Marci looked down guiltily. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have forgotten you, but it was the only way to beat Vann Jeger and save Julius and—”
“I know,” Aldo said. “I have your memories, don’t forget. I know why you made the choices you did, and I’m not angry about being forgotten. You did what you had to do, and the livingshouldcome before the dead. That’s why I want you to consider your choices carefully now, because there’s much she isn’t telling you.”
He looked pointedly at Amelia, who bristled. “You make it sound like I’m trying to con her.”
“Are you?” Marci asked.
Amelia looked appalled. “Of course not! He just wants you to stay dead so he can stay here with you instead of going back to the Empty Wind.”
Marci’s eyes went wide, but when she looked at her father, he didn’t deny it.
“I don’t think it’s shocking that I’d rather stay in this warm, peaceful place with my daughter than go back to the empty cold of a death god,” Aldo said. “But this is about Marci, not me. I’m her father. I care about her in life and death, which is more than I can say for you.” His eyes narrowed. “You were happy to let her die if it got you what you wanted.”
“I didn’t ‘let her die,’” Amelia said angrily. “It was a calculated risk!”
“That you didn’t tell her about.”
“Only because telling her would have ruined everything!” the dragon cried. “If I’d warned her what was coming, that knowledge could have changed her decisions and ruined years of Bob’s plans. I couldn’t take that risk, and I knew it would be fine. Marci understands better than most dragons that greatness doesn’t come easy or cheap. That’s why I bet it all on her in the first place.” She looked up at Marci. “Right?”
Marci sighed. She was flattered Amelia thought so highly of her, but…“I’d rather not have died,” she said honestly. “Not if there was another way.”
“There wasn’t,” Amelia said, digging her tiny claws into Marci’s skin. “All Merlins get to this side through their spirits, and you’re bound to the spirit of the Forgotten Dead. Death wasalwaysyour ticket. All Bob and I did was nudge things around a bit to make sure you died at the right time and in the right way so that I could come with you.”
“You used her,” Aldo said angrily.
“She used me back!” Amelia cried, puffing out her chest. “Why do you think I’m so tiny, huh? Marci sucked me down to embers before she died, but did I complain? No! I let her take whatever she needed, because that’s what friendship’s all about: using and being used in return.”
Aldo Novalli opened his mouth to argue, but Marci got there first. “Enough,” she said, putting up her hands. “I appreciate you sticking up for me, Daddy, but what’s done is done. Amelia’s right. I did use her, and while I definitely would have appreciated a heads up about what was coming, I wouldn’t have chosen differently at the end. I still would have died, so now that that’s settled, I’d like to focus onnotbeing dead anymore rather than arguing over whose fault it is.”
“But that’s what I’m trying to tell you,” Aldo said desperately. “You came into this thinking you could just walk out again, but that’s not how it is. This isdeath, the mortal end. It isn’t something you can casually come back from.”
A cold knot began to form in Marci’s chest. “But there has to be a way,” she said. “Why would I die to become a Merlin if there wasno way back?”
Her father sighed. “I don’t know as much about planar metaphysics as your friend there, but I’ve flown with the Empty Wind for a long time now, and—”
“Come on, dude, really?” Amelia interrupted. “She only forgot you a week ago.”
“A week can be a very long time in a place where time doesn’t mean much,” Aldo answered, keeping his eyes stubbornly on Marci. “I know you came here thinking death was a doorway. Others led you to believe that, and maybe for them it is, but we’re not spirits,carina.We’re mortals, and for us, it’s never that simple.”
“But itispossible,” Marci said, fists clenching. “I stopped fighting for my life because Ghost told me dying was the path to becoming a Merlin. Are you saying he lied?”
“No, no,” Aldo said, shaking his head. “He was absolutely right. Itisthe only way for you, but it’s not an easy path.”
“I never expected it to be!”
“I know,” he said, clutching her hands. “You’ve never shied away from hard tasks, but I don’t think you comprehend the difference in degree here.” He looked up with a sigh. “I think the best way is just to show you. Come with me.”
He turned and walked into the house. Equal parts nervous and curious, Marci followed, climbing the stairs to the porch with Amelia clinging to her shoulder.
Now that she knew whose memories had built it, stepping through the door of the house she’d shared with Julius hurt more than Marci expected. It didn’t seem possible that she could feel so strongly about a place where she’d spent such a small part of her life, but for the weeks she’d lived here with Julius, this building had been home.Theirhome, together. But just as she was thinking she wouldn’t have traded her time here for the world, Marci realized she had. Julius had been right there when she died, yelling at her to stay, to hold on. But she hadn’t. She’d let go of him to follow Ghost into death, thinking it was only temporary. Thinking she could come back. Now, following her father up the creaking stairs, Marci began to wonder if she’d made a terrible mistake.
When they climbed to the third floor, she figured they were headed for her casting workshop in the attic, but her father didn’t turn at the final landing. Instead, he opened the window, sliding up the glass pane and popping the rusted screen so he could crawl out onto the slanted roof. He really had to crawl, too. This was the tallest part of the old house, the sharp-slanted gables that ran directly beneath the blackened cement bottoms of the on-ramps. Nervously, Marci crawled after him, clinging to the crumbling asphalt shingles to keep from sliding off. When she was stable enough to look up, she raised her head to ask her dad why he’d brought her up, only to discover there was no need. The truth was right in front of her.
“Wow,” she whispered.
In the real world, the spiraling ramps above their house met up to form the final merge lane onto the Skyways. Here, though, the ramps forming the roof simply vanished, leaving a circle of darkness at the peak of the cavern that rippled like water.
“Whatisthat?” Marci asked, scooting carefully along the steep roof until she was crouching at the edge, as close to the circle as she could get.
