Chapter 1

Tuesday, September 11, 2001

Through the cloud of depression that hung over him on what unquestionably was the worst day of his life, Dave Patterson barely noticed the chiming of the cell phone in his pocket. It wasn't enough to draw his attention as he sat holding tight to Tyler and Cameron -- all of his family that was left, now.

In spite of the tragedy, the attention span of a five year old isn't very long, so the noise from the cell phone over the quiet hubbub of the crowded room did draw Tyler's attention. "Daddy," he said softly, "Your phone is ringing."

"I guess it is," he told his older son softly as he reached for the phone. "Thank you."

Even now, Dave could barely stand to hold the phone in his hand; it seemed like holding a poisonous snake. Barely twelve hours before, he'd heard Julie's last words come over it: "Dave, I love you!" as he watched the impossible, unbelievable sight.

Absently, he flipped open the phone and sighed, "Yeah?"

"Dave," he heard a woman's voice say, "Where are you?"

"The evacuation center they set up at the Trinity Church," he replied.

"I know that," the woman's voice said. It sounded vaguely familiar, but he really wasn't paying attention -- the voice wasn't Julie's, and could never be, since there was no way she could possibly have survived riding the tower down. "Where in the building are you?"

"In the gym," he replied, a little surprised to realize someone was actually looking for him. "The far end from the entrance, not far from the basket."

"Stand up and wave your arm," came the voice over the phone. Even more surprised now to realize whoever was calling him was in the same room, he stood up and complied. "There you are," he heard after a few seconds. "Be right there."

For the first time in hours, his curiosity was aroused. It actually felt good after the pain of watching Julie die, the panic as he'd tried to find Tyler and Cameron wherever they'd been evacuated to from the day care in Battery Park, and the depression that followed. He glanced down the length of the crowded gym, filled with somber, saddened, sometimes-crying people, and in astonishment recognized someone he hadn't seen in thirteen years. She was easy to pick out of the crowd, since she stood head and shoulders above everyone else -- but she was about the last person Dave would have expected to see at this time and place: Shae!

Back when he'd been going to high school in the country town of Bradford, Michigan, he'd always been the tallest boy in the class, at six-foot-two when he graduated. But he wasn't the tallest kid in the class, or the school for that matter -- that was Shayna Kirkendahl, nearly six inches taller even without the four- to six-inch heels she seemed addicted to wearing. She had been a reasonable-looking, well-proportioned blonde back then, but now looked even sharper than in the old days. As much as he'd tried to put Bradford behind him, Shae would be hard to forget anywhere.

Only as the big blonde drew close did Dave realize she was breaking a trail through the crowd for a second woman, who looked like a veritable midget by comparison -- slender and petite, with blonde hair halfway down her back. Not even a flicker of recognition crossed his mind as he looked at her. Both were dressed in slacks and blouses and jackets; the smaller woman had on tenny-runners, but Shae still apparently wore heels everywhere.

"Shae, I don't believe it," Dave said as the two walked up. "What are you doing here?"

"We're like Luke Skywalker," the tall woman grinned. "We came to rescue you."

A little to Dave's surprise, the boys both broke out of the dull sorrow they had displayed ever since Dave had to tell them about their mommy, got to their feet and stared up -- way up -- at their tall visitor.

"Rescue us?" Dave frowned.

"I talked to your mom; she said you were here and had been evacuated from your apartment," Shae nodded, and added with a sigh, "She said she thought you needed someone to hold your hand."

"God, yes," he admitted. "It's ... it's been hard."

"That's what we're here for," Shae nodded. "You remember Eve McClellan, don't you?"

Dave took another look at the short blonde. "No," he shook his head after a moment. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I don't."

"You weren't at the class reunion three years ago?" the shorter woman said in a melodious alto voice.

"No," Dave sighed. "I've had very little to do with the kids I went to school with since I graduated. It's been years since I've even talked to anyone."

"Well then, we won't worry about it right now," Eve smiled. "The important part is I have a doctorate in clinical psychology, so if there's anything you want to talk about, I'm ready to listen."

"Thank you," Dave said, realizing that even though he didn't know one of these women, he was among friends who had come for him and the boys. "I ... I'm sure I will."

"You're welcome to stay with me," Shae said. "I've got a place over on Staten Island. It's not real big, but it's got to be better than here."

"Probably, but Shae, I wouldn't want to impose," he replied politely.

"No problem," Shae smiled. "Dave, we're Bradford '88s; we stick together."

"Ma'am? Ma'am?" they heard Tyler's small voice, a note of awe in it Dave had never heard before. He glanced down, to see both the boys looking up at their tall visitor with huge eyes and slack jaws. "Are you Shaella Sunrise?" Tyler asked incredulously.

Shae turned her attention away from Dave and bent down to the boys, who stood side by side. "Yes, kids," she smiled, "I am."

"Shaella?" Tyler said, a tear in his eye. "Can you use your magic to bring Mommy back?"

"Oh, kids," Shae said, gathering them both in her arms. "I wish I could, but no giantess has that much magic, not even me. I'd bring her back if I could, but I can't. But kids, she still loves you, and she's still watching over you, and she'll always want you to remember that."

As Dave looked down at Shae, holding his two sad kids against her, talking slowly and trying to comfort them, he leaned over to Eve and said in a whisper, "Shaella Sunrise?"

"You don't pay attention to the TV your kids watch, do you?" Eve replied with a smile. "It's a kid's show on CTN."

"No, I don't," he sighed. "And to be honest, I don't think Julie did, either."

"Neat show," Eve smiled. "It puts me in mind of Fred Rogers a little. The main message is be kind to other people, and it's OK to be different. There's a lot worse stuff your kids could be watching. But we can talk about it later. Dave, how are you holding up?"

"Piss poor," he said in a soft voice, so the kids wouldn't hear. "If I didn't have to be strong for the boys, I'd break down in tears."

"Dave," Eve replied softly, "It really is all right to cry, you know. That's why we came for you."

"It seems, well, amazing, that you came," he said in a low voice, as he watched Shae console his boys, like she was the stand-in for the mommy they didn't have anymore.

"It pretty well fell to Shae," Eve said. "She's the only other Bradford '88 who lives in the area. I just happened to be around. I come up here from my practice in Philadelphia to do consultations a couple days a month. I usually stay with her, so both of us came."

"But ... how did she find out?"

"The first call came from Emily, naturally," Eve shrugged. "She told us to call your mom direct."

"Emily? Who's she?"

"Come on, Dave," Eve grinned. "You remember Emily Holst, used to be Jones, don't you?"

"Well, yeah, sort of," he nodded. "What's she got to do with it?"

"You remember how she used to work at the Spee-D-Mart in Bradford? She still does. She's sort of the de facto permanent class president. She tries to keep up on as many kids from the class as she can. I imagine she found out from your mother somehow. You know how the gossip circuit in Bradford works."

"Yeah," he sighed. "That was one of the reasons I left and never wanted to go back."

"Most of the time it can be a real pain in the fanny, especially if you're trying to keep your privacy," Eve nodded. "But once in a while it works for you. This time it did."

In the darkness it was a terror to just get off Manhattan, which was a mess by any definition. There was trash and debris everywhere, and not far behind them they could see the cloud of smoke and some of the lights from where workers were already digging into the remains of the World Trade Center. Public transportation was all but shut down in this vicinity; it turned out Shae and Eve had walked in over the Brooklyn Bridge, and they decided it would be the best way to get out, though a tough hike with the boys. Shae had one of them hanging on each hip for much of the distance and didn't seem to mind -- she always had been a big, strong, quick athlete in high school, and apparently it hadn't changed much.

Once into Brooklyn, the subways were still running. Not far from the bridge, they got on one and rode it partway across the borough. "This is kind of the long way around," Shae told him as they found a seat in a nearly empty car, and the boys cuddled up to him. "I usually use the ferry if I'm heading downtown, but the studio is in Brooklyn, so I drive that. Everything's so messed up tonight that anything that works is better than nothing."

"Yeah, whatever works," he replied, realizing Shae was trying to make conversation, and in spite of her appearing from far out of his past, at the moment, he didn't really want to talk. Nine-thirty. Fourteen hours ago he'd had a quick kiss with Julie, just like every other morning, as she left for the short walk from Battery Park Village to the World Trade Center. She had to be at work at Bellinger Gates an hour before Dave had to be in the office of Dunlap and Fyre Books just up the street. That meant it was up to him to get the boys around and down to the day care, and it was a short enough distance that he usually walked it for the exercise. That was what he'd been doing when he heard the roar of the jet flying low and looked up to see the side of the building burst with flame.

He and Julie did several phone calls between them over the next hour and a half as the cell service kept cutting in and out. From what he understood the conditions were horrible up there as the building filled with smoke. Julie said she was lying on the floor where it was a little easier to breathe, and Dave stood wondering why someone didn't organize helicopters to take the trapped people off the roof. And then, unbelievably, the building seemed to sigh and crumble, and all Dave could do was stand and watch as it turned into a cloud of dust and smoke, the scream of Julie's last words echoing in his ear.