Page 114 of Dead Serious: Case 3 Mr Bruce Reyes

I look around and it all looks relatively normal again—except for the splashes of black crap everywhere. All the vines are gone. I’m guessing that’s what the black stuff is; like a tomato in a microwave, they all seem to have exploded into a slimy mess.

The air once again feels light and calm. Glancing over to the dais, I shake Danny. “Can you see that?” I murmur.

The platform is clear and the huge ornate gateway, once a clunky-looking stone structure straight from a dodgy sci-fi show, is now… well, it seems like it’s constructed of bone, delicate-looking and etched with stunning motifs and filigree. A pale veil ripples in the space between, but standing in front of it is Bruce, smiling as he hugs Dusty.

Bruce looks—perfect. Gone are the shadows and pale skin. And the very short shorts. He’s now dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, something I’ve never seen him wear before.

“Who’s that?” Danny asks, and my head snaps toward him in surprise.

“You can see them?” I squeak and then clear my throat.

“Yeah.” He squints as he continues to stare. “Is that Dusty?”

“Um, yeah?”

“Why is she dressed like that bird from Flash Gordon?”

“Don’t ask.” I roll my eyes.

“It’s okay, it’s safe now.” Bruce beckons us close with one hand as he holds Dusty’s with his other.

I climb to my feet and help Danny up. He’s kind of hopping on one leg when Sam appears with his crutches, which are smeared in a black tar-like substance.

“What the hell is this stuff?” Danny grimaces as he takes the crutches gratefully from Sam.

“Chaos goo,” Sam replies. “The vines all exploded.”

The three of us approach the dais, Sam looking bemused and Danny looking somewhere between fascinated and shell-shocked.

“Thank you,” Bruce says. “All three of you. This wouldn’t have been possible without you.”

“Um, I don’t suppose you want to explain it all, do you?” I ask.

“Sure, uh…” He scratches his head. “Where do you want me to start?”

“How about why Danny can now see you guys.” I glance at my boyfriend, who’s slightly mesmerised by Dusty’s outfit. “Is it permanent? Can he see ghosts now?”

“No,” Bruce replies.

Sam climbs up onto the dais and approaches the gate, running his hand over the intricate carving with a low whistle. “This is so cool.”

“Sam, what have I told you about touching my bones?” Bruce lifts a brow.

“Oops.” He snatches his hands back. “Sorry,” he adds sheepishly.

“Sorry,” I tell Bruce resignedly. “He’s like a toddler who keeps wandering off and touching things. Anyway, what were you saying about Danny?”

“Like I told you before,” Bruce continues, “this is an in-between place, an overlap between the other world and yours. When Danny’s here, his perception is different, allowing him to see us, but once he’s back in the bookshop, he can’t.”

“Can’t say I’m all that sad about it.” Danny tries to wipe the goo off his crutches.

“What happened with the magic door?” I lift my chin in the direction of the beautiful new gateway, which—unless I’m very much mistaken—is now constructed from Bruce’s bones. “You told the shadowy monster thing that you remembered, but what? And what part of you did it wake up?”

“I was the one who opened the gateway forty years ago,” he admits quietly. “After I died, I was lost and hurting. This place drew me like a beacon because of the tie to my bloodline, I suppose, but I think it was more than that. I needed a purpose. The doorway was calling to me, it chose me. I created this place and reopened the gateway Cordelia and Cornelius had closed. But I was…” He pauses and draws in a breath. “I was incomplete. Instead of facing my pain or resolving my unfinished business, I closed that part of myself off and tried to forget. Over the years, the more I became tied to the gateway, the more everything else slipped from my memory. People would show up and I would guide them to the other side, but I didn’t fully understand the portal back then.”

“And you do now?” I’m not sure I get it, and looking at Danny and Sam, I can tell I’m not alone in that feeling.

“Now I control the gateway, not the other way around.” He smiles. “My business is resolved, yes, but I choose to remain here. I’m not constrained by the same restrictions as I was before, but I am bound by the same responsibility. The gateway is a part of me. I can’t and won’t abandon it.”