The Necromancer Trilogy - Black Magic

Epilogue

“I’m not going to another party,” Sophie protested. “Not now, not ever.”

Merry glared at her. “You are coming whether you like it or not.”

“A celebration? Now?”

“Yes, now. Trust us.”

Sophie groaned. “But Chrysanthemum’s parties…”

“It’s not Chrysanthemum’s,” Merry interrupted. “It’s Celia’s. With our people. In our space.”

“Oh, all right,” Sophie gave in. “I’ll come.”

Ten minutes later, Sophie was knocking on the door to Celia’s house where the pounding of the music was already filling the empty street. The door flew open and Blue grabbed Sophie’s arm, dragging her inside.

“You’re late!” he cried. “The party has started without you!”

“Fashionably late,” Adele put in, pulling Sophie into a hug. “How are you?”

This last was whispered and Sophie nodded in response.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m ok.”

Adele pulled back and smiled at her. “Celia’s got quite a party.”

“Adele!” Blue seized her hand. “Care to dance?”

She looked him up and down. “Oh, alright.”

They vanished and rematerialized on the dance floor. Sophie laughed softly.

“Sophie!” Chrysanthemum swept her into another hug.

“Chrysanthemum!” Sophie hugged her back. “So glad you’re alive!”

“You too, dear.”

“Merry,” Celia approached, smiling.

“Celia.”

They stared at one another for a moment before Chrysanthemum gave a pointed cough. Celia hastily took his arm and led him into the crowds.

“Come, Sophie. Sit with me.”

Chrysanthemum led her to a space by the dance floor where the music would be loud enough for everything they said to go unheard.

“Did you love him?”

It was the first thing Chrysanthemum said and so sudden and unexpected that Sophie jumped.

“I…don’t know,” she floundered. “I mean…I don’t know.”

“I would guess you didn’t,” Chrysanthemum mused. “Or at least, you didn’t very much. Love is the kind of thing that makes its self known.”

Sophie bowed to her superior knowledge on the matter.

“What about you?” Sophie gave Chrysanthemum a hard look. “You were so many things because you loved that man. And yet you killed him and you’re still here and…”

Chrysanthemum smiled faintly. “Sophie, I lived for a few hundred years thinking that he was dead. It's a long time. Broken hearts heal. You never think they will, but they do. You think nothing can ever replace them and you can never move on but then it turns out that there is more to life than them and there always will be.”

“You know,” Sophie frowned, “I thought of you as a beautiful love story. But you’ve spoiled the tragic ending.”

Chrysanthemum laughed. “Oh, melodrama! Sometimes tragedy has to give way to common sense. No lover is worth dying for. Not unless there is nothing else on this world worth living for.”

“Even so,” Sophie supressed a smile, “throwing a party after all of this seems a pretty strange end to the story.”

“Who’s to say it’s over?” Chrysanthemum countered. “Anyway, Celia’s done a lot of saving the world. She’s seen things end in many different ways and I suppose a party is probably the best way to go. Besides, it’s practically a happy ending.”

Sophie spluttered. “Is it?”

Chrysanthemum’s smile was a little sad. “For them.”

She nodded towards where Celia and Merry were dancing, oblivious to the rest of the world, unable to take their eyes off one another’s faces.

“Oh yes,” Sophie understood. “They’re together, after all of this weirdness. One happy couple.”

“And Blue and Adele,” Chrysanthemum reminded her. “Blue is determined to make her love him and Adele is a sensible girl. Sooner or later, she’ll figure out that Blue can give her everything she wants from life. She’ll fall for him then.”

“You think?”

“I know.”

They sat in silence for a moment.

“Chrysanthemum, do you think Celia would let me be her partner?”

Chrysanthemum turned to Sophie in surprise. “My dear girl, I rather think you don’t have a choice.”

Sophie grinned. “So I can do it? I can save the world with her and make the hard decisions and fight the battles and do what has to be done?”

“Naturally. The Elders believe you have great potential.”

“But no more Night Princess,” Sophie’s expression darkened. “No more prophecies. The time-traveller…he mentioned another prophecy about me. But I’m not giving in to it. It’s not going to be about me. Not anymore. It’ll just be me and the world, without any cryptic mysteries.”

Chrysanthemum nodded, still smiling.

Sophie breathed out a sigh of relief. “This party looks better already.”

“Yes,” Chrysanthemum clapped her hands. “And now that our heart-to-heart is over, I’m going to dance.”

“You can dance?”

For the first time ever, Chrysanthemum grinned. “A lot better than these people!”

She twirled onto the dance floor and Sophie couldn’t stop herself from laughing. She looked at the dancers, at the food, at the coloured lights, at the expressions on people’s faces. She looked at her colleagues, her friends, her fellow survivors.

 She understood, all of a sudden, why you ended even sad things in a celebration. It’s because life goes on, even here, even now.