A/N: Sooo, yeah. Here it is. It's not very long, but it's less depressing than the original ending. And if you don't like it, instead of continuing to read it and point out all the shitty stuffz about it, USE YOUR BRAIN. Just stop reading it and find some other way to waste your time. Thank you.

Starts from page 771.

"Gemma, do it," Circe moans in agony.

I summon every bit of magic I've got, channeling it into the dagger. "I free the souls trapped here! You are released!"

I close my eyes and try to plunge the dagger into the tree. One of the branches knocks it from my hands. With a gasp, I watch it drop below. The tree shrieks and howls, calling the attention of every person on the battlefield.

"Her blood must fall!" the tree commands.

"Gemma!" Kartik calls, and I hear the alarm in his voice.

Amar comes for me. He spurs his horse forward, picking up speed. I scramble loose of the tree's grip and race for the dagger, just out of reach. For a moment, time slows. The roar of the battle dims to a hum. There is only the sound of hoofbeats matching the pounding throb of my blood in my ears. I see Kartik running after his brother with a fierce determination in his eyes. And then the world spins into time.

The roots trip me. I fall to the ground. Gasping, I crawl toward the dagger, but Amar is quicker.

"No!" Kartik shouts, and I close my eyes as I prepare for the stabbing. But is does not come.

I open my eyes to see Kartik guarding me from his brother. The murderous glint is there, his sword is raised.

But Amar cannot bring himself to stab his brother to get to me. And the only way he could get to me is through his brother.

"Do it! Now!" the tree shrieks, but Amar pays it no mind. Howling, the tree wraps its roots around my throat. They are too tight, and I cannot bring myself to scream. Amar makes a sound in his throat and points to me, and Kartik turns around and screams my name.

"I...release...these souls," I gasp as I plunge the dagger into the tree.

The tree lets loose a scream of pain, and the souls slip from its skin, pushing out of the branches like leaves of fire, and then they are gone.

I feel myself slipping. I cannot get air into my lungs. I hear Kartik shouting my name, then I am gone.

My eyes flutter open as the thick, welcoming mist kisses my feverish skin. I cannot see what lies ahead, but it is just as in my dreams. A mysterious yellow glow pierces the gray fog, coming towards me. The glow is coming from a lantern hanging from a long pole. The pole is attached to a barge bedecked in beautiful white lotus blossoms. The Three have come, and they've come for me. From behind me in the mist, I hear a familiar voice: Gemma, Gemma. I long to return to those perfect, warm lips, to return to him, but the women beckon me forward, and I go to meet them. Their movements are slow, as if they take great effort. I am slowing as well. My feet appear to sink into the mud, yet I get closer with each step.

I step onto the barge. They nod to me. The old one speaks.

"Your time has come. You have a choice to make."

She opens her hands. There rests a cluster of deep purple berries, much darker in hue that the ones Pippa ate. They sit cupped in her palm, as bright as jewels.

"Swallow the berries, and we will ferry you away to glory. Refuse them, and you must return to whatever awaits. Once you choose, there is no turning back."

For a moment, I hear my friends calling me, but they seem far away, as if I could run and run and never catch them.

"Gemma." I turn to see Circe behind me. She has lost the gray pallor she wore earlier. She looks just as she did the first day I saw her at Spence, when she was Miss Moore, the teacher I loved. "You did well," she says.

"You knew Eugenia had become the tree, didn't you?" I say.

"Yes," she answers.

"And you meant to save me?" I ask hopefully.

She gives me a rueful smile. "Have no illusions about me, Gemma. I meant to save myself first. To have the power second. You were a distant third."

"But I was third," I say.

"Yes," she says with a little laugh. "You were third."

"Thank you," I say. "You saved me."

"No. You saved yourself. I only helped a bit."

"What will become of you now?" I ask.

She doesn't answer.

"She will roam here in this mist for all time," the crone tells me.

The choice is before me in her palm. The cries of my friends, of Kartik, grow faint in the fog. I take one plump berry and place it on my tongue, tasting it. It is not tart. Quite the contrary. There is only a pleasant sweetness and then nothing. It is the taste of forgetting. Of sleep and dreams with no waking. Never to long or yearn, to struggle or hurt or love or desire ever again. And I understand that this is what it truly means to lose your soul.

My mouth goes numb with sweetness. The berry sits on my tongue.

Felicity carrying the goldenrod in her arms. Ann's voice, strong and sure. Gorgon marching through the battlefield.

I have only to swallow the berry and it is done. That is all. Swallow the berry and with it all struggle, all care, all hope. How easy it would be to do.

Kartik. I left him at the tree. The way his lips felt on mine. The fire that coursed through my veins whenever I was with him.

So very, very easy...

Kartik.

With a tremendous effort, I spit the berry from my mouth, gagging as I try to rid my tongue of the sugary numbness. My body aches as if I have pushed a heavy rock uphill forever, but now I am rid of it.

"I'm sorry. I cannot go with you. Not now. But I am to have a request, am I not?"

"If you wish it," the crone says.

"I do. I should like to offer my place to another," I say, looking towards Circe.

"You wish to give it to me?" she says.

"You saved my life. That must count for something," I say.

"You know I abhor self-sacrifice," she replies.

"I know, but I'll not have you wandering in the mists. Too dangerous."

She smiles at me. "You've done well, indeed, Gemma." She turns to the Three. "I accept."

Circe steps onto the barge.

The crone nods to me. "You have made your choice. There is no turning back now. Whatever shall happen you must accept."

"Yes, I know."

"Then we wish you luck. We will not meet again."

I step onto the muddy, mist-shrouded shore as the maiden pushes the pole against the bottom of the river and drifts off into the fog and Circe retreats into the shadows. I move slowly till my legs remember how to walk quickly, and then I am running, running with all my strength, pushing through the mist with greedy, determined steps until it feels as if I am flying. I feel the hardness of the branches at my back, the whoosh of breath flowing into my lungs again. A figure is bending over me.

I'm back in the Winterlands.

"Kartik. Kartik!" My voice is raw and weak. What little magic I have left is ebbing.

"Gemma!" I realize he's the figure bending over me. His eyes are wide. "There is something wrong with the tree. We must move!"

The tree starts to sway. I start to run, but I trip on one of the roots. I land hard and cough. Some blood comes out and lands on the ground.

"Get back!" Gorgon calls. Not soon enough.

Kartik and Amar are the only ones still in reach of the tree. The magic begins to flow from the tree into the two brothers.

"Kartik!" I screech. I do not know what to do. I begin to run to him, but he holds up his hand to stop me. "I know where my destiny lies now, Gemma," he says softly.

"No." Amar's voice is hard. "I will not let you do this, brother. You have a life to live," he tells him, less harsh. "I am doomed to live here anyway."

Tears form in Kartik's eyes. "But, Amar, you told me to follow my heart. I did, and it led me here, and for the first time, I feel like I belong."

But Amar shakes his head. "You belong wherever the priestess is. If she were not here, you would feel out of place." The tree roots begin to snake up Amar's legs instead of Kartik's. "Do not abandon her. She needs you as much as you need her. Now go. Be with the priestess."

Before Kartik can utter another word, the magic begins to leave him and enter Amar. With a sad smile, Amar says, "Goodbye, Kartik. Remember me," as the tree roots consume him. Kartik falls in the roots, staring at the tree in disbelief.

"Kartik," I whisper, "there was nothing you could have done."

I place my hand gently on his shoulder, and he puts his hand on mine, stroking it with his thumb. "I know," he sighs. He stands up and wraps his arm around my waist. He gives me a sad smile before he kisses me. "Let's go home."

"Wait. There's something I must do first."

Placing my hands on the frozen earth, I call out, "I give this magic back to the realms and the Winterlands, too, that it may be shared equally among the tribes."

The magic rushes from me into the ground. I feel it spread throughout the land, feel its pulse deep with in the ground. "Now we can go home."

We file through the door onto the lawns of Spence. I lead the way to the chapel, Kartik at my side. I wonder how different thing would have been if it had been Kartik absorbed into the tree. A life without Kartik. I can't wrap my mind around it.

We open the doors, and the girls inside don't stop shrieking until they see who it is. Then they return to sobbing and wailing. They have been scarred, forced to see terrible things that will haunt them forever. And yet, I feel no pity.

"You've all returned safely," Mrs. Nightwing sighs. "But wait, where is Miss McCleethy? Sahirah?"

"I'm sorry," I murmur, placing my hand comfortingly on her shoulder. She sits down on the nearest pew, too shocked to shed a tear.

I look down to see Brigid holding Mother Elena's body in her arms. "Winterland creatures?" I ask quietly.

Brigid shakes her head. "Her heart."

"Yes, well, at least the demons didn't claim her," Mrs. Nightwing sniffs.

Yes, there is something to be grateful for.

"Gemma," my headmistress begins. "These girls have seen things that aren't right. They don't deserve this, and I don't think they can bear it. Please. Use what little magic you have left to make them forget this."

I look around at the tear-streaked faces of the Spence students. I could do it. Very easily. But there was no one to erase my memory. No one to make me forget all the horrors I've seen. I shake my head as I turn and head for the door.

"Why should I?"