Epilogue

Cassie had told him that she could just use magic to install the sign. But Seth had insisted on making a contribution of his own, and so had Pod. And so here they were, him halfway up a ladder leaning against the porch roof, Pod trying to pull him up there by his hair, her giving directions from the grass.

"A little higher up on the left," she said. And of course he went too high with it. So she waved a hand down. Then he went too low. Really, she was just going to have to face the facts: the Sanctuary for Supernatural Creatures was just going to have a slightly crooked sign. And if she was being honest, it kind of felt better that way.

It gave the whole place character. It made it seem welcoming.

Not that they needed to be more welcoming. They were already busy all the time now. Yesterday they had fixed a vampire's ingrown tooth. The day before, they had treated a fairy's damaged wing.

And then there was Nancy. Nancy, who was almost certainly the witch Cassie had suspected she was. She had seen this very sign laid out on the grass, ready to be put up. Even though Cassie had covered it in magic. So of course, Cassie had explained a few things. Pointed her in the right directions. Watched her be amazed by all the wonders of the world, before setting her off on her own journey toward something better.

Just as she had for the wolves who had turned up, too. Even though she was pretty sure one of them had been Tyler, wearing a disguise. He had slunk up looking for a cure, sheepish yet not exactly sorry. Though she hadn't said anything about it. She didn't have to.

The wolves knew they had no power over her now. Nor would they ever again. "We're the ones who won," she said to Seth when he grumbled about them.

And they had too, in all the ways that mattered.

On Sundays, they went to the farmer's market, and wandered around holding hands. Like every couple they never thought they'd be. They went to the movies twice a week, just like they used to as kids. But now with a lot of kissing, to make up for all the times they never could.

And those were just the ordinary dates.

There were others, more magical than anything they could have managed before. They parked the Chevy in the sky, and listened to a riot of old songs with their arms around each other, and their raccoon child in the back. Raced through the trees, her flying and him on foot.

Then him on all fours.

Often it ended with him on all fours. And he would find her, and pounce, and roll with her through the green and the black and the brown of the forest floor, until they were breathless. Until she was buried in his fur, so deep it felt like she would never get back out again.

She didn't want to ever get back out again.

She was here now, in their wonderful world of love and magic.

And all was well.