Chapter 19 - Xander, A Fresh Start

It had been a horrible summer - in which he had lost his marriage, his sister and her family and his best friend Olivia. As friends of the family, his parents had come to Olivia's memorial. Afterward, the conversation had naturally turned to Cassie. The authorities still hadn't found Cassie and Gwen's bodies, but everyone was certain they were gone.

Dad said he was still "searching for Cassandra's spirit" but Xander insisted he needed to let it go. He wanted Dad to let of the whole macabre "medium" thing. It made great novels but this was real life, and in real life there were no ghosts, no magic, no dark powers. Dad didn't want to hear it, but somehow it made Xander feel better to have said it.


Miranda was still missing, which made it harder, but after the service and the fight with his dad Xander felt he had at least some closure.

He was making a fresh start. He had a new place, new neighbors and the Talos project was going well.

He'd started on Talos a while ago.


It had been suggested that his obsession with the project had harmed his marriage...


... Xander simply didn't see it that way.


At least Talos's social programming starting to improve.

His relationship with Lilith was getting deeper too.

She was so thrilling...


... even if she was into weird stuff sometimes. A guy can adapt.

It was a new start...

... and things were looking up.