It was a vivid daydream, Frankie thought to himself as he walked down State Street, bracing himself in his jacket against the cold. Simply a product of my imagination, trying to comfort me so I don’t go insane.
The rational part of Frankie wanted to believe that seeing his late wife had been merely psychology, but the supernatural part of him knew that anything was possible. Of course, bringing someone back who’d been dead for fourteen years was never a good thing.
Then again, if they were now in 1924, that meant that Marie hadn’t even been born yet, which might’ve played a factor in whether her appearance was a good thing or not. However, the fact that she came to Frankie as the adult she was when she died complicated things.
The simple fact was that he didn’t know what was going on. All he knew was that he couldn’t stand to be in the same room as where the apparition—whether real or not—had appeared. He had decided to go out for a walk to get his mind off of things. The only trouble was, he had nothing to distract his mind. No matter how far he got from Levi’s place, his brain had switched to the 24-hour Marie station.
Frankie busied himself by stopping to admire all of the shop windows along State Street. The throngs of people out shopping—even on chilly, fall day—wasn’t enough to take his mind off of Marie. Even as he tried to force himself to think of other things, like how different State Street looked in the twenties compared to the eighties, or how the clothing styles had evolved, or how far technology had come, all he could think about was his dead wife.
Looking through the glass into the display of one shop, he nearly fell to the ground when he saw Marie’s reflection in the glass standing behind his own.
He whipped around, desperate to get another look at her with his own two eyes, but she wasn’t there. Instead, there stood a short, plump lady in a thick coat and flowing dress that gave him a confused look at his behavior.
“Sorry,” he murmured to her, then continued on down the street.
I’m losing my mind, he thought. I need another distraction.
He only had about twenty dollars in his pocket from the last time Levi paid him. Rent wasn’t a consideration, being that Frankie worked so much in Levi’s restaurant for room and board. But Levi always gave him something after he had paid the other employees, so Frankie had some money to spend.
The next store over was a men’s clothing shop and Frankie entered. He had been meaning to get a few extra time-appropriate outfits for himself. Borrowing clothes from Levi had run its course, considering that the much-younger Levi was also much smaller than Frankie. And there were only so many clothes that Frankie could find from thrift stores and church sales.
Frankie selected a pair of pants and a collared shirt, then went to the dressing room to try them on. After he pulled back the curtain, he turned to hang his selections on the hook and was face-to-face with Marie.
He jumped back, careful not to spill out of the curtain and into the store.
“Marie?” he whispered. “Is it really you?”
She smiled at him and nodded. “It’s me, Frankie.” She reached out and stroked his face and he nearly melted at the warm, soft touch of her hand. The one he had nearly forgotten.
Tears welled in his eyes. “How? Why? What’s going on?”
“You’ll understand eventually. For now, can’t we just enjoy each other’s company?” She reached for him and it took every ounce of effort in him to push away from her after a moment’s hesitation.
“Wait, I need to know how you got here. I need to know that you’re—”
“Real?” she finished. Again, she took his face in both of her hands and planted a soft kiss on his lips. “Does this feel real?”
He reached up and gripped her hands, the tears starting to fall down his cheeks. “Oh, I’ve missed you so much.”
She rested her forehead against his. “I’ve missed you too. I want us to be together again.”
“We are now.”
“No.” She seemed to swallow a lump in her throat. “No, this isn’t—I meant, I want us to really be together. This is just—this is temporary.”
He pulled away from her to look her in the eyes, but held her hands. “What do you mean? What’s going on?”
“Promise me we can be together, Frankie.”
“You know I want us to be,” he said. “Tell me how. What can I do so that you and I never have to be apart again?”
“I think you know.”
He stared into her eyes to judge if she was serious. The look she gave said that she was.
“It’s the only way,” she pleaded.
“But Levi said—”
“Are you going to believe a nonmagical boy you’ve only known for a month, or the wife you’ve committed your life to?” She cradled his face in her hands again. “Sweetie, do it for me. Do it for us.”
Frankie shook his head. “But I don’t know if I can. What about the girls? What about me? My soul? My humanity?”
“The girls have already lost you,” she said. “And you’ve lost everything. What else is left?”
He was quiet as the impact of her words sunk in. He wanted nothing more than to wrap her in his arms and make everything okay. But was it really that simple?
“Do it, Frankie,” she said. “Make the deal with Hecate.”