Epilogue
The Evergreen Cemetery is silver and still during the witching hour of Litha, the moon so full and bright it throws shadows from every headstone. The summer solstice marks the peak of the sun's power, a time of abundant crops, active nature, and a turning point for the year.
Power hums beneath the soles of my boots, warm and ancient, rising through the earth like something enormous just rolled over in its sleep.
Lily turns the old-fashioned copper handle on the heavy door to the Hallowind crypt, and the three of us enter the resting place of our ancestors.
Inside, the air is still and heavy, despite the cool night air outside. Lily lifts a hand, and the sconces along the stone walls burst to life and glow with golden light. She plays it off as no big deal, but both Violet and I are proud of how well she's doing with her magical studies.
Now that we're all home and settled, our magic has settled too. As Birdie would say, 'Everything happening as it's meant.'
The vaulted ceiling arches high above, its carvings and artistry lost in the shadows. In the center of the space, a wide, smooth marble altar table sits, and S'Nark jumps up in his cat form to sit at the corner.
"I'll get the window." Violet grips the little crank of the tall window and begins to wind it to air things out. "May the Hallowind spirits enter with our welcome."
The window itself depicts a beautiful raven in flight, surrounded by swirling mist. In full sun, it's breathtaking. In moonlight, it's eerily cool.
The crypt smells of stone and cedar and the dried rosemary we scattered in here last week in preparation. The altar table runs down the center of the space, and we've laid it out exactly as Vale described.
Spaced in a triangle on a black silk altar cloth, we've set out three white candles, one for each of the living members of our bloodline, and in the center of them, a wide black candle to represent our family line.
In Wiccan culture, white candles are burned for protection, cleansing, and breaking curses. Black is burned for banishing and repelling negative energy.
And around the candles, in a wide, white ring, is a solid line of salt.
"Did you bring the contract?" Lily asks.
I did. She knows I did. She asked me twice on the way over.
I pull out the blood-bound contract I gave to Vale when I first signed it. It's a scroll of parchment with scarlet ink, and three drops of my blood dried on it. I set the scroll in the shallow iron dish.
Lily and Violet take their places on one side of the rectangular altar table, and I stand opposite them. I let my fingertips rest lightly on the edge of the table, draw a deep breath, and then meet their gazes. "Ready?"
Violet nods without hesitation. "Yeah, let's do this."
Lily lifts her chin. "Yeah."
S'Nark flicks an ear. "Try not to set the crypt on fire. Historic stonework and all that."
I light the black candle first. The flame catches immediately and flickers steady and tall. The warmth it gives off lands on my cheeks and chases away a bit of the chill.
"Spirit Endures.
Blood remembers.
Those who came before,
Hear your daughters' call.
Mothers. Fathers. Guardians.
Rise, and stand with us once more.
If your strength yet lingers, lend it now."
We speak the ancestral call, slow and even, our voices weaving into a harmony of our intention. Lily's cadence is careful and deliberate. Violet's voice carries clear and bright. Mine falls somewhere between them, and the three of us find a rhythm that belongs to no one of us individually.
"They're close," Lily says softly. "I feel them."
She's right. I feel the shift in the air before I see anything: a thickening, a gathering weight, like the room is filling with breath. The temperature drops a few degrees, and the candle flames all lean inward at once.
Our ancestors arrive gently. Not all at once, and not with drama. They arrive the way memory does, one impression at a time, familiar and quiet.
I feel them more than see them, a great grandmother whose face I only recognize from her portrait, a great-uncle who was a hedge witch of some renown, further back than that, the names and faces remain fragmentary and faint. Still, they are present.
Then I feel her.
I know our mom has arrived before she fully forms.
Zoe Hallowind-Forrester steps forward from the gathered light and looks strong and healthy, her blue eyes bright, her long blond hair loose around her shoulders.
Violet's smile breaks wide. "Hi, Mom."
"Oh, my beautiful girls. Look at you."
Lily presses her fingers to her mouth and blows her a kiss. "Wow, you look better."
She does. And as much as I love that she anchored herself to Hallowind House, it's not good for her soul to be separated from the ancestral pool. It's been hard not to call her more often, but the three of us agreed that her well-being was more important than us missing her.
She looks at each of us in turn, slow and steady, and the pride in her eyes means everything. "Why have you called us, girls?"
"We need your help. Now that Tharuzel is banished, we want to clear the demon mark on our bloodline. He marked us because we are the descendants of the Key. But he took his shot, and he lost. We need the strength of our bloodline to help us cleanse the curse."
There's no deliberation. Our ancestors are with us always, and I reach for the contract.
Vale had been characteristically precise about this part.
'The words must precede the flame. The intent must be stated clearly. Do not mumble, Miss Hallowind.'
I don't mumble.
"By blood and name, by fire and will, I sever what was bound by evil intention. We remove the mark. We reject the claim. We release the blood which was taken without consent. This contract is void, and its claim ends now."
Violet and Lily repeat it with me, their voices certain.
I lower the contract to the flame.
It doesn't just burn. It goes up in a clean column of golden light, no smoke, no ash left behind in the dish. The glow spreads outward and runs up the walls of the crypt, and for one breathless second the whole room is the color of summer lightning.
Then it settles.
The warmth that moves through me is quiet and thorough, like sun on my skin after a long winter.
When I look up, our mother is still there, standing with our ancestors, watching us.
I press my hand flat over my sternum. Where the bond with Tharuzel used to coil, there is now nothing.
I draw a deep breath and smile. “It’s gone.”
“Yeah, it is,” Violet says.
“Hallowind for the win!” Lily cheers, raising her arms.
"I'm sorry you suffered because I failed, but I couldn't be prouder of you for finishing what I was unable to. Blessed be, my beautiful girls."
Warm tears spill and fall down my cheeks. "Blessed be, Mom."
Asher is waiting for us outside the Hallowind crypt. The moment we clear the doorway, he spreads his arms wide. "Did it work? Tell me it worked."
"It worked." Lily walks straight into Asher’s hug. "Mom was there. She looked really good."
He wraps an arm around Lily and looks at me over her shoulder, his expression asking the real question.
I nod and press a hand against my chest. "All is well. No mark. No backlash. Nothing."
Relief settles across his features, and he steps back. "Okay, good… because I may have done a thing."
Violet looks up. "What kind of thing, Ash?"
He holds out his arm, and we all know the drill. We grab on and he portals us to the backyard of Hallowind House.
A backyard which is, somehow, currently hosting a full-on summer barbecue at almost 1 a.m..
Fairy lights are strung from the fence to the oak tree, the grill is going, and there are folding tables covered with food, drinks, and what appears to be a significant number of paper plates featuring cartoon suns and bunnies that have nothing to do with anything.
Lily blinks. "Is that corn on the cob?"
Violet laughs, pointing at Asher. "He told us he did a thing."
Orion is the first one to greet us, stepping close and pressing his shoulder briefly against Asher's before scanning our group. "How'd it go? All good?"
"As if there were any doubt." Asher's expression tells me just how worried he'd been. He leans into the contact of Orion and, man, love is a good look on them.
Rowan appears with two drinks and offers me one. Behind her, Clara lifts her cup in a silent toast, and Izzy wraps an arm around my shoulders from the side and squeezes once without making a production of it. "Congrats, ladies. We couldn't be happier for you."
Violet and Lily go off with them, dissolving into the crowd.
I take a sip of my fruity concoction and yeah, baby, it's gooood.
Sebastian falls into step beside me and I squeal, and give him a hug. "You're here! How are you?"
I look him over, and the answer is obvious. He's wearing a glow that has nothing to do with his golden tan or any magic. "Things are… good."
"Yay, you. I'm so thrilled. You deserve all the happiness."
He shrugs. "I'm not sure about that, but I'm too selfish to give it up."
"Then don't. Live in every moment. I hope it lasts a lifetime."
He winks. "Right back at you. How's life treating you?"
"I've given up some dresser drawers and space in the closet, but can't complain."
Across the yard, Wylder is at the grill, because of course he is. He has a spatula in one hand and is apparently explaining something to Garrison with great seriousness.
Garrison is listening with the solemnity of someone receiving tactical intelligence. When Wylder looks up and finds me watching, he hands the spatula directly to Garrison, who takes it without hesitation, and strides over.
He doesn't ask how it went. He just puts his hand against my jaw and looks at me, reading the answer himself. "You look lighter."
"I feel lighter."
He kisses me once before Tanner and Marty interrupt.
Tanner clasps both of my hands in his and gives them a firm, warm squeeze. "I'm so damn proud of you, kid."
"Of all three of you girls." Marty raises his beer. "Now, make a plate and eat something. This is a party—your party."
Tanner puts an arm around Marty's shoulders. "We're headed out shortly. Six o'clock comes fast, but we had to be here." He says it simply, and I understand what he means.
Some things you simply show up for.
Vale finds me after they leave. He is wearing a purple velvet suit at a backyard barbecue with the confidence of a man who has never owned casual clothing and does not intend to start.
His rainbow silk tie catches the fairy lights, and he smiles. "I trust the ritual was a success and your contract ended."
"It did. Thank you for all you did to help me, to find my sisters, and to get me out of that contract."
I give him a quick hug, and he stiffens, briefly and completely, in the manner of someone ambushed by sincerity. Then his hand comes up and pats my shoulder. "Yes, well, I owe a great deal to your family. I am ever your humble servant."
"Well, I'm honored to have inherited you. Thanks again."
Mica finds me next, Brimstone draped across her shoulders like a smoke-grey scarf, his amber eyes are half-closed and deeply unimpressed by the festivities.
She points her thumb over her shoulder toward the house. "Your mirror is hung upstairs, where your sisters said it belongs. We're taking the forge and answering a call from Dae-Jung for demon weapons in Korea. We'll be mobile for a while, and I didn't want you to be without it while we're gone."
I hug her, careful to not get my face too close to the cat. "Thank you for everything. If you hadn't come through with those blades, we never would've defeated Tharuzel. You're making a real difference."
She chuckles. "I'm not the only one. Take care, Poppy."
I'm still watching her disappear into the trees at the back of the property when Garrison makes his way to me. He's got a crystal tumbler in his hand, and I have no idea where it came from or what he's drinking. "You gather followers like a rock star."
I chuckle. "I think misfit toys need a place to belong. And being the biggest misfit of them all makes me the magnet."
"Well, you and your misfit toys do good work. I spoke with Freya this morning, and she confirmed that, although we weren't able to salvage the Ireland lockstone cave, the twelve that are active are doing the job just fine."
"That's great to hear. Tharuzel was bad enough. I have no interest in meeting the bigger, badder version of him."
"I'm with you on that." He upends the glass and empties his drink, then the glass just disappears. I have no idea where it went, but suspect he's got a rift pocket or something where he stashes things. "Be well, Poppy."
"To you as well, big guy. Thanks for coming."
I climb the back steps and look out over the yard and my friends from behind the porch railing.
Violet and Lily come outside with Nobuddy and Somebuddy bouncing around their feet. "What are you looking at?" Violet asks.
"I was just thinking that Hallowind House breathes differently tonight. The air is lighter, the mood easier. It feels like it's held its breath for so long, it's only now realizing it can, at last, let it go."
Lily strokes a hand along the painted wood of the railing. "We love you, too, House."
We do. "The Hallowinds are back, and we're not going anywhere." I pat the railing and stare out past the string lights and the voices and Asher's loud laugh carrying across the yard, and I tip my head up at the sky.
I point to where clouds are gathering. Dark and heavy and building slow above the tree line. I cast a sideways glance toward Violet. "Is that you?"
"Nope. I'm good."
My second affinity stretches, alert and reaching into the pressure of it like a greeting. I feel every layer stacked above me, the direction of the wind, where the rain intends to fall, the electricity coiling in the deep.
I smile. "For the first time in a long time, a storm arriving means nothing except that it's coming."
Violet smiles and hangs one arm over my shoulders and one over Lily's. "And whatever happens, the Hallowind sisters will be ready for it."
Lily grins. "Yeah, we will."
I nod. “Yeah, we will.”