“Greta! Oh my gosh! I see you, Greta!”
There were more cries of joy, and tears of happiness, and it all gave me warm fuzzies. I barely had the boat docked before people were lined up to file off.
They all still gave me hugs and thanked me for the journey, even though I knew how excited they were to disembark and see their loved ones.
Mr. Russell was last in line, and he gave me an extra hard squeeze. “You were right, Sebbie. Isn’t she beautiful?” he asked, pointing towards the shore.
“I’m sure she is,” I answered.
He looked at me kind of weirdly.
“I don’t see them. I know they’re there, and I can hear them, but they’reyourloved ones, not mine, so I don’t see them. I’m so happy for you, though. I’m so happy I could be here to bring you to the other side.”
Mr. Russell smiled. “Yes, Sebbie. Thank you. Thank you for not letting me make the journey alone.”
We hugged again, and yeah, maybe I got a little teary, but I shooed him off to go find his someone special, giving a sigh of happiness when the boat was empty. I leaned on my staff, looking out across the water, waiting to wake up.
Only I heard a crow caw, then it flew over and landed on my shoulder.
“Hello, love. Fancy meeting you here,” I said, giving the crow a little head scratch.
I turned around, already knowing who I was going to see.
It was the man in the dark suit. He was as handsome as ever, and as refined as ever, too. Not that I was attracted to him inthatway. Eww. He was almost like my dad or something, even if hewashot. I’d known him since I was a little kid, and I just couldn’t think of him like that.
“You’ve been up to some trouble,” he said in greeting. Then he really looked at me, giving my pink cape and hood a once over. When he spotted the tiny jewels on my staff (don’t judge—it looked pretty), I could tell he wanted to smile, even if his face made some sort of weird spasming movement.
“Do you like the outfit? And we had rum punch on the way over!” I gushed. “They were agreatgroup.”
He rolled his eyes and sighed. “Of course they were a great group. You only choose the nice ones.”
I shrugged. “Nice people deserve nice things.” It was true—I really did believe that.
The man in the dark suit sighed again. “Well, you‘re going to have to deal with more than nice people in the near future, I’m afraid. You’ve already dipped your toe into that, and you’ve rippled the waters. What has been unlocked cannot simply be locked up again.”
I gave the crow on my shoulder another scratch. “It’ll be fine,” I declared.
I had full faith it would be. After all, I had a pink cloak, a boat with rum punch, and a bedazzled staff. Of course it would be fine.
I couldn’t wait to tell Toby about this dream. Maybe I’d even try to find a pink cloak for real life. It was so cool looking.
With one final roll of his eyes, the man in the dark suit waved his hand, and I opened my eyes to the first rays of sunlight peaking in through my bedroom window. I gave one long, luxurious stretch, hopped out of bed, threw on my slippers and my robe (unfortunately it wasnotpink), and headed toward the kitchen.
The sun was only just rising, and it was my favorite part of the morning. I brewed myself a nice cup of tea, added a bit of honey to it, and grabbed the bowl I’d set out last night, taking the foil off the top.
I went out onto the front porch, smiling as the soft sound of caws greeted me. “Good morning, loves! I brought breakfast!”
I set some nuts and berries along the railing, and I watched as my breath came out in little puffs of steam. “Chilly morning. I’m going to grab a blanket to wrap up in. Watch my tea.”
I set my tea next to the rocker and went inside, grabbing a throw off the couch before heading back out and settling into therocker. I was wrapped up and cozy before long, and if my nose was a bit chilly, I just held the steaming mug up to my face to warm it.
The crows were still softly cawing, and I smiled and watched as they enjoyed breakfast. A few left little tokens on the railing for me—a coin, a pretty stone, a twig covered in soft-looking green moss. I thanked each crow as they left something, smiling at them.
My favorite gift was still the stuffed crow that I'd been brought a few weeks ago. It tickled me beyond all reasoning that they’d found such a thing and brought it to me. Speaking of… Yes, I thought I saw the crow who had left it sitting over in the trees. They were a little larger than the other crows, and they seemed to be… I don’t know, more intelligent or something. It was probably silly, but I felt like they were the head crow.
I took another sip of tea, luxuriating in the morning. I had four whole days off ahead of me, and I could do anything I wanted. Maybe it was time to pay a visit to Toby.
He totally wouldn’t mind if I had ulterior motives. In fact, if I told him I was trying to run into Corbin, he’d probably help me arrange it.
