AN For loyal readers of my story, there's a little gift for you in this final chapter: it's a 2 for 1 special. If you read to the end, you'll see what I mean.

Lori was sitting in the car with her mom, looking for any sign of him. Today they drove to the north, towards Canada where it was reported that a fierce forest fire was suddenly under control despite unfavorable weather conditions. Her dad had gone instead to San Francisco, where thanks to an earthquake, the mayor had declared an emergency. It hadn't been a terrible earthquake, but some old buildings had still collapsed and bridges were damaged.

She didn't personally hold much hope of Kyle ever being found, considering it was now over a month since he'd left. Thirty-six days she thought wryly. Just thinking of it, a tear rolled down her cheek. With college having started two weeks ago and with her parents no longer able to take time off to look for Kyle other than evenings and weekend, it really didn't look good.

She knew Jessi and Foss wouldn't give up.

***

Not for the first time, Tom wondered if creating an intentional disaster near the Trager home, perhaps by derailing a train full of toxic chemicals or setting a building on fire, would root him out. He was starting to lose hope.

Hope was one thing, but quitting wasn't in his vocabulary.

***

Josh took the money from the cute girl, somewhat distracted.

He shook his head when he realized belatedly she'd flirted with him. He'd thought of Kyle when she ordered the strawberry kiwi smoothie. The only times he had fun nowadays was when he played G-Force or talked to Andy.

He frowned further when he thought of her. She was taking Kyle's ongoing disappearance really hard. They all were.

***

Jessi returned from running around town all day, literally. She'd checked all the homeless shelters, and the food banks – not that she'd really thought he couldn't find food or money of his own.

She muttered to herself as hot water cascaded down her body. She would have marveled at her new muscles if Kyle and her search for him didn't take her entire attention.

Jessi ignored her college classes for now, knowing she could do the work in a tenth of the time at least. Foss conferred with her stranger and stranger ideas for getting Kyle to come back. She didn't know why Foss hadn't agreed with her best idea of nationally broadcasting Amanda's rendition of their song on the radio and television simultaneously. The cost didn't matter to her; she'd get the money herself.

She only had $3,944 in her drawer at the present. While it had only taken her five days to get that money, she clearly saw how many more days it would take to get the rest.

Feeling tense, she decided she'd pay her boyfriend a visit.

***

Declan received a text from Jessi saying she was coming over. Looking frantically at the mess around him and knowing how quickly she'd likely get here, he felt desperate. He didn't want her to know that he was trying to build an ultrasonic emitter that he hoped would tell Kyle he was loved.

He'd sent away for the equipment weeks ago and had only received it today but was having no luck putting it together. He felt so dim around Jessi – or Kyle for that matter – but at least he accepted that Jessi loved him.

She always showed her strong side to him, but he knew she had some softness in there. He could tell when he looked in her eyes before they kissed. She was beautiful, extremely smart, and vibrant. He allowed a dirty minded little smile to appear on his face. He was certainly willing to take it slow with her. Besides it wasn't like she couldn't manhandle him.

Maybe, just maybe he'd try to get her to the next step. He only hoped she didn't break him in two for suggesting it too soon. Kyle was on all their minds after all.

***

Her mother had left five minutes ago, berating her again for "playing for him." It angered her that her mother considered Kyle a worthless lout, that he'd run away to do nefarious deeds, or to escape some trouble he'd gotten into. She sighed, bringing her fingers gently to the ivory keys of the piano Kyle had refurbished after hers had been sold to pay off family debts.

Wishing she could tell her mother everything about Kyle but knowing she couldn't, she instead regularly saw her pastor. He counseled her to pray, to hope, to let her prayers and her soul to call him back to her. She did so fervently every day, often to the detriment of the relationship with her mother. Her chores were rushed, dishes put away hurriedly, occasionally with a dirty spot. Her bed was rarely made.

She poured herself into her music, calling to him with her heart, her soul, silently praying as she did so. She'd recently found the patron saint of missing people and another for lost souls. The melody rang in sync with her heart, and she struck the keys with both passion and frustration. Tears threatened to roll down her cheeks as they always did when she played now. Her music surged and ebbed, at once soft and tranquil, at another a tempest of notes and emotion.

Music fell from her over ninety minutes, a message of love she'd wrought for Kyle as she never could with words alone. She sighed as she caressed the keys and did a prayer of thanks. The tears had never come today, never fell onto the keys as she'd expected. They'd been ready but had decided not to jump out. She shook her head at the strange idea. Feeling oddly calm, she got up and turned around.

Her eyes blinked, once, twice. He didn't disappear.

He was home.

Tears had fallen down his cheeks, his clothes were neat and clean. His eyes, they reflected her roiling emotions. She stood rooted to the spot, could only stare into his deep blue eyes. The tears that had stayed while she'd played her music for her love, for Kyle, fell now freely for him.

He took a step toward her. "Amanda," he started, fresh tears appearing in his eyes. "I'm so sorry for leaving, but I had to for everyone's safety." He took a deep breath, seemed to fill himself with her smell. Taking another step toward her, he extended his hands to her. "Your pheromones have told me more than words ever could. Your music, it filled my empty heart."

They embraced. She found her voice, despite the tears of joy streaming down, "Where were you?"

"At first I helped some homeless people in the north end, gave them money, food. I ran a lot," he said sheepishly. "I was very angry, at you, at everyone. I was never very far, well, except for last week when I saved a dozen homes from the forest fire north of Seattle."

His eyes fell to his feet. "I couldn't save everyone, and I saw one firefighter lose their life and I couldn't save him. His legs were crushed by a fallen tree and I knew he was dying. He pleaded with me to tell his ex wife that he loved her and gave me her address in Pheonix. With his dying breath, he told me he regretted leaving her, despite their differences, their financial troubles.

"When I met his ex wife, with only the mention of his name, she knew he was gone. She wept on my shoulder, and I met their three grown children." He stopped, seeming to relive the event. Bringing his eyes back to hers, he continued, "I stayed with them for a few days, telling them how Paul had helped to keep the forest fire from reaching Seattle, describing his small apartment with the many pictures he had in an album he'd brought with him when they'd separated."

"Being with them made me realize that even if you had tried to corrupt me," he paused slightly, sniffing, and undoubtedly listening to her heart, "that I could forgive you your misguided plan."

She said, clutching his hands, "Kyle, I wanted to tell you everything, I called it off."

He raised his hands to her lips, "I realize now Latnok did it all of their own accord."

She kissed his hand – it was so warm – and added, "My plan was juvenile compared to theirs. I wanted you to myself, to share you with no one."

He released her left hand and put his into his pocket. "I've grown a lot this past month. You're my soul mate, Amanda. You complete me." He pulled out a small ring. "I'm giving you this promise ring; even when we're apart – you at the Conservatory for example, me at Harvard – you'll always be with me."

The tears that had been flowing stopped suddenly from both of them.

"Will you marry me?" He opened his mouth and she put a hand to it to prevent him from saying any more. She didn't need a timeline.

"Yes," she whispered, a broad smile appearing not only on her face, but in her heart, her soul.

He was a mirror image. In perfect sync, they said, "I love you!"

THE END

ALTERNATE ENDING

"Will you marry me," he asked, knowing she'd say yes when she brought her hand to his lips.

"I'd love to..."

His certainty faltered; a crack appeared in his wall. "But," he said, feeling the crack widening.

She looked into his eyes, "You need to talk with Jessi first." At first he believed jealousy was the cause, but he sensed another connection in Amanda's heart. He soon realized where it went and smiled broadly.

"Okay." He turned and went out the door, dropping the ring on the ground.

***

Tom went restlessly back to his computer. He clicked on a front page story in the main Phoenix online newspaper. A woman in her forties and her kids were brutally murdered. The scene was so grisly in fact that the story didn't go into any detail. It took him some wrangling to get to the internal Phoenix police reports, but what he saw there froze him.

The victims' entrails had been sewn together and hung from the ceiling of their home into a gruesome message: 781227.

He checked his gun in its holster, and sat up straight. He ran down to the hotel parking lot and started his SUV, and drove the gas pedal to the ground. Kyle had gone mad, and was announcing that fact to Latnok – and to him.

Somehow he'd located Brian Taylor's younger sister in Phoenix. She wasn't in Latnok, but her ex husband had surely been. The organization worked very heavily in families. He drove into the Trager's driveway. Putting the vehicle into park, he suddenly had a massive pain in his heart. His left arm had gone totally numb.

The last thing he saw was Kyle, smiling at him.