"You?" I whispered. He nodded, smirking. "But...why?"

He made a face. "Ugh, are you really this dumb, Isabelle? I just told you, we're the ones deciding when they die, yet we're also the ones that live in hiding! Does that make sense to you at all?"

"Yes, it does," I snapped, crossing my arms as I glared at him. Then I realized something. "I don't love you anymore! Whatever spell you put on me is fading."

He sighed exasperatedly. "That's because I was Julian Johnson, a young, 16-year old "mortal" that was supposed to seduce you." I narrowed my eyes.

"Why me? There's also Sandra, and she's in her early 20's. So why me?"

He shrugged. "I thought you would be easier. And you were." He smirked, and I realized he was getting bigger. He must've seen me noticing, because he said, "Oh yeah, I'm turning into my true form."

My head spun. Then something hit me. "Wait, if you're a Felon, why did your name appear on my DeathWatch?"

"Um, it's called hacking?" he waved his hands like I was an idiot. Which I thought I kind of was.

"So why did Delton keep telling me to shoot you?" This whole situation was starting to get really frustrating.

He shrugged. "Maybe he thought I was a real mortal?" Then he smirked. "Wow, Delton got a lot stupider after I left him."

"You...knew Delton?" that thought surprised me.

"Um, yeah? I was his best friend, until he told me to leave."

"But...why? Because you thought all mortals should die?"

He sighed, and I realized his voice seemed to get deeper, as well. "I don't know if you like reading history or not, but 222 years ago, a Death was seduced by a mortal."

"Yeah, he was an SD," I said, nodding, "I know."

"Whatever. It doesn't matter. Hey, that rhymes!" He broke into a dumb grin, and I realized he was starting to get facial hair. How old was this dude?

I cleared my throat. "Are you done?"

This seemed to snap him out of it. "So, anyways," he continued, acting like he hadn't gotten off track, "after that Death was banished, I got the idea that Deaths should rule the world, and we should just wipe out all mortals."

"You realize that's a really stupid idea, right?" I cursed myself for always talking before I thought.

He raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?" he asked slowly. He had stopped growing by now, but he was still pretty big.

I crossed my arms, leaning back against the wall, trying to look calm. "Well, if only Deaths ruled the world, what are we supposed to do? What's our purpose in life without mortals? To just...live?"

He made an exasperated sound with his throat. "We could do whatever we want, wherever we want, whenever we want!"

I frowned, no longer having to act to stay calm. "Uh, I've been doing that all 1,016 years of my life," I said slowly. "And haven't you ever heard of overpopulation? Besides, if I just change into my mortal form, then-"

"Exactly!" Julian - or whatever his name was - jumped up from the bed and pointed at me. "You have to change into your mortal form. You can't walk around in your Death form."

"My Death form is my mortal form," I said, starting to get even more confused than before. "The only time I turn into Death form is when I'm actually killing someone."

He rolled his eyes, throwing his hands in the air. "Not that Death form, your Natural Death form, you know?"

I shook my head. "I was only created a few centuries ago, so maybe they stopped before I was created?"

He closed his eyes. "You mean, you've never seen anyone look non-human like?"

I paused. "Am I supposed to?"

Now he looked like he wanted to punch the wall. Which he did. "Look. You're an ID, right? That means you should have black wings sprouting from your back, and heavy makeup all over your face-"

"Woah, woah, woah, stop." I raised my hands to silence him. "I can fly?"

He just stared at me. "Okay, you know what? Talking with you is just wasting my time, so I'm going to go. I already wasted 19 minutes right now." He twisted his neck around, and I suddenly noticed red wings sprouting from his back. Speechless, I watched as tattoos appeared on his muscular arms, and half his head shaved off. I was still watching as he used his wings to fly up, breaking through the roof, until he disappeared.

What...the...puck?

I was still standing there, when I suddenly realized I had somewhere I need to be, too. The Death Realm! My mind flashed back to the explosion I'd heard when Delton was talking to me, and I quickly rushed to the wall with the DeathPortal.

I flipped my watch up to signal the CDs, when I saw the word "Error" flash across the screen. I clenched my teeth tightly, snapping the case shut, for now.

"Take me to the Death Realm," I announced loudly, aiming myself at the wall. Please let this work, I thought desperately as I got ready to jump.

So I jumped...

...and I crashed back down on the grass beneath me. "Damn it!" I screamed, slamming my fist on the dirt. It didn't work.

This was all Julian's fault! If he hadn't come and found a way to make me think I loved him, none of this would've happened. I punched the brick with my hand, and the whole building collapsed.

Terrific.

Now that I thought about it though, the building had seemed to...pulse a bit, and his room looked like it was made in 2 minutes. And there were no pictures of his "family" anywhere. This thought was supposed to make me feel better, but I actually felt stupider. No wonder he had smiled! He knew his plan was working. Ugh! I paced the ground, wondering what I should do. I glanced at my watch (the clock part - the technical part still didn't work) and saw it was 12:40 am. 24 minutes had passed since the explosion, and the Death Realm could've already been destroyed, for all I knew.

Ugh! If only I'd grabbed onto Julian when he flew away - Wait a second! I jumped up on my feet, excited, remembering what Julian had told me.

You're an ID, right? That means you should have black wings sprouting from your back, and heavy makeup all over your face...

Yes! I could fly to the Death Realm!

And then I realized I had no idea where it was.

It only fazed me for a second, though. I would think about that after my first problem.

How the hell was I supposed to turn into my "Natural Death Form"?

I tried to think about what I would look like if I was in my NDF (I decided to call it that, for now).

Suddenly, I felt something burn on my back. "Ow!" I dropped to the ground, and I felt something pushing against the back of my clothes. I gasped. Was it really working?

A few seconds later, I heard a ripping sound, and when I looked behind me, I noticed black wings like Angel's, from X-Men: Apocalypse.

"Nice," I whispered, testing the wings out. The first time, I hovered just above the ground for 5 seconds, before falling to my face. "Not nice," I grumbled, struggling to get up.

Trial 2, however, showed better results, and I was able to fly in any way I wanted. Even better, my mind was automatically imputed with a map to the Death Realm.

If I was lucky, I could get there by 12:55. I only hoped I wasn't too late.