16. Epilogue

Epilogue

W hen I opened my eyes next, I was surrounded by loving faces gathered around my bed. My mouth was dry, my eyes gummy, and my headache was persistently clubbing on the inside of my cranium.

"Did I get knocked on the head by a broken window?" I asked the concerned group, staring down at me. My sight fell to the spectral cat curled on my chest. "Toto has changed."

"Welcome back, sūnzi," Grandpa said as he removed a cool cloth from my damp brow. My sight drifted from him to Phil, sitting on the bed beside me, his fingers tangled with mine as if he had knotted them to ensure I could not get away. Not that I was going anywhere. He was still in his uniform, hair a ratty mess of dead leaf bits, his face covered with thorn scratches. He was a mess while simultaneously being the most beautiful vision ever. "You've been sleeping for many hours."

I smiled feebly at Phil, Monique, Roxie, Tray, and Reggie. The ghost was floating up by the ceiling over my desk, patting at his wet cheeks with a rather filthy, bloody hankie.

"How long was I out?" I asked, trying to sit up but opting out of that idea when Megadeth's Chris Adler began drumming inside my head. Grandpa asked for and got a cup of hot green tea passed to him by Roxie.

"Let us help. Your chi has been drained to dangerous levels by hosting that spirit," Grandpa stated as Phil eased me up with an arm around my back so Monique could shove a pillow behind me. Sir Thomas, as any cat would, gave me a glower and disappeared with a disgruntled pop. "You need to rest for at least a week to recharge your life force. Here, sip this, slow, it is hot."

"Thanks, I…" I blew over the tea. "How long was I out?" I asked again.

"A day and a half," Phil answered, passing me a shortbread cookie to nibble on as Monique fussed about the pillow, the blanket, and the bruises under my eyes. Oh right, that elbow to the nose. Was that all just two days ago? My bones felt as if that had been eons ago. I ached from head to toe. "We went to get the chiropractor who has that office above the laundromat and explained all about your fainting spell after the ghost you had inside you left. He said that it sounded like you had a wild night and to let you sleep it off. But if you didn't wake up by tomorrow to take you to the ER for a brain scan."

"I told them your body was just depleted from the drain of housing a spirit, but no one listens to old people," Grandpa muttered as he waved at me to eat my cookie faster.

"I'm truly touched you guys did all that," I softly said before taking a bite of cookie. "I think Grandpa is right. I just need to chill for a little bit."

"Well, I still think you should go to the ER," Roxie muttered around a cookie. "I can call my auntie. She's a nurse."

"No, no, don't bother her. I'll be good. I just needed some sleep," I said to calm my friends and family. I'd never been so wiped out from interacting with the dead, but then I had never allowed myself to be a spiritual Greyhound. Everyone stared at me as if I were one gasp away from expiring. "I'm good. I promise. How did the stream go?"

"Great!" Tray replied from my desk chair. Reggie listened to our chatter while levitating right above Tray's head. "The feedback has been good. A few people bitched about the camera angle when you both went into the lake. We have over two hundred new subs and the vape shop signed on as a sponsor. Things are looking up!"

"Dude, like we had no control over that. I'm just glad all my gear didn't get wet. My mother would have a shitfit if it got ruined," Phil said, then handed me another cookie. He and Grandpa were two peas in a pod when it came to stuffing sweet treats into me. I didn't mind. It was kind of nice to have people fluttering about like a mother hen.

"I know, and I replied ‘when ghosts enter the picture, anything can happen.' Someday you two need to fill us in on how you did that because it looked so real!" Tray said and got a head bob from his girlfriend.

"It was Aradia." I got a "Yeah, right" look from Tray and Roxie. "I'm not kidding. I think she was so lost in misery and anger, and rightfully so, that she acted out blindly. Once I could communicate with her in her language, she backed off and allowed us to help reunite her with her child."

Grandpa nodded. "While you recharge, you should read more of the old writings."

"Old writings?" I asked but was shushed while my friends were all herded out so I could rest up. I let my eyes drift closed when the room was empty save for Reggie and Phil.

"Do you want me to go?" Phil asked. I moved my head torpidly left then right, squeezing his fingers. "Okay, I'll stay. Your stuff is all in the corner over there. I know you had that old book with you and you seemed pretty worried about it."

"I did?" I opened one eye. Reggie was now resting atop the dresser, primly seated, his hankie resting on his knee. Looked like my ghostly uncle was staying put. Not that Phil and I were going to get our freak on tonight. Or tomorrow. Or the night after that, given how shitty I felt. And in truth, if we did get busy, Reggie would not be the least offended. "I don't remember a damn thing after Aradia and Josefina moved on. How did I get home?"

"I carried you," he said matter-of-factly as if lugging your ghost-hunting partner in your arms like he was your new bride was an everyday occurrence. "You're not super heavy, and you were passed out cold. I tried to wake you, but all you did was twitch and mumble about your mom."

"She was there, in spirit. I smelled lotus." He tucked my blanket up under my chin. "Would you stay here with me?"

"Try to make me leave," he replied, stretching out beside me after kicking off his cleats. "The cops were here." I grimaced. "Nah, it was okay. Sheriff Wright was lecturing us about stirring up shit when there wasn't any shit to be stirred."

"Typical." I sighed as he nestled close, leading my cheek to his chest. "You smell like a gym bag."

"I know. Grampy tried to make me go home, but I wasn't leaving until I knew you were okay." He moved to his side to stare at me, his blue eyes filled with emotion. "I was totally scared when you went down and stayed down, Arch." He stroked my cheek. His fingers cool against my warm skin. "Can we not do that too often?"

"That's a promise I can make. I have no plans to ever let a…what?" He looked cagey. "Oh man, what is it now?"

"Don't get excited. You need to conserve chi." I rolled my eyes but didn't bicker. My grandfather knew quite a bit about a lot of things. That's the beauty of being old, all that knowledge. "A lot of people are coming to the shop asking for your help. I mean…a lot . And some of them are out there, but some are pretty sad, Arch."

"I know." I recalled the locals who had shown up after the first stream. Many of them were just asking for a medium for petty things, but a few seemed sincere. "I might have to rethink my stance on sittings for those with viable reasons to contact the undead." He pulled me closer, cinching me into his side so we were as tight as needlepoint. "But not for a long time, and it would have to be a compelling reason. Asking where the key to the Studebaker was hidden is no way reason enough for me to do that again."

His lips feathered over my tight brow. Some of the tension inside my head eased as I snuggled in tightly, his arms a safe place to rest and recuperate.

"Maybe the old writings your grandpa talked about will help you hang onto yourself more if you decide to do those sittings."

"Mm, maybe." My eyes were growing heavy again. My tummy had some tea and cookies in it and my arms had Phil in them. "I'm so glad you were there with me through all that."

"As if I would be anywhere else. You're my boyfriend. I love you."

"I love you too," I confessed on a shaky exhalation.

He pecked my nose, gave me a silly tired smile, and drifted off. I studied his chin, and the gold whiskers on it, for several minutes, until I heard the soft clearing of the marquis's throat. I moved my head just an inch to find Reggie standing beside the bed. Phil was softly snoring already.

"Hi," I whispered. "I'm super tired."

"I do not doubt it. Silly chit, taking in an unknown entity like that. What were you thinking?! No, I have no wish to hear it. Foolish lad rushing off to be heroic. Next time please do consider there are those of us who enjoy your features daily and wish to continue seeing them unsullied."

"Are you scolding me?" He nodded firmly. Phil snuffled loudly, but his eyes never opened.

"I am chastising you and your new beau, yes. Now that I have had my say, I insist you sleep well. Do not fret. I am always vigilant." With that, he moved back to the dresser, where he settled his skinny noncorporeal bottom and began filing his nails. Great. A ghostly uncle nanny was now watchdogging my boyfriend and me as we slept.

Maybe that wasn't all that bad of a thing.

As long as he vacated when romance blossomed…

The End