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"Maggie?"

Charles closed his eyes, too When he opened theht so," he said "Will see her soon She’d be happy to die for our girl" A half ss," acknowledged Charles Mackie was still screareed Joseph with a smile "Give knife to Max"

"I will," Charles said

"Show him Show"

"I’ll show him how to use it As I showed you"

Joseph nodded "Good That’s good" He took another painful breath and then grinned "It was fun to be … to be ain"

Charles sat beside hi Joseph with his eyes while his ears told him that Hosteen and a whole slew of other people were accue sat on Joseph’s other side Joseph couldn’t talk anye took it

Charles had known this moment would come, ever since he’d understood that Joseph had no intention of beco a olf like his father Every moment spent in his company had been a moment closer to this Had it been worth it in the face of Joseph’s death?

He thought of all the experiences they’d shared He felt the huge hole that Joseph’s death was carving in his spirit, a hole that was even now filling with pain Had it been worth it?

"I arateful to have had you as iven up any of those times to avoid this pain of separation, let alone all of theot quieter Max caot up, put an arm around his son, and left Hosteen sat down in his place Anna ca to Hosteen, but he didn’t have the voice The hand that Charles held was very cold

Hosteen said, "I love you I will miss you I am so proud to have been your father--and prouder to have been your friend You have enriched the world with your spirit, o" He kissed his son’s forehead, and then, like Charles, settled in to wait

Night fell

Joseph took one breath Let it out And then he took no rief

CHAPTER

15

There was no funeral Charles and Anna loaded the dead fae into the trunk of Ms Edison’s car and tucked the dead fae’s head into a box and put it in the backseat They drove it to the day care parking lot, locked it, and drove away Then they called Leslie and told her where to find it

She wasn’t happy with them, but she called back after they’d retrieved the body "Better you than us," she said "That body is going to keep Leeds happy for the next five years"

"Better him than me," Anna told her

"Be well," Leslie said

"You, too," Anna told her "Give your husband a hug froain Charles thinks that there will be worse to coriht However, I, for one, intend to celebrate this victory There may be all sorts of horrible fae in our future, but this fae isn’t going to be killing any more children"

They stayed a few days more There was no funeral, but the farief with Charles It seemed to help him, but he was more uncommunicative than usual, so Anna couldn’t be sure Anna baked, babysat, and did anything she could to ht Moira the witch and her olf Tom Moira came to help Chelsea and to ic Anna was pretty sure that Tom came because no one wanted to tell him to stay home, not even Bran Anna and Charles flew back to Montana ten days after they’d left

Katie Jamison surveyed the ruin of her house ruefully If she hadn’t been drunk, would she have had the brains to tell the FBI special agent and her friends the olves to go to hell? And if she had, would they have listened and spared her the headache of dealing with more construction in her house?