Page 73 of The Book of Unwritten Stories

‘Hades, you’re hurt.’

‘Do not cry for me, sweet child, I will be okay.’ But the voice Dora heard wasn’t coming from the body of the bird.

Stunned, Dora stared up only to see a pure white light, and a body leaning over him. It was the ghost of a tall, handsome man, dressed in a red shirt and breeches.

He smiled at Dora. ‘John Hadden at your service,’ he said. ‘You look just like Lucine, only even more beautiful.’

Morana was losing consciousness and her eyelids flickered towards the vision standing in front of her.

‘But…?’

‘It’s a long story, my soul has been your watcher for all of eternity, and I am glad that you and Morana have figured out that you’re sisters. I’ve been watching her too. She is the darkness to your light, but you need each other and now that you’re in each other’s lives, I need you to promise to never let go. Be there for each other and love one another like you were always meant to.’

Tears flowed down Dora’s cheek and she went to hug her father, her arms passing through him, but she felt an icy chill as he hugged her back, wrapping his arms around the best he could. He looked every bit as handsome as her aunts had described.

He had never left her, never left her mom, and she cried freely now.

‘Lucine thought you left her, did she know?’

‘Eventually she figured out that I did not leave through choice. My soul was taken in by Hades who kept it alive. He is a clever bird with a heart even bigger than yours, Isadora.’

Dora had scooped the broken bird’s body into her arms and was cradling him to her heart. ‘What happens now?’

‘Now, I go back to doing what I always have. To be your watcher is better than an eternity without you both. I want you and your sister to be united and strong now that you have each other. Promise you will never let each other go.’

‘Do you not want to be free and go to the light?’

He threw back his head. ‘I am as free as the bird who is my soul. If I leave him now, he will die. If you can help me to get back inside of him, he will live and I feel that his survival is what we both want.’

Clara, who had been scrabbling around on her hands and knees, got to her feet and was about to pick up The Book of Black Magic.

‘Get your wicked hands off that book, Clara, or I will break each finger and feed them to the gulls.’ Lenny’s voice was calm, but Dora could sense the fury lacing every word. Lenny sent a wave of pure white light in Clara’s direction that wrapped around her like a cloak, and she could not move an inch.

‘And I will help her, I swear to the Goddess Hecate. Clara, what have you done to Morana and Hades?’

Sephy rushed towards Morana, who was barely conscious, and began to place her hands over the wound on her back, sending warm, pulsing light towards it filled with healing and love.

‘Lenny, you have to help Hades,’ Dora sobbed.

Lenny turned to her. ‘I can’t, I don’t heal like Sephy does, but you can.’

‘I don’t know how to.’

‘Yes, you do. Think Dora, remember all that good harnessed inside of you, all of your power.’

Dora looked at Aunt Sephy and copied her as she imagined a warm, white light pulsing out of her fingers and the palms of her hands just like Sephy’s, and she bathed the bird in it, until he was cocooned in the warmth. She could feel his broken body begin to fix itself under the heat of her love and guidance, until he let out a loud caw, then croaked, ‘Thank you, Dora.’ He shook his feathers and she gently placed him on the ground.

John Hadden was smiling at Hades.

‘Well, my old friend, time to get acquainted again, what do you say?’

Hades flew in the air and the white light containing her father began to dim, getting smaller and smaller until it merged into one with the bird. Dora bowed her head, tears flowing down her cheeks with relief, but also sadness for the time Lucine had led believing he had left her when the whole time he had never left her side.

‘Am I dying, or have I already died?’ Morana’s voice sounded raspy.

‘You were, but I managed to fix you in the nick of time. It’s a good job I managed to climb that turnstile without breaking my neck or you’d be in big trouble,’ Sephy whispered. She was holding her hand.

‘Who was that man? The ghost in Hades?’