It was Poppy who understood first, but that was because it meant more to her. "You mean… you're going to stay?"
"Unless you're really, really hot to see the Golden Gate Bridge and visit Chinatown, yeah. Maybe someday Cumber and his science-buddies will find out a way to solve the back-and-forth thing, then we can go live there for a while. It actually would be fun to show you around. But I've been thinking about it all day and I realized that I don't have that much left to do back there. My unfinished business is here, learning about my fairy family, learning about the world itself, keeping an eye on… on old friends and acquaintances. Not to mention learning more about who and what I really am. And there's a ton of music I still need to hear. I bet there's even ferisher music, right?"
Cumber laughed. "Sort of. If you like that sort of thing. A lot of it is about farming. And sweeping."
"I'll probably love it. And there's probably even wilder stuff I need to hear — giant music, ocean-bottom-living, weird-ass nymph music, all of it waiting for me. What does my old world have to offer that's better? No, I realized I'd be going back just as a sort of, I don't know, way of living up to what my parents wanted. 'You can make it, Theo. You can make something of yourself.' But I have made something of myself — I've just done it here. And I have to admit, I'm interested to see what's going to happen next in this new world everyone wants to build."
Poppy had moved over next to him and had his hand tightly in hers. "We'll help, Theo. You and I. We'll help build it."
"Yeah, maybe we will. If I've learned anything, though, it's that I'm a much better musician than I am anything else. I sure as hell ain't a politician."
Applecore chortled. "No, you sure as hell are not, boyo."
"But by far the most important thing is that I have friends here — real friends. I'll miss some things about my old world — the way the sun looks on the trees in October in California, that's almost as good as anything here. And the fog creeping down the hills and stuff like that. But there aren't a lot of people left that I need who aren't here."
He turned and kissed Poppy. She kissed him back, and in the smell of her breath and the scent of her warm skin he knew that wherever he lived could, with a little luck, become the best of all possible places. With an effort of will he pulled back at last and looked over, a bit embarrassed, to where Cumber still sat with Applecore on his shoulder. They were both grinning at him.
"You don't inherit anything, you know," said Cumber, teasing. "Just because you stay here you won't automatically be a hero and you certainly won't be rich. No Violet family fortune left. It's all gone into Hellebore's assets years ago, and any property of his will probably be confiscated by the new council and sold to help pay for rebuilding."
"Didn't want it," Theo said happily. "All I want as an inheritance from my fairy family is some information. Maybe you could help me with libraries or whatever. As far as money and property, well, I've been living in tents practically since I got here. Why change?" He had a sudden thought. "There is one thing I just realized I miss. Cumber, if you do go back to my world to fetch Johnny for a visit, do you think you could get me another leather jacket? Oh, and you might as well bring back my motorcyle, too."
Cumber Sedge rolled his eyes. "It won't work here, Theo. Machinery from the mortal world won't run."
"No. But it sure will look cool."
Applecore had the last word, as usual. "You mean like when you walked into the freezer, fella?"
The four went out under the fierce stars in search of something to eat and drink. None of them had finished mourning and they all had scars of one kind or another, but even without a word spoken about it they shared an understanding now. As they walked, Theo suddenly fell quiet.
"Oh," he said at last. "Wow. I just realized something."
"What?" Poppy leaned into him.
"I couldn't go back to the mortal world anyway — not until they fix the Clover Effect thingie. We've all been talking like that's where I came from in the first place, but I didn't. I came from here. When I was a baby. So I've used up my exemption." He turned to Applecore. "You weren't leading me away from somewhere when you got me out of that cabin. You were bringing me home."
"He's right," said Cumber. "We didn't think of that."
"Ah." Applecore smiled. "See? Even when I don't know what I'm doing, I know what I'm doing."
"I'm glad you made your decision before you figured that out," Poppy told him.
"Home." Theo weighed the word for a moment, then took her arm and began walking again. After a while, he started to sing. Poppy joined him and their voices blended sweetly until the ferisher and the sprite chimed in and made it raucous and lovely and silly.
I think I get it, Theo decided, watching his friends make each other laugh until they couldn't speak. Applecore almost tumbled out of Cumber's pocket and Poppy was clinging to Theo so she didn't fall over either. You really can find Happily Ever After.
You just needed luck, then it was up to you to make it happen.
One day at a time.
INDEX OF PEOPLE, PLACES, AND THINGS
Acanthus — a tailoring firm
Alder Head — one of the fields of Faerie, also known just as "Alder"
Alder, Memnon — a Tree Lord, a hero of the ancient Frost War
Alma — Eamonn Dowd's sister
Anna (Dowd) Vilmos — Theo's mother
Aodh's Harp — a music magazine
Apple Family — Seed, Skin, Pip, Blossom, Tree, Butter (to name a few)
Applebough — Applecore's mum
Applecore — a sprite
Appleskin — Applecore's brother, injured by Tansy's carelessness
Applewood — Applecore's dad
Arden Intelligencer — a fairy newspaper
Ariel's — a food stand in Penumbra Station
Ash Plains Covenant — an extremist goblin sect
Assizes — local fairy courts
Auberginnie — a sprite, formerly named "Eggplant"
Barberry — powerplant supervisor
Battistini, John — Theo's friend, a drummer
Battle of Golden Mountain — a battle between striking dwarves and the Flower lords
Battle of the Twilight Bell — famous battle from last Gigantine War
Beebalm (weft-), Semellus — former owner of The Forcing Shed
Beetlebout — a gambling game played with beetles
Birch — one of the fields of Faerie
Bitterroot — a company doctor at Darkwood Generation LPB
Blocks — late bodyguard of Lord Periwinkle
Bluebell-Mallow Cooperative — two families combined to make one of the lesser houses
Bluebells — a clan, Daffodil allies
Boggart — a sharp-nosed type of fairy
Bonfire Road — near Pimpernel Rise in Alder
Bottlecap — a goblin musician
"Broceliande Blue" — a song Streedy likes
Brownies — a type of fairy, often in domestic service
Buckram, Holdfast — ferisher philosopher, author of The Mortal Lens
Bugbear — a small and slightly mythical type of unpleasant fairy
Burdock, Drift — dead ferisher in the Comb
Buttercup — a family allied to Hellebore House
Campion — another Flower house
Capelthwaites — shapeshifting fairies
Cathedral knife — made from crystal of shattered Cathedral, proof against most charms
Cathedral of Trees — another name for the elder trees at the center of Faerie