The birds that had plucked them off the trees began to circle around them. LaWanda knew these weren’t ordinary crows and ravens. They were his children. She heard the sound of wind chimes and tinkling bells on the breeze. Looking up she saw only brightness.
Shielding her eyes, she looked back down only to see a man and a woman in front of her. She heard all the others and knew they were safe. The birds had put them down on the other side of the trees.
“Are you his children?” LaWanda whispered.
“Yes, I am Lenore and this is Edgar.”
“I read about both of you. I know what you did.”
The brightness spoke. Inside of the light, she saw the White Lady and knew that they were all right, but they weren’t done. “What happened in the past is immaterial. My children seek to right the wrongs that they did to the world by saving you. Do you still have the bottle?”
There was an earth shattering scream from behind them as LaWanda took out the bottle of holy water. The red eyes in the house followed her every movement. “Yes, here.”
Lenore held out her hand for it and smiled at LaWanda. “Thank you. I’m so happy you could help us end this, that you were all brave enough to fight.”
“What are you going to do with the holy water?” But LaWanda already knew the answer. She could see it in her minds eye, could recall the flames in the darkness when she was trapped in the ether. Was this where they were heading all along?
“You already know.” Edgar said. “What we have to do.”
There was the sound of bells again and the flapping of birds wings. LaWanda watched, surrounded by everyone, as the black cloud rose and a flame came to life from the centre of it. The holy water had been lit and it was the only bright spot in the darkness that moved around it. The cloud began to move towards the building with surprising force.
“They’re going to smash into the building!” Diane said. She sounded frightened. LaWanda, however, only smiled.
“I think that’s the general idea.”
LaWanda watched as the black cloud hit one of the eyes in the window. There was screaming unlike any that LaWanda had ever heard before, as if someone were being torn apart.
There was another scream and they saw the eyes from within the flames. A voice screamed and raged at them. “You’re mine! The game isn’t done! It’s not done until I say so! You’re all blood to me!”
The White Lady gave LaWanda a final wise glance, light in her eyes. “Thank you.” She said softly, so only LaWanda could her. The White Lady shot towards the window and the fire that contained her children. She was a cloud full of lighting and when she hit the fire, the sky was filled with brightness and heat that she could feel from where she was.
There was a deafening boom and the entire building was enveloped in white light laced with black, as if the light were bleeding out.
All of them stood together and watched. No one said a word and there was nothing that needed to be said. There was one more loud bang that rang like a thunderclap and when it was gone, so was 69B.
69B 