Charles’s smile broadened. “It’s nice to see you take after your old uncle. Your dad’s in there too, of course, but I never thought I’d get to see myself in someone else like that. I never had a family, you know. Not the way Martin did. And that’s fine, that was my choice. I chose Virgo Bay instead and I don’t regret it. But still, I must admit, it’s nice to find someone who sees the world as I do.”
Now Nora smiled too. She couldn’t help herself. Despite the utter terror of the day, and the days leading up to it, there was something calming in the sense of familiarity they shared. Charlie had never been like her, and Bubbie, though Nora loved her dearly, was from such a different generation, meaning they never had much in common. She knew she shared at least a few basic traits with her parents, but they were gone so soon she never really had the chance to experience that in person. But now, sitting there in the car next to her father’s brother, and seeing so much of herself reflected back, she couldn’t help but feel a little warmer, a little more at home. This, she thought, was what family felt like.
The boulders framing the van began to shrink, the sea suddenly undulating into view. It was rough that morning, a chaotic game of leapfrogging waves playing across its surface. Nora watched them roll, crashing recklessly into the rocky cliffs below. It was a sight that would have made her queasy only a few days ago; the thought of those salty fingers pulling her down into the hidden depths below, the restless wind, the spattering rain, even the slick road beneath the van’s tires. But somehow it was all too familiar now to cause her much concern. She had grownaccustomed to the turbulent life at the edge of the world, and part of her still imagined what a future here could look like, quiet and eternal.
“Will you miss it?” Nora asked.
“Virgo Bay?” said Charles. “It’ll still be there. Just different than before.”
A pair of booted feet appeared on the armrest between the two front seats, one ankle crossing over the other. Charlie stretched out, leaning back against his headrest. “Nora’s not a fan of change,” he said.
“That’s rich coming from someone who’ll go a weekend without changing their underwear,” said Nora.
“I don’t love change myself,” Charles admitted. “If I had my way, everything would always be as it always was. But in the end, I guess everything changes. I know I have over the years.”
Nora pulled at a crease in her pant leg. She wasn’t quite so quick to admit it, but when she looked back at who she was only a few short days ago, there was no denying she had changed as well since coming to Virgo Bay. A previous Nora never would have risked her life as many times as this new Nora had; never would have had the guts to do what she was about to do. She couldn’t decide which Nora she liked better, but she supposed she had no choice but to give the new version a chance.
“We’re almost there.” Charles indicated the road ahead, which seemed to branch off towards a paved driveway. The gas station came into view as they rounded the corner, its sign faded into illegible beige. The pumps were from a lost era, red paint worn to an uneven pink. Charles turned in to the driveway and parked near one of the run-down filling stations. From the looks of it, no one had filled much of anything here for years. Noraglanced around, clocking the pay phone near an outhouse around the side. This was it, then. One quick phone call and the Blind Spot of Virgo Bay would be erased. S.C.Y.T.H.E. would put it on the map, and Death would find it. People would die, Collections Agents—grim reapers—would come for their souls, and Nora would face repercussions from S.C.Y.T.H.E.
And Charlie would live.
With no one trying to murder him any longer, his case file would be updated, and he would live. Nora undid her seat belt.
“You kids go ahead,” said Charles. “I’ll be along in a moment.”
The twins and the parrot left the van and hurried over to the pay phone.
“I hate phone calls,” said Nora as they walked.
“Especially work calls when you know you’re already in trouble,” Charlie commiserated.
“Especially when those calls end in the destruction of immortality,” Nora added.
“Especially those.”
She glanced up at the bird circling just above them. “What do you think it was that Charles wanted her to tell us?”
“Huh?”
“You said in the note he left with Jessica, Charles wrote that she could tell us what we deserved to know, but most of what she says is ‘fuck,’ and I hear enough of that from you.”
“Does it matter at this point?” Charlie shrugged. “I mean, you did a pretty solid job solving my almost murder all by yourself.”
“I guess,” said Nora. “I just…” She watched as Jessica landed on the pay phone and fluffed up her feathers, her eyes boring into Nora with the intensity of a scream. “When we were drivinghere…the reason I drove off the road…I asked Jessica about her life before you, and she screamed.”
“Weird,” said Charlie.
“Weird,” Nora agreed. She reached out for the pay phone receiver and paused. “You don’t think she was there when it happened, do you?”
“What do you mean?”
“When Mom and Dad…Nothing. Probably nothing. It’s…” She looked back at the parrot. “Jessi—Silver, do you remember anything about Martin? Martin Bird?”
Jessica’s little chest swelled with a deep breath before her lungs erupted in a soul-rattling shriek.
“Heavens,” came a voice from behind them.
The twins turned around to find Charles walking in their direction. They could barely hear his footsteps over the sound of Jessica’s scream. She raced back and forth across her perch, the scream beginning to form words.
