"Where are his creations?" I asked, finishing her thought.
"Right. We know-or think-one of them is showing up at his house."
"And Max had a theory about that, too," I said. "The world of Dur, he suspects, is now very much a real world. Not here, exactly, but perhaps nearby. Perhaps side by side with our own."
"Like a parallel world?"
"Yes," I said.
"So why is Queen Autumn showing up here, in our world? Why doesn't she just stay in her own?"
"I don't know," I said. "But I think we need to ask her."
Allie looked at me. We both cracked a smile at about the same time. "The world of Dur is real, then?" she asked.
"I think so, Allie."
"King Philos? The Foul Wizard Xander? The First Knight Rory? All the warriors and ladies and squires... they're all real?"
"More than likely."
"Wait, Sam! Do you remember where Charlie left off in the story?"
It didn't take me long to think about it. I, like Allison, was eagerly awaiting news about...
"Autumn's baby," I said, "was kidnapped."
"And now Autumn's here, supposedly haunting Charlie's hallway."
"But maybe she's not haunting," I said. "Maybe she's here for something else."
"Maybe she's looking for help."
I thought about that. Thought about it hard. Meanwhile, I didn't have to read Allison's own mind to know where it had drifted off to. She wanted to very much believe the world of Dur was real, and I didn't blame her. If it was real, then it was populated with characters that we had both come to love, even if their stories weren't finished. Yes, Charlie had done one hell of a job of creating a rich and magical world.
A helluva job.
"Sam, do we tell him?"
"Tell Charlie that he's a creator, that he holds hundreds, if not thousands, of people's lives in his hands?"
"Seems pretty heavy, I know."
I thought about her question, and kept thinking about it all through lunch.
Chapter Twenty-one
"What?" said Anthony, looking up. He'd been sitting on the floor with his knees up and his head covered by folded arms.
Tammy knew he'd been talking to his father for most of the day, as he had been doing for the past few months. Funny how she rarely came up in their conversations. She'd never been that close to her dad. He worked too much, was out too late, and when he was home, all he wanted to do was get on his computer and work even more... or play catch with Anthony. Or go on long walks with Anthony. Rarely did they ask her to join them. Other than a goodnight kiss on her forehead, Tammy didn't have too many memories of her father.
She told herself that she didn't care that her father almost never asked about her-at least in the conversations she listened to. These days, she mostly tuned out the two of them. She could only stand so much of Anthony's sports stories. Or how much he missed his dad. Or how he wished his dad was out of his head and standing here, with him. Her father, for his part, made no promises and only consoled Anthony, which she thought wasn't too terrible of him. It would be worse if he was making promises he couldn't keep.
Danny Moon was getting better at communicating with Anthony. Her father, she saw, was more lively and active these days, and seemingly resided in the very front of Anthony's psyche, unlike Elizabeth who resided very deep inside her mom.
Was her own father trying to take over Anthony's body? The way her mother feared Elizabeth was trying to do with her? Tammy didn't know. Her gut said no. Her gut said her father was simply excited to be active in their lives again. And equally relieved to not be in hell. And Anthony was just as excited to have his father with him again. Side by side. Two peas in Anthony's pod.
Now, as she stood in his doorway, she said, "Something's... coming."
"Yeah, my vomit if I have to keep looking at your face-okay, I know. Dad wants me to say sorry. Your face doesn't make me want to vomit … very much."
Tammy rolled her eyes. "Tell Dad to be quiet for a minute. And you shush too. Something-or someone-is coming. And I think it-he's-coming for you."
Anthony's green eyes narrowed, then widened, then narrowed again. "You look scared," he said.
"I am."
Truth was, Tammy was feeling a little... excited too. She wasn't a hundred percent sure she knew what the word titillated meant, but if it meant what she thought it meant, then that's what she was feeling. Tammy, of course, had never met the devil before. Only in her mother's and Anthony's memories. And the man who claimed to be the devil had been hunky as heck. Of course, she had also watched that same man explode into a bloody mist when the devil had made him walk in front of an oncoming train.