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  “Mom, please,” Annaliese pressed her hand against her eyes.

  “I’m sorry; I’m just angry beyond belief. How did this happen in the thirteen and a half hours since you claimed the body from the hospital?”

  “I’m not sure, but I promise that it was not done on my authority or with my knowledge,” Ross said. “That’s why I asked if you signed a cremation order. I didn’t think it was likely that they would ask you to do that, because you’re right; burial preparations was one of the purposes of today’s meeting. I wondered if you wanted more expediency on Mr. Carson’s preparation and talked to my staff about it. That happens from time to time, and it was the first thing I thought when I came in today and found this.” He paused, gulping. “I assure you that I will work with my staff and fully cooperate with everybody to investigate how this unfortunate incident happened.”

  “Unfortunate?” Tabitha shrieked. “You disrespect my husband’s final wishes in a way that’s impossible to reverse, and call it ‘unfortunate?’ The funeral is in two days! What am I supposed to do?”

  “We’ll provide a premium urn and the inurnment on the burial lot of your choice free of charge. We will have to charge you for the death certificates and obituary, but I believe we can drastically reduce the final preparation charges.”

  “Of course,” Tabitha said.

  “Mom, he’s making a reasonable offer,” Annaliese said, “and this inconveniences him far more than us.”

  “She’s right,” Avery added, “most people are cremated anyway. That’s probably what everybody’s expecting. Face it, visitations and viewings are uncomfortable. The service will probably be better attended this way.”

  Tabitha sniffed, swiping at her eyes with a crumpled tissue. “Carson didn’t want to be burned.”

  “He didn’t want to die,” Kalea said. Everybody turned to stare at her. “Well, it’s the truth. He didn’t want to die, and he thought he had been spared. We all did, but here we are anyway. We did our best, and that’s all we can continue to do.”

  Annaliese stared at her cousin, wondering again what was happening in her head.

  Gerald turned to Tabitha. “You’re upset, and stress is getting the best of you. Why don’t you let me and the kids pick the urn and work out the service and burial arrangements? You can take a look at it and make any changes or adjustments you want before you sign off on anything.”

  Kalea nodded. “I think that’s a great idea. Why don’t you take a break, Aunt Tabitha? We can let you know when we have some structure to this.”

  Tabitha stood. “By all means, let’s allow the physicist and two engineers in the family to do it. Nothing seems to faze them, not even losing a brother and uncle. It’s all about getting it done. It’s not like it can get any worse.”

  “Mom, that was unnecessary,” Annaliese stood to take Tabitha’s arm and guide her into the hallway. She glanced at Gerald and Kalea apologetically as they ducked out of the room.

  Avery stood, taking Elise’s hand, who remained conspicuously silent. “I’m sorry about that. Kalea, Uncle Gerald, Aunt Daphne, I trust your judgment. Why don’t you do what you just said while I wish I were anywhere but here?”

  Ross blew out a long sigh, rubbing his tired gray eyes and looking at Gerald, Daphne, and Kalea. “That went badly.”

  Kalea forced a smile. “I admire your patience working in this profession. If this is what you deal with every day, engineering doesn’t look quite so stressful after all.”

  “Neither does being a professor,” Daphne said.

  “I usually don’t come in to find a spontaneous cremation on my hands. This is the worst of worst case scenarios that I’ve seen in my twenty years in this business.”

  “What happened?” Gerald asked. “Was paperwork mixed up?”

  Ross shook his head. “No, all the files were in perfect order. I found him this morning like that.”

  “Like that?” Kalea’s face scrunched. “Burned, you mean?”

  Ross nodded. “Burned in a refrigerated storage unit. I have no idea how it was possible. I opened it to confirm his ID, and found nothing but ash and a body burn on a slab in a twenty degree storage compartment.”

  Gerald grunted. “That is strange.”

  Ross put his head in his hands. “I can’t imagine what happened, but something tells me that I’ll be the next one to burn for this one.”

  Gerald glanced at the doorway, where Tabitha’s sobs and rants pierced the lobby. “I’m afraid you’re right.”

  Chapter 27

  “You’re holding up remarkably well.”

  “Hmm?” Annaliese mumbled, turning her gaze to Kieran across the back seat of the limousine driving them to the airport.

  He reached across the seat and took her hand. “I said you’re doing good, considering all that’s happened in the past week. I was a mess when my father died. Going back to work a week after the funeral seemed unfathomable. I’m amazed you’re ready to head back to D.C. three days after the memorial service.”

  She turned her gaze back to the passing landscape. “What more can be done here? We had the service. He’s buried. Mom has an attorney to handle the final paperwork and the complaint with the funeral board over the cremation. It’s pointless to stay.”

  “It’s pointless to stay, or you’ve had enough and want to heal on your own now?”

  Annaliese sighed. “Both.”

  “It’s natural,” he let go of her hand to tap at his phone. “The jet is ready to leave as soon as we get there. We’ll be back in D.C. in a little over an hour.”

  “Good.”

  Kieran laid his phone in his lap and studied Annaliese. “You know who’s surprised me this week? Kalea. Has she seemed remarkably detached to you?”

  “That’s the way she is. I told you that before. Things happen, and she shuts off emotion and goes right into functional mode.” She paused. “It must be the engineer in her, or maybe she got it from Uncle Gerald. He was stoic through this whole mess, too. Then again, she has been through Dad’s entire illness.”

  “I suppose that’s not all bad. They were helpful in getting things settled. I can’t believe all the loose ends we got tied up in just a few days.”

  “Uncle Gerald, Aunt Daphne, and Kalea defused a lot of emotional tension and kept us on track,” Annaliese stared at the passing landscape. “But then again, Kalea’s been there through it all. She’s had to stand in for a lot these past few months. She even broke her foot trying to break his fall a few months ago. I’m sure it’s a relief to her that this is over.”

  Kieran’s brow creased. “I don’t know about that. She wouldn’t have been there for your parents if she didn’t care. She had plenty of reason to pull away, and yet she still made time for them. She kept in good contact with you and Avery. She never complained and she kept her cool.”

  “She’s standing in the church cemetery.”

  “What?”

  “What’s she doing out there? It’s going to be dark soon.” Annaliese turned to the driver. “Stop. Pull off here.”

  “Ma’am, your flight is waiting,” the driver said.

  “It’s not like they’ll leave without us. Stop. She hates cemeteries and is standing in one at sunset. Something’s wrong.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” the driver said, turning into the large cemetery off the highway.

  “Over there,” she leaned over the seat and pointing to a plot near the middle. “That’s her. She’s standing,” Annaliese paused and gulped, “at Dad’s plot.”

  “Baby, don’t get out here. Let me talk to her,” Kieran said.

  “I want to talk to her,” Annaliese pushed open the door as it rolled to a stop several feet behind Kalea, who stood perfectly still, staring at the ground. “Stay here. We won’t be long. Henry, can you drive her home after you drop us off?”

  “It would be my pleasure, ma’am,” the driver said.

  “Annaliese,” Kieran grabbed her hand before she jumped out of the limousine, “are you
sure about this? She’s standing at your father’s burial site.”

  Annaliese paled. She looked at Kalea and took a deep breath. “Consider this acting in a professional capacity. Look at her, Kieran. Does she look all right?”

  Kieran stared past Annaliese. “No.”

  “Give me a minute. I’ll be right back,” Annaliese jumped out of the car before Kieran could voice anymore concerns. She gulped past the lump in her throat and walked toward her cousin.

  “Kalea.”

  “Yes?”

  “What are you doing out here?”

  “I can’t see the names,” Kalea said.

  Annaliese stood beside Kalea, staring at the freshly dug plot where her father’s ashes were buried. “Of course you can’t. The sun is setting. There’s not much light from behind those trees.”

  “You can’t see the names either?”

  Annaliese squinted. “Not well.” She paused. “Kalea, you hate cemeteries. What are you doing out here?” She looked around the field of stone, trembling. “How did you get here? Where’s your car?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Annaliese studied Kalea. “You don’t know how you got here, or you don’t know where you parked?”

  “My car is at home.”

  “Did somebody bring you out here?”

  Kalea shrugged. “I guess.”

  “Who?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Annaliese looked around. “We aren’t supposed to be out here after dark. We need to go.”

  “Then go.”

  “Kalea, what’s going on with you?” Annaliese reached for Kalea’s shoulder. A shock ran up her arm. Annaliese yelped as Kalea slowly raised her head. Her eyes seemed to glow in the fading light.

  “I couldn’t save him.”

  Annaliese stared at Kalea. She blinked several times to clear her vision. The glitter she thought she saw in Kalea’s eyes was gone. It must have been a trick of the setting sun. She shook her head. “Nobody could. I’m sorry. I know you went through a lot with Dad. Avery and I can never thank you enough or repay you for being there in our place so many times. You stood by him to the very end.”

  “He died twice.”

  Annaliese nodded. “I know. We thought he healed, and in the end we wound up watching him fade away twice.”

  “No, he died twice.”

  Annaliese shook her head again. “That’s impossible. He healed the first time. He never died.”

  Kalea turned her attention back to the ground. “Are you sure about that?”

  Annaliese followed Kalea’s gaze back to the freshly turned earth. “I’m not sure about anything.” She sniffed as her eyes filled with tears. Kalea looked around the cemetery.

  “We failed him. Maybe we failed all of these people.”

  Annaliese looked up as lights twinkled on the horizon. “We did all we could. People die. There’s no avoiding it. It gets to a point where they can’t be saved.”

  “They always die,” Kalea said softly.

  “We must move on. There’s no choice. Life goes on and we have to go with it.” She swiped the tears away from her eyes with the sleeve of her blouse.

  Kalea turned to Annaliese. “This isn’t what he wanted. This isn’t what any of them wanted.”

  Annaliese swallowed past the lump in her throat again. “Of course not.”

  “But it’s the way it has to be.”

  Annaliese stared in Kalea’s vacant eyes again, where a slight glow seemed to reemerge. “In the end, it is. I suppose you’re right.” She looked away. “At least it’s over.”

  “No, it’s just begun.”

  Annaliese forced a smile. “I meant for him it’s over. He isn’t suffering anymore. But I guess you’re right, too. For us, the process of grief is just starting.”

  “It has begun.”

  “Yes, it has,” Annaliese said. She turned to Kalea again, surprised to see tears streaming down her cheeks. “Kalea,” she said, reaching out hesitantly, fearing another shock. Kalea collapsed in Annaliese arms. Annaliese stiffened for a moment and then relaxed when another shock didn’t come, returning the hug.

  “I’m sorry it has to be this way,” Kalea sobbed.

  “I am too,” Annaliese patted her cousin’s back as the overhead lamps flickered on in the twilight. She didn’t understand what was happening. But then again, who understands grief? She smiled as she hugged Kalea, thinking there was a normal human being in her cousin after all.

  Chapter 28

  They have the probe.

  The threat is closer than we thought.

  The timetable must be accelerated.

  “What are you talking about?” Kalea stared at the lights swirling through the trees in the darkened woods. “What am I doing here?”

  Taking up your mantle. You must lead the mission. Otherwise, others will be planted in those gardens of stone, and nobody will be left to carve out their names.

  “What are you talking about?” Kalea cried at the whispering trees. “My uncle died. He’s burned. Did you do that?”

  We did what we had to do in order to preserve life.

  “Preserve life? He died! You cured him, and he died anyway!”

  There was a pause as the light faded and the slowly rose, elongating the shadows of the trees surrounding her in the small clearing behind her house.

  “He died twice! Why didn’t you leave him alone?”

  We regret that. We thought we could save him.

  We thought we could save them all.

  We never meant to increase human suffering.

  “All of those people you resurrected are dead and dying. Soon, they’ll all be gone. Why? What’s the purpose?”

  To save life.

  “They’re dead!”

  Silence.

  “They died anyway!” Kalea shouted.

  We understand it’s a tragedy, but there’s a greater purpose we intend to serve.

  “You’ve done enough. Why don’t you leave us alone?”

  The others won’t.

  “What others?” Kalea asked.

  Silence.

  Kalea ran her hand through her tangled hair. “What am I doing here? Why am I in the woods in my pajamas talking to nothing? Because that’s what you are. Nothing! You said you’d save them, but they’re dead. What good have you done?”

  They were dying anyway. What harm did we do?

  “You hurt the ones that had to witness them die twice.”

  We failed to consider that.

  “Well, consider more.”

  We regret that our failed efforts have resulted in increased suffering, but you have a remarkable capacity to heal, in mind and in body.

  “I’m glad you’re impressed,” Kalea snorted, “but if you saw my aunt right now, you’d disagree. She can barely function. I have no idea how she’s going to make it living alone, and I can’t hold her hand anymore. It’s too much. I’ve had enough.”

  You have an incredible energy inside of you, Kalea. You are strong and resilient.

  “You’re incredibly full of crap,” Kalea said.

  You agreed to help us.

  “No, I didn’t.”

  Yes, you did. You don’t remember, but you gave us permission.

  “I revoke that permission now. Leave me alone. Go bother somebody else. Or better yet, just go away.”

  It’s too late for that.

  “It’s never too late.”

  You will lead or you will die, and your failure is the failure of the entire race.

  “Drop dead.”

  The others would like that. I don’t believe that’s agreeable to either of us. We can only prevent it by working together.

  Kalea reached up, holding her head. “Get out of me! Leave me alone! Can’t you see I’ve had enough?”

  You’re just getting started. We planned to give you more time to heal from this emotional wound, but the timetable has accelerated and you must be debriefed immediately. That’s why we brought you here. It�
��s time to begin, Kalea. It’s time to take up your mantle and lead us to the victory that has eluded us for too long.

  Kalea gazed into the whispering woods, where she saw a faint face in the tree. She rushed at it, beating at it with her fists and kicking it. “I said no! I won’t do it! We’ve had enough. There’s nothing out there so leave us alone! Leave us in peace! You’ve done enough! We can’t take anymore!”

  “Kalea, what are you doing out here?”

  She turned to see a flashlight shining in her face. She squinted at Aunt Tabitha approaching her through the trees in a pink sweat suit. “I was out for a walk.”

  “In your pajamas?”

  Kalea looked down at her pink flowered pajamas and crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t know.”

  Aunt Tabitha frowned. “Annaliese called me. She’s worried about you. She said she saw you at the cemetery at Carson’s grave earlier. What were you doing there?”

  “Paying my respects.”

  Aunt Tabitha wrapped Kalea in a hug. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. We’ve all been so lost in our own grief that nobody stopped to ask how you’re doing. You seemed to take it so well.”

  “What?”

  Aunt Tabitha pulled away. “Annaliese talked to me. I’m sorry if we left you to fend for yourself. Of course, this has been hard on you. You’ve had to interrupt your life while everybody else was busy having theirs.” Her eyes narrowing. “Are you bleeding?”

  Kalea reached up to swipe her nose and was surprised to find blood on her hand. “It looks like I am.” She was surprised when blood streamed out of both nostrils. “What’s happening? I don’t understand!”

  Aunt Tabitha pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. “Something isn’t right.” She poked at the telephone. “Hello, I need an ambulance at 888 Woodland Way. My niece, Kalea Kerner, has a severe nosebleed, and I believe she’s also been sleepwalking.”

  “Sleepwalking?” Kalea gurgled, as she tried to pinch her nose to stop the bleeding. “Aunt Tabitha, hang up. I’m fine.”

  You are fine, and now you will rise.

  She fainted.

  Chapter 29