who it was. His stomach flipped; a shiver ran up his spine. 'Laura.' The word was barely more than an exhalation.
She threw back her hood with her typical flair for the dramatic. They were shocked to see Veitch was right about the tinge to her skin, but that the scars Callow had inflicted on her face were mysteriously missing shocked them more. 'Church-dude. You look like you've seen a ghost. Instead of just the walking dead.' She looked round at the others, who were rapt. 'Well, that's the kind of wild reception I always expected from this little group.'
Church jumped up, looking deeply into her eyes for a long moment, before putting his arms around her. She smelled of spring leaves and summer flowers. He didn't know what to say, so he led her to a space and sat her down.
Ruth leaned across the circle. 'I want to thank you-'
'Don't. We've all made sacrifices. That's what we do.' She nodded to the Bone Inspector. 'He's the one you should thank. If not for him I wouldn't be here for all that mystical five symbolism baloney you need to do the big job.'
'Somebody had to do it,' the Bone Inspector said grumpily. He shifted around, uncomfortable with the attention. 'Where's the Rhymer? I need to sort something out with him.'
When they said they didn't know, he left in a bad temper to scour the camp. Their attention turned back to all the confusing emotions Laura's reappearance had raised.
'We were just saying we could not believe you were truly dead,' Shavi said with a smile, reaching out to take her hand. She smiled back, sweetly, without a trace of the bitterness that had always characterised her.
'Don't get me wrong, hon. I did die. And now I'm back, the same, only different.'
Another one, Church thought. What does it all mean?
'But how did you survive?' Ruth was pale and troubled. 'I had Balor in me. I know what it felt like, what would have happened when it came out.'
Laura lifted up her over-sized T-shirt to reveal a rapidly fading jagged white scar, running from her belly to her sternum. 'Something like this?'
Ruth couldn't help gasping. 'That would have killed you!'
'It would have if I wasn't already dead. This is the key.' She showed the back of her right hand where she sported the mark of Cernunnos, the circle of interlocking leaves. 'You know how screwed up I got about all the changes taking place in my body… the green blood that had a life of its own? It was such a shock at the time.' She traced her finger around the mark. 'I had no idea what he'd done to me… could never have guessed.' She looked around them. 'I died that day up at Loch Maree when he marked me with this.'
Church shook his head in disbelief, but she silenced him with a wave of her hand.
'I died, and then he remade me in his own image. For the rest of you time was frozen. But for me… well, I don't know how he did it.' She shook her head, barely able to summon up the words. 'I'm not human, I'm a plant.'
There was a hanging moment when they all tried to work out if she was joking. She laughed to herself, silently, at their expressions. 'Okay, maybe that's not the right word. Physically, he turned me into something that has the characteristics of flora rather than fauna. I don't need to eat or drink or breathe, not in the same way you do. I can survive under water. I can survive where there's no air at all. And when I get hurt, I repair myself like a plant. That's what happened with Balor. I'll tell you now, I don't remember much about it, apart from the fact that it was agony. That's one thing he didn't sort out. It tore me apart. It wasn't pretty. But I put myself back together. And-' she held her arms wide '-I did it better than before.' She pointed to her face. 'No scars. Not on my back, either. So I've got a slight skin problem, but that's a small price to pay. At least I don't pollinate or any of that shit.'
Her flippant manner made it difficult for them to assimilate what she was saying. Church's brow furrowed. 'So all the time we were together-'
'That's right, Church-dude-you were having sex with a plant.'
'A nature spirit.' Shavi leaned forward excitedly. 'He distilled the essence of what you already were, and made you an avatar.'
'Well, he might have asked.' Her smile was relaxed.
'Are you okay with it?' Ruth asked, concerned.
'It's better than being a nobody. And it's better than being really, truly dead. I think the same, I feel the same. I'm still the same gorgeous, wonderful, witty and charming Laura DuSantiago. Apart from the fact you have to water me twice a day.'
Church leaned forward and touched her forearm. The skin felt exactly the same as it always had done. She took his hand with honest affection. 'I'm okay. Really. '
'You seem different,' Ruth said. 'I mean, as well as all that-'
'I have my flaws, but stupidity isn't one of them. When somebody shoves a big, fat, old lesson in my face, I make sure I learn from it.' She looked down at her fingers as she knotted and unknotted them. 'I've found peace, I guess, if that doesn't sound like some stupid, navel-gazing New Ager. It was always there, I just couldn't see it. I don't hate myself any more.'
Her words were simple, but Church felt a swell of affection; he knew how deep her pain really went. If Laura had found some kind of redemption, there was hope for all of them; for everyone. The others recognised this too. As she looked round, for the first time she felt accepted.
'Then we really are all back together,' Shavi said. 'As it was intended.'
'Yes, yes, yes, the stars are aligned, and God is looking down on you from his heaven.' Tom was standing in the entrance with the Bone Inspector. 'Now I suggest you get some rest. For tomorrow, as the saying goes, you may die.'
Veitch slipped into a drunken sleep quickly; Shavi had a remarkable ability to nap instantly, wherever he was. Tom and the Bone Inspector sat at the table, talking quietly, their faces stern. Ruth tried to stay awake as Laura and Church chatted, but even her faint jealousy couldn't stop her eyelids from drooping.
Laura watched the regular movement of Ruth's chest for a moment or two before turning back to Church. 'So I'll ask you again: have you and little Miss Frosty done the monkey dance yet?'
'Laura-'
'You still don't know me, do you?' There was a trace of sadness in her smile. 'In most cultures that's known as humour.'
'Are you really okay?'
'Yes, I am. For the first time in my life. So don't go giving me any pity or I might be stirred to be my old catty self.' She put her fingertips on his sternum and pushed him down.
'I'm sorry I wasn't better to you. And that's not pity. What you did to save Ruth… that showed a side of you I never knew, and I feel bad for that. I jumped to conclusions, just like everybody else.'
She rolled on to her back, her hands behind her head. 'It's all in the past now. We learn, we move on, and all that shit.' She looked at him from the corners of her eyes. 'I'm still sorry it didn't work out between you and me, but I've finally got a good injection of reality. It wasn't the right time, maybe we weren't the right people, but I was so desperate I was trying to force it.' She nodded to Ruth. 'You and her, you're the real deal. She's a good person, for all her many, many problems. And you, well, you're Saint Church, aren't you? Mr. Walks On Water.'
He watched Ruth's chest rising and falling and wished he was lying next to her. 'Is it that obvious?'
'It was obvious to everybody right from the start. You were the only one who couldn't see it. Because, let's face it, when it comes to emotion, you're damaged goods.'
'And you're okay about it? It's important to me. Really.'
There was a brief pause in which he dreaded her answer, but then she said, 'I'm okay with it. All I really wanted was somebody to stand by me shoulder-toshoulder. I've never had that. But I was, like, where's the dog and the white stick? It was all around me. It's stupid. The world's falling apart and right here I've got the best friends I could ever wish for. You, the Shav-ster, even Miss Icy Knickers. We'd have got on okay if I hadn't been the Bitch From Hell from the get-go. Witch, well, he's about as fucked-up as it gets, but if it came to the crunch I know he'd come through. I just hope I haven't learnt my big old life lesson too late.'
He fumbled for her hand and gave it a squeeze. 'It's a lesson we've all had to learn. When you're looking for meaning in life, don't look at the big picture, look at this. Look at your friends and your life and your loves-you need no meaning other than people.'
