Laurel Walker Date 2 Part 5 (End)

Alan found Laurel with the help of one of Atlas’s strange otter-canine inhabitants.

She was sitting by the three trees grown together, the ones Christian had understood as having something to do with her resurrection.

“Why here?” Alan asked.

He gestured toward the trees, then paused.

“I mean, there are a lot of ways to take that. I mean, why this spot? Why these trees?”

“I lived with my grandparents after the camp from hell where I met Nathan,” Laurel said. “They’re hard to describe.”

“I’ve met Ali’s parents,” Alan said.

“People have two sets of grandparents.” Laurel shook her head. “Ali’s parents are total normies. My father’s parents are not.”

“Huh.”

Alan sat in the sand beside her.

“No one talks about him. Jack, right?”

“That’s his name, mostly.” Laurel looked at the trees. “His parents were cool. I needed somewhere far away from everyone I knew, and they took me in.”

She picked up a handful of sand and let it fall through her fingers.

“All I knew was that Dad came from something like Atlantis, Mom was a witch, and I would be an idiot if I talked about any of it.”

Alan waited.

“My grandparents didn't watch the show with me. They did not know their culture’s rape machine had found their troubled granddaughter.”

Laurel’s mouth twisted.

“I sent a tape to something like Survivor. The Producers realized from the tape that I did not know what Harem Hotel really was. So they called me in for another kind of show.”

She looked at him.

“A month later, I was hosting the opening ceremony.”

“That’s a lot,” Alan said.

“Yeah. It is.”

Laurel sighed.

“I don't know what I was responsible for and what was not my fault at all. I fucked up again and again. I tried to make it right, and all I got was a coma and a rape baby.”

She glanced at him.

“No offense.”

“None taken.” Alan looked at the trees. “Do you know how that thing works?”

“What, the Asherah Bridge?” Laurel shrugged. “Several magical trees are stapled together to grow dead people in the roots. They found some of them in the Demon Realm, whatever that is. It is old and obsolete, but clearly it worked on one of the twins.”

She frowned.

“I can't remember which one was dead.”

“Can you teach me how it works?” Alan asked.

Laurel looked at him.

“I mean the nuts and bolts,” he said. “Natalia’s kids were going to be taught necromancy, so it cannot be that hard.”

“Maybe.” Laurel gave him a sad smile. “I know enough to host. That is not a lot. Signal-craft, the type of magic I know, is weird. Ali stapled together brain surgery, sex, music, psychology, and a lot of drugs to become a witch. I did not do any of that.”

She looked back at the trees. “I suck at magic.”

“I’ll do it,” Alan said.

His voice was calm. Flat.

“Whatever it takes.”

Laurel’s expression changed.

“I want the power,” Alan said.

“Dude,” Laurel said, “that is the biggest red flag I have ever seen.” A smile tugged at her mouth. “Respect.”

“We have been pushed around because we are powerless,” Alan said. He reached out and touched the tree. “I want to change that.”

“I should tell you about how they won,” Laurel said. “Producers. Audience. Whatever. I should talk you out of this.” She was silent for a moment. “I'm not going to do that.”

Alan turned toward her.

“I've seen them die,” Laurel said. “They came back, but it can happen.” She looked at the Asherah Bridge.“We are going to lose.” Then she smiled. “But fuck it. Let’s play the game.”

Alan and Laurel sat together on the beach and thought about the future.

“So,” Alan asked at last, “what can you do, exactly?”

“My best trick is setting myself on fire,” Laurel admitted. She shrugged. “It's surprisingly useful.”