Chapter Twenty-five

The Other Side

We hurry back across this crazy netherworld realm to the portal Tammy opened earlier—except the portal is gone; luckily, Tammy doesn’t have too much trouble reopening it. The worst part of the process is that she had to touch the Eye of Anubis, which she really didn’t like doing. According to her, it’s ‘icky.’

“That’s the sort of artifact that ought to be locked away in a vault somewhere and forgotten about,” says Mom as the gateway opens in front of us. “Nothing good will come of its use.”

I’ll need to figure out if I’m going to entrust it to Max’s care or try to lock it away somewhere. Maybe I will bury it on the Moon. Nah. With my luck, a century from now when we start colonizing the lunar surface, settlers will find it and an army of zombie vampires will end up attacking Moon colonists.

With the portal open again, I squeeze my mother’s hand and move to step through the gateway. She pulls back slightly.

“Something wrong, Mom?”

“No.” She lets out a long sigh. “Just taking a moment to enjoy still being young. ”

I get it. The idea of going from my thirties to my seventies in an instant sounds pretty terrible.

Mom steels herself, then nods at me. “If the price I have to pay to escape being trapped in this place—forever going in circles and unable to find my way out—is to be as old as I should be… then I’ll pay it. And I’m not dead yet. I’ve got at least twenty years left, maybe more.” She winks. “And even more than that if I can find the right herbs. Can’t make myself younger, but I can sure stretch things out a bit.”

I chuckle. “Please don’t do something super weird like show up as a kid that I have to take care of.”

“Deal.” She grins.

“Okay, Mom. Here goes.” I take a deep breath and step into the gateway, pulling my mother along behind me.

We reappear at the farm next door, except Mom isn’t with us.

“Crap!” I yell. “Where did she go?”

“Chillax, Ma.” Anthony pokes me. “She might have felt material and physical on the other side, but you do realize that was only her soul, right?”

I blink at him. The gears in my brain creak and rotate a few inches. “Oh. Right. So… she’s back in her body?”

He nods. “I would think so.”

I take my kids’ by the hand and summon the single flame.

We step back into the unoccupied hospital room, then cross the hall into Dad’s room, entering right as Dad says, “I’ve been waiting so long” to Mom.

Everyone here except for Dusk is low key freaking out that Mom ‘snapped out of it’ and is now seemingly acting like a normal person. Dusk is excited and clearly thrilled—but he’s also giving me the ‘you did something, didn’t you’ look.

“I know how hard you tried to find me,” says Mom, tears in her eyes.

“I did all I could.” Dad emits a wheezy sigh .

It’s a little sad for me to see Mom looking older, mostly because I’d just seen her when she was like thirty-five. We’re all quiet as my parents talk. Mostly, it’s just Dad being apologetic that he couldn’t ‘find her.’ This, of course, confuses most of the family who no doubt take it to mean something metaphorical rather than literal.

Next, they’re both quiet for a long moment, holding hands and smiling at each other. I haven’t seen my father this genuinely happy, pretty much ever.

“It’s good to see you again, Carolyn,” says Dad in a weak voice. He lets out a creaky exhale. “Now, it’s my turn to wait on the other side.”

Mary Lou rushes to the bedside. “Dad, no…”

He looks around at everyone. “Thank you all for being here. I know I wasn’t the best father. I was just so empty inside.”

Dad releases Mom’s hand long enough to reach up and cradle my cheek. “Thank you for finding her, Sammie.”

He then re-takes Mom’s hand. “See you on the other side, sweetie. Don’t rush after me. Take your time.”

“All right, Artie.” Mom rests her hand atop their clasped hands and squeezes.

Dad closes his eyes, and a moment later, he’s gone.

Dusk pushes the call button.

Anthony turns his head as if he’s watching something or someone walk out of the doorway and into the hall...

Goodbye, pops.