The Soulkeepers

Epilogue

It was amazing how fast news traveled in a small town. Jacob stood in the atrium of St. Mary's Catholic Church with the Laudners amidst a sea of whispers and sideways glances. Truth can be a fuzzy concept in the best of circumstances. His story was less than perfect.

When his mom returned with him to the Laudners' home, he wondered how Uncle John and Aunt Carolyn would react. Dr. Silva, Malini, Lilly, and Jacob had talked for hours about what story they would tell. What explanation could there be for her disappearance on Oahu and reappearance in Paris?

They told Uncle John that Malini and Jacob had decided to drive to Florida and back, just for fun. Jacob said he'd found Lillian on the side of the road on their way back. Lillian's appearance certainly upheld the story. She was gaunt, bruised, and her clothes were torn.

For her part, Lillian said she couldn't remember anything but being held in a dark warehouse. Dr. Silva had given them a place to say they had found her, a place of great evil. It turned out the FBI knew that place was frequented by human traffickers, and told Lillian she was lucky to have made it out alive. They had no idea.

Although Aunt Carolyn wasn't happy about it, Uncle John invited Lillian to stay in the Laudner home until she could get back on her feet. With Katrina gone, they gave her room to Lillian so she could be close to Jacob. They even gave her a job working in the flower shop. Jacob asked to work there too and Uncle John seemed ecstatic to finally have him on board. In truth, he did it to make up for lost time with his mom, but he was glad it made John happy anyway.

He had no excuse for why he hadn't called John. The Laudners were beside themselves with worry and had called the police, as had Malini's parents. Although, Uncle John did admit he'd talked to Jim Gupta the first day after the pumpkin chuck and they had guessed something like this had probably happened. It didn't lessen their punishment. Both of them were grounded until further notice, maybe forever.

Dr. Silva's garden slowly died as winter moved in. With Oswald's soul departed, the tree did not have the warming effect on the environment around it. Jacob tried to help Dr. Silva collect seeds and roots for her greenhouse, but many varieties were lost during the first freeze.

Once Jacob returned to school, there were dozens of stories about what had happened between him and Dane. He'd been in pretty bad shape. Dane's official story was that he was mugged in the parking lot by three large men but didn't get a good look at their faces. Jacob stuck with his story about finding him beaten in the parking lot. They never spoke of what really happened, but Dane completely changed his treatment of Jacob and Malini. It was too early to say they were friends, but the idea wasn't as crazy as it used to be.

All of this gave the people of Paris more than enough to gossip about as Jacob slid into the Laudners' usual pew. He stared at the crucifix that hung at the front of the church. He couldn't help but be reminded of the last church he'd been in and the last pew he'd sat in, the one in Nod. He was never so happy to be in a real church as that moment, a real church with holy water that hummed to him from every corner, waiting to be a weapon if evil came his way. The ceremony itself didn't make much sense to him. It wasn't his way of believing. But that was okay. Because, as he looked at the crucifix, at his mom smiling next to him, and at his own hands, he had something better than confidence. He had hope.

* * * * *

The Christmas tree in the corner of the Laudners' living room was the biggest Fraser fir Jacob or his mom had ever seen. They'd helped to decorate it with red and gold glass balls of various sizes. Clear glass icicles dangled from the branches behind silver snowflake garland. Early Christmas morning, Uncle John had finished the tree by laying fresh red poinsettia flowers on the branches.