“Eta!” Poppy wailed, lurching to her knees on the bed. “Two! Brutus!”
Dog launched onto the bed, threatening to trample Poppy with their love before they had finished greeting her.
“Down, Dog.” Mack took their collar and pulled them off, letting Poppy catch her breath.
“Nula,” Poppy gasped in between the licks of all three of Dog’s heads. “How?!”
Nula reappeared and nudged Mack with her elbow. She grinned down at Poppy. “Glad to see you’re feeling better. Told you,” she added to Mack under her breath.
“When you said you were going to run an errand, I didn’t realize you had this in mind,” Mack laughed. He paused, a slight frown twisting his features. “How did you do it? I didn’t think the Faery Queen would let Dog go for any reason.”
A slight blue flush colored Nula’s cheeks. She shrugged, but Poppy noticed she wasn’t meeting their eyes. “Nula?”
Nula shrugged again. “What can I say? I’m extremely clever.”
Mack and Poppy exchanged glances. Mack sank to sit on the stool again, pulling Dog close. “And…”
“And I am a first-class shape-shifter.”
Poppy tipped her chin. “Go on.”
Mack cleared his throat. “Nula, did you steal Dog from the Faery Queen?”
Nula met his eyes. “Are you sure you want to know, elf?”
Mack dropped his face into his hands.
Poppy swallowed. “She’ll come for them.”
“Nonsense,” Nula scoffed. “She’s already lost interest. I told you, it’s all about owning rare things with them. Now that she thinks she has them, she’ll forget all about them. And even if she doesn’t, she’ll just think they’ve run off.”
Poppy rubbed her forehead against Eta’s. “I hope you’re right … but thank you. Thank you for bringing Dog home.” Poppy caught her and held on. “You’re a good friend, Nula.”
When she finally let go, she leaned back to study her friends. Mack stood rocking back and forth on the balls of his bare feet. Nula was looking all around the room and swatting Dog on the rump with her tail.
In that moment, Poppy knew—in a way she couldn’t quite explain—that her path had carried her somewhere new, and that she wanted to see where it would go next. And she knew that wherever the path went, she wanted to go there with Mack. And with Nula.
“You know,” she said in a voice that turned both her friends’ faces toward her. “We make a pretty good team.”
Mack’s eyebrows rose, and Nula put one hand on her hip.
“I … I think we should maybe go into business.”
Mack’s eyebrows got even higher.
Poppy let out her most mischievous grin. “I think we should be ambassadors.”
Nula whipped her tail. “What’s an ambassador? Is that like … those little animals that have armor and roll up in a ball?”
“No. No, it’s not.”
Mack blew out his breath. “An ambassador is like a peacekeeper, right? Someone who listens and learns and shares what they know with others.”
“Think of it as being a professional friend.”
Mack nose-sighed. “I’m in … but do you think it will be enough … I mean, can it keep the peace?”
“I don’t know. But I want to try. And…”
“And?” Mack smiled and shook his head. “Of course, there’s more.”
Poppy wrapped her bandaged hands together in front of her as if she were going to say a prayer. “I was thinking…”
Mack froze. “Thinking … about what?”
Poppy smirked. “I was thinking about the passage stones.”
“Oooooo,” Nula purred, her gold eyes sparking. “Now that sounds interesting.”
EPILOGUE
Poppy dropped into a chair with two small gargoyles carved on the back to wait. Sun poured in through the small round windows Jute had added to the front hall. It had taken a while for Poppy’s injuries to heal. She still tired easily. But … it was also true that she smirked less, and was prone to smiling in an easy, casual sort of way that was new. Poppy Sunshine was sunnier than she had ever been before, which is to say, she was a little bit sunny.
She had been into Strange Hollow several times, and just last week had a fascinating conversation with Beth, who she was expecting to knock on the door at any moment.
The Battle of Strange Hollow, and Poppy’s Pact, as they had come to be called, had changed almost everything. Though the people of Strange Hollow were still wary of Poppy and her family, now it was as much from awe as fear. They would raise their cups toward her if she passed, as if toasting her good health. They’d leave flowers on her doorstep. Some days she’d come out of the house to find a small group of people gathered outside as if they’d come on a pilgrimage.
To her great embarrassment, she’d even heard some kids practicing a new skip-rope rhyme in her honor. It went like this:
At the Battle, it is said,
Poppy Sunshine lost her head
Thank your lucky stars she bled
If she hadn’t, we’d all be dead
How many drops of blood she shed …
One, two, three …
Not everyone was so appreciative, of course. The governor hated them more than ever, and though it was a small group of people, he wasn’t alone. He did like being in charge, however, and since he didn’t want people to turn on him, he stayed quiet and bided his time. At least, that’s what Poppy’s father told her.
Still, the whole thing had worked out better, and weirder, than she could ever have expected. She’d promised Mack the next time she went into the Hollow, he could come too. He had heard from her parents that the tavern had something new to eat called fish fingers, and he was dying to learn all about them.
The Holly Oak had tasked her parents with arranging for a small group of townsfolk to visit each of the other six Hollows and spread the word of the new promise. They would offer a choice—people could agree to pledge themselves to the new pact, or they could leave on the next solstice through the fog.
It would be Poppy’s first visit to the other Hollows. Mack and Nula were coming too, of
