Under_The_Whispering_Door_by_TJ_Klune

then another and then another. And then … he didn’t. His eyes closed. The
vet said it was done. But he couldn’t see what we could.”
“He was still here,” Wallace said as Apollo pressed his head against his
knee, trying to get him to run again.
“He was,” Nelson agreed. “Full of pep and vigor as if all the ailments and
trappings of life had just faded away. Hugo tried to take him up to the door,
but Apollo refused. Stubborn, he is.”
“Sounds like someone I know.”
Nelson laughed. “I suppose, though the same could be said about you.”
His smile faded. “Or at least it used to be. Wallace, you don’t have to—”
“I know,” Wallace said. “But what choice do I have?”
Nelson was quiet for a long moment, and Wallace almost convinced
himself the conversation was over. It wasn’t. Nelson smiled sadly and said,
“It’s never enough, is it? Time. We always think we have so much of it, but
when it really counts, we don’t have enough at all.”
Wallace shrugged as Apollo pranced around the tea plants. “Then we
make the most of it.”
Nelson didn’t reply.
He spent the day in the kitchen with Mei. He’d recovered enough from the
séance with Nancy that he was able to pull trays of pastries from the oven
and to lift the kettles from the stove. If anyone had looked through the
portholes, they’d have seen kitchenware floating through the air with the
greatest of ease.
“Why don’t you just heat the water in the microwave?” he asked, pouring
the water into a ceramic teapot.
“Oh my god,” Mei said. “Don’t ever let Hugo hear you say that. No, you
know what? I changed my mind. Tell him, but make sure I’m there when you
do. I want to see the expression on his face.”
“Wouldn’t be too happy, huh?”
“Understatement. Tea is serious business, Wallace. You don’t heat water
for tea in the freaking microwave. Have a little class, man.” She picked up
the tray Wallace had been working on and backed through the doors. “But