“Which is?”
“It means I’m finished having lives. I move on now.”
“What about Concepción? Did you find her?”
“She’s here, with me now.”
“Well, she might have told you.”
“She didn’t know. She just knew we had to find the Ghost Thief. We didn’t know who it was, what it was. I had to hear the stories of the ghosts of the bridge, become aware of what they were and what we were—what we are. She’s an ascended soul, too.”
“How is that possible, she’s been stuck on the bridge, well, in the Golden Gate for what? Two hundred years?”
“She was waiting for me. I guess I had lives to live to catch up to her.”
“Well, really, a smart girl would have been wasted on you.”
“I wanted you to know, Lily. I’m moving on. And after hundreds of years waiting, Concepción is moving on, too. We’re going together.”
“To where? Because I’ve been to Marin and it’s not that great.”
“Can you envision two beings, people, meant for each other, the elation of being in love—completely aware of your connection to that person, like you are part of them, and they are part of you, inseparable?”
“That’s a thing? That’s what you have with Concepción?”
“Yes, but an ascended soul feels that way toward everything, is that way with everything. That’s where we’re going. Sort of everywhere.”
“Well, you’ll want to take a jacket.”
“I wanted to say thanks, Lily.”
“You’re welcome.”
“And good-bye.”
“Bye, Mike. I’ll be here if shit gets weird.”
“We wouldn’t want that,” said Mike.
Then he showed them the way, those souls that had been lost at the Golden Gate for years, decades, centuries, mad as bedbugs, they came to themselves, and those who had lessons to learn, returned to new bodies, new lives, to take a turn on the wheel of life and death once again, and those like Mike and Concepción, who were the compilation of dozens of lives, who had found the way, become aware, ascended together in loving kindness, to hold each other and all things, one with the universe, complete.
Rivera was leading the Emperor and his men out of the kennel at the department of animal control when she appeared.
“AHHHHHHHIEEEEEEEEEE!” cried the banshee.
Rivera didn’t even jump, although Bummer and Lazarus saw to it that the sooty wraith got a good barking-at before the Emperor distracted them with a beef jerky Rivera had brought for just such an emergency.
“So this is going to continue?” Rivera said. He was very tired and still had to get two dogs and a lunatic across town to the utility closet where they lived before he rested.
“No, love. The doom is done. I’m just popping by to ask if I can keep this.” She held up the stun gun and gave it a buzz. “The wee box of lightning adds spice to the task.”
“Sure, keep it,” said Rivera. “What now?”
“I thought I’d go shriek at someone. I quite enjoy that.”
“Yes, you do. Be careful with that thing.”
“Not a worry, I’ll only use it on those who aren’t properly surprised by the shrieking. By the by, love, when you get back to your store, I think you’ll want to have a look in your death book. Surprises, don’t you know.”