“You mean, all this time you’ve been faking it?” said JC.
Melody grinned. “I never fake it. I don’t have to.”
She moved briskly away to check her precious instruments. Happy watched her go, then turned to look at Kim, floating above the platform some distance away from everyone else. She caught his gaze, and something in her eyes made him drift unobtrusively over to join her.
“So,” she said. “That’s that. The Wolf is gone. The Underground has been restored. But what happens to me, now?”
“I could help you . . . pass on,” Happy said carefully. “Help you cross over to what comes next.”
“Do you know what comes next?” said Kim.
“Not for sure, no,” Happy had to admit. “I have asked any number of ghosts and demons and otherworldly things; but I’ve yet to receive an answer I trust. The dead always have their own agenda. Still, look on the bright side. It can’t be that bad; no-one ever comes back to complain.”
“Then I think I’ll pass on your kind offer,” said Kim, very firmly. “I want to stay in this world, with JC.”
“And I want you to stay with me,” said JC.
Happy glared at him. “I’ve told you before about sneaking up on me.”
But Kim was smiling at JC, and he was smiling at her, and there, beating on the air between them, was all the love in the world. Happy sighed quietly. He had a great deal more he thought he ought to say, about how the living and the dead should never get emotionally involved because it’s always going to end badly . . . but he didn’t. Because he knew nothing he could say would make any difference whatsoever.
Of course, that didn’t stop Melody from striding over to stick her oar in. Melody had always been a great believer in getting involved. “Are you crazy, JC? You can’t live in sin with a ghost! What are you going to do? Shut her in the attic when the neighbours come round? You are not compatible; and I am not talking about race, creed, colour, or star signs! You are flesh and blood, and she’s not!”
“Love conquers all,” said JC.
“Love finds a way,” said Kim.
“Putting logic aside, for a moment,” said Happy, “I feel I should point out that the Boss is not going to like this.”
“The Boss never likes anything we do,” said JC.
“True,” said Happy. He grinned suddenly. “I can’t wait to see her face when she finds out . . . Can I be the one to tell her? Oh please, let me be the one to tell her!”
“Is that it?” said Melody, switching her glare from JC to Happy. “Is that all you’ve got to say? You’re actually ready to go along with this?”
“Why not?” Happy said reasonably. “We’ve done weirder things in our time.”
“Well, yes, but . . . That isn’t the point!” Melody sputtered for a moment, tried waving her arms about to see if that would help, then gave up. “It’ll all end in tears. I just know it. And I’ll end up with Kim round at my place sobbing ectoplasm all over my shoulder. But I’ll go along. For now.”
“You both did very well against the Wolf,” said JC. “I am so proud of both of you.”
“Sweet talk will get you everywhere,” sniffed Melody.
JC looked at Happy. “And look how well you did at the end, without a single pill in you. I told you; you’re stronger than you think.”
“Lot you know,” said Happy. “My nerves are a mess. I won’t sleep for days.”
“Right,” said Melody. “I’ll see to that. Lover boy.”
“Okay,” said Happy. “You’re worrying me now.”
“Heh-heh,” said Melody. And she sauntered unhurriedly back to her machines.
“What about us?” said Natasha.
She and Erik were standing side by side, a cautious distance away. Neither of them was actually holding any weapons, but there was something about them that suggested the sudden producing of weapons might not be entirely out of the question.
“What about you?” said JC.
“The truce is over,” said Natasha. “Our mutual enemy is gone, and with it our common cause. Which means that, technically speaking, we are now mortal enemies again. Sworn to each other’s destruction, and all that.”
“I don’t think I’ve got enough energy left for playing mortal enemies,” said JC. “How about you?”
Natasha’s mouth twitched. “Not really, no. To be any more tired, I’d have to be twins.”
“Vivienne MacAbre did say,” Erik ventured diffidently, “‘Come back with JC’s head, or don’t bother coming back at all.’”
“Oh, she’s always saying things like that,” said Natasha. “We helped save the world from the Great Wolf! That’s got to be more important than a little inter-organisation bloodletting. Hasn’t it?”
“Well, no, not really,” said Erik. “We’re not actually in the world-saving business. More the opposite, I would have said.”
“Yes, but only on our terms,” said Natasha.
“Vivienne MacAbre said—”
“Oh, screw Vivienne MacAbre!”
“Now there’s an idea,” said Erik. “Could I watch? Could I film it?”
Natasha went to hit him, and he dodged easily.
“Children, children,” said JC. “There are matters we need to discuss before we all depart to go our hopefully separate ways.”
“Like what?” said Natasha.
“There’s no way a Great Beast like the Fenris Tenebrae could have broken into our world so easily without help from this side,” said JC. “Someone must have worked in advance, to seriously weaken the walls between the worlds.”
“Crowley Project,” said Melody, not even looking up from her instruments. “Has to be.”
“It’s not us,” Natasha said immediately. “Something that big, we’d know.”
“Would we?” said Erik. “None of us can say for sure that we always know what our lords and masters are up to. We’re only field agents.”
“If someone, or some group, is making deals with the Outer Forces, and neither of our organisations know anything about it,” said Happy, frowning deeply, “then I would say we are all officially in deep doo doo.”
“But if they did know anything, do you think our lords and masters would tell us?” said Natasha. “Something for us all to think about . . . Now, Erik and I really must be on our way, darlings. Things to see, people to do, you know how it is. Busy busy busy. Bye-bye, sweeties. Let’s not do this again sometime.”
Natasha Chang strode away, with Erik Grossman scurrying after her, and JC and his people watched them go until they were completely out of sight. And only then did they relax.
“I think the competition just got that little bit fiercer,” said Happy. “If there really is some great secret up for grabs, whoever gets to it first will have a major advantage over the other.”
“Let the Boss worry about it,” said Melody. “I’m not paid enough to worry that much.”
“But we have a distinct advantage,” said JC. “We have a ghost on our team! Everyone knows the dead see many things that are hidden from the living. Which means we have a much better chance of finding out what’s really going on!”
“Yes,” said Kim. “The ghost of a chance.”
JC and Kim walked off together, doing their best to walk arm in arm, leaving Happy and Melody to pack up the equipment.
“If I’m entirely made up of ectoplasm,” Kim said thoughtfully, “and I can change my appearance at will . . . then I should be able to change a lot more than my clothes. So, JC, what do you think? Would you like my boobs a bit bigger?”
“Size isn’t everything,” JC said solemnly. “On the other hand; can you do a nurse’s outfit?”
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