by S. L. Baum
Pete looked at Chai. “What? What if we need her? What if they both die? Two deaths, two Deathtakers – you said so yourself. No. You can’t lock her out. Krista would hate herself, and you, if you made her stay away and then my wife or my child was lost. What’s wrong with you?”
“I’m not suggesting that we only save one.” Chai looked into Opal’s eyes. “I can save you both, all by myself. Krista doesn’t need to be here, and then all your lives can remain the same. Nobody would have to move away. I can do it. But we have to lock her out of this room, lock her out of the whole house. It won’t be the full safe distance away, but it’ll be enough to slow Krista’s senses, and then I can grab both Deaths if I need to.”
“I’m not going to take that chance,” Pete argued. “No way.”
“Opal, Doc, I can do this,” Chai pleaded with them, knowing Pete would not be willing to entertain the possibility. She wanted to do it. It was a truly meaningful gift that she could finally give her daughter. She could make sure that her child didn’t have to lose her friends.
“Are you sure?” Doctor Baker asked her.
“I’ve done a baby and mother before, and they both lived. I’m not shitting you.”
Opal placed her hands on either side of Chai’s face. She thought back to the night she’d found out that Krista and her mother had powers. She’d believed Krista had been telling her and Adeline the truth that night. She believed Chai was telling her the truth as well. “Okay. We’ll trust you.”
“Okay?” Pete shook his head at his wife. “Okay? Have you lost your mind?”
“Peter, you listen to me. My mind is clear. I am going to trust in this and not give in to fear. Daddy-o, you can’t let fear guide your ship. You’ve got to look out at the horizon and steer it all by yourself,” Opal told him.
“What’s with the nautical analogy?” He almost laughed.
“Shut up. I’m in labor. I’ll use whatever analogies I want. Do what she says!” Opal insisted.
“We’ll have to get your daddy out of the house too,” Chai added. “If he thinks things are going south, he’s likely to open the door and let Krista in.”
“She’s right,” Opal agreed.
“Are you sure about this?” Doc asked. “I want you both to be confident in this decision.”
Absolutely and yes, responded Chai and Opal. But Pete gave a resounding, No way!
Opal grasped her husband’s hand. “Peter, trust me.”
“I can’t lose you!”
“I believe her.”
“Babe,” Pete pleaded.
“Pete, please.”
“Okay. I’ll go along with it. But I don’t like it.”
Opal nodded at Doc. “Go ahead. Get them out,” she told him.
“Adeline, Jim, can you guys go out and check on Krista. See if she found Eva yet?” Doc shouted his question into the next room.
Addy poked her head into the room “Will do, Doc. Be back in a jiffy.”
When the door closed, and they were out of the house, Chai turned to Doc. “Go bolt the doors,” Chai told him. “Death is coming now.”
Opal blinked her eyes and let the tears fall. “It’s definitely coming for the baby?”
Chai felt sorry for Opal, and she’d never actually felt sorry for anyone she took a death from in the past. “I’m sorry, but yes, it is.”
Doctor Baker quietly left the room and turned the dead bolt on both the front and the back doors.
“Don’t you need to be lying down?” Pete asked Chai.
She ignored the question and turned away from him. “Doc, get back in here and help their boy come into this world.”
Adeline and Jim had barely made it onto the path near the guesthouse when they saw Krista and Eva walking toward them.
“You should go back,” they heard Krista tell her daughter.
“I want to see Chai, and I want to know what’s going on with Opal,” Eva argued. “And I don’t understand why Dad and Uncle Abe are staying out by the dock. Shouldn’t they be here with everybody else if something is wrong with Opal?”
Krista looked up and noticed Addy and Jim. “They need me back, don’t they?”
Jim nodded.
Krista handed Eva her phone as they continued on toward the house. “Call your father and let him know you made it safely to me. He was worried. We both were. You are going to need to stay outside the house until Doctor Baker says Opal and the baby can have visitors. You can play on the swing set until then.”
“Fine, oh, fine,” Eva muttered as she waited for her father to answer. “I’m with Momma… I’m sorry… Yeah. She’s going to the house now. I have to wait outside… Oh, wait. She’s knocking on the door. Someone musta locked it. Anyway, I’ll stay right here… I will, I promise… Daddy! I said, I promise. Love ya, bye.”
Eva sat down on the swing and watched as her mother continued to knock on the door. “Did you lock it behind you?” Krista asked Adeline.
She shrugged. “I just swung it closed. I didn’t pay attention.”
“I’ll try the front door,” Jim offered.
“I know Doc might be busy, but you’d think Pete would come out with all my knocking,” Krista said as she knocked again.
Jim went around to the front, but quickly returned. “That one’s locked too.”
“I’ll try calling Pete.” Krista looked over at Eva. “I need the phone back, sweetie.
As Eva walked over to her mother, Addy noticed Pete coming toward the door. “He’s here, no need to call.”
“I guess the door locked behind us,” Jim told Pete.
Pete stood nervously on the other side of the door, staring at them through the glass.
Adeline scrunched her brow. “Pete, open up.”
He looked down at the floor. “I can’t open it.”
“Why not, son? Is the lock busted? Just get a screwdriver.” Jim stopped talking when he saw the look on his son-in-law’s face. “Why can’t you open it?”
“Chai doesn’t want Krista to ruin her chance to be around Opal and the baby. She says she can do it by herself.”
“She can’t,” Krista argued. “You’ve got to let me back in so I can help.”
Pete shook his head. “This whole thing makes me nervous, but I promised Opal and Doc.”
“She can’t do this,” Krista insisted. “If there are two Deaths, there needs to be two Deathtakers!”
“She says she’s done this before. A mom and a baby. She said, Krista.” Pete frowned a little but then tried to smile, he was desperately trying to stay positive. “Jim, Opal told me to tell you to trust her on this. Don’t try to bust the door down or anything.” Opal yelled out in pain and he glanced back toward the room. “I gotta go.”
“Let me be there for my daughter,” Jim insisted.
Pete shook his head and turned away.
Jim grabbed the door handle and shook it. “Peter, please.” But Pete didn’t turn around. He walked back to the bedroom as Jim pounded on the door.
“What’s a Deathatker, Momma?” Eva pulled at Krista’s hand. “How would you ruin your chance to be near Opal and her baby? You gotta tell me what’s happening.” She wanted to cry, but she would not let herself come to tears. Her mother wasn’t crying, so why should she? But Opal’s father looked very scared – more than scared, Jim looked terrified.
Krista looked down at her brave little girl “There are things I need to tell you, Eva. Things about me, about Chai, and about you as well. But not right now, baby girl. Later tonight. I promise. I’ll tell you everything. Okay?”
“Okay.” Eva sucked in a breath. “Is Opal going to die?” she whispered.
“No. Absolutely not,” Krista told her, and she hoped she was telling the truth.
Chai knelt on the floor next to the bed. She was having trouble sitting upright and knew it wouldn’t be much longer. Her strength was leaving her. “His heart is going to stop right after he comes out,” she whispered. “And you’re about to have a severe brain hemo
rrhage. Actually, the bleeding has started already. I can feel it. I can feel you both.”
Krista pounded on the door. “It’s coming. I can sense them both. Death is coming. Let me in!” she yelled into the closed door.
Jim grabbed Krista’s shoulders and turned her around to face him. “What’s happening to my baby girl?”
Krista realized the panic she was causing and struggled to control her emotions. “Opal and the baby are both straddling life and death. There is nothing that can save either of them, except the power of a Deathtaker.”
Jim’s knees buckled underneath him.
Adeline steadied Jim and then put an arm around Krista, they pulled Eva into the group embrace. “Chai is in there, and we have no idea what she is capable of,” Adeline said with hope.
“Can Grandma Chai stop someone from dying, Momma?” Eva asked. “You said Opal wouldn’t die.”
“I really hope she can help them,” Krista told her. “Grandma Chai can do amazing things.”
Pete stood beside Opal, encouraging her as best as he could. What kind of words do you say to your wife as she is about to deliver a baby who will soon die, which, as far as he knew, was right before she would succumb to death as well? There were no guidelines for something like that. There shouldn’t be.
“You can do it, babe,” he said, squeezing her hand firmly. “Thank you for making me a dad, twice. You’re such an amazing woman. Every child in the world would be lucky to have you for their mom.”
“I love you,” Opal breathed out the words.
“The baby is crowning, Opal. One good push and you’ll get his head out,” Doc told her.
Opal closed her eyes and pushed with what little strength she had. She was getting tired. Her head was fogging up.
“You did it,” Doc praised her. “Now we just need another little push. Let’s get the rest of him out.”
“I’m too weak to push,” Opal mumbled. “Make sure he knows how much I love him. Give Vinnie the biggest hug and kiss from me. She’s going to need her daddy after this.”
“Push that baby out, Opal. You can do this. I’ve got you. You’re going to make it. My body is connecting,” Chai told her. “While I’m out, please tell Krista and Eva that they are special to me. Maybe they’ll listen if it comes from somebody else. They are the best things to have come from my existence. The only good things…”
“Come on, Opal, a little push and I can guide him out,” Doc repeated his instructions.
Opal mustered up the remainder of her strength so she could do as Doc said and gave one last push.
Doc guided the shoulders and then the rest of the baby out into the world. “I’ve got him. He’s out.”
After Doctor Baker inspected the baby, he wrapped him in a clean towel and handed him to his father, then he turned his attention back to Opal.
Pete stared at the little miracle that he held in his arms. “He’s not crying, Doc.”
“He’s too weak to cry.”
Pete kissed his son’s forehead and then bent down beside his wife. “Baby, you did it. He’s so beautiful.”
Opal breathed out a sigh of relief and then the collapsed back onto the bed.
“Put the boy on her chest. Let them die together,” Opal murmured her instructions from where she had collapsed on the floor. “You’ll have to pick me up and run my body out of here after they wake back up. You think you can do that?”
“I can,” Pete stated. He could do just about anything if it would save his family.
“She won’t be able to move herself, so you must move me. Get me away from them. Don’t let their deaths leap out of me and grab hold of them again.”
Krista grabbed onto the sides of her head. “My body wants to make a connection, but it can’t,” she whispered.
Eva had no idea what was happening, but she didn’t want to ask any more questions. She’d wait, she decided. Her mother promised to tell her everything she wanted to know later that night, and she was going to hold her to it. The only thing she could guess at was that her mother might be some sort of a witch that could stop death. But that was too silly to be real. There were no witches, and nobody but a doctor could stop someone from dying… and they weren’t always able to do that, either. Eva could be patient. She’d know the truth soon.
Jim was leaning against the side of the house with Adeline by his side. They jumped when they heard the door unlock. Pete swung it open, kicking it with his feet. He carried Chai, cradling her in his arms.
“I need to get her into the guesthouse. Opal and the baby just woke back up. I have to get her far enough away from them, to keep the two of them safe.” His words came out in a rush as he walked swiftly across the gravel driveway and toward Krista’s former home. “Opal was right. I should know better than to doubt her intuition.”
Krista hurried beside him. “Chai did it?”
“I guess so. When the baby came out he looked so weak, and then Opal collapsed right after that. Chai said she would die from bleeding in her brain. Anyway, they both seemed to be gone, and then suddenly they opened their eyes at the exact same time, and then your mother completely passed out. I grabbed her and ran, just like she told me to.”
“I’ll get the door, watch the steps on the way up to the house.” Krista ran up ahead of him. “I can’t believe she did it. Two lives,” she marveled as she swung open the door to the guesthouse. “Let’s put her on the bed. This way.”
“Is this going to be far enough away from Opal and my boy?” Pete asked as he placed Chai gently on the bed. He straightened her legs and folded her arms across her chest.
“Yes. She’s more than a hundred feet away from them. It’s a good distance. You guys will be home way before she wakes up. She should be out for at least three days, probably more with a forced connection and the fact that she took the deaths from both of them. When they are ready to leave, you’ll probably want to take Opal and the baby out the front door and drive your car around to the circular drive. That’s further away than where we usually park.”
“Okay. I’ll do that. I guess we’ll just start staying home on Christmas Eve now, like Sam does.”
Krista stared at her mother’s body while she slowly nodded her head in agreement.
“This is too intense.”
“I guess I can officially welcome you into my world. The full on, smack you in the face, ‘this is what a Deathtaker is’ world.”
“I am the most grateful man on this planet right now, because people like you exist.” Pete rocked back on his heels. “I’m going to get back to Opal, but first I have to say something. Chai wanted you to know how special you and Eva are to her. She said that you two were the best things to come from her life.”
“She’s just full of surprises today, isn’t she?”
“She looked really sincere. You should come see the baby.”
“I’ll be there in a few minutes,” Krista promised. “Congratulations, Daddy-o.”
As Pete left the room, Eva came in. She slipped her little hand into Krista’s and turned her attention to her grandmother. “She’s not dead, is she?”
“No, sweetie, she is not.”
“But she’s not sleeping, either.” Eva stated it as a fact, not a question. Somehow she just knew.
“She’s somewhere in between.” Krista gave her daughter a hug. “Should we go say hello to Vinnie’s baby brother?” She took a step back, but Eva stayed in place, glued to the floor.
“Will Chai be okay here by herself?”
“She will, I promise. We can come back and check on her in a little while.”
“Have you ever been somewhere in between?”
“I have. Quite a few times.”
“Will I ever be?” Eva asked.
“You will.”
“I thought so. I don’t think Grandma Chai is in pain right now.” Eva squeezed her mother’s hand. “So, we can go see the baby.”
After Doctor Baker felt confident that Opal and her new baby boy were
healthy and stable, he went to check on Chai. She was immobile on the bed, as he expected her to be. He’d seen her like that once before, when she’d shown up in town the first time and offered to take the death that was facing Sam.
Doc placed his hand on her forehead and frowned. She was cool, but not as cold as he expected her to be. He reached into his medical bag and pulled out a thermometer. Doctor Baker didn’t go anywhere without that bag, it was like an extra appendage – an extension of himself. Heck, he even had it in the room when he slept.
“Eighty-eight,” he said with confusion. “You, young lady, should be much lower than that by now. It’s been a couple of hours.”
He moved her limbs to check for signs of rigor mortis, but it didn’t seem to be setting in, and there was no evidence of blood settling. Those things seemed normal, from what he knew, but he wasn’t sure what to think about her temperature not dropping as fast as it had the last time. He’d only observed a Deathtaking twice before. That didn’t exactly give him a good standard of measure.
“I think I need to ask your daughter if she knows what might be going on with you,” he said to Chai. He knew the woman couldn’t hear him, but that didn’t stop him from addressing her. “I’ll be back.”
Krista was on the phone with Sam when Doc returned to the main house. He motioned for her to come into the kitchen to talk with him. She held up her index finger, signaling that she’d be just a minute. Krista told Sam that she’d call him later and then she handed the phone over to Eva. “I’ll be right back, sweetie. Talk to Daddy.”
Doc kept his voice low when he spoke. “Could you come back to the guesthouse with me?”
“Is something wrong with Chai?” Krista whispered her question. She didn’t want to upset Eva. The poor girl was confused and curious, and Krista knew she couldn’t put her questions off for much longer. But she wanted to wait until Sam could be with them when she told their daughter the truth about her family history.
“I’m not sure.” Doc opened the door and Krista followed him out. “I just want to talk to you and let you look at her, and then you can tell me what you see.”