Chapter Forty-Six

Two of the burliest guards, now human, descend on Xander. In moments, they have him cuffed and backed against a tree trunk. They stand over him, unmoving. Not a single ray of light emanates from the metal bracelets.

I hold Mama’s hand as the world around me transforms. Every leaf on the sacred trees detaches from its branch and falls to the ground, the gold and silver essences flaking off and blowing away in the wind. The water in the golden pond turns clear, leached of all color, revealing instead the mud and rocks underneath. The double-edged sword is simply gone. Only an indentation remains in the grass where I dropped it.

The croc-people—or excuse me, just people—pick themselves off the ground, looking at one another and laughing in astonishment. Their snouts have shrunk, the scales have retreated inside their skin, and they’re back in their human forms once more.

“Is that how you look, you old fart?” I hear one of them cry out. “You’re even uglier than your crocodile face.”

Familiar faces pop out among the newly human. Papa, of course, and Mateo, touching their faces to make sure the transformation is real. And the other guards, removing their oversize, misshapen hoods, are familiar as well. Lola, Rae, Kit, Khun Anita, Sylvie, Elizabeth, Eduardo. And even Preston, who is sticking his hands inside his mouth as though to measure its size.

All of my friends on this island are here, in this clearing. They’ve been here, all along, disguised as a part of Xander’s army. But how?

“Looks like your dad’s been hustling behind the scenes,” Bodin says as he settles next to me, cross-legged. I realize for the first time that I am sitting on the ground, without a layer of protection between me and the grass. And although I know the dirt will continue to bother me in the future, at this moment, no intrusive thoughts rise.

“I hear he’s become quite popular among his croc family,” Bodin continues. “Once they took away your mom, he must’ve rallied a loyal few of them around our cause. They were probably the ones who broke out our friends, as well.”

“Is that true?” I ask Papa as he approaches us. “Did you set our friends free?”’

“I wanted you to have backup, in case you needed help,” he says gravely. “Turns out, you didn’t need it after all.”

I blink, my eyes wet. “Papa, I’m sorry—”

“Shhh.” He sits on my other side and winds an arm around my shoulders. “You did what you had to do. You should be proud of yourself.”

I lean back against him, exhausted. But I can’t be proud of myself yet. Not when Mama still lies before me, her skin rapidly cooling. Not when Xander still lurks, albeit cuffed—

I sit up straight. “Xander. The authorities—”

“On it.” Bodin rises in one sleek motion, just as a woman in a silver uniform approaches us, carrying a radio and speaking into a handheld transceiver.

“Yes, detective,” she says. “We’ve been stranded on a remote island in the Gulf of Thailand. Yes… Hold on, please…”

She passes the transceiver to Bodin, who listens intently and then rattles off the coordinates of the island as he retreats to a quieter part of the clearing.

The woman turns and looks directly into my eyes. I’ve never seen her before—black hair, dark skin, in her twenties. But apparently, she knows me. “Thank you,” she mouths and then walks away.

“She was one of the croc-people,” Papa says. “Vanessa. She’s been trapped on this island for three years. Her son was just a baby when she was kidnapped. She hopes…he remembers her still.” He shifts forward so that he can look in my face. “She’s one of the many, many people who have been set free today.” His lips curve, in spite of the tears that gather in his eyes. “I know it doesn’t feel like it, but for many others here, today is a good day.”

I nod wordlessly. The feelings that gunk up my throat make it impossible to speak.

One by one, my friends surround me.

“Is it true?” Lola exclaims as she plops herself down across from me, a respectful distance from Mama’s body. “Will I never have to experience a worm wriggling its way out of my mouth ever again?”

“Lola! Don’t bother Alaia.” Rae hurries up, shooting me an apologetic look. “Just say something negative and see what happens.”

“But I can’t!” Lola wails. “I’m so happy that it’s finally over that I couldn’t possibly say anything bad about anybody right now.”

“There you go—no flowers, either.” Rae shakes her head fondly. “I think you’re safe, sissy.”

“I will miss my flowers,” Lola muses. “They were so pretty.”

Behind them, Kit leaps from rock to rock as Khun Anita scolds him. “Get down from there. You’re going to break your head.”

“This is how I felt when I hopped from vessel to vessel,” he explains. “I’m just trying to recreate that feeling in the physical world.”

Before Khun Anita can respond, he jumps up, grabs a tree branch, and swings himself into the pond, whooping all the way.

Elizabeth and Sylvie come forward, arm in arm. They each bend down and kiss my cheek. “She was a good woman,” Elizabeth says. “My life is richer because she was in it.”

“I love you,” Sylvie adds simply. “Whatever you need, I’m here.”

In the distance, under a tree that once sported gold and silver leaves, Eduardo walks over to Bodin. Even though he’s still speaking into the transceiver, Bodin embraces him with a fierce hug. Not to be left out, Preston joins them, wrapping them both between his arms and attempting to pick them up.

“Excuse me, detective,” I hear Bodin say between the guffaws and laughter. “That was just some of my buddies showing you their appreciation.”

And last but not least, Mateo hovers shyly in the distance, as though unsure how he’ll be received, since he once spent time as a crocodile.

“Come over here, you,” Lola calls to him. “I can’t wait to kiss your human mouth silly.”

I pat my eyes to dry off the lingering tears.

Mateo sits next to Lola, taking her hand, on the dirt ground that’s growing increasingly more comfortable. “I’m so sorry, for both of your losses,” he says in his heartfelt way, to both me and Papa. I realize that they must’ve bonded in the crocodile pit. This eases the anguish in my heart, just a little, knowing that they each made the other’s time more bearable.

Soon, Bodin walks back to our group, finished with his conversation. “Help is coming,” he tells the group of us, and my friends—and now family—erupt in a large cheer.

Bodin catches my eye and gives me a tiny smile. It’s a small gesture, but that’s all the reassurance I need to know that I’ll get past this day. I’ll forgive myself for this moment. I won’t be tortured by my past, like Xander, and I won’t live my days trying to reclaim it.

Instead, I’ll simply live. For the present, in the moment. And I’ll love with my whole heart, the way Mama taught me.

Out at sea, a loud noise trumpets. A cry that travels across the water and up the mountain for us to hear. But the sound isn’t anguished. It’s not tortured in any way. Instead, it sounds simply like goodbye.

In the distance, I can just glimpse a golden fin that I now know belongs to the naga. The mystical creature dives under the waves. I can’t be sure if it disappears or swims away.

But I know that I’ll never catch sight of its enormous body or untold power ever again.