Waves of magma at least a dozen feet tall slammed into each other as the sea raged. I stared across the ocean of liquid rock, trying not to flinch at the occasional lances of green and black lightning that struck down from the impossibly high ceiling where clouds of black, tinged with red festered. I frowned, staring at a tiny cliff in the distance. It looked like it bore a black throne… Was that Anubis? Where we had just been? No wonder I hadn’t seen the ceiling over the ocean. That cliff with the throne looked tiny and about to be swallowed up by the lava ocean.

I heard a grunt behind me and flinched. Two smudged faces stared across the ocean of fire at the black throne… at least I think they did. The lighter one spoke. “You should step back from the edge…” Carl said nervously.

I nodded, glancing down at the cracked, worn rock with sudden panic. I was only inches away from taking a dive.

The other figure – Talon – snorted in disbelief, pointing down at the ocean of fire.

I followed his gesture to see a lone boat zipping through the waves, looking like an elaborate canoe, but without a driver. A long black cord stretched from the back of the boat, tugging…

I blinked, my jaws falling open. A familiar robed figure gripped the cord with one hand, riding a long, thin sliver of stone like a wakeboard. His other hand held a beer. He poured it over his face, and I noticed the familiar, sewn up lips. He waved his beer at us and continued on, jumping over a particularly large wave, landing with a splash of magma.

“Charon…” a woman’s voice murmured behind me. “The only smile I have seen down here.”

I spun, heart wrenching into a knot. My mother stood before me, smiling sadly. She looked gaunt, dirty, and hollow, but at least she wasn’t smudged. She wore tattered robes, like strips of dirty cloth that fluttered in the waves of heat. A sob bubbled up from her throat, her face anguished as she threw her arms out. I took two steps and scooped her up, crushing her to my chest.

She felt so real.

Not like a spirit at all. Which meant more to me than anything, that I was able to actually touch her rather than talking to her shade.

“Mom…” I whispered. The word broke her, and she almost collapsed in my arms, but I didn’t let her. I clutched the back of her head, mumbling incoherently, forgetting all questions in my sudden swell of emotion. My mother. She was sobbing into my neck, rubbing my back in soft circles like she had done whenever I had nightmares as a child. She even murmured the same words she had told me then, now. “We don’t tell fairy tales to teach you to fear monsters, but to teach you how to beat the monsters…”

I squeezed her harder, my vision a blur, my cheeks drenched with tears. “I know, mom. I know… I’m trying. I’m trying so hard…” I whispered, shaking.

A throat cleared and I stiffened, looking up. I wiped my eyes, staring at the other figure that I had completely forgotten. My dad. His face was pale, tear tracks trailing down from his eyes, smearing the soot on his bearded face. That was the only sign of his crying – just the tears – no sobbing, shaking, or shifting of jaw. Just tears.

“If that devil woman would let go for a moment… I would like to hold my son…” His false bravado did crack at that, but he weathered it well. Just one more tear rolling down his cheek.

My mom, Makayla, detached herself from me with a sad bubble of laughter. She shot him an arch look and then stepped aside. “Watch your tone, Calvin,” she whispered, tears pouring down her face as she watched the two of us as if witnessing an impossible dream come true.

I held my hand out for a shake, but gasped as he lunged at me as if to tackle me into the lake. He picked me up like I was a boy again, spinning me in circles as he gripped the back of my neck with his thick, calloused hand, holding me like a lifeline. “Nate,” he rasped, finally overcome with emotion as I felt him shudder as he held me tight, setting me back down.

I squeezed back just as tightly, missing his solidness. Like a boulder in a raging river. Even though he was overcome with emotion now, that inner confidence roaring inside him was still stronger than any man I had ever met. Not arrogance, like me, but a solid, unwavering center of self. “Wylde, dad. Wylde…” I whispered. He shuddered harder, his muscles bunching as if he’d just been struck by a whip, but it didn’t shake his embrace, as if knowing and accepting those lashes with pride and relief… that I finally knew the truth. My birth-name.

“Talon?” I heard my mother whisper in a throaty cry. “It is you! Talon the Devourer!” she shrieked, giggling delightedly. My dad finally set me down, gripping my shoulders as he stepped back, studying me with glistening, proud eyes. A flicker of something else danced there, too. Hope? That his choices had resulted in this… in me?

Then he shook his head and laughed, a pure, sharp sound like a struck bell. As if nothing could break him. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders, turning me back to my mom who was squeezing Talon as if he would disappear if she let go. He stood awkwardly, but he did brush his chin into her neck, and his tail curled around her lovingly. Fucking cats.

Carl cleared his throat, extending a hand towards my father. “Hello,” he said. “I am Carl.” My father hesitated only a moment before accepting, and pulling him in for a hug, slapping him on the back in gratitude. “Thank you. For keeping Nate… Wylde safe. Thank you for being his friend, Elder Carl…” Carl nodded, matter of factly, before they detached.

Then he turned to my mother, studying her. Then he took two strides towards her, wrapped her up in both arms to pick her up, and then spun her in a slow circle. She gasped in surprise, but it soon turned to a joyful laugh. He sniffed her hair loudly before setting her down. My dad looked startled at the greeting, but he didn’t interfere.

“My son,” my father said. I wiped my nose before turning to him, remembering Anubis’ warning about time. That my friends didn’t have long. “We should talk.”

I nodded, following as he led me a pace away from the edge of the cliff, a hundred feet above the raging ocean of lava. We sat down, Talon joining us to sit on my father’s other side. They embraced warmly, speaking softly to each other, but my attention was distracted by Carl as he spoke to my mother. I glanced back, staring in startled disbelief.

“I must know the secret,” he insisted. “A woman of your worldly experience must have vast understanding of the D…” If I had thought it impossible for a shade to blush, Carl just disproved it. Luckily, my father hadn’t heard. Elder or not, there were some things that just shouldn’t be asked of another man’s wife. Or a guy’s mom.

Fucking Carl…

To my surprised horror, my mother nodded with a wicked grin. “A little coaxing and passion can do wonders to find new life…” she began as they walked further away. Carl leaned in closer, nodding as he listened to her share the secrets of the D.

I was going to kill Alucard.

My father caught my attention with a question. “Is Falco well?” His face was guarded, as if unsure which lies to admit to first. I was angry, of course. All the secrets they had kept… but anger wouldn’t help anyone. This was the last I would ever see of them. What was done was done. Now was the time to make their choices mean something.

To turn this fucking lemon into lemonade.