He was pale, and bruised, but her father was here. In the flesh. Alive. Or as close to it as Jay ever could have hoped.
Jay rushed forward and tore off his gag.
“Jayana,” he said with a scratchy voice.
And Jayana collapsed into tears.
His arms were around her immediately, the familiar feel of them as he smoothed her hair—even his smell was the same. “Shh, sweetheart, it’s okay. You’re going to be okay.”
Jayana drew deep breaths, clinging to him, letting the feel of him calm her.
It was so, so tempting to leave him this way. To keep him with her.
But his life on this plane had ended. Keeping him here would be unnatural…and twisting the natural order of things could only bring more harm. Jay had seen enough of the consequences of that, already.
Jay’s father stroked her face as she cried into his shoulder. “I’ve missed you so.”
She tightened her arms around him. “Me too.”
He hugged her tight, then pulled back and nudged her chin up to look at him. “I’m proud of you, Jayana. You have been so, so clever… and brave. But, little Jay… ”
Little Jay—it was his name for her, and the only way it sounded right was when he said it. Which was probably why the others had used it to torment her.
Her father took a breath. “It’s soon going to be time to let me go.”
Jay sniffed and nodded, at the same time her heart was screaming no. “I know.”
He glanced at the house. “This wasn’t our mess, but we need to make this right.”
Jay sighed, then pulled back and wiped at her eyes, suddenly embarrassed that she’d had a complete emotional meltdown in front of both Ryan and Kyle—but when she glanced at them, they were both watching her with utter compassion. Kyle was fighting back tears of his own, which oddly enough, gave Jay strength.
She drew a breath and met her father’s gaze. “I know we do. And I think—I think I know what to do.”
Her father reached for her hand, and she squeezed his.
“Your family line has been leaching magic from the cube,” Jay told him “but Roger said—” Jay drew a breath. Thinking of Roger, of his loss, still hurt…and she knew she was only about to lose more. “He said ‘a little of both,’” she continued. “You’re from James’ family line. I think maybe putting you into the cube will sever the connection, and allow the cube to be shut down. I need to take you to the cube, Dad… to be with Mom.”
Her dad’s eyes widened. “Your mother is in there?”
The look of hope in his eyes is enough to crack Jay’s heart wide open. “Yes.”
His expression shifted into one of resolve.. “We should do this quickly, Jay, before anyone else gets hurt. But…” Hesitation washed over the resolve. “Once the cube is shut down, I will have to move on.” He placed his hand back on her face. “You’ll be alone.”
“She won’t be alone,” Kyle said.
Across her dad’s shoulder, Jay's eyes found Kyle’s. He was standing alone now; Ryan had migrated over toward the curb to keep an eye on the ghosts. The emotion in Kyle’s eyes was hard to read, but to Jay, it felt like some kind of a promise.
Jay smiled at him, not even caring anymore about the tears trailing from her eyes. Then she turned back to her dad. “I will miss you with every single breath—but I won’t be alone, not anymore.”
Her dad glanced back at Kyle, then smiled. “I see.”
Ryan yelled from the curb. “Do you see this? This is so weird!”
They all turned to look.
One of the ghosts was lunging at Ryan, but the second it hit the boundary of the yard, it got flung back again. Ryan was enjoying himself by taunting the ghost, who didn’t seem to have accepted yet that it was never going to be able to reach him.
Jay stared, then turned back to her dad. “I’ve got him, too. Though we’re just friends.”
Jay’s dad smiled. “I’m happy you have people you can trust now, Jay. You didn’t have many friends, growing up, though you never seemed to mind. But the thought of you being all alone, now...” He squeezed her hand, then pulled her into a hug. “I love you so much, Jayana, and I’m so, so proud of you.”
He held her that way for a long moment, then sighed, and Jay felt him pull back. “But, Jayana—”
“I know.” Jay took a shaky breath as he released her from the hug. “It’s time to let you go.”
****
Jay, her father, Kyle, and Ryan all stood in front of the shed as Jay prepared to open the lock.
“Ready?” Jay asked.
Kyle and Ryan both shrugged.
“Who even knows what to expect, anymore,” Kyle said.
Jay glanced at her father, but he just nodded.
“Fair enough,” Jay said, then opened the shed.
Ryan and Kyle immediately rushed inside to grab James—who did make a valiant effort to lunge free—while Jay grasped the object.
“Turn him ghost again and send him off the property,” Jay whispered, and the object obliged. Ryan and Kyle both stumbled as James went ethereal, then was promptly flung out of the shed, across the backyard, and past the front yard into the road.
Jay’s father watched with wide eyes. “That is not a good feeling, when it’s happening to you, but it’s kind of entertaining from this angle,” he said.
Jay laughed. “It kind of is, yeah.”
They all stepped back from the shed, and Jay closed the door, then slipped the lock back on.
“Ready for this?” she asked, to her father this time.
He nodded. “It’s time, Jay.”
She fought back the press of tears, focusing instead on putting in the correct code.
This time, when she slid the lock off, the shed opened to the glowing cube.
“So this is what the fuss is about,” her father whispered. He glanced at Jay, a look of mild horror on his face. “Your mother has really been trapped in that this whole time?”
Jay sighed. “Yes. I’ve seen her.”
The look of desperation and regret on her father’s face nearly broke her heart.
“We have to get her out,” he said.
“I know, Dad.” She placed a hand on his shoulder. “We will.”
Just then, as though summoned by his voice, her mother’s face floated up to the edge of the cube. She pressed her hand to the surface.
Her father let out a little yelp and rushed toward her.
“Don’t touch it, Dad, not yet!” Jay yelled, then hurried up beside them, keeping her distance.
Her dad pulled back, stopped just shy of touching the cube. He lifted his hand, hovering it just over her mother’s.
A look of love and longing passed between them.
Jay bit back tears, praying that she was right about this solution, that this would really work.
Her dad turned to her. “What do we do, Jay? How do we help her?”
“I think you have to go to her, Dad. A little of both, right? I think he meant both family lines, his and the others'. Mom’s and yours. You have to go into the cube.”
He studied her face. “You’re sure about this?”
She drew a shaky breath. “As sure as I can be.”
Jay’s mother shifted in the cube, pressing her hand to the surface right in front of Jay. Jay let her hand hover just over the surface. “I love you, Mom,” she said, hoping her mom could hear her.
I love you, too, her mom mouthed the words back.
Jay turned to her dad. “And I love you. I love both of you. So much.”
“We love you too, sweetheart,” he said, pulling her into a hug. “This hug is from both of us.”
After a short moment that could never have been long enough, he pulled back. “Be brave, Jayana. You can do this. Your mother and I, we’ll be fine.”
“I’m going to set you free,” Jay promised. “Both of you.”
“I trust you, sweetheart,” her dad said. “Just tell me what I need to do.”
Jay drew the object back out of her pocket. “Turn him back to his true form,” Jay whispered.
The edges of her father softened and blurred—he went translucent from the outside in, until once more he was a ghost in front of her. Her mother watched from inside the cube, though she looked more relieved than surprised. She must have known he was a ghost already, just as she was… she had just been waiting for him, wondering what was keeping him.
Jay swallowed, taking one last, long moment to memorize both of her parents’ faces, both of their loving gazes on hers.
Then she said, “Touch the cube, Dad.”
He reached to press his hand to her mother’s.
Jay had one minor moment of panic as his hand made contact, wondering if she’d been horribly wrong about the whole thing...
Then he was sucked inside.
The cube shuddered, then settled, and the whirlpool inside resumed, her parents presumably sucked back into it.
Jay sighed in relief. It had worked.
…And she had just lost both of her parents again, and trapped them both in a ghostly prison cube.
She stared at the cube, their loss washing over her all over again, just like it had the moment she’d gotten the call about the wreck.
Kyle stepped up behind her, and put his hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”
Jay drew a breath, then glanced up at him. “I think I will be… eventually.”
He placed a tiny kiss on the back of her neck.
”You guys are gross!” Ryan yelled from the doorway.
Kyle ignored him, his gaze locked on Jay. “What do we do now?”
Jay looked down at the object in her hand. The others had said this object allowed Roger to bend the parameters of the cube’s power. Perhaps, now that it was restabilized…
“I think…” She drew a shaky breath as she glanced at Kyle and then Ryan, praying this wasn’t the worst idea she’d yet. “Stand back a little, maybe?”
Kyle took a few steps back, moving closer to Ryan.
Then Jay clutched the object and whispered, “Shut the cube down.”
Blue light exploded through the shed, knocking them all backwards.
***
Author Note:
Oh no, not again! Was Jay wrong about how to shut down the cube? Or did it work… sort of? You’ll see in the next chapter, our final chapter! This entire adventure is about to come to an end… but not without one more big bang of excitement. ;) Don’t miss it! Thanks for reading!
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