"But I don't know how to rule a kingdom!" Lady Susan protested. "And certainly not two of them. I'm not the queenly type." Jerry smiled a little and I gave him a warning look.
"Well, I can tell you one thing for sure--do not trust anymore royal advisors. Start making your own decisions for the realm." I said and Jerry nodded in agreement.
We had just finished updating each other on the events prior to Jerry's reawakening and now stood outside in a coveted magical clearing called the Square. I remembered creating it for magic rituals when I'd first written the story, but the lack of magic really done in the cities of Eliah and Halie these days had turned the Square into a weedy paralellogram in the forest. Naomi was sitting dejectedly not far from where we stood.
"But I don't want to tell the people what to do, that's the problem," Lady Susan replied. "I want to just gather the people together and tell them what's happened, then they came decide for themselves. But that's not how a monarchy works."
"Nope," said Jerry. "That's called democracy."
"Nothing wrong with that," I said. "That's how stuff works where we're from."
"Unfortunately, the people might not understand and they might get mad at me and think I killed everyone off." Lady Susan said.
"That's true, too," I said, "but if you yourself said you're not the queenly type, you don't have much choice."
"Not if you're planning to be true to yourself," Jerry said. "Trust me, girl, I know." I elbowed him a little and he raised his hands as if to say "wha-at?"
"I know you're right, but I feel such a duty to the cities..." She paused thoughtfully, then said "Well, where are you headed now? I know I can't ask you to stay..."
"And we wouldn't be any help, anyway," Jerry added.
"I think we'd better find Alan first, then try to get back home," I said.
"Doesn't that usually happen when we've finished everything we have to in a...situtation?" Jerry asked, prudently not mentioning the story aspect of all this.
"Yeah, usually," I agreed, "which means we've still got something to do here. Maybe just find Alan. Hope he's okay." I said the last part without thinking and Jerry frowned at me in surprise.
"Well, if you could do me one last favor?" Lady Susan asked. She produced the black jewel she'd been holding from Marten and said, "I want this thing destroyed once and for all. All it has for me is painful memories and since no magic can destroy it..."
"Actually, no magic is exactly what's going to destroy it," I said, passing the jewel to Jerry. "You got it?" I asked him.
"Not a problem," he shrugged. He clasped his hands around the jewel tightly, then concentrated.
Suddenly, Naomi screamed. "No!" she yelled, rushing over and tackling Jerry to the ground. The jewel fell from his hands and she pounced on it.
We sat looking at her in confusion as she glared at us. "You're killing him!" she shouted at us.
Jerry looked at me questioningly and I frowned uncertainly, then crossed to her and knelt down. "Him who, Enn?" I asked softly, almost sure I knew who she meant.
"It's...Alan," she said, looking confused as well. "Daina...he called me!"
I nodded understandingly. "Don't worry about it, you'll get used to it," I told her, looking at Jerry. "Okay, she's found him. Let’s try this again, only this time, concentrate on breaking the spell itself, not the spell holding the crystal."
Jerry shrugged, then gently attempted to take the jewel from Naomi. She held on to it for a moment, looking at me imploringly. "It's okay," I said. "Let him have it." She let go reluctantly and Jerry began again, but with a different motive. A stiff wind picked up around him and suddenly, wisps of white and color began streaming from between his fingers.
One of those wisps of color began to circle Naomi specifically and then slow down gradually until it became stationery, more solid and more like...
"Alan!" she shrieked. He pulled her toward him by grasping the sides of her head and pulling her near for a powerful kiss.
"Thank God you heard me, baby!" he said, as they finally took a breath. He turned to Lady Susan, who was being surrounded by the rest of the wisps of light. "Lady Susan," he said. "I believe you've got company."
Slowly, each wisp would form into a person near her, then touch her lightly or kiss her and disappear into thin air. Lady Susan gasped in sad surprise as she recognized each face of the lost monarchs of Haile and Eliah and lost them again.
"Oh, Jenny...David...Todd, oh, don't go...Johnathan!" At his face, she tried to grab the ghost in front of her to no avail. "No, don't leave me again, please!" she wailed, falling to the ground on her knees. "I've been so good, so strong through all of this..."
"You have, Suse," came a voice. Susan looked up and saw a man standing in front of her in long white and yellow robes. He reached a hand out to her and she shook her head.
"Benjie?" she said. "Don't do this. If you're going to disappear..."
"I won't yet, but if you don't get off your butt..." he said. Susan, Jerry and I laughed in spite of ourselves. She took his hand and was surprised to find in solid. "Ben!" she gasped, throwing herself into his arms.
"Whoa, Suse, I'm only solid for a bit, here, let's not ruin it by killing me all over again!" he laughed.
"Why are you solid? Are you staying to help me? I really need your help running this place..."
"Can't, Sue, that's your deal," he said. "Remember, I did the hermit thing to get away from all that. That's how I got the prophesy...and how I got killed."
"Killed?"
"Yeah, John and Andy had come out to ask me to explain the prophescy a little more and we all got ambushed by Tommy Trammell and his magic. I knew it was coming, but I know it didn't help you much."
"I'll say!" she said. "The people are probably going insane by now."
"Are you kidding?" Ben said. "The people have no idea what's going on at all. That's the problem with everybody. You've all been so busy ruling, you haven't been leading. You've been letting people speak for you and your people."
"Y'know, that's what I said to Andy!" Susan nodded.
"And you were right. So lead, Sue, don't rule," Benjamin said. "You can make this country work any way you want or you can do things your way. Don't forget the prophesy."
"Thanks, Benjie," Susan said, tears in her eyes.
"Well, I gotta go, Sue," he said, with a smile. He glanced upward, then back at her, saying, "They're waitin' on me."
"I wish I could go with you," she said. "I miss you guys so much."
"We'll see you when you're done here," Benjie said, the light that illuminated him getting brighter. "You've got a lot of people counting on you to get that prophesy straightened out. Take care."
"I will," Susan whispered.
The light grew so bright, we could no longer see, and when it died down, Benjamin was gone.
But, then, as was usual for us, so were we...
I awoke to rolling
credits and Jerry's minor slumber convulsions.
"Jer," I
said. "Get up. The movie's over."
Jerry came around
slowly and looked around. "We're in the theater."
"No fake,"
said I sarcastically.
"I take it we've
accomplished yet another amazing world rescue," he yawned, stretching
leisurely.
"Uh-huh.”
"So, then, we should
get up and go home.”
"I guess
so."
We exchanged glances,
then rose and headed for the exit.
The moment we stepped
outside into the parking lot, a strange feeling of deja vu hit me.
"What time is
it?" I asked, knowing I had school in the morning.
"A little after
one," he replied and I gasped. 5 hours from now, I 'd have to be out of
bed. "Have you noticed the number of cars out here?" Jerry added.
I looked around, not
sure what he meant. "No," I replied, with a shrug.
"I mean, how few
there are?" he said, stopping. "There's like all of 12 cars out
here."
"I see
that," I said, looking around with a frown. Something else was odd, too...
"And they all
look the same," we said almost simultaneously.
I looked at Jerry.
He looked at me.
A car door slammed in the distance and we, like the brave, newly rejunvenated heroes we were...ran screaming for the car like frightened schoolchildren and peeled out of the parking lot in 2.5 seconds.