Chapter 12
It was a jovial ride as Rebecca and Wooly were telling Sam about their adventures after having been freed. "It was so awesome to be able to play on a swing set again, Dad," she said.
"I'll make sure to build both of you two one when we get home," he said.
"D-Dad?" Wooly asked, making Sam turn to him. "We...We won't have to do any more of the show, will we?"
"No, son," Sam said, his voice soothing. "The head director decided that the Amanda Show is to be permanently shelved."
"Shelved?" Rebecca asked, confused.
"In other words, put away and never thought of again," Riley explained. "I'll be honest, I never thought taking on this mystery would be this crazy. I thought I was dealing with just finding a missing kid."
"Some mysteries go much deeper than what we can see on the surface," Kate said gently before smiling at her niece. "I'm just glad you got my message in time to act. Had you not gotten my message and gotten to Skylar, I fear it would have been impossible to free Rebecca and Wooly."
"Not going to lie, Kate. When you told me your suspicions, I was going to brush it off as science fiction, but then when you showed me the tapes of Wooly signaling for help, I knew I had to help out," Skylar said.
"You even left clever clues for us to figure out," Komo said. "Clues that not many might have been able to solve or put together."
"Skylar, did you know my aunt and your friend were on the inside?" Riley asked.
"Honestly, no. Not until we got to the amusement park and my friend's brother mentioned that his brother was inside," the programmer admitted. "But it gave me hope that if things took a bad turn, we'd have some help. Though I didn't know Kate would be there either."
"Only Komo knew that," Kate said. "By the way, your friends and his brother are very smart to have noticed the sigils on Komo's armor."
"I honestly hadn't noticed them until my friend said something, but it turned out to be the trump card we needed to banish the monster," Skylar said, smiling. "And then Sam played our ultimate ace in the hole."
"Which you, Riley, and Komo all made possible," Sam said, hugging his children. "And now I have my daughter back and have gained a son."
"Speaking of children, take a look as to where we are," Kate said.
Skylar had pulled up to a two-story log cabin home and parked the Jeep before turning to Komo. "Is this it, Komo?" She asked.
He nodded, tears in his eyes. "Yes," he said before spotting his three children in the yard with a beautiful woman. There were a boy and a girl, both five years old, and the woman carried a little toddler girl who looked to be about two years old. The woman turned to see them and looked curious. Skylar hopped out of the van and went up to the woman.
"Hi," she said. "You don't know me, but I believe I know your husband."
"My...husband?" The lady asked before hope filled her face.
"You know Daddy?" The little girl asked.
Skylar nodded. "How long has it been since you last saw him?" She asked gently.
"Since my youngest girl was born," the lady said. "Are you...Are you saying you found my husband?"
"I believe so," the programmer said. "What was his name?"
"Komo," was her reply.
Skylar turned and waved to the Jeep and the door opened, to which Komo stepped out, looking at his wife and children with tears in his eyes. The twins gasped in shock before squealing with happiness. "DADDY!" They both cried out and ran to him and he scooped them up, hugging them tightly as tears flowed down his face.
"My children," he said before walking over to his wife and his youngest child. The toddler seemed to recognize him and squealed happily, reaching for him.
"Dada!" She said happily.
The lady was stunned to see her husband and when he got closer, she had tears in her eyes. "Komo?" She asked. "Is that really you?"
"It is, my sunrise," he said.
A happy cry left her and she kissed him happily, crying harder as she hugged him. "Honey! You have no idea how much we missed you," she said.
"I missed all of you," he said. "I'm so sorry I was gone for so long, my love."
She calmed down and looked up at him, kissing him again before looking at Skylar. "Where did you find him?" She asked.
"It's a long story," the programmer said. "And it's a wild one too."
"I'll tell you later, my love," Komo said. "But not only did Skylar save me, but the other people in the Jeep made it possible for me to return to you and our children."
His wife smiled at him before hugging Skylar, surprising her, but she hugged the woman back. The lady then hugged the other adults and the two kids. "Thank you all," she said. "My family is complete again."
"We're so sorry it took so long for this reunion to happen," Kate said.
"It's okay," the lady said. "My husband said he'll tell me what happened later. He's alive and that's all that matters to me and the children."
The group smiled at that and Rebecca and Wooly hugged Komo. "We'll miss you, Komo," the young girl said.
"You kids and your father can come visit anytime," Komo said. "So can Riley, Kate, and Skylar."
"You all can visit us anytime too," Kate said as Riley and Skylar nodded.
"Same here," Sam said.
After wishing the reunited family well, they hopped in the Jeep and next headed to Kate's home. Riley said she's stay with her aunt for a bit. "I think I'll take a break from solving mysteries for a bit," she admitted.
"You've more than deserved a break, dear," her aunt said.
"You guys take care of yourselves," Skylar said, smiling. "It was a honor to work with you, Riley."
"It was an honor to work with you, Skylar," Riley said with a smile.
Skylar then drove Sam and the kids to their house, pulling in the driveway and they all hopped out. Sam breathed in the air. "Ah, nothing like home," he said.
Rebecca excitedly ran to the front door, pulling Wooly along with her and Sam chuckled before turning to Skylar. "What are your plans, Skylar?" He asked.
"Don't know yet," she said. "I've got my programming skills. Maybe another animation company will hire me."
"Let me help you with that," he said. "I insist, as a thank you for saving my daughter and Wooly."
Sam kept his word. Skylar stayed with them for a bit, admitting it was nice to be in one spot for a while that actually felt like home. "After being in that bunker and on the road, it feels nice to be in an actual home," she admitted.
Rebecca giggled as she and Wooly were playing a few board games and Sam came into the living room with a smile. "Skylar, look at this," he said, holding out a paper to her.
She took it and her eyes widened before she looked at Sam. "One of the biggest animation companies wants to hire me?!" She asked before reading further and her jaw dropped. "Wait, is that my salary?" She asked, stunned.
"It is," he said with a smile.
"Holy cow!" She exclaimed. "That amount is like five times what I was making before!"
"And that's just your signing on bonus," Sam said, making Skylar's jaw drop again. "Your actually salary is triple that amount."
She looked at him, stunned. "How did you manage this?" She asked.
"I'm good friends with the president of that company and when I told him your skills and that you had saved my daughter, he wanted to hire you and I told him to make sure to pay you what you were worth, especially after taking down that corrupt part of the company who made The Amanda Show," he said. "He had read about it and instantly agreed that you were valuable and talked to his team. They were a bit hesitant at first, but then after hearing what you had done, they agreed that you would be an asset to the company."
Skylar hugged him. "Sam, you didn't have to do all this," she said. "But thank you so much!"
"You're welcome and you more than deserve it," he said. "'You helped to save my daughter and my son and you banished away that dangerous monster. You even freed Komo from his armor. That took a lot of guts and courage."
Rebecca and Wooly hugged Skylar happily and she hugged them back. "If I had known then that it would be quite the adventure I'd be on after Kate asked me to help out, I still would have said 'yes'," the programmer said.
A few weeks later, Skylar was enjoying her job and had found a nice home near Sam and his family. Sam had officially adopted Wooly as his son and invited everyone over for a big barbeque party to celebrate not only Wooly's adoption, but also his and Rebecca's birthdays, which surprisingly landed next to each other. Everyone gladly attended.
Kate had found another job at one of the lawyer offices and Riley had gone back to work herself, getting a promotion that her boss deemed well deserved. Komo and his wife had opened their own wood carving shop and sold wood figurines while Sam had found a consulting job that allowed him to work from home so that he could be there for his children, both of which were now homeschooled.
"Oh, this is some of the best barbeque meat I've ever tasted, Sam," Kate said.
"A family recipe that my dad taught me years ago," he said, smiling.
The children were all playing in the sandbox nearby and the sprinkler too, laughing happily as they quickly came up with the game of getting past the sprinkler before the water hit them. Riley smiled as she and Komo's wife kept watch over the kids. Skylar looked up at the sky with a smile as Komo came up to her.
"It was quite the adventure, huh, Skylar?" He asked.
"It was, Komo. But one I don't regret taking," she admitted as she gazed around the yard at everyone. "This is the best happy ending anyone could ask for."
He nodded as his kids ran up to him and hugged him and he lifted them up into the air as Skylar smiled again, knowing none of them would forget the last, but amazing, adventure.
And that concludes "The Last Adventure." I wish to extend a huge thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, liked, and followed this story. You guys all made this story worth it. :)
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GoldGuardian2418