Grandpa Thursten was alive. Skoll had lied. Grandpa was alive!
He grinned at me, saying, “Wake up, sleepyhead. You’re not finished yet.” The cliff walls were visible through him. Stars glistened around his skin. He was dressed in his favorite sweater and tan pants.
“Whaaat?” I asked.
He drifted closer, smoothly, as if there were no snowbanks between us. His feet were bare. I still couldn’t find the strength to get up.
But that was okay. Grandpa was here to save me.
He spoke again, his words sounding as if they were coming from a great distance. “I’m not gone. Not yet. Guess I still have some things to do. So do you, Angie.”
“Grandpa, I can’t move.”
“Angela Laxness, stop lying around.” The voice was soft, but getting clearer. “Wake up inside.” He gestured towards the sky. “You tell her then . . . she’s not listening to me. It’s the red hair that makes her that way. She’s your sister, maybe she’ll listen to you.”
A second, smaller glowing form appeared beside him, floated towards me. As it came closer I recognized his face.
“Andrew,” I whispered. He looked the same as he had years ago.
He smiled a mischievous smile and, without a word, leaned down towards me, extending his hand. It was smooth, ivory skinned, and yet through it I could see the stars in the sky. He touched me in the center of my back and I felt a warmth spread up and down my spine. For a moment my mind held an image of Andrew, when we were young, running through the front-yard sprinkler on a hot summer day.
“You’re a good big sister,” he said. “You always were.”
I was able to roll over and sit up. I stared at him, wanting to take in as much as I could. Tears began to well up in my eyes.
“Hug Mom and Dad for me.” Andrew faded slowly, waving at me.
Grandpa came closer. “I don’t have much time here.” He pointed over a short wall of rocks. “Go that way. You’ll find safety. Get up, lazybones.”
I pushed myself slowly to my feet. Grandpa was growing dimmer. His bare feet were in the snow, but he left no impression.
“Grandpa, what do I do?”
“I don’t know. I’m not meant to know. I can hear your grandmother.” He paused. “I’ve missed her for too many years. It’s my time to be with her.”
He was fading.
“Where are you going?”
“No one gave me a travel guide. I’d love to stay around and haunt some more.” He laughed, lightly. He sounded like a voice at the end of a long valley. Far away from me. “I’ve got to go, Angie. Bless.”
“Afi,” I whispered, the tears coming freely now.
He blinked out like a light, like he’d never been there. I stumbled towards where he had been standing, my hands out like a sleepwalker. The air felt warmer for a moment, then it grew chill. “Not yet,” I whispered. “Don’t go yet.”
I lowered my arms. He was gone.
The sound of howling grew louder. Skoll was charging down the hill behind me. I ran in the direction Grandpa had pointed, scrambling to the top of a steep incline.
There, leaning against the side of a mountain and glowing in the moonlight, was the church we had seen the day before.