She glanced over at Jacob, who had been sitting quietly next to her ever since the end of the show. While the boys had been performing he’d been surprisingly engaged, laughing often and even once attempting to dance. Now he was totally silent and seemed completely in his own world as he stared seemingly transfixed at four empty glasses on the bench next to him. She wasn’t even sure he knew where he was anymore.

When he suddenly looked straight up at her, she thought her heart was going to give out from the surprise. When she recovered from her shock, he’d already turned his attention fully on Tristan.

Jacob: “My parents came home tonight.”
Tristan: “That’s… good?”
Jacob: “I went downstairs and they were with Aunt Lois.”
Tristan: “Er, OK?”

Emily: “Jacob, maybe we should talk about this later.”
James: “What’s going on?”
Jacob: “My dead parents came home tonight. Emily said I should talk to Tristan because of his mom.”

James and Tristan exchanged a quick and uneasy look.

Tristan: “Let me guess. They didn’t seem to know they should be dead.”
Jacob: “I thought perhaps I’d been mistaken about the car accident.”
Tristan: “Looks like we’ll be having a talk.”
Deanna: “Anyone care to fill me in on what’s going on?”

James: “Tristan’s mum was in his living room earlier, apparently risen from the grave without any clue she’d ever been dead.”
Deanna: “And now Jacob’s parents? Do you think this is a wide-spread happening, or you two just have some special connection?”
Emily: “No one I’ve known has come back.”
Deanna: “James?”

James: “I haven’t seen anyone, either. So what did you guys do tonight?”
Tristan: “I woke up, showered, and picked Emily up from work. I didn’t do anything I don’t do every other day.”
James: “Jacob? What about you? Partake in any occult rituals this evening?”
Jacob: “No.”

James: “Right, well… I’m out of ideas.”
Deanna: “Are they ghosts?”
Tristan: “Last I checked ghosts don’t have bony fingers and scarily strong arms. No, it was definitely my very corporeal mother in my living room tonight.”
Emily: “I thought it may have had something to do with time travel, except she didn’t seem to have a clue anything was amiss.”

Andy: “You’re looking at things the wrong way.”

Emily felt her skin try to crawl away as her heart beat faster and her stomach churned sickeningly. Every time she was sure she’d moved on fully from her life with Andrew Stone, he’d find a way of weaving himself back into the picture.

Andy: “You’ll forgive me for interrupting, I hope. I was on my way out and I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation.”
Emily: “Why were you here at all? You’ve got to have better things to do than stalk me.”
Andy: “I didn’t want to miss the final show of a former investment. Surely you can’t blame me for that. And just in case you’ve forgotten, I do own the building.”
Tristan: “You don’t have a very good sense of self-preservation, do you Stone?”
Andy: “On the contrary; I happen to know I’m quite safe here. Despite your words, I highly doubt you’d ever act on any of your hostility toward me.”
Tristan: “Keep right on believing that.”

Andy: “Regardless of your personal feelings toward me, I felt you should know I myself had a visit from someone who’s supposed to be quite dead.”
James: “Someone in your family?”
Andy: “An old employee of mine, actually. I had to dismiss him after some extremely sloppy work a few years ago and I don’t think he’s as over it as he claimed to be.”

For a moment Emily wasn’t sure she was going to be able to keep herself from strangling Andrew right where he stood as he turned his attention fully on her.

Andy: “You look more beautiful every time I see you, Angel.”
Emily: “You make me more and more sick to my stomach every time I see you. Just get out.”
Andy: “Why so much hostility when I’m just trying to help?”
Tristan: “She said get out, and I really think you should listen to her. We’ll show you our gratitude by letting you leave in one piece.” Andy nodded solemnly as James and Tristan both stood up simultaneously in one fluid motion. Without another word, he turned and walked out of the Xenon. No one spoke until they heard the door latch shut behind him.

James: “Well. At any rate, now we know this isn’t just limited to the two of you. Maybe I should go home and see… hmm.”
Tristan: “See what, James?”
James: “Just make sure no one’s waiting for me.”
Deanna: “You don’t think we may all be getting visits, do you?”

James: “I don’t know, but I don’t want to be hanging around here and risk missing something important. No offense, of course, but I can see you guys any time.”
Tristan: “I don’t know if you’ll find anything. It’s not as though my entire family was back, it was just my mum.”
James: “I don’t want to take a chance. If she’s there, I have to see her.”

Jacob: “Your sister won’t be there.”
James: “What? How—“
Jacob: “It all makes sense now. I need to go home.”

Jacob stumbled forward as he stood up, nearly going face first into the floor before Emily and Tristan righted him and sat him back in his chair.

Emily: “You’re not driving anywhere like this.”
Tristan: “Is he drunk?”
Emily: “He needed something to help him relax so I bought him a couple of drinks. Then Serge got him a couple more.”
Jacob: “My no-longer-dead parents are extremely stressful.”
Tristan: “I think we have a bit more in common than I thought.”

James: “Hold on, back up. How the hell do you know about my sister?”
Jacob: “I read.”
James: “What exactly did you read? Last time I checked I hadn’t written an autobiography.”
Deanna: “James—“
James: “What on earth makes you think she’s not at my home right now?”

Jacob: “The same reason Tristan’s father didn’t come back, or Emily’s grandfather. I don’t know a lot about Miss Kobayashi so I can’t say one way or another about anyone she may have known.”
James: “I don’t understand.”
Jacob: “Tristan’s mother committed suicide. His father is on record several times stating he’d seen his dead son in the room with her the night she died. The ‘former employee’ Andrew Stone spoke of was most likely Dr. Emanuel ‘Xero’ Jenkins, who met an untimely death eighteen months ago. While it’s not public knowledge, Mr. Stone was with him and it’s my opinion he was the one who pulled the trigger. As for me, my parents were killed violently in a car accident three years ago on a family trip to the mountains. I was in the hospital for several days.”
Deanna: “You’re one freaky ass kid.”

James: “So why the hell do you think my sister isn’t waiting for me?”
Jacob: “Even though you were with her at the time, she died peacefully.”
Tristan: “How do you know any of this?”
Jacob: “I told you already. I read.”
James: “You know what? Fuck that. I refuse to stay here based on some kid’s hypothesis. I’m going to go see for myself. Come on, Deanna.”
Jacob: “It’s a very sound hypothesis.”

Emily’s mind whirled as James jumped out of his seat and headed for the door. Deanna got up more slowly, giving Tristan a look that fully conveyed her own confusion and helplessness in the situation.

Tristan: “Go with him; give us a call if you need us for anything. I think we’re going to take Jacob home and then go try to figure out what to do about my mother.”
Deanna: “Good luck with that.”
Tristan: “Thanks.” Deanna hurried after James, leaving Emily with Tristan and Jacob in the deserted club.

Emily: “Some after-party.”
Tristan: “At least it didn’t end like the one we had in ’78 for the Unsafety Pins. Lots of unsavory characters at that one. James was drunk for a week.”
Emily: “And I bet you were perfectly behaved the entire time.”
Tristan: “Of course! Ready to go home, Jacob?”
Jacob: “I don’t think so.”

Emily: “Just a few minutes ago you were ready to bolt out of here, what made you change your mind?”
Jacob: “I’m not sure I’m able to handle the consequences of their appearance and subsequent probable disappearance in my current mental state.”
Tristan: “You want to sober up first?”
Jacob: “Yes.”

Emily: “I’d offer to let you stay with Mary and me, but I’m pretty sure she’s got company right now.”
Tristan: “He can’t very well come back to my house!”
Emily: “Why not?”
Tristan: “I don’t even want to go back to my house right now.”
Emily: “So what are we going to do, hang out around here? Just the three of us?”
Tristan: “We’re not officially kicked out until 2.”

Emily: “This is ridiculous. Give me the keys to your car.”
Tristan: “What for?”
Emily: “We’re going back to your house, we’re not going to keep hiding out here from your mother! Jacob I can understand; he’s just a kid. But you’re supposed to be an adult!”
Tristan: “First of all, you can’t have the keys. You’re not much better off than he is as far as sobriety goes. Second, and I told James this earlier, I put my family to rest a very long time ago.”
Emily: “But clearly you’re not at peace with her!”
Tristan: “Sure I am. Emily, she died well over a hundred years ago.”

Emily: “If you really were, you’d have done everything in your power to get back to her instead of avoiding her. If my grandfather had come back—“

Emily choked back tears she didn’t even realize were coming. When she’d first moved to Deception Pass, she’d thought of her grandfather nearly every day. As she became settled into a routine, she’d all but forgotten about him, shelving her memories far away.

Tristan: “Emily, shh… I’m so sorry. If it’ll make you happy, I’ll go speak with my mother.”
Emily: “This isn’t about making me happy, it’s about what’s best for you. If you miss out on this, you could end up regretting it for a very long time.”
Tristan: “I suppose so.”
Emily: “I don’t want you to throw this chance away, and who knows how long she’s going to be back for.”
Tristan: “I know. Come on. The three of us can go back to my house. You guys can have waffles or something while I try to explain things to my mother. Later, after my mother has a nervous breakdown, we can take Jacob home.”

Emily stood up while Tristan helped Jacob to his feet. Together, the three of them began to head for the parking lot only to be stopped before they even made it out the door.

Charlie: “I need the watch back.”