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  I huffed. "None taken, Graphter. You can keep your jokes. I'm not really in the mood."

  "But this is what you wanted!" he yelled and smiled. "You wanted the world to be free of compulsion! You wanted us to know the rebels meant business. You wanted us to know this was your town. Well, we know and here we are to congratulate you on a job…piss poorly done. You get an 'A' for effort, but an 'F' for execution."

  "Get on with it," Jeff growled. "We don't need to banter with you. Just do whatever it is that you're going to do."

  "Well, we're going to kill you," he stated matter-of-factly. "But we have a few things to discuss first. One being this." He yanked Lillian up. My mouth fell open. She'd snuck out somehow. I hadn't even known she was out here with us. I saw Simon beside her and knew he'd been helping her. He would feel responsible to her for Cain. "For two, I've met our traitor, now you can meet yours."

  Piper walked up from the back of the pack. She shaved her head mostly, leaving only a little black stubble. She smiled at us. I didn't even question the hows or whys. It just didn't matter anymore.

  "We found her where you had deserted her in your hideout. We offered her a place if she helped us look for you. She was so close to this place several times," he mused and looked around. "But she's been very instrumental in our pursuits. She followed you home last night and came to tell us. But then you pulled your little stunt, so we were….delayed in coming for our visit. And we won't be killing your women." He grinned at Lillian and she looked as if she might slap him. "We'll be keeping them for our…pleasure."

  Then she did slap him. It was the slap heard round the dustbowl. He stared in shock and then his face melted into anger. He let her arm go and lifted his arms as if to smite her in some way, but then a Lighter was blown back and toppled into him, sending him flying with him. A boom resounded to our side.

  Cain was huffing his breaths like he'd ran. And I guessed he had. He ran on the other side of our group and engulfed Lillian, even as the Graphter got up and came his way for more. She gripped onto him and we waited.

  His steps shook us and his anger was a tangible thing. It filled our lungs and let us know he was done with his banter. Cain raised his hand again, but stopped. "Dang. Forgot you're some kind of freak that can't be blown to bits."

  "True. I'm immune to your abilities. But you aren't immune to mine." He clapped his hands and we all covered our ears and groaned. Cain had been the closest. When he pulled his hands back, a small trail of blood was making its way from his ear down his neck.

  The Graphter then pulled Chesser up from the ground. He held him up by his neck, his feet dangling under him, and said, "I also have other gifts you have yet to see. Until now."

  Then he pressed his hand to Chesser's chest and we watched as his skin became ashen. Impossible! The Graphter was absorbing him!

  "Stop him!" I heard from behind us and twirled around in a blur to see for myself that Sherry had changed her mind about coming. And, oh…no! No! She had Lily with her. She yelled again, "Stop him! Chesser's going to be the new Taker!"

  It hit me then. I wasn't sure how I knew, but Lily and Mrs. Trudy were involved somehow. I turned back to see The Graphter lowering Chesser's feet back to the ground. They were fighting...internally. Chesser would lose all his color and look sick, and then the Graphter would shake and fight for control again as Chesser's cheeks turned pink with life.

  Finally, I saw Chesser was winning. "Merrick!" Sherry yelled and silently pleaded with me to believe her. I did. Chesser was winning over the beast and he would become the new Taker without even realizing what he was doing. I yanked the crow bar from Miguel's hand then staked the Lighter who tried to stop me. The lightning that blasted from him shook the others, who were watching the Graphter display with interest, out of their funk. I avoided them barely and then stuck the bar through the Graphter's back and out toward Chesser through his chest.

  Chesser turned to us and I could see it was too late. He was the Taker.

  I shook my head at what I had to do, but Lily ran past me and went to stand in front of Chesser. He grinned down at her. "Hello, little girl."

  "You don't remember me, do you?" she asked.

  I bolted forward to stop her, to get her away from him, when Sherry grabbed my arm. Anyone else would have gotten the shove-off, but she was crying and begged me in a whisper, "I know this is crazy, just please let her do this."

  I wanted to be angry at her. What the hell was she doing? I turned back to Lily just as Chesser, the Taker, was answering her.

  "I don't remember you, no. Should I?"

  "Not really," Lily said and smiled.

  "I am kind of hungry," he drawled and stepped a little closer. He crouched down to be at her level and I almost lost it. Sherry gripped me tighter, her sobs getting a little louder. "Know where I can get some souls to eat around here?"

  "You are a bad man. You used to be a good man who carwed about his people, but now you only care about yowself!"

  He chuckled. "You humans are so full of passion and pity. It's why you taste so good." He reached for her and my heart stopped, but before I could even think about moving, Lily grabbed his face in her hands.

  "I see you in there, Chesser." She moved closer, only an inch away from the man who wanted to end her life. "Come back, Chesser."

  The Taker jolted and looked around wide eyed. "Help me!" he yelled to the Lighters, but they just watched in an awe that startled me. It was as if they wanted him to die. "Help me, you fools!"

  No one moved a muscle, we just watched, horrified and hopeful, as his skin began to ashen. And then real ashes appeared on his body. He looked like he was falling apart. At first I thought Lily was becoming the evil thing, but the wind blew and we saw the ashes float away from Chesser's skin and drift into nothing as the wind carried it away.

  Lily let his face go and he just stayed there like that, wide eyed. Lily turned to look at the other Lighters and they all fell to the ground. The Markers burned up and fell the long way to the ground. Black Marker bones and lifeless bodies littered the area. All except for Piper, who knelt in the dirt and looked lifeless and dead inside.

  We all waited for something to indicate what was going on. Lily turned to us. "They went home. For good dis time. The Taker was a bad man to them, too."

  I rushed her. "What did you do?"

  "I did what Mrs. Twudy told me to. She said to tell the Taker to go to…" she looked around and whispered, "H..E…double hockey sticks."

  I wanted to laugh, but my body wouldn’t. "You sent him away."

  "He was mad," she said. "He didn't want to go, but he was a bad man, Daddy. Mrs. Twudy said to make him go away and the other guys would go home, too."

  I hugged her to me tightly. "Oh, baby. I'm so glad you're ok."

  "I'm ok. But mommy isn't." She pointed behind me. Sherry was rocking and sobbing on the ground. I finally could let something else in and saw everyone was waiting for something. I realized what it was.

  "It's over," I told them. "They're gone…for good. Lily sent them home."

  "Over, over? Like….over?" Danny asked and wrapped his arms around a smiling Celeste from behind.

  "Like, over, over," I confirmed.

  He laughed and then his chest started to shake. He was crying. He ran and gave me one of his big hugs, taking Lily from me and holding her in the air as she squealed and laughed. Then he yelled and laughed and whooped as he swung Lily around. Celeste was jumping up and down clapping as she watched Danny. Miguel started next and by the time I reached my Sherry, the whole yard was erupting in cheers and tears. There wasn't a dry eye in the place.

  I bent down on my knees and lifted Sherry's face with my finger under his chin. "It's over, baby."

  "I'm so sorry," she begged. "I saw Mrs. Trudy! She told me I had to let Lily go. I didn't want to, but I…."

  "Baby, Lily saved the day. Do you understand what happened here? Not only did the Lighters and Markers leave this place, they left the world. Honey, our lit
tle girl just saved the human race."

  She sniffed. "You're not angry with me for putting her in danger?"

  I chuckled, almost hysterical with everything that had happened. "I'm not sure she was. She seemed to be pretty good at what she was doing."

  She let her breath go slowly. "I thought you were never going to be able to forgive me."

  I pulled her up and pressed her chest to mine. Just as I was about to tell her exactly what I wanted to do to her, a warmth hit my chest. It spread rapidly and when I felt the wind on my face that only touched me and not Sherry, I knew what this was. I looked over my shoulder to see Jeff and Kay and Ryan. All of us Keepers. We were being called home.

  Piper began to scream and I looked over just in time to see her disappear. I closed my eyes and shut my mind to where she was going. I told them in my mind that I was happy. I wanted to stay with the woman in my arms that somehow had it in her mind that it was possible for me to hate her.

  I waited for their disappointment, for their shame, for their judgment, but it never came. I got this feeling come over me. I heard the voice in my mind. "Content and happy are two different things." I nodded and looked at my Sherry whose silver dollar sized eyes were trained on my face. They certainly were two different things. The warm feeling left me peacefully, with blessings my way.

  It was over. I was human. I was here to stay. I'd never see the After and I'd die one day as a human. It was everything I wanted and I smiled through my unshed tears and pulled Sherry to me.

  Simon stood and went to Cain. He hugged him hard and Cain seemed to understand somewhat that this was a goodbye. "Cain, I've never been more proud of a charge. Thank you for allowing me to watch over you."

  "Take it easy, Simon," Cain said in return and nodded to him. "You're a good guy."

  Simon nodded and then closed his eyes. His body fell to the ground and he was gone. Jeff must've made the same decision I had because he looked as peaceful as I'd ever seen his human face look. Marissa was crying into his shoulder and he held her gently and smiled.

  Kay went to Celeste and we knew what her decision was. Celeste shook her head a 'no', but Kay hugged her to her. "You don't need me anymore." She cupped her face. "Celeste, thank you." She looked between Danny and Celeste. "Take care of each other."

  "We will," Celeste said, but still asked, "You have to go?"

  "I have to go. I'll miss you. You were always my favorite. Maybe I'll check in on you from time to time." She looked at me. "Breaking the rules isn't unheard of."

  I smiled and took Sherry with me as I went to give my sister a final hug. I bid her farewell. "Guard you in all your ways, sister."

  "And you in yours, brother." She teared up. It was a mix of happy to go, but sad to want to stay.

  All the Keepers followed suit and bid her farewell, and then we bid Max farewell as well. And then Ann and Patrick and all the rest. In the end, only Jeff, me and Ryan were left.

  I held my breath and realized that I could no longer hear Ryan's thoughts. I wasn't tied to him any longer…because I was a human. I had chosen a mortal life and it made me the happiest to feel that I didn't feel much different. In my mind, I'd been human with Sherry all along.

  He stared at Ellie and then glanced at Calvin before settling on Ellie again. "Ryan," Ellie began, "we talked about this remember?" Her chest bucked with a sob that she tried to stop. "Go. Be with your kind and be happy. I just want you to be happy."

  He stared at her longer before nodding. The warm light left his face and I knew he'd made his decision. "I'm happy right here."

  "Are you sure?" she said in hysterics. "It's permanent, Ryan. I don't want to be a burden or..or a…or a regret-"

  He covered her mouth with his and she cried happily into their kiss and she got her answer. I turned to my wife and she looked at me like I was an alien. That thought stung after everything we'd just been through. She whispered the words like a prayer, "You stayed with me?"

  "Of course I did. I told you I always would."

  "But….I just thought you said that because the day would never come. You actually…chose me, over everything you've waited your whole life for."

  "You are my life," I told her sternly in a growl against her forehead. "You are my life, baby. I'm here to stay."

  Her sobs may have been the loudest of the whole bunch. It was almost funny how we all sat around and cried like a heap of babies for the ones lost, for the ones gone home, and for the ones who stayed who gave up one paradise for another kind.

  I pulled her face up once more and kissed her eyes, tasting the tears that were shed for me and no one else. God…thank you for this gift, for this girl, for this opportunity at having my everything, for letting me feel the difference between content and happy, for letting me have this family that loved me to my core and vice versa. Thank you for making me just to end up in the arms of the girl I watched when I wasn't supposed to. The girl who stole my heart and saved it all in the same moment. The girl who I'd grow old with and die with, happily, blissfully, contently.

  The end was looking pretty good. Brown eyes met mine and I was looking at my future. My brown eyed everything that saved us.

  My Sherry.

  The Beautiful End

  Chapter 31

  Sherry

  His skin was warm, but not as warm as it had been. It really was true. He was here to stay, he'd chosen us.

  He'd chosen me.

  I felt…torn again. I wanted him to stay, but he'd given up so much. I looked up into his green eyes and tried to tell him everything with my stare. My mouth would never utter the words, but I wanted him to know. The tears wouldn't stop either. He kissed my eyes. Such a sweet gesture and gave me a look that told me everything.

  That I was an idiot if I thought he'd ever leave me.

  We were on our knees in the sand and it bit into my skin, but I was focused on other things. I wrapped my arms around his neck and breathed him in. He squeezed me to his chest and said into my ear, "I can't believe this."

  "I know," I agreed and leaned back a fraction. I gazed at his face with nothing but love. "It's over, finally."

  "No," he said and chuckled. It sent goose bumps all over me. "No. I can't believe…I got everything I ever wanted."

  "Stop," I told him and sniffed. "You're going to make me cry again."

  He smiled. "I'll be here to wipe them away. Forever."

  I melted in more ways than one. He kissed my forehead. His smile was pure happiness, but when we heard a scream behind us, we both turned.

  Chesser was still kneeling in the sand in a stupor, but apparently had woken up. He was screaming at the sky. I felt my heart lurch thinking of all of the horrible possibilities. Was he still the Taker? Was he something else? But then he started to laugh. A deep, hysterical laugh and he bent down and kissed the dirt. He held his hands up and let two fistfuls of sand go and they blew over us in the wind.

  He looked over at us. Us being all of us who had stopped what we were doing to watch the maniac.

  "We did it!" he yelled and laughed again. "And you!" he pointed at Lily and got up, running to her. Her swung her around and hugged her to him. "You brought me back, you darling little thing!"

  She smiled at him and tilted her head. "Did you like Mrs. Trudy?"

  "Was that her name?" He smiled, too. "She sure was bossy." I laughed. I couldn’t help it. I covered my mouth to keep it to myself as he continued. "She said it was over." He looked around at all the bodies littering the ground. "I guess she was right."

  "What are we going to do now?" Rylee spoke up. She was dirty and her arm was bleeding. "What about the town?"

  "Let's go inside," Miguel said. "We'll clean up and see what the next step is." He took Rylee's hand. "Come on, ginger."

  "I love it when you call me ginger," she crooned. He grinned smugly, but then she socked him in the arm. "Not. Stop calling me that, Aussie, or we're gonna throw down again."

  He laughed and threw his arm over her shoulder. "You got it,
sheila. You got it."

  "Well," Danny sighed, "I wonder what Mom and Dad would say about all this." Celeste sat stoic in his lap. She understood that Kay needed to go, but after just recently losing her mother, naturally she was upset. He stroked her arm and let her snuggle in for comfort. I was proud of him.

  I rubbed the bandage on Merrick's foot that I had applied, making sure it was still stuck and watched Frank and Calvin chase Bones around the crates, playing fetch with my wooden spoon.

  "I don't know," I confessed. "I'm actually afraid of what they'd say." I leaned back into Merrick as we sat on the floor, leaning on the crates. He kissed the side of my neck and I sighed. "What do you think they'd say, Merrick?"

  He pressed his mouth to my bare shoulder, right over my Marker's scratch and his words were muffled. "Don't get me started on those two."

  "Things are so different now," Celeste said. "I can feel it. Things are going to be so…normal. It's weird."

  "Normal," Merrick mused and smiled. He leaned down to whisper into my ear. "No more Keeper talk, no more being oblivious to the cold, no more speed. You sure you still want me when I'm not so fantastic?" he joked.

  I laughed. "I do wish you'd gotten to speak to me just one more time in my mind." I looked up at him over my shoulder. "Your real Keeper voice was so sexy."

  "Like how? Deep?" He lowered his voice a notch. "Like this?"

  I giggled. "Lower."

  Lower, he said, "Like this, baby?"

  I laughed harder, along with Danny and Celeste, who were listening apparently. "That's it. Keep that up and we'll be fine."

  "No problem." He nipped my earlobe. "Anything you want."

  "I've got everything I want."