The Return: Midnight Chapter 37

thus Meredith apothegming machine something that was not smoke or fire.Just a glimpse of a door frame and a tiny breath of cool air.With this expect to sustain her, she scuttled straight for the door to the backyard, dragging Isobel fuck her.As she passed the thresh former(a), she tangle blessedly cold piddle somehow showering down onto her trunk. When she pul ed Isobel into the spray, the young girl made the stolon voluntary articulate she had during the entire jaunt a wordless sob of thanks. planes give ways were helping her along, were taking aside the burden of Isobel. Meredith got up to her feet and staggered in a circle, therefore dropped to her knees. Her hair was on fireShe was just recal ing her childhood rehearsal of stop, drop, and rol , when she matte the cold water glowering on it. The hose water went up and down her body and she turned around, basking in the feeling of coolness, until she heard mattes instance say, The flames are out. Youre erect n ow.Thank you, Matt. Thank you.Her voice was hoarse.Hey, you were the ace who had to go al the g everyplacenment agency to the bedrooms and back. Getting Mrs. Saitou out was pretty easy there was the kitchen sink ful of water, so as soon as I cut her eject from the kitchen tame we just got al wet and dashed outside.Meredith smiled and looked around quickly. Isobel had be cause her function now. To her relief, she saw that the girl was being hugged by her mother.And al it had taken was the furbelow choice between a thing however precious it was and a life. Meredith gazed at the mother and daughter and was glad. She could have other stave made. scarce nothing could replace Isobel.Isobel said to give this to you,Matt was saying.Meredith turned toward him, the ardent light making the world crazy, and for cardinal jiffy didnt believe her eyes. Matt was holding the fighting stave out to her.She must have dragged it with her free hand oh, Matt, and she was almost dead before we startedMatt said, Shes stubborn. Like some adept else I know.Meredith wasnt quite sure what he meant by that, but she knew one thing. Wed al better get to the front yard. I doubt the provide fire department is going to come. Besides Theo Il get them moving. You scout the introduction side,Matt said.Meredith plunged into the backyard, which was hideously il uminated by the house, now ful y engulfed in flames.Fortunately, the side yard was not. Meredith flicked the gate open with the stave. Matt was right groundwork her, helping Mrs.Saitou and Isobel along.Meredith quickly ran by the flaming garage and then stopped. From behind her she heard a cry of horror. There was no time to judge to soothe whoever had cried, no time to think.The two fighting women were too worry to notice her and Theo was in need of help. Inari was truly like a fiery Medusa, with her hair writhing around her in flaming, smoking snakes.Only the ablaze(p) part burned, and it was that part that she wa s using like a whip, using one snake to wrest away the silver bul whip from Theos hand, and then another to wrap around Theos throat and choke her. Theo was desperately trying to pul the blatant noose from her neck.Inari was laughing. Are you suffering, petty witch? It wil al be over in seconds for you and for your entire little town The conclusion Midnight has final y comeMeredith glanced back at Matt and that was al it took. He ran forward, notch her, al the way up to the space below the fighting women. Then he bent slightly, cupping his hands.And then Meredith sprinted, jellting everything she had left into the curt run, leaving her just enough energy to leap and place one foot into Matts cupped hands, and then she felt herself soaring aloft, just within exceed for the stave to slice cleanly through the snake of hair that was choking Theo. after(prenominal) that Meredith was in free fal , with Matt trying to catch her from below. She come more or less on top of him and they both saw what happened next.Theo, who was bruised and bleeding, slapped out a part of her gown that was smoldering. She held out a hand for the silver bul whip and it flew to meet her outstretched fingers. alone Inari wasnt attacking. She was waving her build up wildly, as if in terror, and then suddenly she shrieked a sound so anguished that Meredith pull in her breath sharply. It was a death-scream. in the first place their eyes she was turning back into Obaasan, into the shrunken, helpless, dol -like woman Matt and Meredith knew. unless by the time this shriveled body hit the ground it was already stiff and dead, her expression one of such unrepentant malice that it was frightening.It was Isobel and Mrs. Saitou then who came forward to stand over the body, sobbing with relief. Meredith looked at them and then up at Theo, who slowly floated to the ground. Thank you,Theo said with the faintest of smiles. You have saved me merely again. only if what do you think happened t o her?Matt asked. And why didnt Shinichi or Misao come to help her?I think they al must be dead, dont you?Theos voice was soft over the roar of the flames. As for Inari I think that peradventure someone destroyed her star bal . Im afraid I was not substantial enough to defeat her myself.What time is it?Meredith abruptly cried, remembering. She ran to the old SUV, which was Stillrunning. Its clock showed 1200 midnight exactly.Did we save the people?Matt asked desperately.Theo turned her face outward toward the centerfield of the town.For nearly a minute she was Still, as if listening for something. At last, when Meredith felt that she might shatter from tension, she turned back and said quietly, Dear Ma ma, Grand mum, and I are one, now. I sense children who are decision themselves holding knives and some with guns. I sense them standing in their quiescency liftsrooms, unable to remember how they got there. And I sense parents, hiding in closets, a moment ago frightened for t heir very lives, who are key outing weapons dropped and children fal ing onto stamp down bedroom floors, sobbing and bewildered.We did it, then. You did it. You held her off,Matt panted.Stillgentle and sober, Theo said, Someone else far away did much(prenominal) more. I know that the town needs healing. But Grand mama and Ma ma agree. Because of them, no child has kil ed a parent this night, and no parent has kil ed a child.The long nightmare of Inari and her Last Midnight is over.Meredith, grimy and bedraggled as she was, felt something rise and swell inner her, bigger and bigger, until, for al her training, she couldnt contain herself any longer. It exploded out of her in a yel of exultation.She found that Matt was shouting too. He was as drab and unkempt as she was, but he seized her by the hands and whirled her around in a barbarian victory dance.And it was fun, whirling around and yel ing like a kid. Maybe maybe in trying to be calm, in ever being the most grown-up, sh e had missed out on the effect of fun, which always felt as if it had some childlike quality to it.Matt had no pother in expressing his feelings, whatever they were childlike, mature, stubborn, happy. Meredith found herself admiring this, and also mentation that it had been a long time since shed real y looked at Matt. But now she felt a sudden wave of feeling for him. And she could gain that Matt felt the same way about her. As if hed neer real y looked at her properly before.This was the momentwhen they were meant to kiss.Meredith had seen it so very much in movies, and read about it in books, that it was almost a given.But this was life, it wasnt a story. And when the moment came, Meredith found herself holding Matts shoulders while he held hers, and she could see that he was thinking exactly the same thing about the kiss.The moment stretchedThen, with a grin, Matts face showed that he knew what to do. Meredith did too. They both moved in, and hugged each other. When they d rew back, they were both grinning. They knew who they were. They were very different, very close friends. Meredith hoped that they always would be.They both turned to look at Theo, and Meredith felt a pang in her heart, the first since she had heard theyd saved the town. Theo was changing. It was the look on her face as she watched them that gave Meredith the pang.After being young, and while watching youth at its peak, she was once again aging, wrinkling, her hair going white instead of moonlit silver. At last, she was an old woman wearing a raincoat covered with bits of paper.Mrs. Flowers This person, it was perfectly refuge and right to kiss. Meredith flung her arms about the frail old woman, lifting her off her feet in excitement. Matt joined them, and they boosted her above their heads. They carried her like this to the Saitous, mother and daughter, who were watching the fire.There, sobered, they put her down.Isobel,Meredith said. God Im so sorry your homeThank you,Isobel sai d in her soft, slurred voice. Then she turned away.Meredith felt chil ed. She was even beginning to atone the celebration, when Mrs. Saitou said, Do you know, this is the greatest moment in the history of our family? For hundreds of years, that ancient kitsune oh, yes, Ive always known what she was has been forcing herself upon innocent humans.And for the last three centuries it has been my family line of samurai mikos that she has terrorized. Now my maintain can come home at last.Meredith looked at her, startled. Mrs. Saitou nodded.He well-tried to defy her and she banished him from the house.Ever since Isobel was born, I have feared for her. And now, please forgive her. She has trouble expressing what she feels.I know about that,Meredith said quietly. Il go have a little talk with her, if its All right.If ever in her life she could pardon to a fel ow traveler what fun having fun was, she thought, it was now.