And he hoped it would happen for Will before his life was screwed up, for good. Like his old man’s was.
But as he watched the sky, standing there with the wind picking up, whipping his hair and stinging his skin, another star appeared in the night sky, and then another, and then ten, thousands, millions.
And Kyle understood then that it wasn’t too late, not even for him. Alone now didn’t have to mean alone forever. If he’d had a glass in his hand, he’d have raised it, but instead he just turned his face to the sky.
“Another lesson, son,” he said softly. “We Rikers may be stubborn as hell, but eventually we learn from our mistakes. You’ll do fine out there, I know you will.”
He turned away from the bay and the wind and the stars and started to walk home. “You’ll do fine,” he repeated. And as he did so, he knew, somehow, that he was right.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jeff Mariotte is the author of many novels, including several set in the universes of Buffy the Vampire Slayerand Angel,as well as Charmed, Gen 13, Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda,and the original dark suspense novel The Slab.Previous encounters with Star Trekinclude writing the S.C.E. novella No Surrenderand editing Star Trekcomics for DC Comics/WildStorm. He’s also written more comic books than he has time to count, including the Stoker award—nominated horror/Western series Desperadoes.With his wife Maryelizabeth Hart and partner Terry Gilman, he owns Mysterious Galaxy, a bookstore specializing in science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and horror. He lives in San Diego, California, with his family and pets, in a home filled with books, music, toys, and other examples of American pop culture. More about him can be gleaned from www.jefrmariotte.com.
About the e-Book
(JAN, 2003)—Scanned, proofed, and formatted by Bibliophile.