Part IX:
03 October 1982
"You broke my heart, Randy! And that Act of Doucheyness can never be forgiven! You may have the Power of the Gods, but I made you, and I can unmake you! I hold my own debt unforgiven. May I sleep in Udun."
The sky cleared and the Sun rose. Strange, because it was something like 4 am by that time. Randy's bandages fell off and colour returned to his skin. I grabbed Hans' rifle and nailed him between the eyes. His corpse fell off the roof.
"Prick," I said.
Traci ran right to Nefrina. It was kind of weird, I expected her to still be goo goo for pasty over there. I suppose Fred just kind of passed on, but Nefrina went to Hell for us. That's deep, honey. Traci had the bright idea to talk to Imhotep.
"Is there a chance she can still be saved? Her soul I mean," she asked him. The Frankensteins were still milling around, they didn't know what to do with themselves. I went to Victor, he was holding Elizabeth, both pretty shooken up.
"Victor. I think somehow I can call you my friend," I told him.
"You as well, Otto. I never wanted to do what Henry did to you," He replied.
"I know. Listen, you got to get these guys out of here. You don't belong here. You can find your peace back at Bran. No more killings, no more abominations. No more testing God."
"You're right, Otto. I'll take us back. Maybe we can one day yet redeem ourselves." He turned and gathered what remained, couldn't have been more than half the monsters they came with and left in the darkness back to the woods. I'm not sure if he ever made it back to the Castle. I hope so.
There were hardly any Mummies left. They all just stared at Imhotep and Traci holding Nefrina's body.
"Queen Tera," Imhotep said. The only female Mummy perked her head. "You are in charge now. If there is anyone left to follow you. I do not wish to see any of you either again." The Mummies didn't say a word but they followed Tera back up to the Mountains. Imhotep turned to us. "Come with me."
He took us to the Frankenstein's Lair. He placed Nefrina's body up on the slab.
"What are we doing here?" Traci asked.
"I can locate her soul but it's not going to do us any good to bring her back to a dead body." Imhotep started sprinkling this weird dust and clearing space for some kind of ritual. He took Henry's Ankh out of her chest and rested his own from his staff. "We bring her back as a Frankenstein. For a moment she will live and in that moment I can forgive her and she will pass on to Heaven."
"Only for a moment?" I asked.
"She is a Mummy, Otto. This body will not sustain life on its own for more than a second."
"Could we bring Fred back, too?" Traci asked.
"I'm afraid my dear," Imhotep began, "that as a Frankenstein Fred had no soul to find. He was just a shell. A Mummy is more like a soul bound to Earth. It's all we still are. We cannot pass on. We could give Fred a new heart but when we bring him back he'll just be a Frankenstein, with no memories or dreams." Traci looked at the ground as a tear ran down her cheek. Imhotep just kept attaching Nefrina to the machine.
"So then if Frankensteins have no souls, how will we get this one to get Nefrinas?" I asked him.
"We do what no Frankenstein has ever done during this process." He flipped some switches and a bolt of electricity sparked on. "We pray." The sky grew dark and Imhotep bowed his head. Traci held Nefrina's hand. Lightning flashed overhead and Imhotep channeled it into Nefrina's body. She suddenly woke up and squeezed Traci's hand, then passed back out on the slab, unable to sustain life as Imhotep said she would.
"Did it work?" I asked.
"I don't know," Traci said. I turned to Imhotep, his head was still bowed, muttering to himself.
"Padre?"
He turned and left the room without saying a thing.
Sometimes that's just how it ends in Lowcountry.
Go Broncos.
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