The rocks shift again, sliding fast and covering Finn’s body completely as Ben drags me, kicking and fighting, through the tunnel. The mountain groans and shudders around us, but I can barely hear it over my own screams.
We emerge into the bright light of day, and I fall to my knees, so full of anguish I’m sure I’m going to die of it. I stuff my fist against my mouth to keep from screaming again. I know if I let myself start, I’ll never be able to stop.
Ben drops to his knees next to me.
“Are you okay, St. Clair?” His hand comes up to gently smooth back my hair. “Jessa?”
I can’t answer him. I hear him let out a huge breath as he pushes to his feet and digs out his phone.
“We have to call the police,” he says, pacing. “But I … I mean … how do I explain about Eversor? I don’t even…”
My head snaps up. “You can’t do that.”
“We have to tell them about Finn,” he says quietly. “His family will be looking for him.”
“He doesn’t have a family,” I say, and the pain washes over me again. “He didn’t have a family. He was alone.”
“What are you saying?” he splutters. “We can’t just—”
“He didn’t belong here!” I shout. “He shouldn’t have been here! He only came here to save me and now he’s gone!”
I cross my arms to my chest, and my forehead meets the ground again. “He’s gone.” I say it again, as I rock and rock, fighting with everything I have to keep it all in and failing as the tears pour from my eyes. I feel Ben’s hand on my back, and I cry for a very, very long time. Finally, I can’t cry anymore.
“You need to tell me what’s going on,” I hear Ben say softly. “All of it.”
“You’ll never believe me,” I answer, not even bothering to look up. “None of it will make any sense to you.”
“None of it makes any sense now,” he retorts. “A crazy teacher threatened your family, tried to murder us all, and disappeared before my eyes! What the hell!”
“My family!” I reach out, gripping his hand. “Ben, my family! Please—take me to my mom—and Danny. Please! I’ll tell you everything—just … later, okay? I need to know they’re safe.”
He pulls me to my feet, and we run for the truck. As we drive away, my eyes linger on the mine, and the coldness inside me spreads, leaving me hollow.
45
Aftermath
It’s a five-minute drive to the retirement home, and to my relief, my mom and Danny are fine. Mom is a little shaken when she gets a look at us—filthy, scratched, and bleeding. My numbed mind can’t even come up with anything, so Ben does it for me.
He tells her I was researching another ghost story, and he’d agreed to drive me to a spot in the foothills on our lunch break. We’d taken a tumble down a slope, so he brought me straight to her.
She bought it, but she’s pretty pissed at me for my carelessness, considering my arm still isn’t entirely better. I can’t stop shaking, and while she calls me out of school and goes to collect Danny, Ben makes me drink a cup of coffee from the vending machine. He watches over me like a mother hen as I drink every bit of it.
We follow Mom and Danny home, and we both sit quietly as she fusses over our scrapes and cleans and bandages all our scratches. Once we’ve both washed up, we stand staring at each other in the living room, and I have no idea what to say.
The last thing I want to do is talk. A curious numbness has set in. I can hear Danny starting up a game of Mario Kart in the other room, and I’m absurdly grateful for the background noise. I’m too empty to be surrounded by quiet.
Ben sits down on the couch next to me, wrapping an arm around me and pulling my head to his shoulder.
“It’s okay,” he says, and I wonder if he’s saying it to me or for himself. “It’s all going to be okay.”
We stay that way for a long time, and somehow, eventually, I drift off.
I am sitting at my desk in the classroom when Mario steps in through the red door. Even in here, I feel the weight of Finn’s death. It’s all I can do to lift my head and look at him. He sits down at the desk in front of me, turning in the chair. He reaches out and takes my hands in his.
“Jessa … I’m so very, very sorry.”
I nod. There’s nothing to say.
“Rudy is on the run,” Mario says.
“How does that work? It’s not like he can come into our world.”
“No. But the dreamscape is virtually endless,” he says. “We’re looking where we can, following every trail, but…”
“But I’m still in danger,” I sigh. “I don’t care.”
“Eversor is still out there. We need to get you to safety.”
“Where?” I snap. “Where is there that could possibly be safe for me? Or for anyone who knows me?” I shake my head. “I’m staying where I am. I want to be home. If I get killed here and end up trapped in some other body in another reality, that’s worse than dead.”
“Very well,” Mario relents. “For now, you stay home. We’ll find him, Jessa,” he promises me. “He’s going to need to regroup to work around us, and that’s going to take time. We can use that time to get some work done.”