Shadowing Alice [Soon To Be Rewritten]

Ch. 30

Once the majority of the crowd had dissipated back into the goings-on of Autumn Morning—though a few stuck around to talk about Danny's acceptance speech, of course—we went back inside to the throne room.

            Bishop handed me my backpack.  "Everything is inside," he said.

            "Thanks."  It felt a little heavier.  Slightly paranoid, I looked inside it, ignoring Danny and Bishop as they watched me rummage through it.  I zipped it up and slung it onto my shoulder when I was satisfied.  "Yep.  Everything's inside."  Except the dagger.  I'd thought for a fleeting second that Bishop might've included that.  He went away towards a group of councilmen, giving us a small corner of the room for privacy.

            "So, this is goodbye, I guess," Danny said lamely.

            I laughed a bit.  "I guess so….  Are you sure about what you're doing?  You can always change your mind, right?"

            "Bishop made that clear, yeah….  But if I don't do it, who will?"

            I shrugged.  "Whoever the councilmen pick can do it."

            "Well… what if they don't do a good job?" he asked, crossing his arms.

            "I'm sure the councilmen can handle that too," I said.  Danny frowned.  I sighed.  "You want to stay here.  Just say so."

            He sighed, caught red-handed.  "Yeah….  I think I can learn a lot about my dad here."

            "At least you don't have to tell your mom about him," I said quietly.

            "Hey, I didn't mean to dump that all on you, Alice.  How about I go with you to tell her?"

            "Just so that you can leave all over again?  I'll save you the trouble.  Then it'll be a solid 'you owe me.'"

            Danny smirked.  "I'm forever in your debt."

            "Don't forget it either."  I tried to think of something else to say other than a lame goodbye, but nothing else was coming to mind.

            Bishop came over, ending the awkwardness.  "Ready to leave, Alice?"

            "I guess," I said, slinging the backpack over my shoulder.  "How's it going to work?"

            "Follow me," he said simply… then started walking further into the castle.

            I frowned as Danny and I followed Bishop.  "The door's the other way," I said quietly.

            "He's a magician," Danny pointed out.  "I'm sure he's got his own way of doing things."  He frowned.  "We're going to the back."

            Following Bishop through the maze of corridors, we reached the back of the castle.  He was standing in the middle of the really big 'yard.'  No one else seemed to be around, the just the three of us. 

            Danny took it upon himself to say the last word when he hugged me and whispered, "I'll miss you, Alice."

            It felt like such a moment, considering everything we'd been through, everything we had learned about ourselves and lost.  The moment felt like an incredibly serious summation of our time in the spirit realm.

            I pulled away.  "I'd miss me too." 

            Danny's laugh followed me as I hurried towards Bishop.