Epilogue
EGO
“Why am I so nervous?” I asked Scotty as I wiped my hands down my pant legs.
“Because it’s our first dinner party as a couple,” he said, cheeks turning that pretty shade of pink that I loved.
Pulling his back against me so we were standing in front of the mirror, I kissed his temple. “We’re a pretty perfect couple.”
He rolled his eyes, but I heard the spike in his heartbeat. The same one he had every time I told him that I loved him. I’d decided that enhanced senses were pretty badass.
The Westminster chimes tolled through the castle, so we clasped hands and went to let in our guests. King shyly hovered beside a beaming Sky, while a grinning Stevie stood hand-in-hand with a nervous-looking Trixie.
“Come on. Come in.”
I hated that Scotty couldn’t touch Trixie and guide her into the house himself. I knew he wanted to reassure her that he was thrilled that his brother and her had confessed their feelings to each other and were making a go of a relationship in the afterlife.
Sky passed me, making me let go of my anchor and love when he shoved a white pastry box into my hands.
“I stopped by Daily Kneads and bothered Sonny and got you some pastries. I know you said you’re not eating, but I figured sweets were worth coughing up ash over.
” Then he cackled like he’d said the funniest thing ever.
King grinned at him with sappy amusement, so I guessed I’d let him get away with it.
For now. Scotty showed everyone into the dining room that he and Sky had designed during my sleeping hours.
I worried that Scotty didn’t get enough sleep because he was getting up early in the afternoon and then staying up with me for as long as he could.
He said he liked it that way because once he was tired, I’d lay in bed with him until he fell asleep, then I’d slip into my Dead Air persona—which felt more and more like it had always been the real me—until near dawn, when I’d lay back beside Scotty.
He said as long as he fell asleep in my arms and woke up curled into me, he was happy.
They all raved about the 18th-century motif in the dining room and took their seats, with Scotty and me across from each other at the heads of the table.
I’d worried a dinner party was silly since three of us—Stevie, Trixie, and I—couldn’t eat, but Scotty reminded me how many meals the ghosts had all gathered around the kitchen table at the manor with the heartbeaters for no other reason than fellowship.
That was good enough for me.
They enjoyed their meal, and Sky convinced me to incinerate one lobster roll inside of me because I really did love them, before King grabbed Sky’s hand on the table. “I think now is as good a time as any to talk to them. Since you have Ego here and Scotty has Stevie.”
“Talk to us about what?” I asked.
Sky’s face went as serious as I’d ever seen it. “You know how we’ve been looking to buy a house together?” He pointed between him and King.
Stevie snorted. “I think everyone does.”
It was true. My cousin, trying to find his perfect house, had turned into the drama of the century. “Well, we think we found it, but…” He trailed off.
King cleared his throat. “I’m pretty sure we all know that more is going on in our small town than meets the eye. And I think we’re all on the same page that all of you have been drawn here.”
We all agreed, but there was something in his tone that had me stand and move around the table to Scotty’s side, and place one hand on his shoulder to cuddle him into me. He lifted an arm and caught my other hand in his as we listened intently.
“In our house hunt, we think we’ve gained more clarity on something we’d stumbled on before.”
Stevie leaned forward. “And what’s that?”
Sky and King exchanged a look, and Scotty huffed. “You might as well just spit it out. It’s better for us to go in armed with knowledge than sit on the sidelines.”
He meant that, too. Since he’d found out he was a bridge, and had been entrusted with the Liminal compass and its tome, he’d taken to studying it and learning all he could about his position very seriously.
He’d also crushed his GED exam and started his bookkeeping certification.
All of that, on top of spending a couple of hours a day with Chance, Elyse, and whoever else might be around, meditating and picking their brains…
Yeah, my love was never bored.
“You’re right,” Sky said, then turned back to King.
Kingston folded his hands on the table in front of him, nodded like he was encouraging himself, and said, “We’re here because of our ancestors, and if the balance of the world is ever going to be fixed, we have some stuff to straighten out.”
“Us?” I pointed around the table. “Like just us?”
He shook his head. “Nope. Every person who’s been called to Willowhope and has become part of the Scooby-Doo crew—whether they meant to or not.”
That would also be Lysandro. I was pretty sure Cassi and Carli and all the rest of us who’d stayed at the manor at some point in time were stoked to be a big family—one we’d all chosen now that we’d found each other—but Lysandro was used to being on his own.
Taking me on not just as his student, but his fledgling, his son, strained him on some days.
I could see it in his eyes. But I knew my Master, my Sire, my Father, would do the right thing for the good of all.
Scotty blew out a breath, leaned into me, and then said something so solemnly that it took me a moment to wrap my mind around the words. “We need our own name. Scooby-Doo crew is so 1970s.”
King’s mouth dropped, Sky choked on a laugh, and Stevie and Trixie flickered from laughing so hard. As for me? I wasn’t surprised where his mind went at all, so I just leaned down and gave him a kiss. “I love you.”
“And I love you, baby vamp.”
What will they find out about how they’ve all come together when we return to Sky & Kingston in Sky’s Guide to Ancestral Lines & Destiny?