Chapter 18

            “Tom, don’t talk yet.” I’m feeling his body next to mine, never sure it’s real, but it feels real. “Are you real?”

            “Um, can’t you tell?”

            “Hmmmm, something does feel familiar.”

            “I can’t help that. You feel so good, so... solid. I’ve been...not so solid for a long time.”

            “Way too fucking long. Shut up and kiss me.”

            I feel another body slam into the thing that is Tom and me. I look down and see a tousled head beside us, Alice. We stay like that for a while.

            “Um, there’s a couple of us that really want to know what just happened.”

            I come up from the honey jar that is the three of us. “Yeah, I want answers too.” I push Tom away, not really wanting to, and not letting go, but I get it. “Tom! Front and center. Folks here want answers, and you’re the one that’s got ‘em.”

            Tom straightens his clothes that got a bit mussed. I straighten my own and step towards the people. “This is my husband, Tom. He went into the mask,” I turn to Tom, “right?”

            “Yes.”

            “Ok. And he’s back. I have questions, you have questions. I will now shut up and step back so y’all can interrogate him and we will all know what the hell just happened here.”

            Tom stands up straight, tucks his shirt back in from when I accidentally tried to take it off of him a minute ago. “Hi everybody! I’m Tom, if you hadn’t got that. I’m Tallis’s other half. Yes, I went into the mask. I met a woman named Sue, who told me what was going on here, and that Tallis was coming after me. I figured the smart thing to do was to come back. I probably don’t have all the answers you’re looking for, but I have some. The masks are a portal that goes both ways. Coming back is easy, if the mask has been here and still exists. The problem is that most of the masks have been destroyed by invaders from somewhere. It’s not just us though. The enemy came to our galaxy from outside. They fed on the masks, for the energy, we think. The one here hid. It is the last from our world. But...we can make new ones. That was what I went after. Several designs are imprinted in my memory. We just need to start making them, and we can reclaim all those that were lost. Got any mask makers here?”

            About a dozen hands slam up.

            “We’ve got work to do.”

            I put my hands on my hips and got right in his face. “Not just yet you don’t. I need some personal time.” I consider. “Two days. Then we can go to work. Not before.”

            I grin at the cackles from most of the women. They knew what I was talking about.