The Tessa Randolph Collection, Books 1-3 by Paula Lester (best ereader for comics .txt) 📗

soul. But April isn’t discussing it with anyone. It’s an off-limits topic, I guess.”

Gloria frowned.

Just then, April tapped the microphone at the front of the room to check if it was on. Everyone settled in and quieted down. The district supervisor looked much like she had when Tessa met her back in Michigan—she wore a different gray suit that matched her hair. Tessa wondered if she had them specially made. Did April have to send in a snippet of her hair to get the fabric dyed the exact right shade? Like taking in a sample of something to get some paint made to match?

“Welcome, everyone. Thank you for taking your reaper career seriously and being here to learn and grow.” April beamed at the crowd. A smattering of clapping died out fast when only a few joined in. She didn’t seem to care and continued promoting the merits of the conference and the reaper profession in general. Near the end of the speech, almost as though it were an afterthought, she gestured toward a man in the front row and introduced him as Lee Stuart, the supervisor for the western district.

Once the keynote speech was over—and Tessa had learned that Gloria really wasn’t kidding about the nature of April’s talks—Tessa and Gloria studied the schedules they’d been given at check-in. There were multiple presentations going on at the same times all day, so they’d have to pick and choose which to attend.

As much as Tessa wanted to stay close to Gloria so she’d have someone she knew nearby, it quickly became apparent that they should split up to get the most out of the conference.

Gloria wanted to attend talks like The Most Incredible Reapers in History and Reap the Benefits of Your Job: IRA Strategies for Reapers. But Tessa knew she should attend the more basic talks like How to Stay in the Shadows and Fifteen Ways to Handle a Reluctant Reap.

“You’ll be fine,” Gloria encouraged her. “I’ll meet up with you at lunchtime. We can attend the last talk of the day together.” She gave a little wave and hurried off to catch up with another reaper she’d spotted.

Tessa consulted her schedule again and then headed to room 101 for the talk about staying in the shadows. Sticking with the theme of the talk, she chose a seat at the back of the room and watched other reapers file in. She recognized Cynthia, the reaper from Chicago, who slumped into a chair near the door, looking as miserable as she had back in the airport bar.

The speaker was Bubba from Seattle, and he couldn’t have a more polar opposite presentation style from April. He was as much a hoot as Gloria had made him out to be. In fact, by the end of the talk, Tessa was a hundred percent sure that the man was horrible at blending into the shadows, reaper or not. He seemed to love being the center of attention.

As everyone herded toward the door after the talk, Tessa gathered her things as quickly as possible, intending to catch Cynthia. She wanted to see if she could get any information out of the other reaper about the allocation problem Timothy had narrowed down to the Chicago office.

Cynthia had disappeared by the time Tessa left the room. She was nowhere to be seen in the hallway. Apparently, the woman knew how to move in the shadows better than Bubba.

Maybe she should give the talk next year.

Someone brushed against her, and Tessa mumbled, “Ope, sorry about that,” in true midwestern fashion as she turned to look at the person who’d bumped her.

It was a man, about a foot taller than Tessa. His hair was so black it looked like it had been dipped in ink. In fact, it shone so much it appeared to be wet, flowing. It fell to his shoulders with just enough waviness to be interesting. He was dressed all in black, too, with dress pants and a polo shirt that looked high-end, tailored to fit his body in exactly the way that would best show off his long, lithe, runner’s muscles.

Tessa brought her eyes up to meet his and had to stifle a gasp. His irises were the palest of blue, and for a second, Tessa could swear they were pulsing. It was jarring. Inhuman, somehow. He smiled, and it looked more predatory than friendly.

She took a step back.

He smiled wider. “Greetings, Theresa Randolph.” He glanced over her shoulder at the room she’d just exited. “Did you learn to stay shadowed?”

“Oh. Um. Yes. Lots to think about from that talk. I . . . um.” Why was she stammering like a schoolchild? Tessa forced herself to straighten and meet his eyes again. Wait—how did he know her name? “I’m sorry. I missed your name. Did we meet before?”

“I make it a point to learn the names of all the new reapers. But I don’t want to make you late for the next presentation. You have a lot to learn.” With that, he turned and stalked away. Without really noticing him, people skittered out of his way as he walked, leaving the middle of the hallway clear for the strange, tall man. It reminded Tessa of mice scattering before a cat.

She shook her head to clear it and checked the schedule to see where to go next. It took longer to shake off the strange cool feeling the man had left behind.

The rest of the day went by in a pleasant blur. Tessa and Gloria met up for lunch, which was a lovely all-you-can-eat buffet. Gloria introduced Tessa to more people. During the afternoon sessions, Tessa recognized more of the folks in the rooms than she didn’t. She was starting to get her sea-legs, so to speak—feeling more comfortable in the reaper community.

Before she knew it, the time had come for the last talk of the day: Accountable Accounting in Reaping. Wow. Just the title alone sounded boring. And since the talk was being