Nathan
I followed Christine’s scent to a ballroom at the end of the hall. The doors were bolted shut, so all of us rammed into it at once. It didn’t budge.
“Stand back,” Lydia said. She stretched her hands to the door and ripped the whole thing off of the hinges. That was one way to open a door. “Baby! Baby!”
We all ran in with the intention to save Christine, but we found her standing over two dead bodies. She was her own hero.
Lydia got to her first and wiped the blood on her mouth with her hands. More poured out of it, but other than that and the scratches on her face, she was fine. She was fine, and Remi and Elena were dead.
I finally took a breath.
Lydia showered her with kisses and Christine giggled. “I love you, too, Mom.”
I stepped over Elena’s dead body and kicked her for good measure. She didn’t move. Chris had charred her birds and the curtains were closed, so I doubted that she’d escaped another death. The thought of that freaked me out, so I reached into my pocket for the compass.
I nearly screamed.
Peace. We’d brought peace again. Hopefully, forever.
As Lydia’s agents joked about how their jobs were not safe because Chris was such a badass, I lifted that badass into my arms and kissed her again, disregarding the blood on her mouth.
“Have I ever told you that I love you?” I said.
“At least once or twice,” she whispered. As I kissed her again, I vowed to tell her that I loved her every day … at least once or twice.
“Tyler,” Lydia said.
“I’m already on it, boss. Have a nice night. We’ll deal with the bodies.”
Tyler and the other three agents grabbed Elena and Remi and disappeared, and the rest of us went home.
We landed in the living room, and reality smacked us all at once. Every Ewing ever born was there—cooking in the kitchen, crying in the living room, rocking babies outside on the patio. The house was bursting with them and this dreary scent that made me shudder. Through the window, I saw Talia chasing Becca outside, trying to get her to be still like everyone else was.
“Chris!” Emma yelled. “Nate. Oh my God. They’re back!”
Her entire face was rose red. There were still tears in her eyes. Chris hugged Emma but didn’t stop to talk to anyone else. She and Lydia walked in silence through the sea of Ewings and up the stairs. Emma’s parents were standing at the top of them, weeping. I nearly collapsed.
Paul’s parents had their arms around him, trying to calm him down. He was a wild bull in their arms. “It’s okay, Paully,” his mother said. “Just breathe.”
I followed Lydia and Christine’s lead and walked past everyone, even Paul, without speaking. More of Sophia’s children crowded the hallway on the way to Emma’s old room. They parted as Lydia approached, and we walked inside with our heads down.
And Sophia … was sitting up in bed. She was paler than death, but she was alive and smiling. Lydia surprised us all by running to her first.
“Don’t you dare do that again!” she yelled.
“What?” Sophia said.
“Die!” Lydia screamed. “I will kill you … if you die on me again. I felt it happen.”
“Me too,” Chris said, and wiped her eyes.
“Gregory got to me in time. I’ll be on bed rest for a while, which means I’m on paid leave from you … obviously. And I’ll be expecting a bonus because my heart really did stop.” Lydia hugged her, and Sophia hilariously swatted her away. “Get away from me, Lydia, and give me my baby.”
Lydia rolled her eyes, and Christine crawled in bed with Sophia. “You’re okay,” Chris whispered, into her white hair.
“Yes, my heart. I’m okay. And so are you.”
I hadn’t been invited into the bed, but I crawled in and hugged Sophia on her other side. Mr. Gavin didn’t say anything about me being in bed with his daughter. He was too busy kissing his girlfriend.
I heard Paul calling for me outside of the room. He still had tears in his voice, which was so Paul. When he cried, there was no stopping him for a while. That was probably why he was still sobbing even though his grandmother was alive.
While Paul was calling me, I heard my dad say my name out there, too. I didn’t know who to go to, or if I should’ve stayed in the bed with Christine and Sophia. I had loved ones all around me. I smiled with tears in my eyes because my life had become unspeakably full.
****
Christine
The next day, we still had quite a few Ewings in our house. My neck was a little sore from sleeping on the floor with Nate. No one had wanted to leave Sophia overnight. There had only been a small scare when her wound reopened. Emma’s parents and Pop had closed it in a matter of minutes, and we’d all gone back to sleep like one big happy family.
Our house smelled like bacon and eggs and love as we all got dressed for a ceremony do-over with the Magical Council. Emma vetoed all of the outfits I chose and made me wear a yellow dress that made me look younger than I was.
“Innocent,” she said. “That’s what we’re going for.”
“I’m a killer now, Em.”
“Oh, please. I heard Sophie tell my parents that you apologized to the birds. We just need the rest of these people to see who you really are.”
I put on the stupid dress and hugged Emma. She was safe now, and so was her baby. I wouldn’t have guessed that we would become such great friends when I’d met her. She was so perky and I was so me, but I couldn’t imagine my life without her. Now I didn’t have to.
We’d killed the root of many magical rebellions over the years, but if I ever needed to fight again, I knew that I wouldn’t hesitate.
At the ceremony, I sat between my dad and Nate. Pop had stayed home with Sophia, but most of their family had come with us. This crowd was even bigger than the last, and all eyes were on me.
Mom and the Council took their places, and they read every new statute of the treaty without a violent outburst this time. When she got to Statute Ten, and read the law about copies, she added, “And my daughter, Christine Cecilia Gavin, is not one. She is … my baby. My everything, and if anyone dares to test how serious I am about her … may God have mercy on your souls.”
It was deathly quiet for a long minute after that. Several people coughed and cleared their throats. Paul chuckled.
Then Elder John O’Hare, the leader of the Magical Council, stood with Mom and said, “She means … how serious we are about her. We’ve come to know that Lydia’s daughter is a delightful young woman who helped rescue those children out of Kamon’s prison and has saved all of your lives more times than you can thank her for. And … she’s engaged to a canine shifter … if you need any more proof that she has no issues with our kind.”
Nate kissed me for the whole crowd to see.
Peace felt amazing, and even better than that, I loved that my family no longer had to hide.
THE END