, you know the penalty for misuse!"

"I was just practicing I...I Sarah's tuff exterior turned to cotton candy under the death bearers touch.

"There is no need to for expalnations!" He flicked his wrist and a swirling gray and black whole opened up on the chalkboard it started out the size of an apple and grew to be high and wide so it could take a body or two in easily.
     "The Grim Realm awaits you!"

"No please wait Sarah begged!"
The hole started making an awful sound like a lawnmower with a rock caught in it. Sarah's desk and chair moved forward and then lifted completely off of the floor. Rae couldn't move she was numb,  but unlike Gracey she wasn't missing a thing. She gaped in horror as the chair flew toward the hole. Sarah fell from it at the last second and watched it and the desk disappear into the darkness beyond. Tess stood, Rae wasnt sure rather it was to run or to fight. He grabbed Sarah she begged for forgiveness but it was to late Penn's mind was made up he pulled her up from the dull floor tiles and forced her into the hole the monstrous whirring noise stopped and the whole thing shrunk back down before it was nonexsistant.   

"And you Tess!!!" He shouted and the power of his voice pushed her back into the seat.

"Not only have you revealed yourself to a living person you haven't yet acted on your Grim tasks and Brick will no longer be picking up your slack. maybe you need sometime in The Grim Realm as well! Tess shook her head.

"No?" she answered her voice soft as mist.

"Then I suggest you get to it tonight!"  He smiled showing teeth that were far to perfect and most likely hiding the stench of rot his eye's found Rae and she was amazed at what she saw or what she thought she saw for a moment she swore he was no older then she was his eye's were still as blue his teeth as white but he was different she blinked twice and just like the hole he too had vanished leaving nothing but her confusion in his wake.

(Tess)

"Tessa ran from the school ignoring Rae who called after her she just couldn't face her. Not now, not after seeing Penn so close to her and not now that Rae knew she was a grim, a killer. She should have never involved Rae. She should have let her move on and kept her awful new exsistance to her self. She didn't want Rae to know the truth not the whole truth. Her feet pounded across the parking lot taking the place of the heart beat she no longer had. She wanted to evanesce,"vanish" so she headed for the trees that surrounded the school where she could recrudesce away from Killdeer High and her old life.

When she was deep within the tree's she relaxed focusing. Sometimes she had trouble making it work like when she'd almost been caught in Rae's room and had to jump out the window.  Now she pictured a girls room that wasn't hers but Mandi's. Her eye's closed and when she opened them she was surrounded by things that did not belong to her a bed covered in pink ruffles and wall covered in posters of Justin Beiber who she loathed and pictures of friends named Zoey and Kandace who loved Mandi. Mandi's preppy girly girl style had nauseated Tessa. The most girly thing she had ever owned was the never been worn flowy white dress her grandmother had sent her. In life she wouldnt have been caught in it but as a final nod toward her purity she'd put it on and then she'd wrapped the silver belt around her neck.

Here at Mandi's house she is able to fake a life, here a mother and father adored her. They don't know she is an imposter and that their real daughters soul has been taken by death to The Grim Realm. Sure they noticed the makeover but they were very accepting parents they only ask she keeps her grades up and respect the curfew. It was both bitter and sweet. And It was the exsistance Tess had chosen. She'd avoided and lied to Rae about how she ended up this way not wanting Rae to know that she'd made a deal with Penn as had the demon teens.  By day she was a reanimating soul and could live a seemingly normal life but at night she is meant to be a haunter sent to scare people to death and do Penn's bidding. She had yet to hold up to her side of the bargain and after watching Sarah being sucked into the Grim Realm she knew tonight was the night.  She had already felt Penn's wrath after telling Rae the half truth, Tessa shuddered willing the memory away.she wished she could undo it and let Rae deal with normal girl situation's. Rae has no place in the world of Grim where dark spells and nightmares exsist.Though Tess was a haunter and Brick was demon posessed they were one in the same Grim's created and sent to cause untimely but nessasary deaths. Grims are the cause of unexplained car accidents and the sudden heart attacks of seemingly healthy people. Grims keep the balance and in return they get to live or atleast pretend to. She let Rae beleive she was forced into Mandi's body when really the decision had been her own.

Each Grim is given a scroll of spells as well as a list of those who are meant to die, Tess  didn't want to use them or to be the  monster who caused such things. But her want for closure and more had pushed her to the decision it was the only way she could figure out how to make the soul collecter move on so that no more girls would have to do what she'd so desperately done in order not to be collected and so that Mandi's soul could finally be at peace. Mandi's mirror is covered in photo's of fun days past and Tessa is thankful to not have to see her reflection. Theres are still hours left of daylight and she thinks she will go mad waiting for the night so she can do her dreaded deed. She pulls the scroll from the box beneath the bed that also contained Mandi's personal items.  Just then there is a knock at the door followed by two giggling bubbily girls entering.

"Kandace? Zoey? you are supposed to knock and then wait!" Tess snapped at them. The scroll fisted behind her back.

"Who let you in?"

"We let ourselves in like always." the girl's answered looking hurt and confused.

"No one else is here we came to bring you your homework we thought you might be sick since you have'nt been at school!" Zoey the tall and very pretty brunette said matching Tess's attitude.

"What are you hiding?'' Kandace asked her voice as mousy as her light brown hair.

"It's none..... Tessa caught herself. It's nothing!"

"Oh my goodness is it a pregnancy test?" Zoey asked while Kandace's looked on in horror.

 "No." Tessa said offended for Mandi and not sure rather she should add hell or not.

"Then what is it?" Kandace asked moving toward her and reaching.

Tessa dodged Kandace  but Zoey was ready for the distraction and snatched the scroll.

Kandace looked triumphant all traces of rodent gone and replaced with the looks of a sly feline.

Tessa played it cool knowing if she was to make a big deal of it only more damage whould be done.

"The scroll was browned with age and still rolled tight.

"I told you it was nothing just something my dad had laying around." Tess lied thankful Mandi's father worked at a museum and had all sorts of old artifacts and what not through out the house.

"Then why hide it?" They asked still suspicious.

"Instinct." Tessa told them figuring that no matter how different every girl had there share of secrets.

They rolled their eyes and Zoey handed the scroll over.

Tess hoped they didn't notice how releived she was.

"Why weren't you at school?'' Zoey asked. Her green eye's searching her friends face.

" I had a doctor's appointment, why  what did I miss?'' She decided to play along hoping to get them in and out.

"Corey was asking for you!" The girls answered in a dreamy way. The name registered. Corey was the boy Tessa had learned real Mandi had been planning to spend her last hours with on a first date ofcourse Mandi didn't know it would be her last diary entry or last anything for that matter.  Any knowlegde Tess had came from Mandi's diary who never got to mention how the date ended because she had never made it home.

"He says your date went good but you haven't answered any of his calls. We told him not to feel bad you havent been responding to us either!" Zoey said this with as much bite as a dog infested with rabies.

"What is going on with you, we're worried?'' Kandace said back to her caged pet self.

"Nothing is going on I'm fine." Tess sounded truthful but hiding the truth froms Mandi's closest friends was proving to be no easier then withholding anything from Rae.

"So the makeover and you shunning us is nothing?" Zoey sat on the bed her smoldering emerald eye's demanding answers.

"I just wanted something different and I'm not shunning you, cant a girl take a few day's to herself?"

"Ofcourse we all need that sometime." Kandace nodded becoming Tess's favorite.

Zoey didn't look convinced.

Tess just wanted them to leave she needed to prepare herself for the night ahead but considering Kandace was popping in a dvd and Zoey  was making herself comfortable at the window seat they were clearly here to stay. For the next two hour's Tessa finally watched The Notebook which surely could have brought tears to her eye's if she had them but she didn't and these girls Zoey and Kandace who had given her a mani, pedi and shared joke's with her were not really her friend's.

"Let's watch The Time Travelers Wife now!" Kandace suggested after the final tear jerking scene ended and the credits took over the flat screen.

 No Tessa thought they have to get out of here the sun was taking it's bow and that was her que.

" Not again!" Zoey stood putting her foot down and throwing her hand on her