“You’re right. Let’s put him to rest.” Because then it would be a fresh start for all of us.
I stood atop the cliff, looking out over the ocean on Galadria Island. Damien had bought an island with a beautiful beach house that I could stay at when we wanted to visit Dawn. Dawn, Rodger, Clyde, Joan, and all of the Galadrias I’d known personally or had personally known Master Aki, stood atop the rocky cliff spread out behind my best friends. Holding on to the urn, I lifted the lid and looked out at my friends.
“Thank you all for being here.”
Maxine wore a super inappropriately short and tight black dress that was not funeral worthy but very Maxine. She clung to Nox, who stroked her red hair. Ronnie was wearing a smart-looking pant suit, and seeing her and Brisk holding hands tightly brought a smile to my lips, but that smile fell when I noticed Lucy, the psycho kitten, hidden in her coat. Josephine and Mr. Han stood respectfully with hands clasped next to Jeremy, who kept tugging at his suit. Damien was right by my side. He looked up at me with a complete and total adoration and it made my stomach spin, but that could also be the morning sickness.
“Master Aki was like a father to me. He’s the only one who understood my… gifts.” My mom wasn’t going to be able to make it, she had work. She and everyone else in the security industry had to find other jobs to make a living. Luckily, myself and my team were still hired by my billionaire boyfriend as “private security.” But Tatum stayed in the academy, since the United States had announced it was going to keep a program training soldiers in the event the ghoulies ever came back.
I raised the urn into the air. “He’d want us all to be happy, to live our lives with purpose, and most of all to love.”
“To Master Aki!” my friends chorused.
Turning away from them, I let a single tear slide down my cheek. He wouldn’t want me to mourn him too much, or to take away from the joy of being pregnant, even if it was an unplanned thing.
Looking at the crashing waves below, I tilted the urn upside down and watched his ashes blow away into wind and onto the sea.
“Is this legal?” Jeremy asked suddenly.
“Shh!” Damien quieted his brother, but it was too late. We’d all giggled, which turned into full-blown laughter.
I spun to see that everyone was smiling, just as Master Aki would have wanted it. Even Dawn held a grin.
‘Smart human is funny, when he’s not trying to map Dawn’s brain,’ she said.
Jeremy had become obsessed with neuroscience since he’d started studying me, and now wanted to map a Galadria.
A grin tugged at my lips. ‘Smart human won’t stop until every Galadria’s brain has been mapped.’
We both chuckled at that.
My cell phone pinged, and I glanced down to see that my special package had arrived a few hours early. Well, considering it was flown in on a private helicopter, I wasn’t expecting it to be on time. I couldn’t keep this waiting.
“Jeremy, there is a package for you at the front door,” I informed him with a wink.
Damien frowned in confusion, while Ronnie and I shared a conspiratorial look. I set the empty urn down and followed Jeremy through the house. He asked no questions; bless him, he just trusted me. Damien and the others, save for the Galadrias, wove through the open patio and into the living room. We all watched as Jeremy opened the door to sign for the small cardboard box with holes in it.
After the delivery man left, Jeremy opened the box with a frown and then gasped when he saw what was inside. “A Sceloporus spiny lizard! I mean, it’s not exactly the coloring I wanted, but…” He rushed forward, holding the lizard between his fingers, and pulled me into a hug.
A tight, full body hug.
“I love you, Kit. Thank you.”
My throat tightened, my chest heaved, and it took everything I had to keep from losing my shit in a pile of tears.
Jeremy hugged me.
Jeremy said I love you.
“Josephine, get your laptop! We need to order a cage for him. And crickets. And he’ll need a heat lamp…” He rattled more things off, but I looked up and saw Damien had unshed tears in his eyes.
Maxine and the rest of my crew silently went outside, where all the food was, and I walked up to Damien. Jeremy and Josephine ran upstairs to order things for the lizard, leaving us alone.
I grinned. “He hugged me.”
Damien nodded, reaching out for my hand. “You’re so good with him.”
‘Thank you,’ I sent mentally.
Damien grinned. “Still works.”
Tipping back, I laughed. “Just checking.”
We’d all expected my “gift” to go away since the Dream War had crumbled. But Jeremy’s hypothesis was that my brain actually changed physically when the ghouls had landed and it wasn’t just going to go back soon, or maybe ever.
I still tested it out every so often.
Damien pulled me into his arms as I ran my fingers down his back and pressed my hips into his. “I love you.”
“And I love you.”
Damien brushed his lips against my nose. “If it’s a boy, Damien Junior.”
Laughter bubbled in my chest. “No way. Cheesy.”
He feigned a hurt expression. “Fine. If it’s girl… after my beloved Grandmother Gertrude?” He was grinning.
“Please tell me you’re joking…”
His whole body was shaking with laughter. “I’m joking. We can call him or her whatever you want.”
I smiled. “If it’s a girl… Dawn. And a boy… Aki?”
Damien’s face grew serious. “I think that’s perfect. I can’t wait.”
Nine months later, I gave birth to Dawn Rose Steele-Striker, shortly after Damien and I eloped to Vegas. The war might be over, but I was still going to teach my daughter how to kick ass just in case. Raising a princess with a trust
