The reapers shifted back to where ever they normally dwelled, to weak from the blast to sustain themselves.
The Shadow itself was reduced to a fragment of darkness, flittering around of the blasted wreckage.
"Wow. Remind me not to let you guys ever clean my house.. You'd probably blow it up and sweap whatever was left under a rug.." I say.
The Shadow, seeing me, flits over the ground to rejoin with the rest of my shadow.
"So.. Where's the newbie? I guess he is around here somewhere.. You guys didn't blow
him up to, did you? And look at this mess! I'll be cleaning for most of the rest of the week."
I clap my hands three times and bits of the wreckage begin to fly around. Tree branches rejoin their trunks, bits of houses soar back to their proper places and the road starts to slowly emerge from rubble.
"Belated spring cleaning time!"
“She'd become a governess. It was one of the few jobs a known lady could do. And she'd taken to it well. She'd sworn that if she did indeed ever find herself dancing on rooftops with chimney sweeps she'd beat herself to death with her own umbrella.”
― Hogfather