Terry had initially intended to take Delores on a lone walk after the AMA, but after everything they’d talked about, both he AND Delores decided Elton didn’t need to be alone. So that was how Terry found himself walking south on the road in front of the farm. Elton ambled along on one side looking at the woods. Delores held his hand on the other.

  “So where are we going?” Delores asked.

  Terry just smiled.

  “There’s somewhere I wanted to show you while we’re here. Given what I know about you I figured you’d appreciate this.”

  He caught her giving him the side-eye. He just smiled. He looked over at Elton.

  “You ok?”

  “Yeah.” Elton said, just watching Terry’s quiet world. “You sure you’re ok with me tagging along like this?”

  “Elton, you’re my friend. I’m sorry I haven’t been acting like it lately. Me and D have just been distracted.” Terry said. “You’ve done more for me than I could possibly thank you for.”

  The bard grinned, and Terry felt happy. But suddenly there was something inside him now waiting for the disaster to come. He felt Delores squeeze his hand.

  “I know that face.” She said. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m happy, Delores. Why do I feel like somethings about to steal it?”

  Delores let go of his hand and hugged his arm.

  “My poor hero. You have anxiety.”

  “Do I?” He didn’t know that was a thing to just have.

  Delores nodded and looked him in the eyes. She squeezed his arm.

  “No one is going to steal this from you, Terry. No one is going to show up and tell you that you haven’t earned any of this. Happiness isn’t something you earn. You are right where you belong.”

  Terry just looked at her. Somewhere, somehow, he had done something amazing that had warranted her coming into his life. Both of them, honestly. Delores smiled and looked away. She almost seemed shy.

  “What?” Terry asked.

  “I know you told me you love me, and that’s huge. It’s just that, the way you look at me? Like now? It drives it home even harder.” She said.

  “Is it a problem?” He asked. He knew he could be kind of a lot to deal with.

  “No, Terry.” She said. “No one’s ever looked at me the way you do. Damn it, farmboy, you make me want to giggle like a child sometimes.”

  She absolutely refused to look at him after that, so he did what she always did to him. He brought them both to a stop. Then, he very gently placed his fingers on her chin and turned her to face him. She was blushing and failing to stop the smile on her face. She was looking at him through her eyelashes again.

  “I saw a unicorn once.” He found himself saying. He heard Elton suddenly step closer. He didn’t care if the man was taking notes or recording or something. This was for Delores. Anyone else was just a witness.

  “Terry, that is extremely rare.” Delores said, wide eyed. “Do you know how big a deal that is?”

  “I do.” He said. “They only show themselves to the pure of heart or the young.”

  “When was this?” She asked.

  “When I was escorting those goblins from Mendenhall. I was fifteen or so. The first morning of the march I was ranging ahead to make sure the way was safe since we were headed cross-country. Lots of chances for attack out there.”

  He remembered that morning so well.

  “I stumbled into a clearing and there it was. I think it must have been a female, unless they all look that frail. It almost looked like the one from that 80’s animated movie.”

  He put his arms around her. He did, in fact, have a point to this. She seemed content to let him reach it in his own time.

  “It had been grazing. It looked up at me and I froze. We locked eyes for what felt like hours but it couldn’t have even been a minute.”

  He didn’t think he’d ever told anyone about this until now.

  “A minute later it turned and leaped from the clearing. It didn’t go into the woods. Just half way to the edge of the clearing it faded. They’re one of the few things that can move between here and the Everywhen at will. That’s why they’re so rare.”

  Terry looked into Delores eyes and brushed his fingers against her cheek.

  “Until I pulled into Biloxi, it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.”

  “Terry,” She said, giving him a smirk, “You don’t have to. . .” She stopped. She’d remembered.

  “I don’t lie, Delores. I don’t lie, and I don’t flatter.”

  She looked like she was going to cry, but instead she took his face in her hands and kissed him. It went on for quite some time. When she finally pulled away she blushed, and looked over at Elton, who was grinning like a maniac. Terry colored, remembering they had an audience.

  “I reiterate, I don’t know that you actually need me sometimes, Terry.” Elton said. “But, this is the exact sort of thing I want in the Chronicles.” Elton smiled. “You two are both just too damned beautiful.” He shook his head.

  Terry cleared his throat.

  “We should probably keep going while the sun is up.” He said and they continued on, Delores hanging on his arm and actually letting herself giggle every now and again.

  Finally, they reached a cleared space beside the road surrounded by a wrought iron fence and gate. There were no trees inside the fenced in area. What was there were tombstones. Delores immediately started emitting a high pitched squealing sound. She kissed him on the cheek.

  “You really DO take me to the best places!” She said before opening the gate and immediately launching into a study of the oldest stones she could find.

  Terry smiled at Elton and followed her in. Elton just shook his head.

  “Terry,” Elton said, “has anyone ever asked you what storybook you stumbled out of?”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Actually? Yes. A couple of times over the years.” He laughed at that. Elton started strolling through the stones and reading names. Terry casually made his way toward the back corner.

  “Terry?” Delores called. “All of these are Lingals.”

  He turned to her.

  “Yeah. Besides Dottie and Ernest, this is my family.”

  There was a long silence before Delores began looking through the headstones again. She seemed much more solemn. Elton walked over.

  “You have another reason to be here, don’t you. This isn’t just to satisfy Delores’s grave fascination.” Elton was too good at this.

  “Yeah.” He said quietly. “I do. It’s not a secret, but give it a few. Timing is important.”

  Elton nodded and Terry continued his slow walk to the back right corner. , he thought. He reached his spot and turned to his friends.

  “Guys.” He said. His friends turned to him, then the sun hit the exact right spot in the trees. The golden light of the autumn sun shone through on the back corner and illuminated two grave stones that were cleaner than the others. Terry stood by the fence as his party approached. He put his hands in his pockets.

  “Oh, Terry.” Delores said. She’d figured it out already.

  “Delores? Elton? These are my parents, Glen and Marie.” He swallowed the lump in his throat. “Mom? Dad? This is my party.”

  No one spoke for a time. Elton held up his phone questioningly, and Terry nodded. The man took photos while the golden moment lasted. Delores knelt and looked at the stones. They were the newest in the yard.

  “They’re so clean.” She said. “They’re twenty years old though.”

  “Yes.” Terry said quietly. “During the lean times I come out here and check on them. I talk to them.”

  They both looked at him. He must sound insane.

  “Anyway,” he continued, “I come out here and clean their stones twice a year. I sneak back to the farm when Dottie and Ernest are out or asleep and get cleaning supplies. I don’t have. . .” His voice caught. He cleared his throat again. “I don’t have anything else to give them.”

  Delores stood, watching him. Elton had stopped taking photos of all of them to do the same.

  “Terry,” Elton said, “These are the newest stones in the yard.”

  “Yes.” Terry replied.

  “There’s not much room left.” He said.

  “No.” Terry replied.

  “Is there another graveyard somewhere else?” Delores asked.

  “No.” Terry replied. “There isn’t any more room needed. After Ernest and Dottie, I’m going to be the last one in.”

  He’d thought on that a lot as a child. Too much for a child. Knowing he was it. The last of the line and going into a profession that would probably keep him from not only having a family, but dying alone somewhere at the hands of a thing that wouldn’t leave enough to bury. Like his father.

  “I guess I just wanted you two to come out here and see this. This is the last piece of me. The last thing that no one knows. The last part I don’t talk about.”

  He remained silent and no one seemed inclined to break that silence.

  “There’s nothing left to share.” Terry finally said. “A sad little boy who couldn’t accept a part of himself, running away into the woods to fight monsters. His only companions were voices and the dead.”

  He shook his head.

  “I should have asked about mom more. I should have done a lot of things more.”

  Delores barreled into him with a hug. He hugged her back as hard as he dared. He felt Elton rubbing his back. It broke loose again. Terry wept quietly.

  Finally, after a time, Delores spoke to him.

  “I would like to come and help you clean them, if you’ll let me.”

  He couldn’t say anything, so he just nodded into her neck. Eventually he managed to get something out.

  “Thank you.” He said, voice rough.

  “Terry,” Elton said, and he turned to the bard. “I don’t know that this is really going to help at all, but, if you hadn’t lived the life you lived? If you hadn’t made the choices you made and become who you are, none of us would be standing here like this.”

  Terry lifted his head.

  “It may have hurt,” Elton continued, “because I know our paths have hurt all of us, but it put all of us here and I feel like those journeys were worth it in the end.”

  Terry just looked at him. He’d finally stopped crying, and then Elton went and said something like this.

  “Don’t you EVER,” Terry said, “tell me that I don’t need you, Elton Beasley. Ever.”

  Elton smiled and just nodded. The bard looked to Delores and something passed between them, so Elton took a short walk to look at headstones while there was still light. Terry looked at Delores as she turned back to him.

  “You ok?” He asked, and she smiled.

  “You just had either a break DOWN or a break THROUGH. Don’t worry about me.” She thought about that. “Well, maybe worry about one thing with me.”

  Terry looked confused, but Delores pressed her forehead against his. That close she looked like she had one eye and it always made him grin like an idiot.

  “I love you, my beautiful, beautiful hero.” She said quietly, before giving him a single kiss.

  He stared at her before picking her up in a massive hug that lifted her off the ground and slinging her around, making growling noises. She laughed and kept protesting to be put down, but he didn’t really believe that. She wouldn’t have held on so hard if she’d meant it. He finally sat her feet on the ground.

  “What changed? He asked her quietly. He glanced at Elton and the man had such a satisfied smile on his face as he wandered the rows of graves.

  “After hoping, and wanting, and trying so hard to get to you? I had to ask myself why I would stop this close to the finish line, with you standing right there.” She laid her head on his shoulder.

  “Besides, you already knew. I didn’t feel right not telling you.”

  For a time, Terry and Delores just stood there in front of his parents headstones together. Elton seemed content to wait there, sight seeing, until the graveyard was draped in shadows.

  “Hey, uh, lovebirds? Can we go back and get inside? Given the number of monsters Terry has fought out here, I don’t want to be out here after dark. I don’t care if it IS the lean times” The bard said.

  Terry looked at him.

  “That’s actually a really good point. It’s pretty dark out here already.” Terry said.

  Delores stepped back from him and Terry pulled his sword out and held it over his head, blade parallel to the ground. The blade was shining and acted as a shockingly effective torch. Terry lead them through the darkness to the gate, and as he did he heard something moving in the woods outside the fence, behind the yard.

  He stopped for just a moment to look behind him and thought he saw a shadowed form streak upward into the trees.

  “Stay with me. D, and get ready to let something fly if anything goes down.” Terry said. He saw fear on Elton’s face. Delores just nodded and her components on her wrists began glowing the eye twisting colors of attuned mana. Their walk back to the house was faster than the walk out, but thankfully, just as quiet.

  Terry had Elton go back inside where Ernest and Dottie were, having returned from their visit. He turned to Delores.

  “Can you put some kind of protections on the house from out here? I’ll watch your back while you do it.” He asked. He wasn’t afraid for himself, but if anything happened to Dottie or Ernest while he was there? He didn’t know what he’d do.

  “I can. I probably should have the first night. Keep your sword up so I can see. I just need to hit the corners. ALL the corners, top and bottom.” She said.

  It took about half an hour for her to get the spell enacted. Terry kept his sword up for the light so Delores could see, but he thought it might help to keep anything at bay. Sometimes, at the edges of the farm where the tree line was, Terry thought he saw something. He couldn’t be sure. He was jumpy.

  He wished he’d learned a few actual spells over the years. Nothing flashy. Just night vision. Or infra-vision. Something. But now wasn’t the time for regrets. He had enough skill in fighting blindfolded that he wasn’t concerned with visibility. Just with where it would happen.

  Afterward, Dottie and Ernest waited for them in the living room.

  “Yer bard was pretty shook so I poured him some scotch and he’s in the kitchen.” Ernest said. “What’s goin’ on here, son?”

  Terry looked out the windows but he couldn’t see anything with the lights on. They should have warning with Delores’s spell.

  “I don’t know. Something is up and I’d rather be safe. If anything happens, anything at all, wake me.” He said, putting a hand on Ernest’s shoulder.

  Ernest nodded.

  “First time I think you ever dragged work home with ya.” He said, a wry smile on his face.

  Terry smiled, but then his face went white.

  “DAVID!” He was off like a shot out the back door, sword out. He felt like he was being watched as he crossed the yard. He still wasn't sure if he was being paranoid. He got to the trailer and looked around blade high. Nothing. He pounded on the door. It swung open and the porch light turned on. David stood there confused.

  “What’s wrong?” He said, looking around at the yard.

  “Maybe nothing, but get your armor, you sword, and some clothes. I want you in the house tonight.”

  Terry looked around again. Still no sign of anything.

  “What is it, though?”

  “I really don’t know but something is wrong out here tonight. Just please come to the house.” He pleaded. Something in his tone shook the boy finally, and he grabbed his things in a large duffel bag and followed Terry to the house.

  After David was inside, Terry stood on the old back porch and sheathed his sword. He stood there in the dark, waiting for his eyes to adjust. It was a moonless night. There was nothing he could make out, even after his eyes did adjust. Just the farm he knew better than anywhere else.

  “I swear, if I’ve brought something here I’ll never forgive myself.” He mumbled before going inside.

  The shadows in the trees watched silently, before melting back into the woods. They had just been sent to watch. Nothing happened that night.