Magic & Memory (31 page)

 “Is it ok if I stay with you when we get back to your house?” Alastair asked hesitantly as she helped him to his feet.

“Of course it’s ok. As far as I’m concerned, that little house in the woods is your and Joey’s home now too, for as long as you want it to be.”

“Home. That has a nice ring to it,” Alastair told her as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

And Lu smiled and said, “It really does.”

Epilogue

“Merry Christmas!”

          Lu paused at the foot of the stairs on Christmas morning, beaming at the scene before her. Sometime last night, Alastair and Joey had gone out and chopped down a small pine tree. It now stood cheerfully in the center of the living room in the little red house in the woods, flanked by the two guys.

          They’d managed to find the strands of lights, but apparently they hadn’t been able to locate the Christmas ornaments, so the tree was decorated instead with little treasures from around the house – bows of brightly colored quilt fabric scraps, a popcorn garland, some random knick knacks, and a few photos. It was absolutely charming.

          Lu gave both boys a hug, then looked closely at the tree. A framed photo of her Aunt Claire smiled out at her from amid the branches, and Lu felt tears welling up. She didn’t try to stop them.

          “Aw man, we made her cry,” Joey said. “She doesn’t like it.”

          “I love it, actually,” Lu said. “These are happy tears.”

          “Is it really ok?” Alastair asked quietly as Lu pressed her hands to her heart and let the tears flow.

          “It’s absolutely perfect. Thank you so much.” She put her arms around him and held on tight.

          “This is the first real Christmas I’ve had since I was turned,” Joey said softly, running one of the pine branches between his fingers. “It feels good to have a home and a family again.” He shook himself out of his sentimental mood then and grinned, saying, “And holidays always make me sappy. I’ll probably get really ridiculous and start singing ‘I’ll be Home for Christmas’ in a minute. At which point, feel free to stake me.”

          Alastair crossed the room to Joey, pulling him into a big hug as he told him, “I’m sorry I moved us around so much, and that I was so obsessed with hunting vampires. It’s going to be different now, though.”

          When Alastair let go of him Joey said, “Dude, you’re apologizing for something you can’t even remember.”

          “I’m still sorry,” Alastair told him.

          “Don’t be. It’s just who you are,” Joey shrugged. “It’s who we
both
are. Soon, we’ll go and track down Jin and make him reverse that memory spell, and you’ll remember how much hunting is a part of you. And then we’ll be back out on the road, back on the prowl. That’s just the way it is. For now though, I’m going to enjoy the calm, quiet and cozy while it lasts.”

“And you still want to stick with me? Even though our bond was severed?” Alastair asked him.

“We’re a team, bro. More than that. We’re friends. And not because of some maker bond,” Joey said, and Alastair smiled at him and squeezed his shoulder.

          “And I get to come along when you two are out saving the world, right?” Lu asked.

          “Heck yeah. There’s just one thing, though,” Joey said gravely.

          “What’s that?” Lu asked.

          “I call shotgun in the Impale-ah!” Joey exclaimed. They’d retrieved the big behemoth from an impound lot in Santa Cruz, and it now sat outside beside Lu’s old Bronco. And Ted’s truck. That was still a loose end that needed tying up.

          “You can
have
shotgun. Because I want to drive,” Lu told him.

          Alastair laughed and said, “We have plenty of time to argue about seating arrangements later. For now, can we get back to enjoying Christmas?”

          “Absolutely,” said Lu, coming over to Alastair and slipping an arm around his waist. She noticed some papers on the coffee table then and looked at Joey. “Hey, you finally opened Bryn’s envelope! What was in it?”

          “A fat check, for one thing,” Joey said. “Bryn looks for any excuse to give us money, and this was enough for all of us to live on for a year. He’s like, our not-so-anonymous benefactor. But there was something else, too.”

Joey tried to hold his voice steady as he said, “Bryn hired a private investigator to check on my family. That envelope contained a report telling me what all of them are doing now. There were some current photos, too. Somehow Bryn knew how much I needed that, needed to know they’re all ok.”

          “Wow. That’s an amazing gift,” Lu said.

          Joey smiled, his green eyes even brighter than usual as he held back tears. “Yeah, it really is. And speaking of gifts,” he said, changing the subject away from himself before he really did start crying, “we didn’t have a chance to go shopping or anything, but there are still a couple presents for you, Lu. Look on the tree.”

          Lu searched amid the branches and found Joey’s gift first. It was a little paper rectangle with dashed lines around the borders that said:
To: Luna Rae Harper. This coupon is good for as many martial arts lessons as it takes to make you a real badass. From the world-famous dojo master Joe Lazlo Adams.
Beside the words he’d drawn a little stick figure with a ponytail in a flying karate kick.

          She raised an eyebrow at Joey and started to say something, but he interrupted her, saying, “Yes, I know: Lazlo. Don’t start, Luna Rae.” He winked at her, and she crossed the room to him and kissed his cheek.

          Then she returned to the tree and found Alastair’s gift. It was a long, curling strand of paper, on which was written in a beautiful, old-fashioned script:
This note entitles Lu Harper to a night of perfect normality with Alastair Davies. Activities to include dinner and a movie. Activities not included are being chased by anything, being attacked by anything, or generally winding up in mortal danger.

         
The past few days had actually already been perfectly normal and tranquil, all of them resting and recuperating in the little cabin in the woods. But the thought of going on a real date with Alastair sent a thrill through Lu, and she turned to him with a big smile.

          “There’s one more gift from me as well,” Alastair told her. “Keep looking.”

          He watched her expectantly as she circled the tree. Suddenly she gasped and carefully lifted something off one of the branches. “Wow, it’s beautiful!” she exclaimed, and held up an antique pendant on a silver chain. The flat round opal was almost an inch across, and its setting was comprised of delicate silver branches intertwined across and around it. It was like looking at a luminous full moon through a canopy of trees.

          Alastair came up behind Lu and fastened it around her neck as he said, “I don’t know anything about it, and neither did Joey. I found it wrapped in cloth among my belongings with the clasp broken, but I fixed it. It seemed perfect for you, so I wanted you to have it.” She turned to face him, and he gathered her in his arms and kissed her gently.

When they finally broke apart she said, “It’s amazing. I’m never taking it off.” She ran her fingers over the pendant, and looked from one boy to the other as she said, “Thank you both for all these wonderful gifts. I wish I had something to give you in return.”

          “You already gave us a home,” Joey told her with a sweet smile. “What more could we possibly need?”

Later that day, as she and Alastair were curled in front of the fireplace and a whistling Joey attempted to bake gingerbread in the kitchen (for the smell, not the taste, he’d explained), Lu took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and smiled. The last thing she’d expected, as recently as two weeks ago, was happiness this Christmas, and finding some now felt like an incredible gift.

Things were far from perfect. Lu still missed her aunt terribly. She always would. Part of her even missed Ted, despite herself. And she knew that from this point forward, nothing was going to be easy. It was wonderful having Alastair and Joey in her life, but she understood all that came with them: that they would be forever hunting. And forever hunted. There would be little peace, little rest. Plenty of danger.

In fact, everything was going to come crashing down in less than forty-eight hours. Though she didn’t know it then.

But today, right now, Lu felt incredibly grateful for this perfect moment.