Chapter 192

Henry awoke with a start.

He wasn’t dead.

He was no longer at the docks. He was in the blue candlelit room of the safe house. He was dry, warm, and in a different pair of clothes.

He looked around the room and saw Dawn and Charley. Each lay on cots in the room, also covered in generous blankets. Henry heard their rhythmic breathing and sighed in relief.

It wasn’t betrayal? But why—

Thom opened the door to the room holding a wooden tray and a bowl of hot soup. Henry jumped at the sight of his father. Thom set the tray down on the table. “Oh, Henry,” he said and sat down and embraced him. “I’m so glad you’re awake.”

Henry didn’t say anything. He wasn’t sure if he could.

“I thought the effects would have worn off sooner,” Thom said. “I wanted to be here when you woke, but I guess I’m late,” he said. He sounded like the same father Henry had always known. He smelled the same.

“Dad, what did you do?”

Thom sighed. “You’ve been asleep for three days.”

“Didn’t I already do that?” Henry shook his head.

“You would think the first time was enough.”

“What happened?”

“I think it would be better to show you.”

Thom got up and left the room. A minute later he returned with a cream-colored canvas sack. “Look at these,” he said.

Thom pulled out a heap of clothes. They were stained with a ghastly amount of black ash, stuck to the clothing in chunks. They reeked of smoke, and the whole room smelled after he pulled them out.

They were Henry’s clothes.

Thom put them back in the bag and threw the bag outside the room. The blue candlelight sizzled in defiance and grew brighter until the Nekura smoke burned away.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Henry said. “I don’t remember any Nekura covering me in ash. And it should have washed off after all the rain.”

“It didn’t wash off because it wasn’t ash from the Nekura,” Thom said. “The ash was from you.”