Epilogue

Quiet

"For Fate's sake," Rorick shouted, his voice echoing out of my lavatory. He'd been in there for ages since he awoke at dusk.

"Something the matter?" I called.

"What did you do to me?" He stepped out into the sitting room looking like he had a small black cat slung across his face, his beard had grown so bushy. "I've cut it back three times now, but it just won't stop growing!"

The fit of laughter that bubbled out of me made a response impossible. Bent at the waist, I braced myself on the corner of my sofa. "You look like . . ." I couldn't finish. I was too winded.

"Absolutely ridiculous, is how I look," he groused.

I'd sprinkled a bit of growth powder along his jaw while he slept, thinking it'd be a treat for him to get to shave again when he awoke. I usually used the powder on much smaller creatures and must have gotten the dosing wrong.

I wanted to reassure him that it would wear off soon, but I couldn't stop laughing long enough to maintain any sort of coherence. A snorted hiccup was the best I could manage.

When he smiled at me, his beard twitched with the movement, and I fell to pieces. He set upon me then, rubbing the soft scruff against my neck and cheek.

"I'll show you, you meddlesome witch," he said fondly, dropping me back onto the sofa. He covered my body with his and tortured me with tickles.

"You should be more careful about what you wish for," I howled, but that only earned me more nuzzled torment to my throat and across the top of my chest. "Stop," I begged through my laughter. "Stop or I'll curse you into an ant! A locust! A gnat! A . . ."

When my words fell away, Rorick sat up, following my eyes across the room. Gilbert and another garlic moth flew in, carrying an envelope between them. But I hadn't sent my assistants to fetch the mail—and the post didn't come at this late hour anyway.

They dropped the letter into my lap and fluttered off, dusting an off-white powder down the envelope.

"I take it from your expression," Rorick said carefully, "that you weren't expecting mail."

I shook my head and lifted it, using the light from the nearest sconce to peer through the thin parchment. There seemed to be something long and rectangular within it. Curious, I opened it cautiously and peeked inside.

My blood went cold.

"Let me see." Rorick reached for it.

I handed it to him, feeling numb all over.

He lifted two colorful invitations to the Castleway Circus out of the envelope. Our names were printed out in reverse letters across the center. One for me and one addressed to Jonathan Rorick. He flipped the invitations over, and there was a message written in sloppy backward letters:

Save the Children.

The End For Now