Epilogue

Two weeks later, everything was quiet.

Mostly because I was incredibly grounded.

There had been a flurry of activity after the group hug broke up. The memory spell surrounding Devon ended with the witch’s death and Alex took him home immediately so his family wouldn’t have a chance to notice he was missing.

For Ed and Paulette, however, we needed two fresh memory spells to cover things up so they’d be free to rejoin the land of the living. Tamsin ended up calling her mom for help which meant she’d had to confess everything she’d been up to. That was a lively conversation.

The important thing was the spells worked and Ed and Paulette were able to go home.

They came back the next day.

And the next. And the one after that. They’d bring books, help with the garden, and stay for dinner more often than not. Mom and Alex finally gave them both part-time jobs.

We needed the help since Tamsin left. Temporarily.

Her family had arrived the day after we defeated the witch and helped her place the cap back on my power. She had a long talk with them while they were here. She wanted to stick around and help me learn more about magic and they wanted her to finish school.

They compromised and she was transferring to a college close by . . .

To get her mortuary science degree! She came by for dinner more often than not as well and it was nice. I liked having more people around.

I hadn’t seen Devon since he went home.

I understood.

I did.

I didn’t want to bother him while he was readjusting, either. Mom said wait and see so that’s what I was doing. That plus a million chores since I was so very grounded.

“Kimmy!” Mom hollered up the stairs. “Have you finished yet?”

“No!” I yelled back. “Soon!”

I was clearing space to set up the last-wish desk in my room. The rearranging was done and now I was ready to grab everything from Grandma’s room.

Scooting across the hall, I opened the door and stepped inside. We’d tidied up after the mess with the journals and now Mom and I were talking about starting to sort through Grandma’s things. Moving the last-wish stuff was the first step.

It would be nice to have it in my room, even if I wasn’t going to be using it exactly how Grandma had intended.

I was taking a break from using the power.

Mom, Alex, and I had talked it over from top to bottom. When they first suggested it, I immediately said no. I couldn’t even think about it. Using the power was my link to Dad and Grandma. But then I slowly remembered: it wasn’t my only link.

The biggest concern Mom and Alex had was the whole waking-people-at-the-expense-of-my-own-life-force thing. Mom’s point was that every minute was valuable when none of us knew how long we had. I could understand that.

I’d take more minutes with Dad and Grandma if I could.

And yet—

Even if it meant using up my time, Waking people and honoring last wishes still felt like a worthy cause.

Mom wasn’t asking me to quit, though. Just take a break and really think about what it meant to give people that gift. Alex said it was a decision worth giving space to.

In the meantime, Tamsin was going to teach me about other methods of magic and maybe, someday, I’d be able to Wake people in a safer way. Dad would be pretty proud if we could pull that off, I thought.

Alex had also brought up an idea. A lovely one. He suggested we incorporate the last wishes into our regular funeral planning services. Offer people the chance to leave a note or a final gift that could be delivered after their services were over. Mom and I were working together on a little brochure to add to our packages.

Maybe people would take us up on it, maybe they wouldn’t. If even one person did, I’d be happy. It was a different way to keep the tradition alive and made it something the three of us could do together. I wasn’t sure what Grandma would have thought of that, but I hoped she’d be happy, too.

Heading over to the little desk, I picked up the typewriter. A piece of paper fluttered to the floor. An envelope, actually. With my name on it.

I picked it up carefully, recognizing Grandma’s handwriting.

Was this a last-wish letter? We’d completed a last wish for her when she saved the others, but this was—she’d taken the time to type this out at some point. Months ago, maybe longer.

Why? Just in case I couldn’t Wake her? I would have if it hadn’t been for Dr. Wardwell stealing her spark. Was this her last wish as it would have been? Before everything happened?

Whatever it was, it was a goodbye.

My last one from Grandma.

Just open it, Kimmy.

Taking a deep breath, I opened the envelope. There was a letter and a piece of cardstock inside. I set down the cardstock and the envelope to read the letter first.

Dear Kimmy,

Your father passed away this week.

Wait, what? Dad died ten years ago. She wrote this back then and kept it that long? I didn’t know what to think about that.

It was unexpected and as much as I hope that you and I will have many years together, it reminded me that time is never guaranteed for anyone. I wanted to make sure you had this.

Just in case.

With so much love,

Grandma Bev

That was it. The whole letter.

So, what did she want me to have?

I picked up the small rectangular piece of cardstock. A sweet smell wafted off of it, instantly transporting me to sunny afternoons in the kitchen with Grandma. The card was covered in carefully typed words and messily handwritten notes with the title clear at the top.

Bev’s Cookies

Her top-secret cookie recipe that she never shared with anyone. Tears welled up as I traced a finger over her notes written in the margins of the recipe. Corrections on the amount of vanilla extract. A scribble of “people in this family like them crispy!” along the bottom. It was a little thing, but an important thing. Another piece of Grandma to keep with me.

I leapt up from my bed and ran downstairs. “Mom! You’ll never guess what I found!” I nearly tripped over Morris on the bottom step when someone knocked at the front door.

Standing there was my second surprise of the day—Devon.

He shuffled his feet on the porch, looking around nervously and biting at his lip.

“Hi!” I said, smiling brightly and opening the door wider. I didn’t want him to be nervous. Not here. Even if it was a place full of unpleasant memories for him.

I really hoped I wasn’t one of them.

“Is this a bad time?” Devon asked.

“No,” I said. “Come on in. What’s up?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t come by earlier,” Devon said, stepping inside hesitantly. “I kind of wanted to forget about everything for a while.”

I couldn’t blame him for that.

“But then, I don’t know,” he said, scratching at the back of his neck. “I also missed you? And thought maybe you’d want to hang out?” He gave me a look. “Wait, do you hang out with regular people or is it strictly not-dead dead people?”

“Oh, wow,” I said. “I didn’t miss you at all.”

“That’s a yes.” Devon cracked a grin and bumped his shoulder against mine. “Want to go for a bike ride or something?”

I grimaced. “My bike privileges have been revoked for another two weeks,” I said. “Grounded for the whole sneaking-out-of-the-house-and-into-the-morgue-to-Wake-you thing.”

“Ah,” Devon said, scrunching up his face in sympathy. “That sucks. Maybe—”

“Devon!” Mom headed down the hall toward us. “I thought I heard your voice. It’s nice to see you. How have you been?”

“Good,” he said. “Yeah, I’m good. I came by to see if Kimmy was free—”

“Don’t worry.” I sighed. “I told him I’m grounded.”

“I think we can make an exception for today,” Mom said. “As long as you stay here.” She patted Devon’s shoulder and wandered off into her office.

“An exception,” Devon said, raising his eyebrows at me. “I feel special.”

“Come on.” I grabbed his arm and started dragging him toward the kitchen. “We’ll see how special you feel after I put you to work. How are you at making cookies?”

I had some unfinished business to take care of.