Someone asked “What should we do?”
I remembered M'ma telling me that they got here, they could get out, but my neighbors went back to excavating the area around him, careful of the flying juveniles, but determined to help this amazing creature complete his journey.
I sensed M'ma's appreciation for their efforts, tinged with amusement. Then his amusement turned to concern. Something wasn't working.
“What's wrong?” I demanded.
All I saw in my mind was a raging blaze. In his incredible knowing eyes I saw flames, orange and red and yellow, hot and reaching higher.
“He needs the fire.” I looked at Piet. “You have to go.”
“What, not see something no man has ever seen? After all this? Not on your life.”
“Then control your fire-damping. Turn it off.”
“Damn it, you know it doesn't work that way.”
Damn it, all right. I dragged him by his shirt a little bit away from the others. Then I shrugged off my sweater, grabbed the hem of my black lace-trimmed camisole top, and pulled it up. For king and country and all that.
His eyes opened wider, and the night grew brighter behind me. People murmured, at the sudden lights or my flashing Piet. Unfortunately, the glow grabbed his attention far more than my less-than-lush bra-less boobs could. That ship had sailed. The lights went out again.
I told him to go back to the highway. He'd be able to see the fireworks I expected from there. He nodded. I started weeping again. Both of us knew he would not be coming back.
He brushed a tear off my cheek. “I almost loved you, Willow Tate.”
“Me, too, almost.”
“It wasn't meant to be.”
“No, no matter what the people at Royce thought.”
He held me close. “We are too different. Our lives are too different.”
I wrapped my arms around him. “And we're not puppets, with them pulling the strings.”
“We showed them, didn't we?”
“Yup. Our lives can't be foreordained, right?”
He shook his head. “I don't believe in it.”
“You do believe we did something good here, though?” I waved one hand back toward M'ma and the villagers.
“I believe in you, Willow. I hope you find what you're looking for.”
“You, too, Piet Doorn.”
He stepped back, leaving my arms empty and my heart sore. “Me? All I'm looking for is the next fire.”
“Be careful.”
“And you stay out of trouble.”
“I'll try,” I said to his back as he strode away, back up the path. With every step he took, the lights grew brighter until he was out of sight and the whole sky filled with three thousand plus lightning bugs, each a living, dancing, joyous flame. They made circles and waterfalls and bursting chrysanthemums. They made bouquets and hearts and leaping fish and flying birds.
Grucci, eat your heart out.
Then M'ma rose. No one made a sound. The fireflies landed on him, so he was an entire wall of fire, somewhat dolphin shaped, but in the sky, with wide wings ablaze.
Farewell, my friend.
“Wait! Can you tell me why you came?”
To meet you, of course.
Now I hoped no one else heard him. “Me?”
I caught images of the elf king and the stallion.
You see.
“But others saw H'ro and J'omree.”
Now the images pictured the halfling Nicky and his troll half brother, and the little lost colt, H'tah.
You see with your heart.
Ah. While he was answering questions, I tried to think of everything I wanted to know. “How often must you do this . . . this metamorphosis?”
Centuries by your time.
“But why come here? Surely your own world would be a better birthplace for the beetles, a better locale for your transformation.”
It is a time of grave danger and vulnerability, for us all. An old enemy rises.
“For us, too? Did you come to warn us? Help us?” But he was high overhead now.
Matt stood beside me, looking up. “Where did the creature go, Willy? Did it blow up in the fireworks?”
I wished Matt could see M'ma, that he could be part of the magic.
For an instant M'ma seemed to change into a winged human form, outlined in fire. His laughter rumbled across the sky.
Love is the only magic that matters.
I heard Matt's
ooh
of awe.
“You can see it!”
“Great gods, I cannot believe what I am looking at.”
“Believe it. He's only a minor god, though, I believe.”
“And I am not going crazy?”
I laughed. “No, but you are going to be a bigger part of Paumanok Harbor, though.”
“You did that, for me.”
I laughed. “No, M'ma did it. In gratitude.”
Matt took my hand while we watched the flaming god turn back into a sea creature and dive with his brilliant companions into the bay water. The starburst disappeared beneath the waves.
I knew right then that's how I was going to tell my next story, with the sea god changing forms to look after his people, his children. He'd keep them safe against every danger, dragon, and ancient evil. He'd sing the music of the world as their lullaby until they were grown, then let them fly away in a blaze of joy. I'll call it LIFE GUARDS IN THE HAMPTONS.
Matt Spenser'd make a good hero.