Chapter 11

The room continued to swirl, music pulsed through Jennifer’s veins and the more Forms she met the more Forms she loved. She finally figured it out, the thing that she had to abandon to be truly happy and, once she let it go, a feeling of freedom washed over her. Who cares if Death kills them all? Who cares if her city back home never liked her, if her father failed her, if she never meets Destiny? All that she wanted, the music, the dancing, the appreciation, the companionship, all of it was here right in front of her; sort of felt like home. Even watching Lyla glide across the room didn’t phase her, who cares if she tried to murder James, used her to do it, that wasn’t Jennifer’s problem anymore. To prove to herself just how much she believed it she strutted purposely over to Lyla and asked her to dance.

James emerged from the office and quickly caught sight of Jennifer, her face all smiles and her shoulders relaxed as she and Lyla swung around the room. That strange sensation knocked on the back of James’ head again, but he refused to acknowledge it, he’d worked too hard to stop now. And yet, despite all his plans, his focus, his vision, something about Jennifer gave him pause, some anxiety tied to their leaving. She seemed so happy here, could he really take her away from all that? He couldn’t figure out why he cared so much, and he knew better than anyone that caring can lead down some dangerous roads, but he did care and now the only sensible thing to do would be to figure out how to handle these feelings. Though James knew they didn’t have much time, knew that they needed to be on their way sooner rather than later, he decided against his better judgment to do something special for someone he cared for.

The drinks all tasted wonderful and no two drinks were wonderful in the same way. Jennifer had taken to trying out every combination she could find, her legs ached and her hands still burned from her time with Enoch and that’s forgetting the blisters and splinters from her time with Meerous, and so she knew that a break was desperately needed. She’d found it rather odd how fast James’ ankle had healed, but obviously the Forms here had the ability to do all kinds of wonderful things, so healing a broken ankle didn’t seem totally implausible; she did wish they’d offered to do something about her hands though…

Speaking of them, Jennifer glanced around the room in search of familiar faces, Freddy, Claudia, Lyla, Terry (the lovely Form of trees she’d shared an awkward dance with, walking away thinking the man to be a tad bit wooden,) the imposing lady in the black cape, James, all of them had just up and vanished! She fumed a bit as she sipped on her drink, memories of friends disappearing popping up from a less than stellar childhood, but she decided she’d give them the benefit of the doubt, for now.

“Hiya Jennifer!” The little beep came from behind her and Jennifer smiled at the familiar voice. She spun around exclaiming,

“Squawk!” More accurately Chirp, but Squawk had again taken control of the mic, “I haven’t seen you since we got here? Where have you been?!” Chirp ignored the question and began pecking at the little droplets of spilled drink, Squawk responded with glee,

“Well, I was flying around the area, waiting until you and James left when someone emerged from the hole! Did you get a chance to meet Helios? She’s the loveliest lady! But she seemed so sad, so I talked to her when, who should interrupt us but James! Not just James either but a whole lot of old friends followed him out, Forms I hadn’t seen in sooooooooo long! But James said the party wasn’t complete without you so he asked me to come in and get you!” Chirp seemed to perk up at the task and flew toward the exit, stopping only to look back at Jennifer impatiently. With a mixture of confusion and anticipation, Jennifer leapt from her seat and followed Chirp out into the over world.

James stood alone next to the spot where the gravestone had been, no one else in sight.

“James what’s going on? Where is everyone”? Jennifer asked with eyes examining James’ strange posture. Instead of answering James merely put a finger to his lips and walked Jennifer over to a spot a few feet away from the dying oak tree, their bodies facing the sun.

“Do you see the sun”? James asked softly, “Her name is Melody, another victim of Death’s cruelty. She’s been forced to hang in that same spot for all eternity, but today,” he paused for dramatic effect as he glanced toward the tall woman standing ten or so feet away, “she finally gets to rest.” The clouds began to part, the snow ceased to fall and Jennifer gasped as the full majesty of an uninterrupted sunset shone forth before her. All the time she’d spent out in the world she’d been fighting a never ending blizzard, keeping her from seeing farther than ten feet in front of her, but now, with her vision clear and her eyes wide open, she could truly see the world she’d run away to. The wind whipped back her hair, the orange glow lighting her face and warming her skin, the red light pulsing outward, slowly overtaking the old orange light. The sunset lasted nearly half an hour, but Jennifer refused to look away, even for a second. They stood atop a silent hill high enough to allow them to see into the wide snowy valley below, the snow now shining with a golden aura as it reflected the setting sun. Jennifer stared out onto twilight mountains topped with shining snow stretching out farther than the eye could see. And, if she’d glanced over to her right, she’d have seen Helios, shedding one last golden tear for her fallen daughter.

Soon the sun descended below the mountains, down past the valley and the world grew still; the sky now nothing more than an unending canvas of darkness. Jennifer moved to return to the cave, to process the beauty she’d seen, but James lightly pushed on her arm and she turned around to see Helios brushing a hand across her pitch-black cape, causing small glimmers of light to fall gently onto the snow. Before she could ask James what was happening one of the little balls of light, barely larger than a firefly, popped out of the ground inches from Jennifer’s feet. She stared in awe as the little ball of light flitted around her head, occasionally brushing against her cheeks, causing a great warmth to run through her whole body. Holding out a hand she watched with joy as the little light looped in and between her fingers, she laughed each time, the light tickled. But the little light wasn’t alone, one by one little lights began to rise from the snow and circle her, lighting up her emerald irises, a literal twinkle in her eye. She watched in wonderment the little lights fly across the ground, melting the snow and revealing grass, beautiful, green, grass! Flowers of all different shapes and sizes sprung up kissing her ankles and hiding her feet, lilies, sunflowers, lilacs, until Jennifer stood ankle deep in a gorgeous meadow. The little dots of lights continued to circle her, each time the circle grew wider and wider, melting more and more of the snow, until they reached the once dying oak tree. As the lights illuminated the peeling grey bark, Jennifer’s eyes widened to see the bark morphing from grey to a rich dark brown, a glossy sap barely visible lined every inch of the noble oak. Leaves the color of Jennifer’s eyes emerged from under the branches until the branches became lost within a leafy canopy. The tree shook like a child on Christmas morning throwing off some of the looser leaves, leaves now descending before Jennifer who held out a hand to catch a few before they hit the ground.

James nudged her side, pulling her attention away from the reborn oak and back onto the lights, now rising steadily toward the sky. With a slight nod toward Helios the stars launched out into the night sky leaving trails of glimmering stardust behind them. Once they reached the heavens they each exploded with great bursts of light, causing Jennifer to shade her eyes for a moment, but, when she lifted them, she came face to face with the true night sky. Thousands upon thousands of stars lit up the night, dancing and shifting, creating great men and women, creatures, and animals, playing out noble battles and heroic sacrifices.

And there they stood. The wind slowly pushed on Jennifer’s oversized coat, her hair blowing back slightly, and her eyes transfixed on the majesty of the starry heavens. Next to her James’s eyes split time before a night sky he’d been denied for so long, and a girl he’d never known he’d been missing. His scarf flapped in the breeze and his usually pristine hair fell wildly backwards, but he didn’t seem to mind. Another star shot across the sky and James snapped his head back to watch it go and, as he followed this majestic hunk of space dust he felt a hand slowly wiggle its way into his. Startled he turned back only to see Jennifer’s eyes had never left the heavens, but her hand now nestled softly in his, and he could see a slight smile on her awestruck face. Looking back toward the stars James allowed himself a smile as well, and, in that moment, everything in their world, everything in all the cosmos, was perfect.