The door of the chapel opened with a creak and Bod walked in, a beam of moonlight following behind him. But instead of walking forward, Bod stood where he was squinting, face angled slightly to the right of me.

"Come in, Bod." Was it starting?

"I can't see anything, it's too dark." Apparently.

"Already?"

I sighed. I knew this day would come soon, but I was hoping for more time. Well, there's no stopping it now.

I reached in my pocket, picked up a match, and lit two candles behind me. The room was lit. I forgot how Bod was still human and he, like them, would, eventually, need light.

Leaning against my brown sleeping chest, I looked at my now grown ward. Bod was no longer the small boy who stumbled into the graveyard those fifteen years ago. He was a man. And what a tragic thing that was. Now is time for change.

Bod reached forward, into the chest, and felt the clothing lining the inside. Oh yes, he had never seen it open before.

"Is this where you sleep?" Bod inquired.

"When I am far from my house, yes." I replied. I was away from my residence more often in the last few centuries; it had become an even more regular thing since I became Bod's guardian. I hadn't been there since…well, that was besides the point.

I could see him visibly frown, probably without his own knowledge.

"Isn't this your home?" Bod asked.

I shook my head. There was no point in keeping things from him.

"My house is a long, long way from here. That is, if it is still habitable. There have been problems in my native land, and I am far from certain what I will find on my return." I wonder if my brethren had overrun my house. Had they smashed the curtained windows? Or lit the furniture aflame? I had given them permission to enter after all. A mistake I should learn from.

"You're going back? You're really leaving? But. You're my guardian." The poor boy man seemed distressed.

"I was your guardian," I said, emphasizing the past tense. "But you are old enough to guard yourself. I have other things to protect."

First I had to finish this dreadful business with the Jacks. I had to make sure no more were left and no more would rise up, lest there be a reoccurrence of that incident. But after that… I suppose there were a lot of unfinished things to do. People to see. Places to visit. Promises to keep.

I closed to the lid of my trunk and began fixing its straps. How did they always manage to undo themselves?

"Can't I stay here? In the graveyard?"

I turned to Bod. This was it. The man before me was a child only days ago. He was scared to leave and was standing on uncertain ground. It would be hard for him. And by Jove did I know it.

"You must not," I said as gently as I could. "All the people here have had their lives, Bod, even if they were short ones. Now it's your turn. You need to live."

"Can I come with you?"

I could see in his face that he already knew the answer, but I shook my head nevertheless.

"Will I see you again?" Bod asked.

That one was a bit harder, but I had raised him since he was an infant and was determined not to give up on him now. So it was decided.

"Perhaps. And whether you see me or not, I have no doubt that I will see you." I said to my former ward. I put down my trunk and walked to the corner of the room.

"Follow me," I told Bod and made my way down the spiral stairs to Bod's things. "I took the liberty of packing a case for you," I said, gesturing to the old suitcase in the crypt.

"Your possessions are all in there," I explained after looking at his face. Oh, how much he had grown.

"Tell me about the Honour Guard, Silas. You're in it. Miss Lupescu was. Who else? Are there a lot of you? What do you do?"

Nobody Owens, ever the curious.

"We don't do enough," I said honestly. "And mostly, we guard the borderlands. We protect the borders of things." Like the borders between the dead and living. The border the Jacks disregarded.

"What kind of borders?"

I did not answer.

"You mean like stopping the man Jack and his people?"

"We do what we have to." And after many millennia of this, I had begun to tire of it.

"But you did the right thing. I mean, stopping the Jacks. They were terrible. They were monsters." Then what am I?

I took a step forward until the distance between me and Bod was little.

"I have not always done the right thing. When I was younger...I did worse things than Jack. Worse than any of them. I was the monster, then, Bod, and worse than any monster." It was true and about time Bod knew it.

"But you aren't that any longer, are you?"

Was I? Being with Bod had made me a little surer of myself, but was I really no longer the monster I had always been?

"People can change." Honestly, I believed that to be true. And I hoped that maybe it was true for me too.

"It was an honor to be your guardian, young man."

I reached into my cloak and brought out the wallet I had acquired for him. I held it out to Bod.

"This is for you. Take it."

He took it, but did not open it.

"It contains money. Enough to give you a start in the world, but nothing more." After that it was up to Bod to take care of himself.

"I went to see Alonso Jones today but he wasn't there, or if he was I couldn't see him. I wanted him to tell me about distant places he'd visited. Islands and porpoises and glaciers and mountains. Places where people dress and eat in the strangest ways," Bod hesitated, "those places. They're still there. I mean, there's a whole world out there. Can I see it? Can I go there?"

"There is a whole world out there, yes." I said, nodding a bit. "You have a passport in the inner pocket of your suitcase. It's made out in the name of Nobody Owens. And was not easy to obtain." I had to cash in a few favors from several old acquaintances.

"If I change my mind can I come back here?" Bod asked.

But I didn't have to answer his question, he did.

"If I come back, it will be a place, but it won't be home any longer," Bod finished.

"Would you like me to walk you to the front gate?" I wanted his departure be as easy on him as possible.

But Bod shook his head and turned down my offer. "Best if I do it on my own. Um. Silas. If you're ever in trouble, call me. I'll come and help."

I have to say, in all my years of not living, I have never had anyone say such a thing to me. Just another example of how special Bod was.

"I do not get into trouble." I said simply.

"No. I don't suppose you do. But still."

Bod hesitated before saying, "I want to see life. I want to hold it in my hands. I want to leave a footprint on the sand of a desert island. I want to play football with people. I want," he said, and then he paused, "I want everything."

"Good."

What was this? My kind does not shed tears. Yet, somehow…

"If ever it transpires that I am in trouble, I shall indeed send for you." If only to quell a troubled conscious.

"Even though you don't get into trouble?"

"As you say." I swore I would smile for that boy one day, but it seems today I smile for this man.

"Good-bye, then, Silas." Bod held out his hand to me, the way he used to when he was a small boy.

"Good-bye, Nobody Owens."

I watched Nobody Owens pick up his small bag and begin to head down the path, and I wondered if even the world could quench his undying thirst for it.

I certainly hoped not.

Author's Note:

So yup another part of one of my english projects a month ago. If anyone's read the book and want to give me a few pointers or constructive criticism please feel free. Yeah.
Please review. Hope you like it. Thanks!