But why was I above everyone else and not on the ground? I was the phoenix. I didn’t die.
Except I was moving further and further away. Malcolm had dropped to his knees next to me. He was saying something to Chase, who shook his head wildly. Levi was there. He’d been in the house. When had he come outside? The kids weren’t with him, and for that I could be grateful. Victoria pulled herself up and, although she slumped over, stared down at me, Henry to her left.
Block stayed silent. Ross ran over, examining my injuries with his face tense. Logan grabbed Peter, saying something I couldn’t hear. His eyes were huge. He was having a vision. All eyes turned to him, and Malcolm jumped to his feet, anger evident in the set of his shoulders.
What was happening?
And then I could see my children. All four of them. I’d been so lucky to have them. Even in the stressful times, I’d known that. I could see them not just as they were then, but as they would be. Grayson, looking so much like Levi, a grown, strong man, wearing a business suit. He’d thought he wouldn’t be like his father, but he was. Dex, every day in jeans as he rushed up a set of stairs in a huge house towards his own children. He was rich. What had he done to earn that money? Molly, a college student, leaning easily in a chair as a young man tried to get her attention. She was too busy reading Ulysses. And the baby—dark like her father but with the set of my chin—sending off shadows. Making sure the dimension stayed safe.
I cried out. Oh by the universe, I’d died. I was leaving them. This was goodbye.
The scene changed. I was on a green hill, a light wind blowing at me as I spun around. I wore a long, navy blue dress.
Abruptly I stopped. Gabriel stood before me. He nodded once at me. “I told you I’d see you at the end.”
He had. That was what he’d said to me right after he’d sent off Top Hat and died for it. Top Hat was probably pissed as hell in the new Shadow Dimension. I didn’t care. He’d possessed and nearly killed Levi.
“What is happening? Why am I dead? I’m the phoenix.”
Gabriel shook his head. “The phoenix doesn’t live forever. There is a finite amount of power in the universe. You use power with every return. The last one, sending the shadows on, it was too much. You saved the universe, and that, as they say, was that.”
“That, as they say, was that?” My heart raced. “No, that is not, as they say, was that.” I shoved at Gabriel, hard, two strong arms right in the chest. “I’m not done. This isn’t fair. We saved the universe.” I’d hardly done it by myself. In the end, it had been a group effort for sure. “I want my reward.”
Gabriel laughed. “This is your reward. Look around.”
“If you don’t know me by now, then let me inform you. I’m not really into green pastoral. I don’t want a hillside. I want my family. I want to watch my kids grow up. I want to wake up next to Malcolm in the morning and not be terrified of something happening. That would be my reward. Yes, that means bills and taxes and worry. I want that.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I don’t remember anyone giving you a choice.”
“You did. You all did. You asked me if I wanted to fight. I was a child. I said yes. I’d do it again because someone has to but—this is it? Chase got sent back.”
Gabriel remained silent, and it was a voice behind me that answered. “And so he did.”
Michael. I turned to see him. I couldn’t help my smile at his presence. The time he’d spent bringing me back from the Shadow Dimension had solidified our relationship. It would always be complicated between Michael and me. That didn’t mean I couldn’t respect him.
“If you’ve come to tell me I have to stay and enjoy the view, I really don’t want to hear it.”
He didn’t answer but looked up at the sun. “Your daughter could see me walking around watching you.”
“That was you.” The sad man only Molly could see. At least that answered that particular question. “Why were you doing that?”
He smiled. “I didn’t intend for Molly to see me.”
“That wasn’t what I meant.” Deep breathing. “Why were you walking around there?”
“Because I care about all of you.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “So I watched. Instead of enjoying my green pastoral.” He grinned at his use of my phraseology. I knew him so well. His smile didn’t have to be explained. This was such a bizarre moment.
I waved my hand in the air. “We’re getting away from the subject.”
“Kendall, we have all watched and listened to you talk in terror about living forever. We heard you. You took a heavy-duty head injury, and you died. This was what you wanted. One life. Go that way down the hill, and you’ll see your parents.”
I grabbed his arm. “Michael, I was afraid of living endlessly with the shadows, everyone else I know dead.”
“See, that’s the thing. None of us can have exactly what we want. Or not exactly as we thought we wanted it. I wanted the shadows destroyed and sent back to the Shadow Dimension. That happened. You did it, not me. That’s not what I wanted. They’re also in a Shadow Dimension but not the one I would have chosen. Seeing them roam around the one we lived in is a little tough to take, to be honest.”
I bent forward. “What are you saying? Be careful what I wish for?”
“Kendall, don’t shout.”
But I wanted to. I wasn’t ready to be dead. I wanted to go home. Was it too much to ask? Did it break some eternal plan I’d had no design in creating?
The scene in front of me changed. The Others were gone, and in their place stood Levi. We were still on the green pasture.
I stepped forward and stopped. It looked like Levi, but it wasn’t him. The eyes were wrong. He held up his hand. “You know I’m not Levi. But this is a person who doesn’t make you feel threatened, at least anymore. You love him in a distant kind of a way, not with passion, and you respect him. I thought about using Chase, but he isn’t as calming as Levi.”
“Who am I talking to?” I didn’t want to shout anymore. I did actually feel calmer …
“Does it matter?” He looked away from me. “Michael and Gabriel weren’t doing a very good job of explaining things, and that might be because at this juncture, they have no power to change anything. They took you once, when you were a child. You made a terrible sacrifice, trying to save Malcolm. It didn’t work because sometimes things don’t. Still, it brought you to them, and they stole you away to fight the battle that had to be fought. Brought you back time and again so you could finish this thing. Kendall Madison Yates Fallon, you must be exhausted.”
“I’m not.” I shook my head. Whoever this was I spoke to made me want to agree with him. I didn’t want to argue but neither would I lie. “I have been. Right now? I’m not tired at all.”
“I see.” He stepped toward me, placing a hand on the side of my face. “I’m grateful to you. We all are. I have one more question before one of two things happen. Would you do it again? Knowing it would end like this, on a hill in a setting you’re not fond of, with the world moving on without you, would you do it again? Would you tell them yes?”
If I could go back and talk to myself, the one who had wanted her mommy, who was being told by men she’d never met before that there was a place for her in a war against evil, who wanted her friend Malcolm to live beyond anything she could even understand back then, what would I tell myself to do?
“That’s not really a decision.” I didn’t think this person impersonating Levi needed me to tell them this, yet I would. Because he’d asked. “Every time I turned left instead of right, said yes instead of no, my destiny moved. Children came because you—ah—Levi—sat down that day. Another one, because Malcolm and I found our way back to each other. Victoria and I laughed for hours. Block and Chase found love with women who could accept that they were different. I guess what I’m trying to say is that making a choice, the kind both you and The Master suggested, is not an option. This is the path. This is the one I walked. Do I like that the end came
this way? No. Would I do it again? Yes, of course. To think otherwise is not an option.”
His eyes twinkled, and a smile came to his face. “That’s the right answer, Kendall.” The not-Levi bent over and kissed me lightly on the cheek. “You have something to do on your way out.”
Wait … what?
I was pushed in a gust of wind, spinning and banging. The earth was beneath me, and it rushed toward my feet. I stopped abruptly, looking straight ahead, and I saw … Chase?
He wasn’t dressed as I’d last seen him. It took me a moment to recognize he wore the jeans and black t-shirt he’d been in when he died, when he’d been a ghost, when he moved on and came back.
“Kendall?” He sounded as surprised as I felt.
“Chase.”
He looked left and right. “What are you doing? Are you moving on too?”
Suddenly, I understood. Someone had sent Chase back. Of course it had been me. I’d been the one to move him forward. I had to be the one to return him to life.
“We’re seeing each other in a bit of an out of time moment. Listen to me; it’s important. You can’t do this. Not yet. We still need you. Things are going to happen that can only take place if you’re there.” Troy would have a very different death without him. “We need you. I need you. I know you’re tired—exhausted—but it will pass. Annika and Mary—they love you. We all love you. Turn around and go back. Find me. Make me return you to life. And tell Malcolm I’m coming back. When it looks like I’m not, tell him I’m returning to him.” I touched his arm, and even though neither one of us was actually corporeal, I could feel him on my fingertips. “Please, Chase.”
He nodded. “I will, Kendall.”
“Thank you.”
The world rushed in on me, and I cried out as my soul hit the shell that was my body. I sat up, everything spinning around me. I was in my bed. I’d been down on the ground when I’d died. Who had brought my dead self inside?
“Hey.” Malcolm sat on the edge of the bed. “About time. What were you doing that took so long?”
I jolted up, wrapping my arms around his neck. “Sorry. I had to understand some things. I do now. The good news? I’m not the phoenix anymore. I’m here. One life. With you.”
I felt my husband’s body shake as I held him. “Chase said you were coming back. That he’d seen you in a weird out of time moment when you told him to come back. That you were coming. I believed him because I’ve always believed in you.”
I breathed him in. “How did you know to do that with the ghosts? How did you know it would work?”
“I didn’t. But I figured it was worth a shot.” He laughed, kissing my head.
“I love you, Malcolm.” There was never enough time to tell the people I loved that I did. So I would say it, over and over and over again. With whatever time I had left.
Chapter Fourteen
“Will it hurt?” The ghost who was still dressed in her nightgown that looked like something out of the turn of the century asked me. “Where I’m going, will it hurt?”
Once upon a time, I could haven’t answered her. What I knew now was, if she’d been truly evil, she’d not be there for me to clear. The universe would have moved her on to the dimension we’d made for her. She hadn’t found her way yet, but she wasn’t going there.
“No.” I smiled at her. “I hope you like green pastures.” I flung my hand, and off she went to her next destination.
Malcolm leaned against the wall, watching me. “So weird that you talk to them that way. Or that they talk to you. They’re still not addressing me like that.”
“Maybe because you haven’t been to the other side.”
Grayson walked in the room, groaning. “I wish you two wouldn’t do that. I hate thinking about crossing over. They’re here. Then they’re not here. End of story.”
Levi had suggested we start bringing Grayson with us on these kinds of jobs. I’d had to go with my parents, and Levi felt it was some kind of apprenticeship for the children to come with me. I wasn’t sure I agreed. My newly remarried ex-husband was pretty good about going along on things. Now that we weren’t in constant danger, co-parenting with him had become a little more pull-and-tug between the two of us.
He wanted Dexter back in school, but I liked the tutor we’d hired. We’d figure it out. Our children benefited from the fact that they had a lot of people in their lives to love them to the moon and back.
Malcolm tugged Grayson into a hug. Their easiness never ceased to surprise me. Malcolm still claimed he hated children—except for the ones I had given birth to. “Give your mom a break. She was pretty badass six months ago.”
“Yes.” Grayson grinned, showing off his braces. “But that was six months ago. Now she’s just plain old Mom again.”
I shook my head and groaned. I was happy with that description. The world had settled. If anyone knew they’d been temporarily invaded by shadow people, they didn’t seem to remember it. Explanations were given for the mass casualties in the Central Texas area. Health. Environment. Economy.
I didn’t watch the news much.
My phone dinged, and I looked down. “Victoria wants to know if we’re coming for dinner tomorrow.”
Without her powers, she’d taken to cooking. All the time. She was good at it. One of these days, she might even open a restaurant. She already had her clothing store. Victoria was incredible in whatever she set out to do. We didn’t talk about Troy. In fact, I thought we might go the rest of our lives without ever bringing up what had happened that day she had traded her powers for his life. It had worked. If she regretted the decision, she never said anything about it.
I still couldn’t help but occasionally see in my mind’s eye the sight of Henry coated in blood …
Malcolm nodded. “After the wedding? Yes, we’ll come. She wants the kids too, right?”
“She does.”
Chase and Annika were finally tying the knot. They’d moved in together while they were still barely speaking, but things were better. She believed he wanted to be here because he truly did. He loved her. It was beautiful to see. Mary had gone back to school. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her degree, but she knew she needed one.
Block had run off and married my children’s psychologist. They weren’t back from their round-the-world trip. And Levi had married my lawyer.
I couldn’t have seen any of it coming.
Logan and Peter would be back for the wedding, as well as Ross and Erin. Everyone had returned to their lives. The time … only six months ago … felt like it had drifted away on a warm wind to a place I hoped not to see again until I was much, much older.
I understood there would be no returning when next I visited it. The phoenix had gotten one last return from the ashes.
I would always be grateful.
“Then yes, of course, we’ll have dinner. Where did your head just go?” My husband tugged me against him. We had to get back because the sitter was leaving at ten. With both of us working now based on Malcolm’s app, we almost never did jobs like this together. Tonight was a treat.
“She was thinking about how lucky she feels or something.” Grayson headed down the stairs of the empty house in front of us. “She’s always thinking about that.”
Malcolm kissed my cheeks, squeezing my side long enough to tell me there would be time together under the sheets later. “Is that so? Is that what you’re always thinking about?”
We stepped outside into the warm Austin night—it never really did get cold, or at least not for very long—and locked the door behind us. The real estate agent would arrive to a cleaned-out house in the morning. No more ghosts deterring potential buyers.
“Pretty much.”
His grin lit up the night sky. “Me too.”
Of course I always thought about how lucky I was. We had a future.
Together.
THE END
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and please turn the page for a complete list of all of my books.
Other books by Rebecca Royce…
Wings of Artemis
Kidnapped By Her Husbands
Rescued by Their Wife
Crashing Into Destiny
Meeting Them
Reclaiming Their Love
Loving Them
Ship Called Malice
Saving Them
Dark Demise
Light Unfolding (coming soon)
Last Hope
Tradition Be Damned
Past Be Damned
Destiny Be Damned
Compassion Be Damned
Dragon Wars
Forever
Eternal
Always
Evermore
Endless
Wards and Wands
Hexed and Vexed
Curse Reversed
Tragic Magic (Coming Soon)
Safe Haven
Everywhere and Nowhere
Dimension X (coming soon)
More coming soon….
Soul Bound
Prisoner of the Dragons
More coming soon….
Shadow Promised
Strange Days
Weird Nights
Bizarre Years
More coming soon…
The Warrior
Initiation
Driven
Subversive
Redemption
Justice
Warrior World (spin off of The Warrior)
Deacon
Micah
Jason (coming soon)
The Westervelt Wolves
Her Wolf
Summer’s Wolf
Wolf Reborn
Wolf’s Valentine
Wolf’s Magic
Alpha Wolf
Angel’s Wolf
Darkest Wolf
Persuasion Enraptured_A Paranormal Romance Series Page 16