That set us off on another round of uncontrollable giggles. Connor woke up and copied us, his tiny face exploding into a wicked smile that quickly turned into a howl. Kelly stood up and bounced him in his arms as she walked around the room. “Are you really with all five guys?” she yelled over his wails.
“Are you really with Jane now?” I shot back.
Kelly blushed. “I asked you first.”
“Fine. Yes, I’m with all the guys,” I met her eyes, daring her to turn away in disgust, hoping with everything I had left thatshe wouldn’t. “We’re in love. All of us. I know it’s crazy. I never meant for it to happen. I resisted it at first because I thought Mom and Dad would disapprove. When we came to see you in Arizona, Arthur still wasn’t part of the group, but he decided he wanted to be. After we paid Uncle Bob that visit?—”
“Iknewyou did something,” Kelly’s eyes glinted. “Uncle Bob just wouldn’t give me all that money and let me roam free like a harlot. I hope you didn’t hurt them.”
“I didn’t! I mean, not really. Not badly. I just wanted you to get what you needed so you could have a life.”
“Just tell me what you did.”
“Mostly I just yelled at him. Then we sort of accidentally… burned his house down.”
Kelly snorted. “You didn’t?”
I shrugged. “It really was an accident, but then Arthur was involved and things got… heated. In a literal sense. See what I mean about you being the better person?”
Kelly grinned. “I always knew it. Iampretty awesome. What did you do after you set fire to Uncle Bob’s house?”
“Arthur drove me to the cemetery. I talked to Mom and Dad.”
“You did?” Tears welled at the corners of her eyes. “I did that, before I met Jane. It never helped, and now I’m too afraid.”
“At first it felt stupid, because I believe they returned to the stardust they’re made of, not souls hanging around watching everything I do. But then… it didn’t feel stupid anymore. It felt reallyimportantthat I explain about the guys in a way they could understand. Talking to them helped me figure some stuff out for myself. And Idobelieve, wherever they are now and whatever their souls are doing, they would want us both to be happy and to deal with our grief the best way we can.”
“But if I talk to them, I know exactly what they’ll say,” Kelly shook her head. “I remember the bible verses about homosexuality.”
“Do you also remember Dad saying in one of his sermons that the Bible was written in another time, and that when God’s word contradicted itself, to ask Him for guidance? If your heart tells you to be with Jane, and being with her makes you stronger, makes you a better person, then how can God disapprove of that? Don’t let words in a book overwhelm what you know in your heart. Mum and Dad were good people, even if they didn’t want this for you, I feel as though if you came to them and said, ‘this is who I am, and I’m happy,’ they would have supported you. Take it from the filthy heathen scientist – they always supported me.”
“The filthy heathen scientist polygamist,” Kelly sniffed, wiping tears from her eyes.
“I think the term is polyamorythese days.” I grinned. “I like to think of them as my harem.”
Kelly sniffed. “It figures you couldn’t get a single guy in high school and now you’re making up for lost time.”
“Hey, I may have been a late bloomer, but I had a great teacher.” I leaned over Connor’s flailing arms and kissed her forehead. “Are we good, little sis? I can’t stand it if we’re not good.”
Kelly leaned her head against my shoulder, her tears soaking my t-shirt. “I’m so sorry about Corbin,” she whispered.
“Me too.”
Her jiggles turned Connor’s cries into whimpers. “What’s going to happen now?”
“In two days time, the Slaugh will come. That’s an army of the souls of the restless dead.” Kelly gasped. “Don’t worry, we’ve already come up with a way to stop them.” As simply as I could I explained about the belief magic and how we’d stored it in Flynn’s statue and how Ryan was going to release a painting to increase the magic still further. Okay, so it wasn’t exactly quick, but I think I got there in the end.
Kelly brightened as I detailed the plan. “Are you saying that belief is a form of magic?”
“Yeah.”
“So, like, when I pray, I’m doing magic?”
I shrugged. “In a way, yeah.”
“I like that.” Kelly set Connor on the rug and rolled a plastic ball toward him. Her eyes twinkled. “We’re not so different after all, Einstein.”
I knew I should find my guys and figure out what was going on with Arthur. That outburst of his this morning was not cool. But I couldn’t bring myself to leave Kelly’s side. Even though she’d been beside me all this time, I’d missed her. Now we had no more secrets it felt just like the old days. She played with Connor and chatted about random stuff while I pretended to read some books on DNA and epigenetics I found on Ryan’s bookshelves. I could tell from the glint in her eye that she wanted to ask me about the sex, but she held back.
