Chloe At Worlds' End
Chapter 13

With yet anothercelebration under their belts, it was now late after-noon. Everyone was stillgathered in the attic, either sitting upon Mr. Carpet or around him. They hadbeen talking for a while in revisiting the miraculous events of the past couplemonths, some of which were either very sad, or very positive indeed. Onri asked

“Well, do we think that there is enough time left today totake a trip to Sanctum to see if our help is needed?” Chloe answered

“I think we can start to work towards that goal, I justwonder if some of us here would like to first be brought to where theirimmediate future calls them… Sissy, Grog, Ms. Aggie, would you like us to firstbring you back to the Zoo District?”

“Sss… yes, that would be nice. Thank you for thinking of me”And Grog agreed as well

“Oh yes, I miss my family, and I am a worried if they areokay after that huge storm”

“Okay, then maybe we should set out at once before it getsany later. Mr. Carpet, are you game to come along as well?”

“Oh please, I think that it would be good for me to go for ajaunt just now”

“All right then, all of us shall go now… excluding ourenchanted furniture friends of course.

When the mistcleared, they were all standing upon the black sandy shore of the Zoo District.They looked across the vastness of it… and were quite shocked at its disheveledappearance. It had always been a marvel to look upon its ever unchanging beauty… but now it was just a plain mess. Grog said

“Well, there are a lot of downed trees, but aside from thatI guess it’s not such a big deal… they will grow back” Onri countered

“I should think the animal populations of this place will bemoving soon anyhow. It’s now apparent that the time for repopulating theplanets’ surface is at hand.” Chloe responded

“Oh yes, you are certainly right. We will check with theauthorities at home later and see if they need our help with this, for I thinkour government may be lacking in any means to carry it out. We had relied forso long upon the grid for everything in that self-contained environment that weprobably have no means yet to substantially affect anything outside of it. Sonow it seems it is time to say good bye for now, we will come to visit yousoon, won’t we Onri?”

“Oh yes, definitely. Good bye Grog, Sissy”

Hugs were sharedall around, and the rest of them watched as Grog and Sissy disappeared into thefoliage. Then suddenly they heard the excited barking of Ms. Aggies’ pupsbehind them, and they turned to see all of them paddling into the bay. Ms.Aggie said

“Well, it is now my turn to say farewell for now” More goodbyes were said, and they watched as Ms. Aggie and her pups swam off. Chloe thensaid

“Well, shall we?” Alessandro replied

“Yes, I can’t wait to see how everyone is faring… and we allhave such a bright future ahead of us!” Chloe opened a misty portal above thebay and said

“I have an idea where we should visit first… Mr. Carpet, ifyou please…”

Up they flew,passed through it, and when they came out the other side Mr. Carpet haltedtheir advance as they hovered in the bright sunshine over the outside exitdoors of Sanctum. The last time they had been near here, some folks had made itout onto these hills before Rajeem had sabotaged it. But as Chloe had hoped,they were now rewarded with the sight of progress. The rubble was cleared, andthousands of people could be seen streaming out in a line that meandered offinto the distant hills, farther than they could see. Chloe said

“I am so happy to see this, and I am truly filled with hopefor our future… in many ways” Charlie then said

“I am very excited about this and I want to be a part of it,please take me down!”

“Me Too!” shouted Alessandro

They landed outof sight for fear of causing a stir. Charlie continued

“We will leave you now, but please come and replace us for avisit soon. I don’t want to lose contact with you, my dear friends” More hugsand farewells were bid, and once in the sky again, they waved to Charlie andAlessandro as they joined the march. It was fun to watch all the many peoplesof the line sequentially notice them and then excitedly wave and jump for joywhile cheering loudly. It was infectious and they also cheered and waved downin return. Colin was still with them there upon Mr. Carpet, and he said

“I hope that you don’t mind me still being here and taggingalong… but I feel part of your family. I’ve been with you so long now that Iwouldn’t know where else to go…”

Chloe answered

“Oh, but you are part of our family now… I couldn’t bear topart with you Colin!”

“Oh thank you Chloe, Onri…” Chloe then looked to Onri andsaid

“Onri, I have had a wonderful surprise for you and it’s hardfor me to keep it a secret from you any longer”

“Really, I love surprises… what is it, what is it!?”

Chloe once againopened their portal and they flew into it, and the other side they flew throughthe open French doors of the attic and landed upon the floor. Chloe said

“The other day, immediately after I made the changes inrestoring Rajeem’s DNA to its’ original form, I remembered the old story of howour ancestor Chloe had located and reunited herself with her parents’reincarnations as fish” Onri listened in wide eyed silence

“It took some searching, but as luck would have it, theirbodies were also consumed by fish as Chloe’s parents were, and I was able to locatethe small offspring of them” Onri’s hand covered his open mouth and asked

“Where are they now… did you bring them here!?”

“Yes I did, just before I rejoined you three in Sanctum… andthere they are!”

Chloe pointed toa large glass bowl of water, which was partially visible around the corner ofMr. Piano against the wall, and sitting upon a small table. Onri ran over andkneeled in front of it. Sure enough, there were two small fish swimming aroundin it. He then asked her

“Oh Chloe… I can’t believe it… we’re going to have mom anddad back to us!?” “Have you awoken them yet!?”

“No not yet, I was waiting for us to share in this as I didit… are we ready?”

“YES… YES… YES!”

Chloe touchedthe jewel of her staff to the bowl and closed her eyes. As an illumination fromthe jewel lit the bowl, Chloe let her minds’ consciousness move into those ofthe fishes. As she had seen before when she located them, their recessedgenetic memories were fairly easily accessible… they only needed be set freewithin their mind with a little push since they were so recent. Shesimultaneously did this and awakened them into human consciousness as well.Chloe opened her eyes. She and Onri looked excitedly upon each other whilegrasping hands. They looked closely into the bowl at the little faces of thesmall fish. They were swimming around excitedly, nervously… then suddenly theystopped and faced each other… seemingly in recognition. Chloe and Onri gaspedas the hairs pricked upon their necks, they couldn’t peel their eyes away fromthe fish as they stuck their noses against the glass. The two little fish thenturned and swam up against the glass and peered out at them. Onri said

“Oh my gosh… do you think they recognize us yet?” Thencertainly in purposeful answer… one of the fish looked directly at Chloe, thenup at her messy hair… and rolled its eyes!

Chloe and Onri burst into loud giddy laughterand called out to them “MOM…. DAD!” They both excitedly hugged one another androlled round and round on the floor.