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“Let’s start with a drink,” said Nabler, who no longer looked like Nabler. He had transformed into the creature Annie had

seen for an instant moments earlier, allowing himself to be seen as he truly was. He was pouring a greenish liquid into a

long-stemmed glass.

“What is that?” Annie said.

“If you’re going to have questions every step of the way, this is all going to take a very long time.”

“It looks like a smoothie.”

“Sure,” Nabler said, the whiskers on his snout twitching. “Let’s call it a smoothie.”

She accepted the offered glass, brought the drink up to her nose, and gave it a sniff. Fruity, not half bad, but that didn’t

mean it was going to taste good. She took the tiniest sip and made a face.

“Think of all the times you’ve made Charlie swallow something he didn’t love,” Nabler said. “Like broccoli or peas, or maybe

a medicine he didn’t much care for. You told him it was good for him, or would make him all better.”

“This isn’t good for me and it won’t make me all better.”

“You say that now, but you wait.”

She took another sip, grimaced, drank some more. Taking her time. She didn’t know how long it would take Charlie to find it, if he found it at all. And even if he did, would he know what to do? Everything was a long shot now. All guesswork. The odds, she knew, were not in her favor.

“That’s it,” Nabler said. “ Over the lips, past the gums, look out stomach, here it comes. ”

Very slowly, she drank the contents of the glass and handed it back to Nabler.

“How does it feel?” he asked.

“Very... cold. It wasn’t cold when I drank it, but now that it’s inside me, there’s like this freezing that’s spreading

all over the place.”

Nabler nodded. “That’s good. That’s what you’re supposed to feel. Do you feel sick to your stomach at all?”

Annie thought a moment. “No. Just cold.”

She was feeling something more than that. A clarity of vision, as if all her senses were slowly sharpening, becoming heightened.

It was ever so slight, but she was becoming aware of every part of her body, right down to her toenails. The din of the running

trains—

ChuffchuffCLICKETYCLACKclicketyCLACKwooWOOchuffCLICKETYchuffCLICKETYchuffWOOchuggachuggaclackclicketyCHUFFCHUFFclicketyCLACKwooWOOchuffCLICKETYchuffCLICKETYchuffWOOchuggachuggaclackclicketyCHUFFCHUFFclicketyCLACKwooWOOchuffCLICKETYchuffCLICKETYchuffWOOchuggachuggaclackclicketyCHUFF...

—lulled her into an almost trance-like state.

“Let’s give that a minute to work its magic,” Nabler said. “I have a little of that every day.” He grinned. “Not available

at Costco.”

There was a lightness, too. Was this how it would feel if you were on the moon? Annie thought. Not weightless, but as though

there was less of you than there was before.

“Okay,” Nabler said. “Come to me.”

“What?”

He opened his arms wide. The vest filled with railroad patches was gone. It was hard to tell whether he was actually wearing anything at all now. Was there a trench coat, as she had imagined? If there was, it was melding with the thin, bristly fur that covered him. She took note of his leathery hands, the long fingers with black nails.

“It’s okay,” he said. “It’s just a hug. No more and no less. Don’t worry.”

She allowed herself to drift into his arms, and as her body touched his she felt overwhelmed with the stench. That fruity

potion she could handle, but as he slowly folded his arms around her she was reminded of that first apartment she and John

shared. There were rats in the building and the super had put out poison. The creatures had feasted on it and then died in

the walls, the stink of their decaying corpses coming through the drywall and the paint, and there wasn’t enough Air Wick

in the world to get rid of it.

Annie began to gag.

“It’ll pass, it’ll pass,” Nabler said reassuringly. “Think about what’s to come. Think about the powers you’ll have.”

She could feel it happening as the nausea began to fade. A wave working its way through her, almost like a sexual peak that

was slowly growing. She wanted to fight it, but at the same time, she was surrendering. Not because it was pleasurable, although

it was, but because she believed she needed to become what he was, up to a point. But she couldn’t go past it. There had to

be a sweet spot, where she had some but not all of his power. A stage from which she could return to her real self.

It all depended on her son.

Come on, Charlie.

“It’s wonderful, isn’t it?” Nabler said. “Think of what you’ll be capable of when everything is up and running. When you start sending your books into houses all over the world. It’ll be a bit hit-and-miss at the beginning, getting the balance just right. I wasn’t hitting my prime with the trains until the fifties. I’ll help you get started before I take my leave.”

“You’ll come back after you take Charlie home?”

“Well, about that,” Nabler said quietly. “I think you’re already far enough along to handle the truth about Charlie.”

Sleepily, Annie said, “What do you mean?”

“I can do a lot of things, Annie, but I can’t make people forget. That’s not in my repertoire. And I’m afraid Charlie can

never leave here knowing what he knows, having seen what he’s seen. I’m sure you’re coming to understand that.”

Had they lifted off the floor? Was that possible? Annie moved her feet, as if they were hanging off the end of a chair. She

and Nabler, in their embrace, had levitated. Just a few inches, she reckoned, but floating just the same.

“I didn’t want you to hurt him,” she whispered. “But I suppose you have to do what you have to do.”

“You see? You coming around that way, it’s already started, but we have a ways to go yet before you’re there. You’re a soufflé,

Annie, rising to perfection, but one misstep and you’ll completely collapse.”

She thought she sensed a door opening and closing, although it couldn’t be heard over the trains.

Yes, yes, she was right. There was someone in the room with them.

“We have company,” Nabler said softly. “It’s okay. Whatever sad little trauma he might experience watching this won’t be with

him for long.” And then, annoyedly, he said, “He still looks like the mess he was before.”

“Maybe he came inside to change his clothes,” Annie said dreamily, although she was still hanging on, part of her still in

the real world.

“Hi, Mom,” Charlie said, taking a few steps closer. “You’re floating.”

“I know. It feels really strange.”

“I wanted to say goodbye again.”

“Oh, sweetie,” Annie said. “I’m so glad you did. Reach up and let me give your hand a squeeze.”

As Annie lowered her hand toward him, he raised his up and their fingers touched.

Charlie placed something in Annie’s palm.

He did it , she thought. He got the message. And he might never have figured it out had Nabler not revealed himself to Charlie, however briefly .

She moved the object about in her hand, confirming that it was what she hoped it would be. The small sculpture she had made

from plasticine. The rat-wolf figure that stood on its two hind legs that had come to her as a vision when she had sketched

it out on a sheet of paper, and then created in three dimensions.

Why am I making this? she had wondered at the time. Now she knew.

“Thank you, Charlie,” she said, and then, with the last scintilla of free will in her possession, she swiftly brought the

figure to her mouth and bit off its head.