I blinked up at him when he finally, reluctantly, let me go. “Bye, Heath. Over in my world, I’ll miss you and love you forever too.” I stepped into his arms and we held each other.
Finally, we parted. “I hope you live a really long, happy life,” I told him.
“I’m gonna try. I’m gonna be the man my Zo believed in.”
“I think you are the man we believed in.” I kissed him softly and started walking away. Then I paused and looked back at him. He was standing there, watching me with those eyes that said he’d loved me since third grade. “She’s waiting for you—just don’t be in a hurry to get to her.”
“Promise she’ll be there for me?”
“Always.” And then I made myself walk away, because if I didn’t, I was afraid I’d never leave.
I wiped my face and blew my nose again, and then joined my circle. Grandma was there, beside Kevin. I went to my brother first and hugged him. “Thank you,” I whispered. “Oh, and I’m glad you’re with Shaunee. I think Aphrodite would approve.”
Kevin smiled through tears and said, “I know she does.”
Then I was in Grandma’s arms. “I shall see you at your brother’s birthday, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya.”
“You can count on it, Grandma,” I said, kissing her soft cheek.
My friends—my family—had already taken their places, but as I joined them, Lynette and Emily were standing just outside the circle, with Skylar sitting beside Emily, leaning against her leg.
“I’ll look forward to seeing you two again in a few months,” I said, and as I spoke the words, I realized I was telling the truth. I was really looking forward to what the future would bring for them.
“Thank you,” said Lynette. “You’re a big part of the reason things turned out like this.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I think love is the reason things turned out like this,” I said.
Emily looked at me through Neferet’s beautiful, emerald eyes—and I saw curiosity and kindness there. “I like you,” she said unexpectedly—and then she hugged me—which really surprised me.
But I gladly hugged her back and whispered the truth. “I like you too, Emily.” Then I disentangled myself from her, wiped my eyes again, and said, “Okay, well, this circle isn’t going to cast itself, and it takes a bunch of concentration and elemental power to open the door between worlds. So, I gotta go.”
As I entered the circle, I heard Emily say, “I wish I could help you get back to your world an easier way.”
There was a weird sizzling and popping sound, and I watched my friends’ eyes go round with shock as everyone gasped. I whirled around to see that dozens of sprites had suddenly appeared to hover around Emily and Lynette. My friends dashed to me as we gawked.
The largest sprite, with a girl’s torso and blue dragonfly-like body, flew down to hover at Emily’s eye level. Around its neck was a blue velvet ribbon and a delicate chain that held an occluded sapphire set in diamonds. She grinned, showing a lot of sharp teeth, and then said,
Dear Emily! We shall always be here for thee!
We have waited so long for you—
For one who can wield us, faithful and true!
So, because you ask, back to their world they go—
Fast, not slow! Slow! Slow!
With the sound of a sigh, the portal between worlds opened in front of us with such force that it pushed us forward, but before we stepped from one world to another, Aphrodite said, “Oh, for shit’s sake, you know what this means, don’t you?”
Damien answered quicker than I could formulate my whirring thoughts. “Yes, it means Emily has been gifted with an affinity for Old Magick.”
As we were sucked into the portal and then spit out back in our world, my voice echoed around us.
“Ah, helllllllll! ”
The End … for now?
Acknowledgments
As always, big love and thanks go to Kristin for being the best frontline editor in the universe. Mommy-baby!
We appreciate our Blackstone family so very much, most especially Courtney Vatis, Kathryn English, Anne Fonteneau, Jeff Yamaguchi, Lauren Maturo, Greg Boguslawski, Josie Woodbridge, and Josh Stanton.
Thank you to our personal publicist, Deb Shapiro, who keeps the wheels turning smoothly.
Thanks to our wonderful, hardworking agents, Ginger Clark and Steven Salpeter. We heart you.
A very special thank-you to our loyal House of Night fans who came with us on the Other World adventure. We heart you forever. Always remember—you are strong and unique and worthy of love, always love.
Fan Q&A
You have questions? P. C. & Kristin have answers for you!
Are you going to introduce a new world when this one ends, or is this the final goodbye to our beloved characters?
—CAROLINA ETTINGER
P. C.: As you can see by the conclusion of Found, I left a giant opening for another book/series, but at this time I’m going to focus on the TV series. In the future, though …
Did you ever imagine that the world you created would become as iconic and magnificent as it is in modern literary culture?
—JOSETTE PITMAN
P. C.: I did not. I simply began HoN as I begin everything I write—I create the book I most want to read. I’m honestly astonished when other people love my worlds, too.
K. C.: I was nineteen when we started writing the first book. Even though I’d watched my mom work a full-time job and write books for multiple publishers, I knew that this series would be enormously successful. Was I naive? For sure! But I was also super lucky.
How did it feel rewriting characters for the Other World / returning to characters who were alive in the Other World, but killed off in the original HoN series?
—KATHRYN EMILY
P. C.: Returning to the HoN was
