I made a face. “No. Could you explain it again? Because I was thinking about going to Reef Key without you, and also letting any Fury who knocks inside.”
John ignored my sarcasm. “I don’t know how long this is going to take,” he said. “But I promise this time I’ll be back soon, Pierce.”
I crossed the room to stand beside him, laying a hand upon his arm. “You’d better be.”
His gray eyes seemed to burn through me. “If anything should go wrong —”
“It won’t,” I said firmly.
“Which it won’t,” he said. “But if it should, you know where to meet me, don’t you? Where we met the first night I saw you back in Isla Huesos —”
“In the cemetery.” In the cemetery sounded better than saying Next to your tomb.
He nodded. “Under our tree —”
Before he could utter another word, I rose up onto my toes to press my lips to his. He seemed surprised — surprised enough to release his hold on my father — but not unpleasantly so.
I hoped he could feel through the emotion of my kiss the words I was too embarrassed to say in front of my parents … words I felt I could never say enough: I love you, I love you, I love you.
He not only seemed to get the message, he didn’t seem at all embarrassed, since, as soon as our lips parted, he whispered, “I love you, too.”
I looked up at him and smiled, my heart so full of happiness, I was certain it was about to burst. My joy made no sense, of course. What did I have to feel joyful about? There was no future for us in this world, and the only one in which we could live was being pulled apart.
But he loved me, and that, at least, no one could destroy.
“Hello. Remember me? The dad. The dad is standing right here. Could the two of you please not do that in front of me?” My father sounded even crankier than usual. “Also, would someone mind explaining to me exactly what’s going on here?”
“Sorry, sir.” John dropped his hands from my waist and reached to grasp my father’s arm as I walked away from them. “Don’t worry. In a moment it will all become clear. Just close your eyes.”
Another burst of wind swept in from outside, causing the French door John had closed to crash open again with a bang. Flower petals and leaves Uncle Chris had yet to sweep up came swirling inside in mini vortexes. My mother yelped in alarm.
“What’s happening?” she asked anxiously. “What are they doing?”
“Don’t worry, Aunt Deb,” Alex said, reaching for a waffle. “You’ll get used to it.”
“I’ll be damned if I’m going to close my eyes,” my father said.
“We’re all going to be damned anyway,” John said, “if this doesn’t work out.”
One. Two. Three.
Blink.
They were gone.
23
“What avarice does is here made manifest
In the purgation of these souls converted,
And no more bitter pain the Mountain has.”
DANTE ALIGHIERI, Purgatorio, Canto XIX
Everything all right in here?” Uncle Chris stepped inside to ask. “I thought I heard you scream, Deb. There a palmetto bug in the trash compactor again?”
Mom was clutching the collar of her robe closed at her neck. All the color had drained from her face. She stood there shaking her head, staring at the spot where John and my father had been standing a second before.
“I … I don’t understand. Where did they go?”
“To get the boats, Mom,” I said.
“But how did they … they were standing right there. And then they … ”
“It’s called teleportation,” I said gently. “If John pictures a person or thing in his head, he can go to where that person or thing is. And if he’s touching someone, he can take that person with him. But he can’t stay away from Isla Huesos or the Underworld for too long. If he does, he’ll begin to age and die.”
Uncle Chris looked at us. “Are you talking about World of Warcraft? Alex loves that game. Don’t you, Alex? How many points do you have? A billion?”
“That’s right, Dad,” Alex said. “A billion.”
I glared at Alex. This was stupid. He should tell his father the truth already. He’d suffered more than anyone because of it all — well, almost anyone. Uncle Chris hadn’t died.
Alex seemed to read my thoughts almost as easily as John had. Or maybe he was only reading my disapproving expression.
“Hey, Pierce,” Alex said, getting up from his counter stool and going to the refrigerator. “Remember when we played World of Warcraft and we hit the level where the guy was just an innocent pawn being used by all the much more evil characters?”
“I do not remember that level,” I said.
“Yeah, well, I do.” Alex opened the refrigerator, took out a carton of milk, and drank from it. “You insisted we tell him the truth, and he couldn’t handle it, and did something dumbly noble, and died. Don’t do that in this level.”
“Alex,” my mother said. “Please don’t drink milk straight from the carton.”
Uncle Chris saw the file Alex had stolen from Mr. Rector’s office sitting on the counter. “What’s this?” he said curiously, reaching for it.
“Don’t!” Alex and I both cried at the exact same time.
“It’s nothing,” Mom said. She quickly lifted the file. “It’s something of mine … for work.”
“Work?” Uncle Chris squinted down at the file in her arms. “It says Rector Realty on it. You work at the Marine Institute. What has the Marine Institute got to do with Rector Realty?”
“I’m, um, doing some research,” Mom said. “On Reef Key. Just a little private research of my own. In fact, I was about to head upstairs and get dressed and start my research right now on the computer.”
“That’s a good idea, Aunt Deb,” Alex said. “Want me to come help you?”
“No, thank you, Alex,” Mom said with some of her old acerbic dryness. “I’m quite capable of getting dressed and doing research on my own.”
“Really, Aunt Deb,” Alex said, following my mom as she backed out of the kitchen and down the hallway, towards the stairs. “I want to help.”
What Alex wanted, I knew, was not to let that file out of his sight. He wasn’t used to trusting adults — it wasn’t as if any had ever been there for him in the past — and it didn’t look as if he was ready to start now.
“Really, Alex,” I heard my mother say from the hallway. “I’m not going to do anything without your permission, and I’ll give it back when I’m done with it.”
Uncle Chris, looking a little anxious, watched them go.
“Piercey,” he said in a low voice, so they wouldn’t overhear. “Does Alex seem … different to you?”
“Different?” I asked. “In what way?”
“I don’t know,” Uncle Chris said. “He seems a little more … mature, or something. Almost overnight.”
Being murdered by your peers, then brought back from the dead, could certainly have that effect on you.
I didn’t mention this to Uncle Chris, however. All I said was, “I don’t know. I haven’t really noticed.”
I didn’t like lying to him. But he was Alex’s father and Alex didn’t want him knowing the truth, so I felt like I had to respect that.
“Well, I’ve noticed,” Uncle Chris said, reaching up to scratch his head beneath his Isla Huesos Bait and Tackle baseball cap. “I think it’s a good thing. Maybe that New Pathways program you two are in at school is working on him. Or maybe it’s you, being a good influence on him, Piercey. But I’m finally starting to get the feeling I don’t have to worry about him as much. You know?”