"Call them, Ashe. Command all inside the shelter to come out. Tell them it is safe," Ren instructed.
Come, Ashe sent mindspeech. You will be safe. We will send you to a safe place, he added.
In twos and threes, the families came forth, led by Edward. Stunned parents were helped along by determined half-Elemaiyan children, all of whom seemed to recognize the gate Ashe had created. A beautiful woman; perhaps the most beautiful woman Ashe had ever seen, with black hair and piercing blue eyes stepped to the line where the gate stood, the edges of it glowing and crackling with energy. "Hurry, come quickly," she said, her voice musical as she beckoned the children and their parents forward. Two more who stood behind the woman quickly took adults and children aside as they crossed over. Ashe, watching his friends leave, noticed for the first time that behind the people on the other side stood trees, seemingly planted in neat rows. They reminded him of photographs he'd seen of lemon groves.
It didn't take long for the children and their parents to walk through the shining gate and stand among those trees. Luanne, Macy, Keith, Edward and Bryce turned to wave at Ashe. Ashe lifted his hand in farewell when Director Jennings' voice spoke behind him.
"Wait! Wait," Ashe turned to watch as the aging Director, with blood soaking his white hair and covering the side of his face, reached out a hand toward the gate. Ashe was worried at first that the Director wanted to stop the others from crossing to safety. That wasn't the case. The shining woman stepped forward and held out her hand. Bill staggered the last few steps through the gate to take it, and the two embraced.
"They are old friends," Ren said softly. "She came for him. Close the gate, Ashe."
Ashe was about to close the gate, making the opposite gesture and reaching high over his head to create a sweeping arc downward, when two things happened. Elizabeth's ghost ran lightly through the portal, closely followed by the ghost of Philip's mountain lion. The beautiful, dark-haired woman watched silently as the ghosts swept past, and then sent mindspeech as Ashe's gate closed between them.
I love you sounded softly in Ashe's mind as the portal disappeared. Ashe gaped, openmouthed, wishing for another glimpse of the woman, but only the Oklahoma prairie surrounded him, along with suspended figures frozen in mid-battle.
"There is one last thing you must accomplish, young Ashe," Ren said, making Ashe jump. For moments, he'd been lost in the music of the woman's voice and the burning desire to know who she was. Ren pulled him away from that brief and lovely reverie.
"What?" Ashe looked up at Ren.
"Turn these to mist and drop them several miles away," Ren indicated the four Dark Destroyers and the Bright Queen's Jewel Sentinels. "I have removed the memory of this place from their minds," Ren added. "They will not find it again."
"Want to come with me?" Ashe shook himself and grinned at his tall, blue friend.
"Of course," Ren chuckled.
* * *
"Dang," Ashe breathed as he stared at the suspended battle between warlocks, witches and the community. He and Ren had traveled to Cloud Chief's entrance after dumping their other cargo in a field on the far side of Cordell. "What am I gonna tell them—about Edward and the others?" Ashe turned to Ren.
"You won't have to tell them anything. Do you recall your game—the one in which automobiles exploded?" Ren asked, his bright blue eyes twinkling mischievously.
"Yeah," Ashe nodded.
"Watch this," Ren held out a hand and each empty SUV exploded in a fireball, making no sound at all. Debris rained down without touching any Cloud Chief resident. It even missed the witches and warlocks—those that still lived, anyway. Only two of those remained at the moment, although Winkler was about to take down the witch while Ashe's father held the warlock in a stranglehold.
"All will believe that the others perished in these blasts," Ren said. "Including the Director. You must keep this secret to yourself, young Ashe, or the children might still be in peril and our work to keep them safe count for nothing. There is one last thing," Ren went on. "The next gate you open upon this planet will be the last gate you open upon Earth. Make sure it counts. Good-bye, friend." Ren bent down and embraced Ashe tightly before disappearing. Ashe stared around him as the action resumed.
* * *
Ashe and Sali watched somberly as the funeral procession was displayed on television. A journalist spoke about the service that Director Bill Jennings had rendered to the country before giving his life in the line of duty. Ashe's skin tingled slightly as the journalist mentioned Anthony Hancock, Director Jennings' predecessor, who had also died in the line of duty. Ashe pretended not to notice when Sali wiped his eyes.
Everyone in the community believed the children and their parents dead, and there were no announcements or news coverage of their demise. Even an altered account of Director Jennings' death was given—that he'd died in an explosion with his assistant, Vince Jordan. Ashe mourned with Dori, Wynn and the others, only for a different reason—he missed Edward and the others and had no idea where they'd been taken. He trusted Ren, though, and believed they were in a safe place for perhaps the first time in their lives. At first, it was difficult keeping the secrets from Sali and the others, but he held them inside and it became easier over time. And he found himself hoping that somewhere, someday, he might see the half-Elemaiyan children again.
After the battle at Cloud Chief's gate, the Cordell Fire Department had somehow been misdirected to a field west of town, where evidence of a grass fire was found. Fortunately, the fire was already out when the firefighters arrived. Ashe figured it was the aftermath of the battle between the strange men he'd dumped there before all disappeared.
Somehow, too, the body of Philip's father had disappeared. Deciding that Ren had somehow managed that in addition to many other things, Ashe thought he might be in the clear—at least for a little while. As to the reason and purpose behind the shield being taken down, Aedan and Nathan had questioned the only living warlock after the battle, and he'd spouted off some wandering tale of revenge against Paul Harris, saying that Paul had offered him money for services in the past and then had never paid. The warlock seemed much surprised to learn that Mr. Harris had perished a year earlier.
The warlock was turned over to the Spell-Caster's Consortium for judgment and punishment afterward, for violating their laws. And somehow, the witch's barrier surrounding Cloud Chief had magically repaired itself. The last thing to come about was Jane Scott and Nick Lawford's waking in an Oklahoma City hospital, with no memory of what had transpired in and around Cloud Chief and Cordell.