where more of Hecate’s guards had met the sunlight. Just inside the front doors, she spotted a belt that held some old prison keys. She retraced her steps to the staircase by the auditorium. Downstairs, she released Valentine and the other prisoners. The ones who could run took off for the stairs. Zoe and Valentine were the last to leave. She held on to her brother’s shoulder as he hobbled up the stairs on his bent leg.
It was slow going, but they made their way down the boardwalk, neither of them talking because there was nothing to say right then. Things were changing quickly in the city, as if its residents had been poised to move for a thousand years.
Buses were already lining up to take souls to. . well, Zoe thought, wherever it was souls went to from here. She looked at Valentine and a smile spread across both of their faces. She knew what he was thinking, that wherever the buses were going, it was somewhere else, somewhere new. An adventure. And it was no one’s choice but his own whether to get on or not. Valentine asked her what had happened back at City Hall and Zoe told him. He nodded as she talked. When she was done, he just laughed, leaned over, and kissed the top of her head.
It took them an hour of wandering through the crush of excited souls to find their father. He grinned happily when he saw Zoe and took her in his arms. “I take it back,” he said. “The last time I said I didn’t want to see you for fifty years, it was just practice. But I’ll mean it the next time.” He let go of her and looked at the sun, shielding his eyes with one hand. “I don’t know what just happened or how, but I have a feeling you had something to do with it,” he said fondly.
“Hecate’s dead,” she said.
Her father’s eyes widened.
“You did that?”
“No. The sun did. All I did was find the sun.”
“That’s my girl,” he said, and pulled her to him.
She took Valentine’s hand and pulled him forward. “This is the friend I told you about. The one who helped me.”
Zoe’s father smiled at the boy and took him into a big bear hug, saying, “Thank you for taking care of my little girl.” Zoe saw Valentine stiffen the same way he had when she’d first touched him. Then she saw him relax just a little and tentatively put a hand on his father’s back.
“There’s something you should know, Dad. A secret,” she said. Valentine’s body grew rigid again and he took an awkward step back from them, but she grabbed his hand and held him there.
“You said you wouldn’t tell,” Valentine said through clenched teeth.
“The secret is stupid. Look,” she said, pointing at the buses, “everyone is moving on. You have to, too.”
“I can’t,” said Valentine. “Look at me.” He pulled her hand, but Zoe held him tight.
“What is this, Zoe? What’s going on?” asked their father.
“Dad, you two don’t know each other, but this is Valentine, your son.”
Zoe’s father stared at her with a blank, uncomprehending look. He turned to the boy as if hoping for some kind of explanation, but Valentine kept his head low in his torn coat collar. “Trust me, Dad. I’ve known him all my life, but I didn’t know who he was until I came here.” She looked at Valentine. “You can be mad at me for telling.” She turned to her father. “You can be mad at me for not telling, but there’s no way I was leaving here without you two meeting.” She let go of her brother’s hand. To her relief, he didn’t try to run away. “Valentine, say hello to Dad. Dad, say hello to Valentine.”
Their father stared at the boy. “Valentine?” He turned to Zoe. “How is this possible?”
She nodded at Valentine. “He can tell you. He’s smart.”
Their father put his hands on both their shoulders. “I’m lost here,” he said. “I don’t know what to say.”
“I can explain it, if you like,” said Valentine quietly. He stared down at the ground. “Will you be getting on one of the buses?”
“Yeah,” said their father. “I suppose I will.”
Valentine nodded. “Maybe we could ride together,” he said. “If you want, I can tell you as we go.”
“I’d like that.”
From out of the crowd, Caroline appeared. Like the others, she looked a little dazed by the sunlight, but she was smiling. “There you all are,” she said merrily. “Isn’t it a lovely day?” She looked up at the sun, squinted, and looked away. “I need to practice what one does and doesn’t do on sunny days, I think.” She touched Zoe’s shoulder. “I’ve been sent to fetch you, dear.”
“Fetch me for what?” asked Zoe.
Caroline cocked her head slightly. “There’s a bus waiting for you,” she said. “It’s time for all little living girls to go home.”
Zoe looked at Valentine and her father. “She’s right, Zoe,” her father said. While keeping one arm out so that Valentine could lean on him, he took Zoe’s hand and they followed Caroline to the last bus in the row. The door hissed open as they approached. Gently, but firmly, Caroline urged Zoe up to the bottom step of the bus.
“I guess I’m really going this time,” said Zoe, feeling a little overwhelmed and lost; so much was happening so fast.
“Yeah, kiddo,” said her father. “And this time I really mean the fifty-year thing.”
“It’s a deal,” she said.
Valentine limped to the platform and hugged her. “I’m glad we really, finally met,” he said.
“Me, too,” said Zoe. “Will I see you again, in the tree fort?”
Valentine shrugged. “I don’t know. Where we’re going, I don’t know if I’ll be able to get there.” He brightened a little. “Anyway, you don’t need me there anymore. You can take care of yourself.”
She leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. “Don’t worry, I’ll always need you.”
Zoe’s father took a coin from his pocket and dropped it into Zoe’s hand. “You know how I told you that some spirits cling to things from life? I liked to pretend that I was above all that, but the truth is, I wasn’t,” he said. “The club where your mother and I met had these drink tokens they sometimes gave to regulars. I had this one with me when I died. Give it to her for me, will you?”
Zoe turned the coin over in her hand. It was penny brown, but as large as a quarter. On one side was a ragged anarchy
“I’ll give it to her first thing when I get back,” she said, slipping the coin into her pocket.
“Time to go, dear,” said Mrs. Somerville.
“But wait,” said Zoe. “What happens to all those people who helped Hecate?”
Valentine, Caroline, and her father all looked at one another. “I have no idea,” her father said. “Some of them probably didn’t want to help her. We all did things we didn’t want to do here. The ones who did side with her, maybe they’ll have to answer for it somewhere, sometime. I don’t know. My guess is they’ll stay right here hiding in the city forever, afraid to move on.” He looked around at the growing crowd. “But it’s not my job to worry about it and it’s not yours. . so fuck them all.”
Caroline gave Zoe a small wave. “You have a good trip home, and a long and lovely life when you get there.”
“Thank you,” Zoe said. She called to her father, “When I come back old and wrinkled, you’ll recognize me because I’ll be the old lady in the Germs T-shirt.”
The bus doors hissed closed and the engine ground to life. Zoe sat up front and slid across the seat to the window. She waved to Valentine and her father as the bus pulled away. It moved slowly through the dense crowd of smiling faces. She turned for a last look at the beach just as they were passing the abandoned amusement park. It looked kind of cool in the sun, she thought. Absynthe would love the place, she thought. Maybe Julie and Laura, too. What was she going to tell them about all this? If she told the truth, they’d think she really was crazy or, worse, showing off by pretending to be crazy. It was a strange kind of problem, she thought. Then the light faded from the windows and the interior lights on the bus dimmed. Suddenly everything was very soft and dark and quiet. For a second it felt like falling, but she wasn’t scared at all.
