Page 102 of Search for the Lost

Crispin had the worst headache of his life.

For a long time he just lay there, willing the pain between his temples to subside.

His body ached too, as if he’d been dismembered and then sewn back together with thread and needle. He groaned.

“Crispy?”

He took a deep, shuddering breath, and his eyes flickered open.

It was bright, too bright, and something—no, someone—was hovering over him. “Leo?”

“He’s awake!” Leo’s voice sounded joyous.

There was a thunderous sound, and then the brightness lessened a little—as though he were lying in a clearing in the forest, surrounded by trees.

The bed shifted as Leo sat down next to him and took his hand. Leo’s fingers were warm and alive.

Crispin stared at him, trying to make sense of all the things flying around in his head. “I had the strangest dream.” His vision focused on those trees. Not trees. People.

There were a bunch of folks staring down at him. Aspin, Cypher from work, his old lover Dietrich, a woman with a blue-and-white-checkered dress and long braids, and even Juzir, his dinosaur wizard friend. They were back home in the treehouse. How had that happened?”

It was all coming back to him. “Wait… you were there, and you were there, and you were there….”

Somewhere outside, something howled.

Leo blushed. “I couldn’t very well send the WOLFs back to those awful woods.”

“Is Mink okay?” Crispin looked around for his rodent friend.

In response, something burst through the crowd to run up his leg and drop something on his chest.

“Acorn Man is awake!” Minkis sniffed his neck and chittered. “Have acorns for Minkis?”

Crispin laughed. “I’ll get you some, my little furry friend, when I can sit up without feeling dizzy.”

The something else Minkis had dropped lit up. “Welcome back, boss.” Thea’s voice sounded positively cheerful. “It’s been a nice vacation, but I suppose all good things have to end eventually.”

Crispin laughed, but stopped when his chest flared with pain. He coughed instead. “Thank you, Thea,” he managed. “So… it wasn’t a dream?”

Leo shook his head.

It all came back to him. Aspin showing up on their doorstep, their frantic quest, Cypher’s betrayal, chasing his mother across the Common Worlds, the food witch, Dorothy, and finally his mother. And the undoing.

He sat bolt upright in bed. “Where’s my mother?”

Leo exchanged a look with Aspin, then shook his head. “I’m so sorry, Crispin. She… she wasn’t here when we woke up. Neither was my… the King of Chaos. Aspin and our friends brought us home.”

She knew. She was saying goodbye. Grief seized Crispin.

He began to cry, just tears rolling down his cheeks at first, then whole-body shudders as he took in what Leo had told him. “She’s… gone? She… she can’t be. She’s my mother.” His wise, if sometimes distant and complicated, mother. His nose started to run, and his tears came harder, soaking the sheets that were wrapped around him. “She can’t be gonnnne….”

Leo held him tightly and gestured to the others, who one by one left Crispin alone with Leo and his grief. Except for Minkis, who nestled against him, offering squirrel-sized comfort.

And Thea, who was vibrating. “Crispin, you have a call.”

“Not now, Thea,” Leo said absently, hugging him even more tightly.

But Crispin pushed him away gently. Something told him to answer it. “I never get calls through Thea. She’s not a cell phone, Leo.” He wiped away his tears and picked up his travel assistant.