Chapter 7

“Cass?” Jamie said again, leaning toward me. “What are you thinking about?”

“Sorry. I was just wondering... do you think there are different degrees of death?”

I pulled my eyes away from Margie’s picture to look at him and saw by his expression that he wasn’t completely shocked at the question, as if he’d pondered it himself before. But he didn’t say that. Instead, he made a joke. “You mean like ‘only mostly dead’?”

I giggled, recognizing the line from The Princess Bride, one of my favorite movies. Elliott quotes it all the time, but only recently have I noticed Jamie is also familiar with the movie. “Something like that,” I nodded. “Do you think... if someone had only been dead for a few seconds, your blue light could suck them back in?”

“Why do you ask?” He shifted on the couch again, and I regretted making him feel uncomfortable. That wasn’t my intention when the question had popped out of my mouth.

“I don’t know. I was just thinking about... Elliott.” And Alex. But I wouldn’t say that. There was no question Jamie could’ve saved him. If he’d wanted to live.

“No, Cass, I don’t think so. I think dead is dead. I can fix just about everything if there’s a beating heart and a functioning brain. But once a person has left their body, the power isn’t really a factor anymore.”

My head rocked back and forth slightly. That made sense to me.

“Now, if I could manage to bring them back with CPR, regular doctor stuff like any other medical expert, I might be able to fix their body well enough for them to stay, but if I knew what it was that made some people come back once their heart had stopped and what made other people stay gone, I’d be a lot more important than I am now.”

“I don’t think that’s possible,” I said, meaning it. He rolled his eyes at me and shook his head because Jamie’s one of the most humble guys on the planet, even if he really shouldn’t be. He could hold it over our heads all the time that we are here because of him. But he never brings it up. Never.

“I’d just as soon go ahead and keep everyone more than slightly alive.”

“Me, too,” I agreed. I glanced back at Margie’s picture and then to the one next to it, on the other side, away from his parents. I’d thought it was Ashley when I’d first sat down, but upon closer inspection, I realized it wasn’t. It was Ellie, the girl Jamie had intended to marry back before World War II, before she died at Pearl Harbor. It was a different picture, one I hadn't seen before, but it was uncanny how much the two women looked alike. Ashley was pretty cool for letting him keep that out, I decided.

Ellie was wearing capri pants and a button down shirt, her hair tied up in a bandana of some sort, and the expression on her face made me smile. She looked like she was about to wink at the camera, her lips puckered, her hands on her hips. “What were you guys doing?” I asked, smiling back at the image.

“Oh, uh, we were getting ready to go help clean up a beach after a storm,” he said, running a hand down his face like maybe part of him didn’t want to talk about it, but the rest of him did. “She was worried about wearing pants, but I told her it was still windy out, and she wouldn’t want all the other guys looking at her knickers. She was in the middle of saying they wouldn’t if they knew what was good for them because her best guy would beat them up if they dared. And then she winked at Aaron, who had the camera.”

I laughed. She was so feisty. “Did that make you mad?”

“No, not really,” he said shaking his head. “She was always flirting with him, in this over-the-top, ridiculous way, saying she wanted to get a rise out of me, but I thought it was funny. I knew she was joking, and I certainly wasn’t worried that he was interested in Ellie.”

“Why?” I asked, cocking my head to the side. “She’s beautiful. I mean, she was beautiful.” I probably shouldn’t have changed the tense.

“Because Aaron still wasn’t interested in anyone. He had just started dating again around the time I met Ellie, after about a century of swearing off all women. There was another Hunter, fifty years before that.... If he was going to date anyone seriously, it would’ve been her. But he passed her up, and then I knew he just wasn’t ready. After you go through something like that, what he went through with Aislyn, what I went through with Ellie, you don’t just fall in love again, not easily. I was beginning to wonder if Aaron would ever get married again.” His head was moving slowly from side to side again, and I tried not to fixate on what he’d said about the other Hunter. Did Cadence know about her? Not that it mattered much now since she probably wasn’t around, or if she was she probably looked like she could be his great-grandma. “Then, one day, he came back from Shenandoah, and I knew it was just a matter of time.”

A smile spread across my face. “How did you know?”

“Just by the way he was suddenly determined to find someone else to keep an eye on your sister, like if he was around her for a moment more, even at a distance, he was gonna come unhinged. I was really surprised it took as long as it did, once your sister joined the team, for him to admit how he felt.”

“Didn’t he kiss her, like, the first week?” I was under the impression that the first time the newlyweds had kissed had been the same day my sister got her IAC.

“Yeah, I think so. But he was still in strong denial, even after that. Anyway, it doesn’t matter now, I guess.” His eyes moved from mine to Ellie’s and he made a sort of a small sigh like he wanted to say more about the beautiful blonde but there was no point. She was gone, and she wasn’t coming back.

“Do you think we’ll see them again?” The question was out of my mouth before I could even consider whether or not it was a good thing to ask. “I mean, I know what they say at church, and I want to believe that and all. I just... do you think so?”

“I do.” There was no hesitation in the Healer’s head nod. “I absolutely do. Especially since Elliott’s been there.”

“Right.” I had considered that before as well. When he came back through the Blue Moon Portal, he’d said he couldn’t remember what it was like, but it was wonderful. The idea made me feel better, and it was nice to know Jamie concurred. He’s one of the smartest people alive, after all.

“I have no doubt, one day we’ll see all of them again. Ellie, my parents, Janette and Jordan, Drew, Jack... Alex.”

The last name didn’t quite tumble from his lips the way the rest of them did, and I suddenly wished I had a candid picture of Alex I could sit out on a table behind my sofa, not that I have a table behind my sofa or even room for one.... I needed to go. “Thanks, Jamie.” I stood up, hoping the tears in my eyes would stay in the corners and not come flowing out. Ashley was a saint for letting Jamie keep that picture there. If I had one of Alex, Brandon would probably glare at it every time he came over.

I was up, and he followed me to the door. “Sure thing, Cass. It was nice talking to you.”

“You, too,” I said, meaning it. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d sat down and talked to Jamie, but it had been too long. “Hope Ash feels better soon,” I said, still trying not to dwell on the fact that it was weird he didn’t just fix her.

“She will, I’m sure,” he said with an odd look on his face. I tried not to stare and ponder what it meant. Instead, I gave him another smile and bounded out the door toward my apartment, thinking I needed to get started on all the work I had to do.

Footsteps behind me didn’t register until I was almost to my apartment. “Cass, can we talk?”

I sighed, trying not to ram my head into the door. So much for getting any work done...