Chapter 247

Almara’s Pov

On the way home we make a pitstop to a very special place. “Why are we seeing more dead bodies?” Grace asks, her tone telling me we are nearing a full-blown tantrum.

“This body belongs to someone very important in our family,” I tell her calmly and hike her up on my hip. I’m not sure if my words got through to her, or maybe it’s her father's serenity as we ascend up one final hill to where Bess lays.

Bess’s gravestone is set apart from the hundreds nearby in many ways. For one it looks the newest, even though I know in a matter of days it won’t be as families gather to bury their recently deceased loved ones.

Hers is also the largest and looks even bigger as it sits perched on the top of the hill, guarded off by a short simplistic white fence decorated with bold red-roses.

The sun is beginning to set, casting golden streaks behind the head of her stone. Roman opens the gate and let’s Arthur in first.

“Aren’t you going in, mommy?” Grace asks.

“Not yet,” I tell her. “We’ll give Daddy and grandpa some time alone,” I’m not sure if Arthur will cry, maybe he’ll tear up but I know he won’t want his daughter to see that. I explain to Grace that who Arthur is seeing is her grandmother.

I tell her just how much Bess loved her and was so excited for her to be born.

“How did she die?” Grace asks. I take a moment, deciding on how I want to answer.

“She died for those she loved. Including you,” I tell her and I know it’s not a sufficient enough answer. I’ll tell Grace the whole story someday, when she’s older. She’s still so young in many ways.

“Can I go climb that tree?” Grace asks pointing to a cheery blossom tear near by. I almost don’t let her, not knowing if that’s disrespectful to the dead. Then I realize, if the spirits can see us, they’d probably love a little pup playing and adding some youthful vigor to the place.

“Go ahead,” I tell her.

I hear crunching leaves growing near and turn to see my father limping towards me. He nods toward a stone bench a couple feet away. I follow him to it.

He sits with a grunt and stretches his leg out. “Are you all right?” I ask. My father raises his eyebrow at me.

“You’re the nurse, you tell me,” he holds his ankle out so I can take a look. It’s swollen, but nothing more than a sprain.

“You’ll be okay,” I tell him and rest my head on his shoulder.

“Besides, you have mom to take care of you,” I tell him and realize the impact of those words. I never realized quite how much my parents love one another.

“That I do,” My father says and I pick up on the hint of admiration in his voice. “Listen, I wanted to explain what happened,” my father says shifting uncomfortably in his seat. I lift my head and look at him, confused.

“Why Grace got taken in the first place,” he says.

“Oh,” is all I can manage to say. I was so focused on getting her back, I’ve pretty much stopped thinking about the how.

“Yeah, I feel that it’s my responsibility to tell you and well for all of it really,” My father says, unable to meet my eye. I hold my breath and wait for him to continue, my heart rate increasing. I listen to the sound of my mother cooing at Robbie to calm my nerves.

“After your mother went to be a nurse, and I got de-drafted,” he looks at me with a self-deprecating smile but it does little to calm me. “Age, or something like that,” He says and then clears his throat.

“Point is, I didn’t get enlisted. Which really worked out for the best because if it was between me or Elenor to watch over Grace I figured I would be the preferred option,” he says and looks over at Elenor who’s checking the damage done to her nails. “No offense,” he adds.

I nod in agreement but still don’t say anything as he continues on. “Of course, Elenor came by every so often. I think maybe she was mostly bored, but she does love Grace. Anyway, the door knocked one day and Elenor has been our only visitor, so I opened the door,” his voice gets stuck in his throat. He blinks several times and is quiet a long time before continuing.

“I should have checked through the peephole, I should have,” he let’s out a shaky breath.

“It’s okay,” I tell him my own eyes watering as I realize where this is going.

My father shakes his head. “These familiars, big ones like gorillas but different,” my father tries to explain, unable to accurately depict their grotesque appearance. “They just took her,” my father says as simple as that. “I tried to stop them, that’s how I got this,” he says and lights his ankle again.

“I couldn’t fight them off, and when that became apparent I ran after them, but they got away. I went to search for her ever since,” my father says. I sit back and think about that. He’s been looking for Grace longer than anyone.

“I didn’t even know about the announcement,” he adds. “I never saw it. I think the demand for Grace was aired after she was taken,” my father says and I sigh. He’s probably right.

The familiars wouldn’t make that announcement and then go out themselves to get her. They would have known everyone would come to our house or be on the look out for her. They went in, took her, sent out the demand, and watched the chaos unfold.

“It’s not your fault, dad.”

“I’ll believe that one day,” my father says and wipes at his eyes. “Still, I’m sorry to you, to Arthur, and to Grace.”

“We forgive you,” I tell him and put my head back on his shoulder.

Grace comes running up, her curls bouncing down her shoulders. “Can I go say hi to great-grandma?” She asks, her eyes hopeful.

“I think she would like that very much,” I say. My father pats my knee and I take Graces hand. We walk to Bess’s grave. When we get there, Grace plucks herself down and begins talking a mile a minute.

“I heard you died for people you loved. That’s s cool. I also fought for people I loved,” Grace boasts and goes into detail about the familiars and how she avoided being casted under their spell.

Arthur and I stand back, holding hands and listen to Graces marvelous adventure through her eyes. I know that we’re still not finished with everything yet, even if Graces story does have a victorious ending of all of us ending up here.

We still have to embrace the inevitable damage done to our home. I think of the laser traps that were set before I left and wonder if they were put to use. I never got a new phone, so I have no idea if anything is even left of our home.

We may not have a home to come back to at all.