E P I L O G U E
“What is this place?”
The Jeep hit a pothole with a crash and a rattle. The steering wheel twisted in Marley’s hands. I bounced nearly three inches off my seat, bit my tongue, and held in a slew of curse words.
“The estate was purchased to turn into a massive luxury ski resort, but the investors went bankrupt halfway through construction. I bought it a few years ago. We’ve been working on finishing it,” Marley said. She maneuvered the vehicle back onto the thin stretch of road. “But it’s just an option. Obviously, it needs a new driveway.”
“No shit,” Luke grumbled.
I elbowed him in the ribs. “Shh,” I hissed. “Pinto will hear you.”
“It has hangars and runways, not to mention access to main roads. Supply shipments would be easier logistically. But most importantly, the mountain range provides us with protection. We would need to build fences—”
“No fences,” I said.
Marley glanced back at me, her gaze questioning.
From the passenger seat beside her, Thad, who had his feet up on the dashboard and aviator sunglasses covering his eyes, said, “Fences are lines between safety and danger. But such a line doesn’t exist in our world. I think what Ollie dearest is saying is that the fence would only be an illusion. In this new place”—he looked up, his gaze searching the narrow road in front of us, the towering pines blocking the sun—“there should be no pretty white lies about danger. Only truth.”
“I hate to agree with Thad,” I said, the words making me even more car sick, “but he’s right. Fences are lies. No more lies.”
A hint of a smile tugged at Marley’s lips. “So, would you even call this new school Fear University? Or would you change the name?”
I shrugged. “It’s not mine to change, as you once reminded me. But in my opinion, the name shouldn’t change. There’s nothing wrong with fear. It’s honest. It’s real. Fear is only a problem when we use it to manipulate and control.” My eyes went to the window, the sun casting my reflection back to me. “That was how Dean ran the school, and it almost ended everything. Things have to change going forward, but not the name. Nothing was ever wrong with the name.”
Marley let out a soft laugh. “Good. I like the name. Well, here we are.”
I turned away from my window and leaned around Marley’s seat. Through the front windshield, the world opened like a watermelon cracked down the center.
We were nestled in a lush valley high in the Rocky Mountains. There was an azure dome above us, the grass rich and green, the pines swaying in a summer breeze. All around us, the Rockies rose high into the sky, their peaks capped with snow. Smack in the center of the sweeping valley was a massive log chalet with four floors, pitched eaves, countless windows, and vaulted rooflines supported by cross-beams made of staggering tree trunks. The front door was two stories tall and surrounded by so many windows I could see an antler chandelier hanging in the entryway.
My mouth fell open.
“Holy shit,” Luke murmured.
“Shh,” I said half-heartedly.
Marley stopped the Jeep near the front steps and turned off the engine. When I opened my door, fresh, crisp air tangled my hair. I sucked in a deep lungful.
Behind us, the other cars rolled to a stop. Mr. Clint, the professors, a few fifth-years, and others climbed out. They all looked up at the house with their eyes shielded against the sun.
“What do you think?” Marley asked. She stood on the bottom step made of half a log, the bark still decorating the curved underside. Up close, the place needed work. It was finished and perfect in every way except it felt hollow. It needed life breathed into it. It needed hordes of kids running down its halls. It needed college kids having loud parties in their dorms. It needed classrooms and professors and exams and fear simulators and a gym where students could tear themselves down and build themselves up again.
It needed us.
In the time since the university had burned down, Milhousse had disappeared. But we weren’t worried about him, not without Dean to be his puppet master. We’d get him one day, I knew. Until then, I was fine with him running loose in the world. We had bigger monsters to worry about.
The students, professors, and families who had supported Dean slowly made their way back to us. I’d taken them back, because we were still at war, and without Dean’s voice in their heads, I believed they could change. Though it meant we needed more room than our small group, and rebuilding on the charred remains of the university had just felt wrong.
Before I could answer Marley, the front door opened and a tall, broad-shouldered man with dark hair and darker eyes walked out. I recognized his chiseled, angular face and pretty mouth right away. It was the man from Marley’s locket.
The one she couldn’t save.
My heart twisted for her, especially as I watched him descend the stairs, take her hand, and plant a light kiss on her cheek without a word. She smiled up at him, her eyes dancing.
“Ollie,” Luke said.
I glanced over at him. He lifted his chin toward the cars. I turned my face away from the sun to see what had caught his attention.
Not what.
Who.
Sunny stood with her arms crossed, leaning against one of the Jeeps. She wore dark sunglasses, tall boots, and a brown leather jacket, soft as butter. I recognized it as one of Hatter’s, and a piece of my heart splintered. Her hair rustled in the wind, strands slipping across her face. She angled her head out of the sunbeams, looking at me.
It struck me then.
I was the one supposed to be standing back there. I was the one supposed to be looking on as the people I loved smiled and laughed and found a moment of peace to talk about the future. I was the one supposed to be alone with my nightmares and the blood on my hands.
That was supposed to be me back there. But by some twist of fate, it was her. Sunny, my best friend, my sister in every way but blood, was back there. Alone. The fighter with the nightmares and blood on her hands.
I wanted to say I wished I could take her place. I wanted to be that selfless. But I wasn’t.
I just wanted to thank her. Because I was here, with Luke and Pinto, smiling and at peace. By some twist of fate, she’d saved me.
My breath caught in my chest as she continued to stare steadily at me. I wondered which one of us would look away first.
I wondered how we’d gotten here.
I wondered if she would ever forgive me.
If there would ever be a day she didn’t hate me.
I wondered.
She dipped her chin at me. It might have been the sun in my eyes, but I thought she might have smiled slightly, just there at the corner of her mouth. Perhaps it was a sign that there was a way back from here. Perhaps.
She adjusted her sunglasses and turned away. When she walked back to her SUV, she didn’t look back. Not even once. She walked with purpose, with her shoulders set and her chin high, her long hair fluttering against her back.
She was off to embark on another fight. Another battle. Another war.
And I was here. Happy. With my family and friends and in my new home. I’d found my happy ending.
I could only hope she found hers.
“You good?”
The sun burst from the clouds and cast my vision in slanting beams of light. Sunny disappeared from view.
I squinted up at Luke and smiled. “I’m great. You?”
He grinned down at me, his green eyes dancing, and took my hand. “I think we’re home.”
I squeezed his hand, my heart so full it hurt.
Or it would have hurt if I’d known what it felt like to be so happy it hurt.
I figured I would get plenty of chances to learn.
“We’re home.”