The Lost Story: A Novel

Rafe has the most peaceful night’s sleep in 15 years and awakens to find Jeremy in his room. Jeremy asks Rafe why he has still not opened the book of his memories. Rafe replies that he is afraid the book contains more bad memories than good, such as that of Bill’s abuse. He asks Jeremy to tell him some memories so that he can decide if he wants to open the book at all. Jeremy recounts a good memory: One night, he and Rafe went up the giant trees of Sweet Spring Forest, which have enormous spiral stairways carved inside. They climbed onto a branch and were surrounded by firemoths, great firefly-like creatures. A bad memory is toward the end of their stay. It was winter, and they both pined for their mothers. That is the day they decided they must go home, even though it would break their hearts to leave Shanandoah.

Rafe asks Jeremy if Shanandoah was where they fell in love. Rafe remembers wanting Jeremy in the real world but fighting his feelings. In Shanandoah, away from Bill’s censure, Rafe must have finally gotten a chance to express himself. Jeremy tells Rafe that they were indeed madly in love. What’s more, Jeremy still loves Rafe with the same intensity. Rafe teasingly orders Jeremy, his knight, to kiss him. Jeremy gallantly proceeds to make love to Rafe.

The storyteller must interrupt the narration here since Rafe and Jeremy need their privacy.

The storyteller recounts some highlights of the 15 days of celebration—each day representing a year of separation—that Skya held in honor of Rafe, Emilie, and Jeremy. On the second day, Skya shows them The Silver Chair, the missing book from the Narnia set, which she would soon read to them. On the eighth day, they float paper boats with candles on the water of the Painted Sea to bait a mermaid. Mermaids always pop up to blow out the candles. 

Emilie captures the mermaid and bids her to tell a secret, which the mermaid proceeds to do. Emily does not share the secret with anyone. Skya gives Rafe a secret assignment on day 10, which is to paint a portrait of Emilie. Watching Rafe paint, Skya is grateful that Rafe’s art has returned to Shanandoah. Rafe tells Skya that Shanandoah deserves more of her art, too: She should resume writing. From the 11th day, they begin the preparations for Emilie’s coronation, which deserves a chapter of its own.

On the last day of the celebrations, Skya crowns Emilie with a diadem of silver and gilt leaves, granting her the title of “Princess Emilie, the Lion-Hearted” (409). Jeremy is promoted from knight to baron, while Rafe is now high prince. Fritz gets a dukedom of his own for chewing through Jeremy’s bindings in Ghost Town. At Emilie’s request, Skya taps Fritz on the shoulder with a butter knife, as if knighting him, too. Rafe gives Emilie her portrait, all in pink, pictured with various animals, while Skya gives her an empty velvet bag. All Emilie has to do is press the bag against her heart and wish for something, and her wish will appear in the bag.

A massive party follows, with Rafe and Skya dancing. Skya tells Rafe that she knew about his scars all along. Rafe had confided in her because she’d shown him her own scars—the ones she got on her arms while scrambling out of the kidnapper’s trunk. Rafe gently kisses Skya’s scars. He tells her that he does want to regain his memories but is afraid they may make him think less of his mother. Skya reassures Rafe that Bobbi loves him unconditionally. 

Later, Emilie tells Skya that she has decided to stay in Shanandoah forever. Emilie also knows what she wants as a gift. She holds the bag to her heart and asks it for the gift of a magical unicorn pencil for Skya. A pencil appears in the bag, which Emilie gives to her sister.

Rafe asks Jeremy to ride with him to the trees with the carved staircases. They climb up a stairway onto a branch where, by the light of firemoths, Rafe recalls the combination that sealed his sketchbook: 436, the number of Jeremy’s old house. 

Rafe opens the book and immerses himself in his memories. Skya asks Rafe to draw or write everything about Shanandoah. Rafe does not want to forget Jeremy, so he does not draw Jeremy Cox but Sir Jeremy, the red knight of Shanandoah. Rafe also wants to forget his worst memory, which is why he draws Bill’s electric cords.

Rafe closes the book, letting the memories sink in. He and Jeremy set up camp by the river, where Rafe asks Jeremy what to do next. Jeremy wants to stay in Shanandoah forever this time, but Rafe cannot abandon Bobbi again. Rafe now remembers that it was Bobbi who taped back the torn sketches of Jeremy and slipped them under Rafe’s door that night, whispering that she loved him. Bobbi was whispering because she was also afraid of Bill. Just as Jeremy tells Rafe that they still have time to decide what to do, an arrow strikes Jeremy in the back.

The arrow is from a resurrected Ripper, seeking his vengeance. Sunny and Freddy gallop to Ripper and knock him into the river. Ripper dies. Rafe gets Jeremy on horseback and races to the palace, shouting for help. The healers attend to Jeremy. The arrow has struck Jeremy in the lung, and Jeremy can only be saved with modern medicine. Skya tells Rafe that he must immediately hurry back to the real world with Jeremy. The sea journey across the Painted Sea will take over two days, so the quickest route is through the tear that Bill’s soul must have created when he came to Ghost Town.

Rafe goes to the sick room and tells Jeremy what they must do. Jeremy is afraid that without Shanandoah, they will be lost again. Rafe tells Jeremy that he can never be lost with Jeremy because Jeremy is his home.

The storyteller is sorry about the tragic turn of events, but like Skya says, she just wrote the story; she did not make its rules.

The closest gate to Ghost Town is the Devil’s Tea Table. This is where Skya, Emilie, and the Valkyries leave Jeremy and Rafe in an emotional, bittersweet parting. As Rafe and Jeremy enter Ghost Town on foot, Aurora flies overhead. The dankness of Ghost Town saps Jeremy’s energy to the extent that he collapses. Rafe slings Jeremy across his shoulders and asks Aurora to get them help. The crow flies off. Staggering under Jeremy’s weight, Rafe’s progress is slow. He talks to Jeremy to keep him conscious. Aurora returns with the ghost of Bill. 

Bill kneels before the two young men, reaching out for Jeremy. Rafe tries to stop Bill, but Jeremy reminds him that Skya granted Bill a last chance. Gathering Jeremy in his arms, Bill, powered by otherworldly strength, swiftly walks down a path that leads to an arched doorway. Rafe can see that the doorway leads to a grove in the real world. Rafe gets Jeremy through and asks Bill to come out. Bill says no and asks Rafe not to become like him. When Rafe tells him that he won’t, Bill’s soul turns into a gray robin and flies away. Aurora flies with the robin to keep it company. Rafe pulls out his mother’s old Nokia phone and calls 911.

While Jeremy recovers from surgery, Bobbi shows Rafe a poem by Bill that she found in his cabin after he died. The poem is about wanting another chance to be a better father to a young Rafe. If Rafe was a boy and Bill a young father, Bill would never tell Rafe to stop drawing wolves. The poem is dated a week before Bill died. Rafe keeps it in his pocket, knowing that Bill did get another chance to be a better father. 

Rafe tells Bobbi that once Jeremy is discharged, he will be staying with him in the one-bedroom cabin. Rafe is afraid that Bobbi will frown at the suggestion, but she chuckles and says that his father would be spinning in his grave right now.

Three days later, Jeremy is released from the hospital. Rafe drives him to the cabin. They sit in the kitchen, looking at the sculpture garden and drinking Ale-8. Rafe notices a robin perched on the shoulder of Skya’s sculpture but dismisses it as an ordinary occurrence.

When Jeremy is fit enough to drive, he carries out the last mission that Queen Skya gave him. He writes a postcard for Mrs. Alderman and mails it to her retirement village in Florida. The postcard says that Shannon Yates thanks Mrs. Alderman for the pencil, which really was magical.

Jeremy is back at his work at finding missing people, while Rafe is busy expanding his cabin to include an art studio and a primary suite. One morning, after Jeremy has returned from a successful rescue, Rafe is awakened by a tapping sound on the window. He walks outside to check, and for a split second, the sculpture garden comes alive. Rafe finds a red feather in the grass, Aurora’s signature. When Jeremy wakes up, he tells Rafe that he dreamed that Emilie was holding a gift for him in Red Crow. 

Taking these occurrences to be a sign, Rafe and Jeremy go to the emperor tree in the forest. There is nothing in the hollow, but as they climb down the hill, they run into Sunny and Reddy drinking water at Goblin Falls. A note from Emilie is tucked in Sunny’s saddle. Emilie says that the horses missed Rafe and Jeremy so much that she is sending them to the men. Emilie also tells them that the secret the mermaid told her was that one day, Emilie will eat Christmas apple cake with Rafe and Jeremy in Shanandoah, and that night, she will dance at their wedding. That is why Emilie knows that she will see them again. 

Rafe and Jeremy look at each other, overjoyed. Emilie’s note means that there is another way back. Rafe, with his gift for finding the way into Shanandoah, can discover this way. This time, they will take Bobbi along.

The story ends where it began, in Red Crow. Perhaps the reader is wondering what happens next to Rafe and Jeremy, but that is a tale for later since the busy storyteller has a kingdom to run. The storyteller is none other than Skya, with the royal disguised as a nobody in the tale that the reader has been reading. Skya wrote the story for Emilie with the magical pencil that Emilie gave her. 

Although Skya has a real magical pencil, all other stories are also magic because they transport the reader to another world. Since fairy tales have happy endings, Skya knows that Jeremy and Rafe will join her and Emilie soon. She leaves the reader a recipe for golden apple Christmas cake, adapted for the real world.