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“I guess now we know where these two have been running off to for the last few months,” I chuckled.
“Yeah, they’ve been getting it on,” Grant joked.
Nadine adjusted a corner of the blanket to get the cats more comfortable. “There’s only one kitten. Isa looks perfectly comfortable, though. Where’s the rest of the litter?”
“Maybe she only had one,” I suggested. “That might be why no one realized she was pregnant.”
“Can I see?” Talia squeezed in beside us, then pulled out the Seer Wand. She reached out to pet Isa’s head, and the end of the Wand glowed. “Lucas is right. There’s just the one.”
Talia tickled the top of the kitten’s head as her voice rose several pitches. “And he’s sooo precious?—”
She stopped dead in her tracks. “Oh, my Goddess.”
“What is it?” Nadine demanded. “What’s wrong?”
Talia’s jaw hung open for several seconds, before she composed herself. “Everything is just right. You guys, I can feel him. I… I can feel Dean!”
“Dean… reincarnated?” I could hardly find the words; I was so stunned. I didn’t know why I didn’t consider the possibility before. Our loved ones reincarnated into cats all the time, but when we lost Dean, it seemed like he’d be gone forever. I never pictured him coming back to us like this.
Nadine grabbed my arm. “Grammy was right! She said Dean was meant to be here, and he is!”
Talia drew back. “He has a great destiny. I don’t know all the details, but I can feel it. Whatever Marcus is meant to face when he grows up, Dean is meant to be right there alongside him.”
A beat passed as we all stared down at the kitten, admiring him. Then Oliver lunged forward, grabbed the kitten by the back of his neck with his teeth, and took off running.
“Oliver!” I screamed.
We all went running after him. Oliver scurried up the stairs and raced down the hall. I followed him into our bedroom. He hopped up on the bed, then on the top of Marcus’s incubator. Gently, he placed the kitten on the plastic top. Marcus moved ever so slightly.
“Wait,” I told everyone. “I think Oliver is trying to tell us something.”
Nadine slowly approached the incubator. The kitten lifted its head and let out a tiny mew. “I think he’s trying to tell us they belong together. This is Marcus’s cat.”
I turned to Onyx. “Can we put the kitten inside with him?”
“I think it should be safe,” she said.
Carefully, I lifted the kitten and opened the incubator. I placed the kitten next to Marcus, and the most beautiful thing happened. The kitten wiggled his way into the crook of Marcus’s elbow, and Marcus’s tiny arm curled around the kitten in an embrace.
Nadine sniffled. “Marcus and Dean are together again, like they were meant to be.”
“Rishi,” Talia corrected her. “I felt it when I touched him. His name in this life is Rishi.”
My heart melted as I stared down at the babies. “Rishi,” I repeated. “Welcome to the family, little kitten.”
I went to stroke Rishi’s head, and something hit me. “It’s interesting that even though Dean died, he came back to be here, as if fate is correcting itself. I always figured each incarnation was separate from the next, but maybe I’ve been looking at it all wrong. I thought life and death were these two separate things… that death is final. It’s why I’ve always been afraid of it, because I’m scared of all of this coming to an end, of not living my life to the fullest. But death doesn’t have to be an ending or a permanent thing. It’s not separate from life, but all part of the same journey. It’s just a transformation from one chapter of the journey to the next. That’s why I can harness Death magic through transformation, because they’re one and the same. I thought as a reaper, I was guiding souls to their final destination, but really, I’m just helping them along their path. Life continues after death, because it’s all one.”
I placed my finger in Marcus’s hand. “I see now it’s not my job to save you. It’s my job to be here for you and guide you, because this is hard and we’re a community, and the community helps each other. I’m going to be there for you while your soul is growing and evolving. That, I can promise you both.”
A darkness swelled over the room, blocking out the morning light. I whirled around to see a cloaked figure stepping toward me. He wasn’t alone. Over a dozen other ethereal figures wearing identical black cloaks stood behind him.
“Lucas, what is it?” Nadine asked.
The cloaked figure lifted his head, and I peered into the empty eye sockets of a skeleton man. The others couldn’t see them.
“It’s Edgar,” I told her breathlessly. “And the entire Reaper Order.”
Chloe nudged me. “Well, go on. Talk to them.”
