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talking with your
imaginary friend?” Maggie asked as she stood up and turned to face
Kelsey.
    “Why?” Kelsey asked. She was
irritated that Maggie could not or would not hear Roland’s voice.
It might be OK not to be able to see death. After all, most people
don’t see death approach them, but Maggie could at least have the
courtesy of listening to him.
    “Because there are some strange
people following us,” Maggie replied. She lifted a wounded hand and
pointed down the path into the shadows.
    Kelsey looked behind them and saw
two hooded figures cloaked in black, each of them carrying a
scythe. They looked just like the classic image of the Grim Reaper,
which Kelsey had read about in stories. The individuals kept their
distance, hiding partially behind the trees while observing Kelsey
and her friends closely. Although Kelsey was certain that the
reapers knew that they had been spotted, the cloaked figures didn't
attempt to come near.
    “Are those friends of yours?”
Kelsey asked Roland. She eyed the followers with skepticism. Most
of them posed with their scythes and maintained a stoic appearance,
while a few whispered to one another.
    “Hardly,” he replied.
    “Well, do you know them?” she
asked.
    “Not personally. But I know
they’re trouble.”

Chapter
    Four
    The First Lesson

    “So
I ’ m going to
learn about healing? ’ Nicholas asked Megan. They were standing outside, and
Nicholas squinted as the wind picked up and blew into his eyes. His
blond curly hair fluttered in the wind, and it felt as if someone
was tickling his scalp with cold fingers. When the air was still
again, he opened his eyes as he waited for a
response.
    “A little, ” the leopard replied as she
briefly glanced back into Nichola s' hazel eyes. She trotted around
to the other side of the tree under which they were standing. The
leaves were changing from green to various shades of yellow and
orange. The colors looked as if they had been left over a slow fire
to simmer and caramelize with nicely browned edges. Nicholas took a
deep breath of the autumn air. He loved this time of year because
it reminded him of the orphanage where he had met his two best
friends, Maggie and Jovan.
    “That ’ s
why you ’ re
here, then,” Nicholas said with a smile . “ You ’ re
going to train me in how to be a healer? ” Nicholas opened his eyes wide
as he asked the question.
    “Well, there
will be some of that. However, the primary reason
I ’ m here is
that you ’ re
probably going to need a healer. ” Megan sat down with a loud thud. Nicholas lost
his balance, more from the noise than the actual shaking of the
ground.
    “What? How
would you know that? ” Nicholas asked. “ Can you tell the future? Have
you seen that I ’ m going to get hurt? ”
    “I
haven ’ t seen
your future, but I have seen others who ’ ve trained with Moss. He’s
brilliant, but he can sometimes be a little
stupid. ” Megan
licked the back of her paw a few times after she finished speaking.
She studied a few areas of her forearm before leaning into it and
licking more of her fur.
    “Brilliant and stupid? ” Nicholas leaned against the rough bark of the
tree trunk.
    “Yeah, ” Megan replied. “ I think brilliance is circular,
and sometimes people get so brilliant that they cycle back around
into stupidity. People like Moss do some crazy
things.”
    “Like what?”
Nichola s' mind
raced to dream up all the crazy things a teacher might do, but
teaching seemed like such a safe job. There was information, and
there were students, but neither of these things appeared dangerous
to Nicholas.
    “They get
distracted, and their behavior becomes odd. For example, Moss gets
so caught up in his thoughts that he sometimes forgets to put on
clothes. ”
    “He walks
around in his nightgown? ”
    “No, his
underwear, ” Megan said. “ It happens. It could be worse. We ’ re just lucky that he wears
anything at all. ” She hunched up her shoulders into a casual