“Mei,” the Manager said. “You know what to do.”
“Damn right,” Mei said. “Wallace, watch me, okay?” She lifted her own hand, fingers flexing. She brought up her other hand and tapped a familiar pattern into her palm. A light pulsed briefly in her hand.
Wallace let go of Hugo, though he was loath to do so. He tapped the same pattern onto his own hand.
At first nothing happened.
He frowned. “Maybe I did it wr—”
The room shuddered and shook. His skin vibrated. Gooseflesh prickled along the back of his neck. His hands trembled. The air around him expanded as if it lay on the surface of a soap bubble. The bubble popped.
Wallace looked up.
The colors of the fourth floor were sharper. He could see the grains in the walls, the finite cracks in the floor. He reached for Hugo, and his hand went right through him. He panicked until the Manager said, “You can change back, like Mei. Repeat the pattern, and you’ll be amongst the living once more. It’s part of being a Reaper. This will allow you to interact with those who’ve passed.” He made a face. “With the Husks, unfortunate creatures that they are.”
Apollo approached him slowly, nostrils flaring. He craned his neck until his snout pressed against Wallace’s hand. His tail started wagging furiously as he licked Wallace’s fingers.
“Yes,” Wallace said with a grimace. “I’m happy to feel you too.”
And then Nelson was on him, hugging him almost as hard as his grandson had. “I knew it,” Nelson whispered. “I knew we’d find a way.”
Wallace hugged him back. “Did you?”
Nelson scoffed as he pulled away. “Of course I did. I never doubted it, even for a second.”
“Switch back,” the Manager said.
Wallace repeated the same pattern on his palm. The room stuttered around him again, the sharpness fading as quickly as it’d arrived. Needing reassurance that it’d worked, he reached for Hugo once more, taking his hand. He lifted Hugo’s hand to his lips, kissing the back of it. Hugo stared at him in wonder. “It’s real,” Wallace whispered to him.
“I don’t understand,” Hugo admitted. “How?”
They turned to the Manager once more. The boy sighed as he crossed his arms. “Yes, yes. You’re alive again. How wonderful for you.” He looked grim. “This isn’t something to be taken lightly, Wallace. In all of history, there has only been one person who was brought back to life in such a way.”
Wallace gaped at him. “Holy shit. I’m like Jesus?”
The Manager scowled. “What? Of course not. His name was Pablo. He lived in Spain in the fifteenth century. He was … well. It’s not important who he was. All that matters is you know this is a gift, and one that can be taken away just as easily.” He shook his head. “You cannot go back to the life you lived, Wallace. For all intents and purposes, that life is still dead. The people who knew you, the people who … put up with you, to them, you’re dead and buried with nothing left but a stone marker to show you existed at all. You can’t return. It would create disorder, and I won’t have it. You’ve been given a second chance. You won’t be given another. I’d suggest getting that heart looked at as quickly as possible. Better to be safe than sorry. Do you understand?”
No. He really didn’t. “What if someone sees me who used to know me?” He thought the chance miniscule, but the last weeks had shown him how strange the world really was.
“We’ll deal with it then,” the Manager said. “I mean it, Wallace. Your place is—”
“Here,” Wallace said, squeezing Hugo’s hand because he could. “My place is here.”
“Exactly. You have much work ahead of you. It’s up to you to prove to me that my faith in you isn’t misplaced. No pressure.” The Manager yawned widely, jaw cracking. “I think that’s enough excitement for one day. I’ll be back shortly to outline what’s next. Mei will act as your trainer. Listen to her. She’s good at what she does. Maybe even the best I’ve seen.”
Mei blushed even as she continued to glare at the Manager.
“I’m leaving now,” the Manager said. “I’ll be keeping tabs on all of you. Consider it an evaluation of those in our employ. Reorient yourself with the living world.” He glanced at Hugo before looking back at Wallace. “Do what it is humans do when they’re enamored with each other. Get it out of your system. I don’t want to come back and catch you two in flagrante delicto.” He made an obscene gesture with his hands, something Wallace never wanted to see a child do, even if said child seemed to be as old as the universe.
Hugo sputtered.
“Oh my god,” Wallace mumbled, knowing his cheeks were red.
“Yes,” the Manager said. “I know. It’s terribly vexing. I don’t know how you put up with it. Love seems positively dreadful.” He turned toward the stairs, antlers beginning to grow from his head, flowers blooming from the velvet. He paused, looking back over his shoulder. He grinned, winked, and descended the stairs. By the time he reached the bottom, they could hear the sound of hooves on the floor of the tea shop. A blue light flashed through the window that pointed toward the front of the house.
And then it—he—was gone.
They stood silently, listening as the clocks in the tea shop began ticking once more.
Nelson spoke first. “What a strange day this has been. Mei, I think I could use a cup of tea. Would you join me?”
“Yep,” she said, already heading for the stairs. “I’m thinking something fancy to celebrate.”
“Great minds think alike,” Nelson replied. He hobbled toward the stairs, Apollo and Mei trailing after him. Like the Manager, he stopped before descending. When he looked back at Wallace and Hugo, his eyes were wet, and he was smiling. “My dear boy,” he said. “My lovely Hugo. It’s your time now. Make the most of it.”
And with that, he walked down the stairs, telling Mei and Apollo he was thinking along the lines of the Da Hong Pao tea, something that made Mei gasp in delight. The last they saw of them was the tip of Apollo’s tail as it flicked back and forth.
“Christ,” Wallace said, scrubbing a hand over his face. “I can’t believe how tired I am. I feel like I could sleep for a—”
“I love you too,” Hugo said.
Wallace sucked in a breath as he closed his eyes. “What?”
He felt Hugo standing before him. His hand caressed the side of his face. He leaned into it. How he’d lasted all these weeks without his touch, Wallace would never know. “I love you too,” Hugo said again, and it came with a hushed reverence akin to prayer.
Wallace opened his eyes. Hugo filled the world until he was all Wallace could see. “You do?”
Hugo nodded.
Wallace sniffed. “Damn right you do. You’re very lucky to have—”
Hugo kissed him once more.
“I think,” Wallace said against Hugo’s lips, “that we should forgo the tea, at least for now.”
“What did you have in mind?” Hugo asked, nose brushing against Wallace’s own.