Chapter 189

Dawn helped Thom sit up. Henry and Charley embraced him.

“You promised you would never leave me,” Dawn said, “and I’m making good on that promise.”

He smiled at her and wiped her tears away. “I’m here now,” he said. He looked down at his chest. Instead of a pendant inscribed on his skin there was now a large inkblot of dark blue scarring. “What did you do to me?”

“It was the furnace,” Charley said. “It brought you back to life.”

Thom touched the large scar with his fingertips like he was checking to make sure it was real.

“Are you okay?” Dawn said. “I’m still worried about you.”

“Yeah, I think so,” he said. “It’s just that I’ve never died and come back to life before.” He smirked. He looked back to the inkblot on his chest and then to Henry and his hand. “We’re quite a pair now, aren’t we?”

Henry nodded.

“The only thing,” Thom said, “is that we don’t have the furnace now. But neither do the Nekura.”

“We should celebrate that,” Henry said. “More root beer floats?”

Dawn and Charley helped Thom to his feet. Thom looked at his family and smiled.

Then his countenance fell. His eyes shifted and deep lines furrowed in his forehead. He opened his mouth, but only silence hung instead of words.

“What is it?” Dawn asked.

Thom shook his head. He grimaced. “Later.”

“If it can wait, good. We need to leave. Do you remember when we went by our house after the high school? I felt that crushing pressure on my—”

“That’s enough for me,” Thom said. “Let’s move!”