Chapter Twenty-Five
It was a beautiful sunny day, and Reya watched his funeral from a distance. Green grassy hills rolled under rows of tombstones. Flowers poked out from the edges of the granite markers. Birds chirped in the trees that lined the road between the plots.
She wondered what it would have been like to spend a day with Thane that didn’t include being attacked or saving the world. Maybe a picnic.
The quiet gathering was too far away to hear, but she could see that Thane’s mother was there, having recovered. Reya would have to stop and visit with her a few times a week. Just to keep an eye on her. Martin was there with his family, his big shoulders shaking. Even Chu and his pals were in attendance.
Thane’s loved ones surrounded the casket that held his earthly body. She’d brought him up from the chamber into the woods. His death was blamed on the flying creatures that had killed so many. The doorway had sealed and disappeared into the stone face by itself the moment they left. Martin vouched for everything and told everyone how Thane had saved the city.
That was three days ago. The killings had ended. The veil of fear and death that hung over the city had lifted. People clung vigilantly to the newfound strength they had discovered. The planet was safely on its way to ascension once again. And she’d cried a river.
“What did you do with Surt?” Reya asked.
Orson stepped up next to her. “I was trying to leave you in peace.”
She wouldn’t ever have peace again. “Nice try.”
He grinned. “You’re more powerful now.”
“I won’t let it go to my head,” she said. The rifle salute went off, echoing across the cemetery.
“Surt has been isolated,” Orson said. “Until such time as he is deemed to no longer be a threat.”
“Which will be never,” she said.
“Possibly,” Orson conceded. “You, on the other hand, have a choice to make.”
She had thought about it for the past three days. She knew what she wanted to do. “I’ll remain a Redeemer.”
Orson blinked in surprise. “Are you certain?”
She was for the most part. Besides, everyone deserved a shot at redemption. She wanted to make sure they got it. “Yes.”
The solemn mourners started to leave, and Reya fought back the tears. “Where is Thane?”
Orson clasped his notebook. “On his road to redemption. Thanks to you.”
Right. She’d done so much to save him. “Is he happy?”
“I think so,” Orson said.
She turned and pinned him with her gaze. “I’d really like to know.”
Orson raised his eyebrows. “Then I’ll find out.”
It would have to do. Staying here, being a Redeemer, their paths would never cross again. He had many choices to make as well. If she knew he was okay, was happy, she could live with that. She rubbed her chest over her heart.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out the crystal. She held it out to Orson. “You probably came for this.”
He seemed confused. “No. It belongs to you. It always did.”
“It doesn’t give me an unfair advantage?” she asked, suspicious.
He laughed. “I think we trust you with it.”
Wow, talk about a miracle. She swallowed the gratitude and put the crystal back in her pocket. It still held Thane’s energy. It was all she had left of him. “So why are you here?”
“Next assignment,” he said with a smile. “If you’re up to it.”
What else did she have to do? Go on a picnic? “Sure.”
He handed her a piece of paper. “Murderer.”
After what she’d been through, redeeming a despicable, unconscionable killer would seem like a vacation. She glanced at the name and braced herself as a parade of his sins and horrible acts played like a motion picture in her head. But there was no pain associated with it, not even a little. In fact, she felt not only sympathy and compassion for his victims, but sympathy and compassion for the murderer as well.
She eyed Orson. “What happened?”
He looked on proudly. “It was time.”
She looked at him in disbelief. Who knew? All it cost her was the man she loved.
Then Orson cleared his throat and turned serious. “But there is something else that you may or may not like.”
No one should start a sentence like that. “Just tell me.”
With a little smile, he said, “I’m moving up.”
She hadn’t expected that at all, and it took a moment to sink in. “Like a promotion?”
“Sort of,” he said a bit sheepishly. “I’ll be working with the souls you redeem. Helping them with their plans. Offering suggestions. The usual.”
Reya grabbed him and gave him a big hug. He was all arms as he tried to handle being hugged.
“That’s great news, Orson,” she said as she let him go. He looked a little shell-shocked. “Not for me, but for you. When do you start?”
“Today,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
When the Universe decided to move, they moved fast. She nodded. “I understand.”
“But you’ll get a replacement for me,” he said.
Reya sighed. Great, another stubborn old soul she’d have to retrain to do things her way. “Will you be around?”
“Of course,” he said. “We are friends.”
“I’d like that,” she said, feeling warmth. “Here’s something to remember me by.”
Orson’s face turned to utter surprise as she handed him her staff. Confusion registered in his eyes. “Why?”
She shrugged and gazed over the cemetery, silent once again. “I don’t think I need it anymore.”
* * *
Carl Drucker smoked a cigarette in the shadow of a closed storefront across from his apartment. It was midnight, and he’d been waiting for his dealer to show up for an hour, the bastard. It was enough to make an addict look elsewhere for his fix.
But his dealer was one of the few willing to trade sex with Drucker’s twelve-year-old daughter for drugs. Served his ex-wife right for leaving him and taking her money with her. Maybe she’d come back if she knew what was happening to her daughter.
He looked down the street and when he turned back, a woman dressed in black leather was standing directly in front of him.
“Jesus,” he said. “Where did you come from?”
Her hair was black, almost blue in the light. Her eyes were silver and crystalline. “My name is Reya. I’m here to tell you your sins.”
Carl shook his head in absolute disbelief. “Get the f*ck out of here.”
“You beat your wife until she left,” she said, her voice low. “You’re trading your daughter for drugs. You even killed a man once while high.”
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How? He sidestepped her and started walking. “You’re crazy. Get away from me.”
“I know what your father did to you,” she said, following him as he headed down the sidewalk. “You can change.”
It scared him how much she knew and panic settled in. He began to run, but his legs felt like rubber. Suddenly, she appeared in front of him at the intersection, and he lurched to a halt. How did she get past him?
She walked toward him, a black silhouette against the traffic lights, and he scrambled to back up.
“It’s your choice, Carl. You can choose a different path,” she said.
The street signs started to blur, confusing him. When he looked up at her again, her silhouette had changed. There was a light that seemed to shine behind her. Angel wings unfurled slowly from her back.
Carl felt a wave of love embrace him. He dropped to his knees at the overwhelming feeling of comfort. Great sobs racked his body as he received the light. It was the most wonderful thing he’d ever experienced. It was like being home, like a place that you know you’ll be safe and loved. It was heaven.
The angel stepped in front of him. “Carl Drucker, are you sorry for your sins?”
He saw it all clearly in that split second. The horrible things he’d done ran through his mind in flashes. Horror griped him. Oh, God. What had he done? He clasped his hands in front of him clumsily. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”
The angel reached out and placed her hand on his head.
Suddenly, he was on his knees alone on the street. The light was gone. The angel was gone. Everything was normal again.
He leapt to his feet. Where did she go?
“Hey man, got a light?”
Carl spun around. A young, dark-haired man was standing there with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. Carl squinted at him. Was he the angel? No, there was no light in this man.
“Got one?” the man asked.
Carl ran a hand through his hair. “Sure.”
He flicked his lighter, and the kid lit his cigarette on it. He blew out a ring of smoke. “Thanks.”
Carl was about to leave, when the man shoved the lit cigarette into his face and a knife into his gut. The knife went deep, twisted and cut. The pain was unbearable, and Carl screamed. He felt himself fall forward into the kid.
The kid was smiling. “Now, I’ll take your money.”
* * *
Reya watched Carl’s soul leave his body. Then she called Martin and gave him the address of Carl’s daughter, and the name of the dealer who had been using her. DNA should nail the son of a bitch for rape, and the drugs should nail him for dealing. Martin promised to make sure the daughter was placed in a good, safe home. It wasn’t perfect, but it was what it was supposed to be.
She took her time walking home. She’d landed a new apartment and a new identity. Orson had moved on. Thane was gone. Her world felt very small and lonely all of a sudden. She didn’t like it.
Reya entered her apartment and turned on the lights, and then the TV. The sound helped to fill the emptiness a bit. She was going to miss Orson, she had to admit. He was a pain, but he was company.
She opened the refrigerator and pulled out a package of chimichangas the local Mexican place had given her for free. She punched two minutes on the microwave and put them in.
A glass of wine completed dinner while she waited for the microwave to finish. She wondered what Thane was doing at this moment. It hurt just thinking of him. She hoped that would never go away.
When the microwave dinged, she pulled out her dinner, and took it and the wine into the living room.
And came face-to-face with Thane.
For a moment, she just stood there with a wineglass in one hand and Mexican food in the other. Maybe he wasn’t real. Maybe she was just imagining him.
He smiled a smile she would have given her soul to see only a few days ago. It looked like a brighter, more beautiful version of him.
“Got enough for two?” he asked.
Sure sounded real. She shook her head slowly, not wanting to break the spell. Her heart ached in waves. “How?”
Thane reached out and carefully took the wine and food from her and set them on the coffee table. Then he came back to her and wrapped his hands around her face to kiss her.
His lips felt warm against hers. She opened her mouth and deepened the kiss. Felt real. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck. Real. And pressed her body to his. Definitely real.
After a few minutes of making sure he was actually there, she broke off the kiss and buried her face in his shirt. More tears. She’d thought she was dried up, but apparently love trumps tears.
“How long do we have?” she whispered. “I need to know.”
He nuzzled her face and kissed her shoulder. “As long as you want.”
Now see, that couldn’t be right. All the fear she’d just set aside came back in a rush as she shoved his chest and stepped away. “What is this?”
Thane shook his head slowly. “You aren’t happy to see me?”
“You’re supposed to be redeeming yourself right now,” she said, growing angrier by the second. How dare they pull this on her? They’d promised she could choose. “Like out there somewhere, reincarnating as someone’s baby. Not here with me for as long as I want.”
“Huh.” He crossed his arms, looking thoughtful. “This is going to more difficult than I thought.”
“Not funny,” she said. “Who are you?”
His eyebrows rose. “Should I get undressed?”
So fine, it was him. “Why are you here?”
For a moment, he didn’t answer. Then he grinned. “Nice touch with the wings. I thought Carl was going to piss his pants.”
Reya blinked a few times. How had he seen that? “What?”
“And the call to the Martin. That was excellent. We should use him more. He’s a good man. I’m glad he doesn’t remember anything he did under Surt’s influence. It wasn’t his fault.”
She shook her head, getting more confused by the second. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m your new envoy,” he said, and then his expression turned serious. “If you want me. Your call. I’m told I need to respect your decision.”
She was in shock. This couldn’t be. “Who picked you?”
“Orson,” he said.
It was true. Orson had picked Thane as her new envoy. Orson. After all the grief she’d given him he had just handed her the best thing in her many, many lives.
“The choice is yours,” Thane said, keeping his gaze steady and his expression stoic.
Of course she wanted him. She loved him. They knew that. Orson knew that, even before she did. After all she’d been through, she’d finally earned this one perfect thing.
And then she stilled. Wait, it couldn’t be that easy. Nothing was ever that easy. Why would they agree to this? Why would they give him to her?
“What are the rules?” she asked, almost afraid to tarnish the wonder of the moment.
“Rules,” he said. “Yes.”
He pulled out a smartphone.
“Phone?” she asked.
He looked at her with a grin. “No more notepad. We’re upgrading.” Then he read from the phone. “We still get the free rent, food, and cab rides. Plus there’s like a zillion f*cking rules for making sure we don’t step on anyone’s free will. Jesus, these people are worse than the government.”
Reya touched her fingers to her mouth and felt happiness blossom within her despite her best efforts to stop it. The disappointment would kill her.
He put the phone away and added, “And I’ll feel the pain of the victims with each case.”
For a moment, her happiness moved aside and compassion took its place. His redemption. His choice, too. “I’m sorry.”
He shrugged. “Part of the deal. I’d have given more to be here.”
She understood. She’d survived it, so would he. And she’d be here to help him. “Do you pop in and out?”
He focused on her and light glinted off his eyes. “Excuse me?”
She grinned. She’d missed him so much in the last three days. “Will you live here, or go back and forth?”
Thane took a step closer, bringing him within reach. “Either. Both. I’m not exactly sure. I think that’s up to you.”
She felt her smile growing. “Both are good.”
He nodded in all seriousness. “You still have to give me your decision. Do you want me as your envoy?”
The look of uncertainty on his face was distorted by the tears in her eyes. “Oh, yes. I want you.”
His arms were around her in a heartbeat. Their bodies melded instantly as though they’d never been apart. She couldn’t believe it. They loved her enough to give her this. He loved her enough to endure the pain of returning. Love burst in her soul, filling every part of her that had been empty and lonely. She was home.
“I love you, Reya,” Thane whispered in her ear. “I’ll always love you.”
She closed her eyes and thanked the heavens for showing her why she was here. Why we were all here. “I love you, too. Now, and for all eternity.”
And Earth and all its souls spun on.
Discussion Questions
Thane takes justice into his own hands, having seen firsthand the failings of our justice system, and the world in general. Does his perspective change by the end of the book?
Reya is a Redeemer to save her soul. She detests the “prospects” and fulfills the minimum requirements of her job. How does her approach change at the end of the book?
Reincarnation is a key concept in this story. All souls are given the opportunity to experience the good and the bad, victim and villain, male and female, and so on. Can you see how this concept would balance the scales of light and dark in the fullness of time?
The old drunk is never given a name. Why do you think that is?
Everyone has free will to choose their paths. From the beginning of this story to the end, free will is demonstrated. What are some of the situations that were turning points and major choices for Reya and Thane?
If you had the power that Reya possessed with the crystal, what would you do with it?
Orson and the spirit council take their time intervening in the situation with Surt. Do you think it was intentional? Why would they wait?
Do you think Reya and Thane will live happily ever after for all time? What do you think makes an eternal love?