Page 14 of Come Tumbling Down

“Ah, surety,” said Jack. “Have you noticed that the doors come for us when we’re young enough to believe we know everything, and toss us out again as soon as we’re old enough to have doubts? I can’t decide whether it’s an infinite kindness or an incredible cruelty.” She looked at her hands, tugging the gloves more securely into place. “Perhaps it’s both. Many things exist in a state of patient paradox, waiting for some change of circumstance to tilt them one way or the other.”

“This is probably weird to say, given the circumstances, but I missed you,” said Christopher.

Jack flashed him a quick, oddly shy smile. “Well, things must have been quite dull in my absence. I doubt any of these gutless churls would know how to de-flesh a body.”

“No, that’s not a common skill among the rest of the current students,” agreed Christopher. He glanced at the door before asking, “So … Alexis, huh?”

Jack’s eyes narrowed. “Do you have an objection to my choice of partners?”

“Not at all! I mean, my true love is literally a skeleton, so I figure I don’t get to judge. People love who they love. I just never thought you were into…” He paused, waving his hands as he tried to finish his thought.

“Fat girls?” asked Cora, a dangerous note in her voice.

Christopher snorted. “Please. Anyone with skin seems fat to me, including myself. Once you have working musculature, you’re not my type.”

“Disturbing but accurate,” murmured Jack.

“I’m honestly more thrown by the ‘person with a physical body’ part,” continued Christopher. “I guess I sort of assumed that one day you’d reproduce by budding, or by digging up a bunch of dead things and stapling them together.”

“Alexis has been dead twice, and while she might be able to get pregnant via conventional means, neither science nor necromancy recommends she attempt to do so,” said Jack. “I, on the other hand, am capable of reproduction when inhabiting my proper body, but find the idea abhorrent. It’s a messy, dangerous process, and I want nothing to do with it. Should Alexis decide she wants to be a mother, I’ll construct her the child or children of her dreams, and I won’t use anything as primitive as a stapler.”

“Why does that sound romantic when you say it?” asked Cora.

Christopher laughed. “Fair enough, biology bows before you. I got it. She seems nice.”

“She’s more than I, in all my weakness, could possibly deserve,” said Jack. “She’s the moon that lights my way and the stars that steer my course, and I spent every day I was enrolled in this school sharing a room with the sister who killed her, who’d never been able to understand what it was for me to be in love. When I arrived home and saw Alexis standing by Dr. Bleak’s side, I felt…”

She stopped for a moment, throat working. Finally, in a soft voice, she said, “I felt like I’d been forgiven. I felt like I’d been rewarded for my willingness to stand against my sister, who I loved once—who I love still—with the restoration of the thing I cared for most in this or any other world. She’s everything to me, and the Moors are her home, and I’ll save them, for her. I won’t pretend there’s no selfishness here. I want my body back. Remaining in this one will surely drive me mad. But I’d accept that madness if not for the fact that Alexis would never forgive me for leaving her family behind.”

Christopher whistled, long and low. “Invite me to the wedding, okay?”

Jack smiled. “I doubt you’ll be able to handle the commute, but I’ll light a candle to the Moon for you all the same.”

The door at the top of the stairs banged open and Sumi came skipping down, pausing when she saw Jack. Then she lit up, bouncing onto her toes and grinning as widely as her face allowed. “There you are!” she declared, loud enough that people could probably hear her three rooms away. “I wondered, but you put your petals back in place, and you’re the right rose after all! We’re going to have an adventure, did you know?”

“Miss West agreed, then?” Jack looked past Sumi to where Kade and Alexis were descending the stairs. “You’ll accompany us to the Moors?”

“We will,” said Kade. “You’re sure you can get us back here, right? This isn’t a one-way trip?”

“Dr. Bleak will gladly reward you for assisting us, if he’s able,” said Jack. Her face twisted, sorrow and resignation warring for ownership of her expression. “And if all is as I fear it may be, I’ll stand in his stead as new scientist to the Moors, heir to all the Moon’s commands. Either way, the lightning will see you home.”

“Jack…” Kade hesitated. “That sounds like a pretty permanent position.”

“The first marriage any scientist makes is to their art,” said Jack. “The second, if they’re fortunate, is to someone somewhat softer. I’ve found both the loves of my life, and I’m not so arrogant—although I am, let us be clear, quite arrogant—as to think I could do better. I’m going home. I’m taking up the place I have trained for since I was a child, if that’s what has to happen. Or perhaps I’m getting lucky, and Dr. Bleak will rise and hold his title for a little longer.”

The look in her eyes made it clear that she didn’t expect any further luck to be coming her way. She turned to Christopher and Cora.

“You’re quite welcome to accompany us: Christopher, at least, has skills that would serve him well in the Moors, and I’m sure you”—she nodded to Cora—“have useful things to offer, although I don’t know you well enough to guess at what they might be. The choice is yours. I should warn you that there are shadows in the sea where I come from. They might be more interested in you than you’ll entirely care for.”

“What, having managed to nab Kade and Sumi, you’re happy to leave the rest of us behind?” asked Christopher.

“Having managed to ‘nab’ the Goblin Prince in Waiting and the war heroine, you mean? Yes, I’m quite content. But we’re wasting time. Will you come, or no?”

“We’ll come,” said Cora, before Christopher could speak. She knew what his answer was going to be, could see it in the way he held his flute. He was hungry for adventure. He wanted to glut himself on it, to digest it slowly through the days ahead. Whether his door came for him again or not, he could at least remember there was magic in the world.

She didn’t think she could bear it if he left her behind.

Jack nodded, relief flickering across her face like lightning licking at the sky. “I swear I’ll do my best to get you home. Alexis?” She turned to the larger girl. “Will you do the honors?”