Kit frowns and grumbles, “It was an accident?”
“She was looking for Tonsilgril. Needed his toenails or something? I don’t recall.”
Kit’s eyes flare. “Well, she better be fucking glad she got me instead. Tonsilgril has been locked in Hell for centuries because every time he’s on Earth, he starts to pillage and butcher. A little pillaging and butchering, fine, but too much of it is bad for business. According to Hell.” He clears his throat. “I personally am against the butchering of innocents.”
Matthias’s expression glimmers. “Thank you for making that clear. Anyway, she was glad. You bought her dinner.”
I gawp at Kit in astonishment. “You bought her dinner? God, you were a terrible demon.”
Kit grins. “Always was a better human, I think.” He gestures vaguely to Matthias. “So, spell to alter documents, huh? What about one to alter memories? To make my family think I was never dead?”
Matthias cringes. “Technically, those do exist, but they’re against code. Even with the consent of the person whose memory is being altered. I can’t do that for you. I’m sorry.”
I ask, “No memory spells whatsoever?” as my fingers continue to draw slow lines up and down Kit’s back.
“No,” Matthias says firmly. “Though, with the modification spell, I can alter perception. So, it’s not changing what people know, but it’s making them look away, in a sense. Curbing the desire to dig deeper.”
Kit gnaws his lip. “That’s fine. I’ll just go give my family collective heart attacks. Maybe me not aging since I died will help sell it?”
I pat his back. “Maybe. What about anyone else you come across?”
“I’ll gaslight them into thinking my death was a Mandela effect?”
“Sure.” I grimace before I offer another idea. “Instead of going through the trouble to alter the documents and try to explain your existence, you could take on a new identity. Witness protection of sorts. Christopher Mitchell could stay dead.”
He shakes his head. “I don’t think I can do that. I can’t live as someone else now that I finally got my life back.”
My fingers lace through his. “Then that’s what we’ll do.”
Kit hangsaround the store for the rest of the day, making a list of every document that would need to be altered, forged, or destroyed, as well as a basic list of all the items he needs to survive as a human. He asks me questions every time I walk past him like, “WhatiPhone are we on now? Twenty-seven? I have paid no attention to technology these past four years.” Or, “What do you mean only boomers use Facebook now? What’s a boomer? That’s different than a zoomer?”
He also spends some time researching flights to Sacramento. He finds one for two weeks from now that is reasonably priced.
“Will you come with me?” he asks, eyes soft.
“Are you sure you want me there? This will be a big moment for you and your family.”
“Which is why I need you. If things go terribly, or even if they go perfectly, I need you there to hold my hand.”
“Glad to,” I say genuinely. I’ll be with him every step of the way.
I get off at seven, but Matthias isn’t done until ten. While we’re waiting, we go buy Kit a phone. Afterward, we head back to my place, and it’s not long before I’m straddling Kit on the couch, receiving my fourth orgasm of the day.
We’ll make it to the bed eventually.
Then we head back out to meet Matthias at the graveyard, the same one where we performed the spell to bring Kit back to life.
Kit and I stroll up hand in hand. Matthias is already here with a laptop, three lit candles, and an assortment of spices.
“Did you bring your list?” he asks.
Kit holds it out to him, his hand visibly shaking. I squeeze the hand of his I hold tighter, reminding him that I am here and everything will be okay.
After reading through the list, Matthias recites a few straightforward spells in English (that sound more like simple requests) from where he sits on the ground. “Erase his past and securehis future. His death will be gone and his life will go on. Evidence of his departure will fade and be replaced by evidence of his existence.”
Kit stands starkly still beside me, watching Matthias with unblinking eyes.
Matthias sets the list on fire, dropping it in a metal bowl and sprinkling turmeric, rosemary, and crushed blueberries over the flames. The flames glow purple before they die out. Matthias looks satisfied. “All right. Simple as that.”
