Chapter 87
ABOUT AN HOUR later I sat down in the meadow and stared up at the blanket of stars.
Number 2 was gone, erased from this realm for all time.
But if a fellow traveler from Alpar Nok could truly become the devil, what was I meant to become?
I had so wanted to slay that Russian gangster for what he had done to Dana. Did the rage and hatred that fueled Abbadon burn inside me, too?
I needed to talk to my parents.
Maybe they didn’t mean it when they said they were going away, never to come back.
“Dad?” I whispered. “Mom? I still need you.”
I closed my eyes and focused on their presence.
When I opened my eyes, I was still alone. In a field. Under the stars.
So, it was true. I couldn’t summon my parents.
Fine. I’d hash this all out with my friends. I summoned Willy and Dana, Joe and Emma.
They didn’t come.
“Look, you guys, I don’t even care if Dana and Willy are dating now or whatever. I need to talk.”
Still, they didn’t come.
A lump formed in my throat as I realized I was completely and utterly alone on Earth. A stranger stranded in a strange land. Being the Alien Hunter had taken a heavy toll on me. I had given up everything I ever had. My family. My friends. My shot at a normal life.
For a moment I wondered if I had also given up my incredible superpowers by forcing Number 2 to surrender his. Were we so linked, like the two sides of a coin, that what happened to him happened to me?
No, mon, said a friendly voice in my head. Otherwise, you would be stardust instead of staring at the stars, yah?
Okay, I wasn’t completely alone. I still had Xanthos, my spiritual advisor.
“Are you okay, Daniel?”
And, yes, I had Mel.
She sat down next to me.
“I was kind of worried when you disappeared from the dining room.”
“Guess I’m just not in the mood for ice cream tonight.”
“How about we go out for a malted?” Mel cracked, remembering Abbadon’s corny idea for a hot date.
“I’ll take a rain check,” I said with a smile.
“Thought you might want this.” She held up the slim computer that had been my main alien-hunting tool. “You left it inside.”
“Thanks,” I said, “but I don’t really need to look at it. Number 1 is next. Number 1 has always been next.”
I hoped Number 1, The Prayer, had enjoyed watching Number 2 and me battle each other in our Armageddon death match. I figured Number 1 should stay tuned, because his own personal Armageddon was coming up… right after the break, as they say on American Idol.
For some odd and insane reason, that made me smile.
So in my next battle, I’d be going up against some kind of alien god, right?
Fine. I’d brush up on my Greek and Norse mythology. Read a few more Percy Jackson books.
Feeling better than I had in a long time, I draped my arm around Mel’s shoulder.
We gazed into each other’s eyes.
And I noticed something I had never seen before.
“Did Abbadon do that to you?”
“This?” She pointed at a long scar on her cheek. “No, Daniel—it’s always been there.”
And that’s when I finally realized what I should’ve known all along: the reason Mel reminded me so much of Dana was because she was Dana.
It’s pretty amazing where souls can journey when they leave one realm and enter the next.
And how true soul mates can never stay separated for long.