Page 34 of Simon Says

“Pleasure of your company,” Simon repeated drily.

Deliverance opened his mouth to say something, but Rosie and Sorcha stepped out of the passes looking none the worse for travel, except that Sorcha’s cheeks were rosy from the exhilaration and the red scarf that complemented her complexion. She wore no makeup, but didn’t need any.

“Hey,” Deliverance said to Rosie, “guess what? We’re getting ringtones.”

“I have a ringtone.”

“No. Not for your phone. For warning humans we’re arriving.”

“Oh. Good idea.” Rosie nodded. “I’m tired of all the gasping and chest clutching. That’ll be a nice change.”

“I’ve got the Mario Brothers flower music. So you can’t have it.”

“Shame. That’s what I would have chosen.”

“I knew it!” he exclaimed.

During this exchange Simon and Sorcha were staring at each other. While Rosie and Deliverance prattled on as if they were the only two in the room, Simon took a deep breath and walked toward her.

“You look the same,” he said.

“You, ah, don’t. And how can that be? Am I really gone in the head? Seein’ things? Hearin’ things?”

“So much to tell you, but first, you have to believe that you are not crazy. You’ve just been the victim of an unfortunate adventure. And I’m so sorry for that.”

“So you’re really… older?”

Simon smiled. “Afraid so.”

“I’m no’ sayin’ ’tis bad. I mean you’re still quite lovely.”

He grinned. “I’m lovely?”

“Aye.”

That one word fallen from lips he was sure he’d never see again did him in. The reality of the moment hit him all at once. For twenty years he’d been grieving the loss of someone he’d taken for dead. Or worse than dead. Being the Director of The Order of the Black Swan, he was in a unique position to imagine potential horrors.

His chest expanded involuntarily and took in a huge gulping breath as he fought to restrain the tears that Black Swan Directors do not cry. When a single escapee trailed down his face, Sorcha stepped closer and reached up to wipe it away. “What’s your life been like?”

He smiled sadly. “Awful.”

She smiled in return. “Tell me all about it.”

“I will. But first, do you want to go home?”

“Home?” She looked over at Rosie and Deliverance, who had stopped debating supernatural ringtones and were watching the reunited couple. “They asked me that same thing. I do no’ know what it means.”

“It’s sort of complicated. And I’ll help you sort it out in time, but for right now, it means going back to the world where you were a grad student sleeping on the ground with an errant vampire hunter.”

She smiled slightly, searching his face. “You’re still stickin’ to that?”

“I am. And I’ll tell you all about that as well. Will you come home with me?”

“O’ course.”

“One thing before you give your final answer. When we get home, you’ll start to age again.”

She laughed softly. “’Tis maybe no’ so bad. Looks good on you. And maybe I like that you’re the one who’s older now.”

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