“Oh, this is going to be fun to explore,” Elaine says, running her hands together. “We should start researching.”

Roy rolls his eyes. “Is there anything you can’t make boring?”

She flicks his shoulder, and he wraps her in a hug.

“Colin.” Liam’s voice hits me, another relief. I still can’t believe he’s okay, that he made it back. He nudges my shoulder to look at something behind me, and I turn.

Illuminated in the fading Shield light are two spirits, their faces set with matching smiles. Our parents look happy, their hands laced together.

Peaceful.

“Bridget, Niall.” Roy starts toward them, then stops, hesitating. Elaine and Nora flank him, each seemingly unable to find the words they want.

It’s my mom who speaks. “What’s past is past,” she says. “We learned that too late.”

“Thank you for taking care of our son,” Dad says. “We should have trusted you to from the beginning.”

Tears track down Roy’s face, and his sisters each take one of his arms. “We’ll never stop,” Roy assures them. “Both of them are safe with us.”

“Do you have to go?” I ask, my voice breaking. I expect to want to hold my breath, to hold everything inside, but I don’t. My eyes are filled with tears, but I don’t even wipe them away.

Mom smiles warmly. “Haven’t you learned anything from your time here?” she teases. “What’s dead needs to stay dead.”

Then she looks pointedly at Max. “Cheater.”

Max sticks out his tongue.

Liam bumps me with a shoulder. Tears race down his cheeks, too, but he smiles. “Come on. Death is only temporary. We’ll see them again.”

Somehow, that actually makes me feel better, and that’s how I know I’m exactly where I belong.

Dad drops down to pat Max on the head. “You take good care of our boys, Maxwell,” he says, and Max gives him a one-paw salute.

Mom locks eyes with us. “We love you.”

I smile. “We love you too.”

Then all together, we watch them walk into the fading mist.

Chapter 32: Anna

We sell the guests on the usual special-effects story, claiming we’d been reenacting the origins of Samhain with a light show and mock battle. Some of them look more skeptical than others, but most had fled out front when all the chaos was happening, where the house would have blocked their view of the battle. Besides, with the Shield hidden once more and no evidence of Fin’s body, there isn’t much for them to challenge us on.

Once they’ve been seen to, we all collapse into our beds. The house put an extra one in Colin’s room so he and Liam wouldn’t be separated, and last I saw, Max was curled up on Colin’s pillow.