The day passed and Captain Smith did indeed return to speak with his mother. That day, Alexander found more people in Nana Smith's room than he ever could have dreamed. Ms. Lombard was there as was Mr. Cook and Ms. Armstrong, Alan, Gemma, Ian, Hippolyta and two people he had never met before: Herman Petit and Verna Gillespie, the third couple of the coming triple wedding. They all spent the rest of the day with Nana Smith and Alexander and throughout it, Alexander was able to find rest.
It has been 12:16 AM when Alexander had awakened. When he awoke, he found Darius' apparition before him, looking up at the window of Nana Smith's room. Why? What was out there?
Looking up, Alexander saw a hand of dark green mist stretching across the sky. What was it? Was this the Angel of Death that Nana Smith had spoken of?
Like an actor on cue, Nana Smith awoke and looked out the window. For a while she said nothing, only opening her window, allowing the mist to enter. When she finally spoke, she said: "Come and take me. My time is over, let Alexander live."
In a work of fiction, something dramatic would have happened such as a flash of light. All that truly happened was that Nana Smith closed her eyes and the green mist exited Quebec Castle.
Staring at the open window, expecting the mist to come back in through the window, Alexander lay upon Nana Smith's legs. His eyes were narrowed, his ears flattened against his skull and a low growl was emitting from his throat. For ten minutes he waited, but never did the green mist appear.
Standing up, the Northern caracal looked around. Was it going to come from somewhere else?
Where was Darius? Where had Darius gone? His apparition had been here. Had he appeared so soon just to leave again?
Turning to Nana Smith, Alexander meowed at the old woman, then tapped his head against her left arm. When she did not respond, he did so again. It was only after the second time that he began to realize that something was wrong. After a third time, he realized that strange green mist truly was the Angel of Death.
Leaping from Nana Smith's bed, Alexander ran from the room and to Captain Smith's. Jumping upon the bed, he awoke Captain Smith with a meow. Upon awaking, the Veteran of the Second Boer War looked at the Northern caracal, being able to tell his caracals apart even in the dark, and smiled.
"Look at you, Alexander!" he said, gently stroking the feline. "You are all better! Nice and healed!" Seeing that his master was awake, Alexander leapt from the bed and ran to the doorway. Looking back, he meowed at Captain Smith. It did not take the man long to figure out what Alexander was trying to tell him. Leaping from his bed, Captain Smith ran to his mother's room, Alexander by his side. When he found his mother, life no longer within her, he slowly fell to his knees at her bedside. "Oh, mother, I had hoped we would have had a few more days together."
Jumping up onto her bed, Alexander lied next to Nana Smith, resting his head upon her lap. In his heart, he hoped she would awaken and begin to stroke him. Alas, he would never again feel her hand stroking him.
Feeling the hand of his master upon him, Alexander stared at Captain Smith, with a pair of sad eyes. The captain's eyes were the same and as he stood up to take his place in the chair he had been sitting in during the day, he picked up the Northern caracal and held him close as he stared upon his mother's husk.