Without waiting for his response, I grabbed hold of his arm and guided it toward Corrine. She reached out tentatively, as one would to a wild animal, and touched his wrist. After she’d performed her test, I said, “Now please. Take us down.”

As the dazed Corrine instructed us all to form a circle, Lucas tried to pull away but I held on to him. Then the witch cast her magic, and all of us reappeared in the woods.

Lucas looked at me in agitation, and I thought that he might even shoot out of the boundary again. “If you want to see your son again, just stick with me,” I said. “We won’t have time to come looking for you.” With that, I faced Corrine. “Where are my parents?” I asked.

“I-I am not quite sure,” she stammered, gawking at Kailyn. “What happened to you all?”

“We don’t have time to recount the story twice,” I said, gazing through the trees surrounding us. I was trying to figure out where exactly we had landed. Not far from the Port, I soon realized. I began rushing in its direction without even bothering to look behind me to see if the others were following. If Lucas still chose to stay behind, then so be it. I wasn’t going to babysit him anymore.

Once we reached the clearing before the Port, we could reenter the forest via the main path, the most direct route to the Residences. The trees thinned, and as we emerged from the forest, my eyes darted immediately to the path on my left. I was about to hurtle toward it when Corrine yelled my father’s name.

I whirled to see her staring in the direction of the Port, and that was when I saw them. My father, mother, sister and aunt, standing on the jetty near a small boat. My heart leaped.

“Dad! Mom! Rose! Viv!”

I hurtled toward them and, as I neared, it was obvious that they’d just spotted Lucas. The four gazed over my shoulder as though they’d forgotten about their long-lost Ben coming back from the dead. They stood transfixed by Lucas. Even Kailyn, who was also supposed to be dead, was barely enough to hold their attention for long. I allowed myself to finally shoot a glance back at my uncle, even as I felt relieved that he had decided to heed my words and follow us.

He had halted, and he, too, stood like a fox caught in the headlights, staring at my family. His family. I had never seen him look so uncomfortable as I had now—not even when he’d been trapped in his pool in The Underworld.

When I reached my family, they managed to tear their gaze away from him to look at me breathlessly. My mom and sister started crying as they hugged me and kissed my cheeks, while my father held me in a tight bear hug. Vivienne joined the huddle, catching the side of my face with a kiss.

I couldn’t describe the happiness I felt, standing there, holding my family so close. I knew that I would never take their affection for granted again.

“What happened?” my mother breathed.

My father still looked too speechless to talk. After he relinquished me from his hug, his eyes were drawn once again to Lucas, as if he half expected the sight of him had been just a trick of the eye. But no, Lucas still stood there, staring and looking more awkward than a monkey in a tuxedo.

“You’re not seeing things,” I said quickly to my family. I was sure that this was a consideration that had gone through all of their heads. “I’m back. Kailyn is back. Lucas is back.”

“How?” my father breathed.

I was about to respond when a man leapt from the boat next to us and onto the jetty. What the… Jeramiah? What the hell is he doing back here? Kailyn’s fists balled. But my cousin barely even saw me or her. He was looking straight past us at his father.

From the expression on Lucas’s face as he laid eyes on the young man, he recognized him instantly. Lucas had seen him as a boy, after all.

“Father?” Jeramiah whispered, so quietly, I doubted that Lucas even heard him.

The two men staggered toward each other, stopping just a few feet apart. They were almost the same height—Jeramiah being slightly shorter. They gazed at each other with a mixture of shock and wonderment. To my surprise, it was Lucas who broke the ice. In fact, he broke down completely. His chest began to shake, and he appeared to be crying. He pulled his son close and held him so tight it was as though he never wanted to let go.

A stunned silence fell upon all of us as we watched this reunion, and it was as if time itself had stilled.

Then Kailyn, arriving by my side, whispered, “I need to go find Aiden.” With that, she rushed off into the woods.

I would’ve liked to have stayed longer to watch Lucas and Jeramiah’s reunion, but it was time that I too rushed off. Now that I had greeted my parents, sister and Viv, I needed to find River.

“What is happening?” my father asked me, more confused than I’d ever seen him in my life. His eyes had followed Kailyn as she disappeared.

“I promise I’ll tell you,” I said, hating to leave them hanging like this. “I just have to see River first.”

I didn’t even give them a chance to respond. I had just come back, and the last thing they wanted to do was watch me turn on my heel and dart away, but I did. I have to find River.

I swept away, rushing toward the Vale with lightning speed. I arrived outside River’s front door in no time. My heart pounding, I knocked.

“River!” I called, even as my voice shook in anticipation. “River!”

The window on the top floor burst open and Nadia stuck her head out. She gasped, clasping a hand to her mouth. “Ben!”

“Where is River?” I asked.