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I copy the stance of the teacher at the front of the grove, loosening my grip on my scythe when I realise I've been holding on so tightly my knuckles have turned white. I'm still worried about dropping it, probably because I don't have much experience with it at all.
"Swing like this," the teacher shouts, demonstrating the move.
I take a deep breath. This isn't coming as naturally to me as to some of the others, probably because they all grew up knowing they're reapers. While no one gets their first scythe until eighteen to stop there being ill-equipped children running around and trying to port ghosts, they probably had toy ones to practice with.
Maybe I need to ask Mathias or Juliet about it. They've been good with helpful hints and tricks so far, hopefully, they'll want to continue that.
I step forward and swing my scythe through the air in a tight but elegant motion.
Or it should be one. I don't manage the same way the others in the grove do.
A soft grunt of frustration leaves me. How am I ever going to graduate if I can't even get the basic moves right? I know that's still years away, but I want to do well at this reaper thing.
"Your feet are too far apart," the girl next to me whispers. "You need them closer together if you want to keep the scythe's arc neat."
"Oh. Thanks." I flash her a wobbly smile. I'm still getting used to how nice people are here. Growing up in the Shadow Association, I didn't have many pleasant interactions with people my own age. While I'm sure I'll find people who don't like me at Scythe Grove Academy, I haven't encountered anyone who has been rude yet.
I shift my feet as she's suggested and try the move again. I don't think anyone will be calling me graceful any time soon, but my movements are definitely better than before.
I glance at the girl to thank her again, but she seems zoned out, probably concentrating on the moves we're supposed to be copying. I'll make sure to tell her how much of a difference she's made once class ends.
The rest of the class passes with relative ease. Kind of. I manage to avoid making a fool out of myself by getting the movements wrong, so that’s a win. Not that anyone here ever laughs at me. I don't know if reapers are just overly polite, or if there's another reason, but no one's made fun of me for not knowing anything.
Maybe it's just good training. The majority of reapers grow up to help ghosts pass over to the other side. That means being privy to a whole host of potentially embarrassing things.
That's probably it.
"All right, that's all for this class," the teacher calls. "Don't forget to properly clean down your scythes. If you let them get damaged, it can cause problems when you're trying to use it later."
Around the grove, twenty trainee reapers nod their heads, and I do along with them. There's so much to get my head around, but I think I'm doing an okay job of it.
I sling my scythe over my back in a move I've seen Mathias do several times when we're out and about. Some of the other students are making themselves comfortable around the grove to do their scythe maintenance, but I prefer to do it in my room. That way, if I'm not sure of something, I can either look it up or ask my friends without everyone staring at me.
Maybe I'm being paranoid, I think I might be, but while I'm new to this reaper thing, I want to be as careful as possible.
The girl who helped me has disappeared already. I scan the grove for her, but don't see her among the students currently sitting around. Hopefully, she'll decide to stand next to me when we're next in the grove so I can thank her.
With nothing else to do here, and only a small gap between lessons for me to tend to my scythe, I turn and head towards one of the doors into the academy building.
I look over my shoulder as I leave the grove, half expecting to find
someone watching me. Unsurprisingly, there's no one there. The Shadow Association haven't tried to contact me since the day after my failed oath, I shouldn't expect that to change now. But I can't shake the feeling they're not done with me. I know I'm not the kind of seer who makes prophecies, but the weight in my gut can't be shaken.
Maybe it's just because I grew up under their control and know what they're like.
I shake my head in an attempt to rid myself of the notion. It's probably nothing to worry about.
"There you are," Mathias says, finally pulling me out of my thoughts.
I look up to find him closing the distance between us.
"I was in class," I say by way of explanation.
"I know, I checked your timetable. But I thought you might want to hang out before our history class?"
"I need to clean my scythe, but you could come with me?"
A cheeky grin spreads over his face. "Do you think Jules will mind if we raid her coffee machine?"
I chuckle. "No, probably not."
"We're going to owe her so many coffee grounds by the end of the year," he says.
Bemusement fills me. He isn't wrong. Her coffee is so much better than the stuff we can get from the vending machine in the Sakura Grove common room. And to think I thought that stuff was good when I arrived.
"Why don't you go and get yourself comfortable and I'll grab the coffee. Do you want any snacks too?"
"I think she'd draw the line at us stealing those," I point out.
"She would," he acknowledges. "But I can stop by the shop..."
"I don't think we have time."
"I could be really quick."
"We shouldn't risk it. You know what Professor Haines is like, he'll lock us out of the room if we're late to history," I remind him as the two of us make our way through the academy and towards the Sakura dorms.
Everyone is going about their own business, and now I'm with Mathias, I'm finally able to relax a little bit and stop thinking someone is following me at every turn in the corridor.
"Hmm. True. Though maybe skipping history..."
"Nope. I'm not doing that," I say firmly.
"But it's nothing interesting," Mathias counters.
"To you, maybe not. But this is stuff I never learned as a child. To me, it is interesting." Though I'll admit Professor Haines doesn't always do his subject matter justice.
