Flower was buried in a tiny non-denominational cemetery at the edge of the forest. After the funeral, Deegie and Zach still stood at her grave as the last of the mourners drove off. Her headstone was a simple slab of gray marble that read: “Flower Littlewolf 1940-2015.” The grave was adorned with wildflowers and sprigs of lavender. Someone had tied a dream catcher to her headstone; it was decorated with beads and feathers that fluttered in the late spring breeze.
“I can’t believe she’s gone.” Deegie whispered her words, not wanting to disturb the peaceful stillness of the cemetery. “She never told me she had a bad heart.” She dabbed at her eyes with a ball of damp tissue and rested her head on Zach’s shoulder. A catered reception was being held at Nix’s house, but Deegie wanted to linger just a bit more before saying her final goodbye to her dear friend.
“I know, babe,” said Zach. He slid his arm around her and pulled her closer. “She was a nice lady. A real bad-ass, too. She could kick demonic butt with the best of them.” He moved aside the veil on Deegie’s old-fashioned mourning hat so he could kiss her forehead. “She had a nice long life, Deeg, and she was much loved.”
“I know,” Deegie replied with a sniffle. “You’re right, Zach.” She inclined her head to look up at him and allowed herself the luxury of a tiny smile. Her heart ached for Flower, but Zach looked devastatingly handsome in his suit and tie, and his shaggy red hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail.
“Are you ready to go now?” he asked gently.
“Yeah, I’m ready.” She wasn’t used to wearing high-heeled pumps and her feet were begging for mercy. She leaned over and ran her hand over the cool smoothness of Flower’s headstone. “Goodbye, Flower,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “We love you.”
A long, ululating howl came from the thick pine forest and Deegie gasped and jumped, startled by the unexpected sound. “What was that?”
“Sounded like a wolf,” Zach said as he stared hard at the line of trees. “I didn’t think there were any more around here, but you never know.”
“I see it! Look!” She pointed at the wooded area just behind the last row of headstones, about fifty yards away. A large gray wolf sat there, watching them calmly, and Deegie suddenly realized she could see the trees right through it. “Zach! Do you see that? It’s a wolf spirit!”
“I see it … holy cow … is it dangerous?”
“No, it won’t hurt us. Oh, it’s so beautiful! But why is it appearing to us, I wonder?” Something caused her to glance down at Flower’s headstone again, and she was able to answer her own question. “Zack, look!” she whispered excitedly, pointing to the name etched in the somber gray stone. “Littlewolf! I think … I think it’s Flower!”
The wolf spirit, still looking at them, got to its feet and barked as if in reply. Its bushy gray tail wagged from side to side.
Tears of happiness and amazement flooded down Deegie’s cheeks, smearing what was left of her mascara. “It is her! Oh, Zach, it’s Flower!”
“Are you sure?” The wolf spirit didn’t come any closer, but Zack took a few wary steps back.
Deegie felt an odd tickling sensation inside her head, as if her skull was full of feathers, and she made a soft little “Oh!” of surprise. Moving pictures, grainy and choppy, began to form behind her eyes. It was like watching sections of an old film strip. She saw Flower’s face, smiling at her. The image faded gradually and was replaced by the gray-furred face of the wolf spirit. In her mind, Deegie heard the long, musical howl of Flower’s new self, then the vision grayed, faded, and disappeared.
“Yes,” Deegie said to Zach, her pale eyes glittering with happy tears. “Yes, I’m sure.”
Flower’s tail wagged furiously, and she yipped at them as a playful puppy would. Then she turned her attention to her right, where the empty space took on a shimmering, rippling quality that Deegie knew all too well. Orange and black stripes appeared, followed by a familiar rumble and grunt.
“Tiger …” Deegie whispered. She reached for Zach’s hand and squeezed it tightly. “Oh, Zach, look! Tiger’s here!”
They watched as the two spirit animals regarded each other for a moment, then touched noses in greeting. The warm spring air around them sparkled, as if glitter was falling from the tree tops, and the scent of the lavender and wildflowers intensified. Tiger and Flower looked back at Deegie and Zach for a moment, then they turned and walked side by side into the woods until they were lost from sight.
“He came to take her to the Spirit World.” Deegie couldn’t stop smiling. The sadness in her heart was replaced with lightness, and joy, and the feeling that she would see her friend again.
Zach tried to hide it, but Deegie could tell that he, too, was overcome by the touchingly beautiful scene that had just played out before them. He turned his head to the side and hurriedly wiped his eyes. “I’m not going to tell anyone about this,” he said. “Not even Gilbert. I have a feeling that this was just for us.”
***
Deegie had almost forgotten about the ghost traps in the basement until a few days later when Zach pulled into the driveway driving a moving truck filled with all his worldly possessions, save one.
“My pool table is still in the garage,” Zach informed Deegie as she helped him bring in boxes of clothing, books, and sports memorabilia. “Gilbert and a couple of guys from Dos Hombres are gonna help me move it over here tonight.”
“A pool table? Zach, you didn’t tell me you had a pool table!” She set down a box of grimy fishing tackle and gave him a look of mock seriousness. “Where the hell are we going to put a pool table?”
“It’s been in storage forever; I didn’t have room for it at my old place. I was thinking we could put it in the basement,” Zach said with a playful twinkle in his eyes.
“What? The basement? I don’t think that’s—”
“Just hang on.” Zach held up his hand as he interrupted her. “I had this awesome idea. Just listen, okay?”
Deegie planted her hands on her hips and cocked her head at him. “I’m listening,” she said. “Let’s hear it.”
Boyish excitement shone on Zach’s face as he eagerly told her of his idea. “Okay, check it out. I thought we could turn the basement into a game room! We could fix it up real nice, maybe put in a mini-bar and a sound system, it would be sweet!”
She had to admit it sounded like fun. There was certainly plenty of room down there, but there was just one problem. “Where are we going to put the sin-ghosts?” she asked. “Avarice, Gluttony, Sloth, and friends are still down there in their traps. I don’t think I’d be able to enjoy myself with those damn things still in the basement. What if one of the traps broke? We’d have to find somewhere else to put them.” Brief sadness clouded her expression, and she added, “I never got the chance to ask Flower what we should do with them. She would know.”
“Yeah, she would,” Zach said. “But I have an idea for that, too. Wanna hear it?”
“Yeah.” Deegie smiled again. She sat down on a rolled-up sleeping bag and crossed her arms. “Let me hear it.” He’s being far too adorable about this moving in business, she thought.
“The cave. We could load up the jars in the Jeep, drive up to the cave, and stash them inside. Crazy shit happens up there, so it would be the perfect place for them. We could bury the jars and block the entrance for extra safety. You could even do one of your awesome locking spells so no one could ever get in.” He lifted his brows in a hopeful look. “So what do you say, Deeg? Not a bad idea for a Normal One, huh? Even Gilbert said so.”
“Did he now?” Deegie tried to smirk, but ended up laughing as she relented. “All right. You can turn my basement into a game room, but all your man stuff has to stay down there—fishing stuff, camping stuff, greasy engine parts, spare tires, and all the rest. There’s plenty of room for all of it down there. Deal?”
“Deal!” He reached for her hands and tugged her to her feet, then hugged her tightly. “I can take care of the drywall, the wiring, the carpeting—I know how to do all that stuff.” He held her face in his hands and gazed at her for a long moment. “You won’t be sorry, Deeg, I promise. I’m gonna do everything I can to make you the happiest little witch that ever lived. You’ll see.”
Apprehension quickened Deegie’s breath and she clenched her hands into fists as she and Zach descended the basement stairs later that afternoon. She knew there was no real reason to feel this way; the sin-ghosts were still tightly sealed up in the traps and there was no way they could have gotten out. It was the memory of the horrendous events that had taken place down here that made her edgy: the open hell portal, edged in fire; the black, towering shape of the demon Chul; and the discovery of poor Lisbet’s severed fingers.
Deegie reached for Zach’s hand as they approached the old wooden table with the jarred ghosts sitting on top, and he looked over at her in surprise.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. “You’re not scared, are you?”
Deegie shook her head, a little embarrassed by her trepidation. “No, I’m not exactly scared, it’s just … old memories, I guess.”
“Ah. Can’t say I blame you there. Don’t worry, babe. When I’m done fixing up this basement all those bad memories are gonna vanish like … well, like magic!” Zach chuckled and squeezed her hand. “You’ll see.”
A shroud of cobwebs around the single hanging lightbulb cast weird, stringy shadows over the row of ghost traps on the table. The traps reflected weak points of light. Zach picked up a trap at random, brushed off a bit of spider web, and held it up to look through the glass. His eyes rounded in astonishment.
“Deeg, there’s nothing in here!”
“What? No way!” She snatched the trap from his hand and had a look for herself.
The trap held only a small amount of a gray ash-like substance. No trace of the sin-ghost remained. Even the sweet grass and herbs were gone.
Deegie picked up another trap and held it up to the light with the same results. The trapped sin-ghosts had completely disappeared.
“Where did they go, babe?” Zach gave the trap a shake. The ashes rattled faintly. “How could they just disappear like that? It kinda looks like they burnt up or something. Damn, that’s weird!”
Deegie put the trap back on the table, picked up another one, then set it back down. “I burned that talking board,” she said. “I brought it home from work the other day and used it for kindling. Maybe that had something to do with it.”
Another thought occurred to her, and she thought it over for a moment before giving it a voice. “Or maybe Tamara and Monica chose the path that was right for them.”
***
It had been almost two weeks since Flower’s death, and Deegie missed her terribly. Although she knew her friend still existed on another plane, The Silent Cat just didn’t seem the same without Flower’s colorful presence and easy laughter. Even Bast seemed to notice. He had taken to roaming the shop every now and then, investigating all the corners and meowing softly as if he were looking for her.
Deegie hadn’t seen Tamara since Monica’s rescue; she had not come in to work for two Saturdays now, but Deegie didn’t really blame her for that. The girl certainly had enough to deal with now since her mother’s revelation, and Deegie would be all too happy to rehire her should she wish to return.
“Looks like it’s just you and me running the show, Bast,” she said to the fully-grown black cat as he lounged in his usual spot on the counter. “Just like old times.”
Bast studied her for a moment, yawned, licked his toes, and then curled up for his second nap of the afternoon.
Deegie put down her roll of price stickers and the packets of incense she was affixing them to. She had wedding-brain. It was too difficult to keep her mind on work-related things, so she gave up trying and picked up her copy of Beautiful Bride magazine instead. Yuck, she thought, turning the pages rapidly, these bouquets are absolutely hideous. Pink and white with little frilly doo-dads? No way! She wanted her wedding to be elegant and beautiful of course, but she drew the line at anything too girly. Flower had had such wonderful ideas for the bridal bouquet, the décor, the cake, and reception. Deegie didn’t know how she was going to manage all this without her. Nix and Belinda had offered to help, and she had gratefully accepted, but without Flower it just wasn’t going to be the same.
“What do you think of red roses for my bouquet, Bast?” Deegie asked aloud. “Would that look good with a green velvet dress?”
At the sound of his name, Bast opened one eye, huffed, and went back to sleep.
Deegie snickered at him. “Thanks for all your support,” she said.
The cluster of bells tied to the door jingled, signaling a customer, and Deegie looked up from her magazine. “Oh! Well hello, you two!”
Tamara and Monica stood at the end of the counter, looking hesitant, as if they weren’t sure if they should come any closer. The tension broke when Deegie smiled, and Tamara ran to her and threw her arms around her. Monica still hung back, smiling timidly.
“I missed you so much!” Tamara said, pulling back to look at Deegie. “I’m sorry I haven’t been around, it’s just that … well …”
“I understand. Family comes first, always. Everything okay?”
“Yeah!” Tamara nodded excitedly, then her expression turned somber, and she said, “Sorry about Flower. She was cool.”
“Yes. She was a good friend.” Deegie turned her attention to Monica. “How are you feeling?” she asked.
“Much better,” Monica replied. Her eyes still showed hints of dark circles, and her arms bore faint scars, but she looked healthy and strong. “I came to offer my condolences as well, and I understand congratulations are in order.” She glanced at Deegie’s ring and her smile widened.
“Thank you!” Deegie held up her hand so Monica could see her engagement ring. “Flower was my wedding planner so I’m feeling a little lost right now, but I know I’ll get back on the right path soon enough.”
“I’d be more than happy to help you,” Monica said. “And yes, it’s always good to know you’re on the right path.” She reached up and ran her fingers over a tiny five-pointed star hanging from a chain around her neck.
The End