EPILOGUE

When I woke up the next morning, I couldn't find them. Any of them. The house was empty. I checked every last room, the basement, and even the roof, and I couldn't find them.

Dismayed, I returned to my room and sat back down on my bed. I wasn't dreaming, I told myself over and over again. Lena said they'd all live. Right?

…Right?

Then I found a clue. Wedged underneath a book on my nightstand was a black feather. Surely, they were around here somewhere.

There was a knock at the door. I laughed at myself for letting myself worry so much. I flung the door open wide, excited to greet my friends after we'd all had a chance to recuperate.

When I opened the door, I was surprised to find my mom and brother there.

"We're back!" my mom said, hauling her luggage into the house.

"I decided which college I'm going to go to," my brother announced. "I'll have to tell you all about it once we get unpacked."

"W-welcome...home!" I said, still working past the surprise. I'd almost forgotten all about my family members, because I'd developed a new, strange family in their absence. How terrible!

I quickly retreated to my room. What was I going to do? How was I going to introduce them to my other-worldly guests? If I could even find them?

I paced around my room, trying to think of what to do, until movement stopped me still. My drawing of Dark had somehow materialized on my dresser, and his two-dimensional form was waving at me.

I found one!

Then, one of his gloved hands pointed to a corner of my room. My eyes arrived on my special necklace, which was hanging in its usual place. Wondering why Dark was pointing at it so excitedly, I took it into my hands and studied it closely. Each bead now bore a symbol corresponding to each one of my missing guests: a cat for Kyo, an ox for Hatsuharu, a snake for Ayame, a ribbon for Tohru, a pair of glasses for Satoshi, a strawberry for With, and a stylized pair of wings for Daisuke. They were all alive, as well.

I grabbed the drawing, the necklace, and Sam's phone number, hoping to call her and set up a visit for after I'd caught up with my family. Maybe she could help me devise a way to break the news to them. When I walked back out of the hallway to grab the phone, I found my mom carrying in some bags of groceries. Then more. And more.

"We figured you'd be low on food, and we were right," she told me. "So we stopped to get groceries on the way home."

I was wowed by the amount of food. Lena wasn't kidding.

"Good grief," my mom exhaled as she lugged more bags inside. "I wish we had another strong man around the house to help carry all of this."

There was a knock at the door.

I froze.