"No," Charlie said, barely able to hold up his head. "We have something we have to get. " He lurched forward and one of the hellhounds was there to brace him. The whole army of squirrel people was coming around the bow of the ship, each carrying a glowing soul vessel he'd retrieved from the ship's cabin.
"Is this it?" Sophie said. She took a CD from Bob and handed it to Charlie.
He turned it in his hands and hugged it to his chest. "You know what this is, honey?"
"Yeah. Let's go home, Daddy. "
Charlie fell over the back of Alvin. Sophie and the squirrel people steadied him until they were out of the Underworld.
Minty Fresh carried Charlie to the car.
A doctor had come and gone. When Charlie came to he was on his bed at home and Audrey was wiping his forehead with a damp cloth.
"Hi," he said.
"Hi," Audrey said.
"Did Sophie tell you?"
"Yeah. "
"They grow up so fast," Charlie said.
"Yeah. " Audrey smiled.
"I got this. " He reached behind his chest plate and pulled out the Sarah McLachlan CD that pulsated with red light.
Audrey nodded and reached out for the disc. "Let's put that over here where you can keep an eye on it. " As soon as her fingers touched the plastic case the light went out and Audrey shuddered. "Oh my," she said.
"Audrey. " Charlie tried to sit up, but was forced back down by the pain. "Ouch. Audrey, what happened? Did they get it? Did they take her soul?"
She was looking at her chest, then looked up at Charlie, tears in her eyes. "No, Charlie, it's me," she said.
"But you had touched that before, that night in the pantry. Why didn't it happen then?"
"I guess I wasn't ready then. "
Charlie took her hand and squeezed it, then squeezed it much harder than he intended as a wave of pain washed through him. "Goddammit," he said. He was panting now, breathing like he might hyperventilate.
"I thought it was all dark, Audrey. All the spiritual stuff was spooky. You made me see. "
"I'm glad," Audrey said.
"Makes me think I should have slept with a poet so I could have understood the way the world can be distilled into words. "
"Yes. I think you have the soul of a poet, Charlie. "
"I should have made love with a painter, too, so I could feel the wave of a brushstroke, so I could absorb her colors and textures and really see. "
"Yes," Audrey said, brushing at his hair with her fingers.
"You have such a wonderful imagination. "
"I think," said Charlie, his voice going higher as he breathed harder, "I should have bedded a scientist so I would understand the mechanics of the world, felt them right down to my spine. "
"Yes, so you could feel the world," Audrey said.
"With big tits," Charlie added, his back arching in pain.