Her father came into the hall wearing his best black shirt and jeans. Her mother followed. She had on a deep gray dress that drifted at her shins as she moved. Poppy stood and brushed off her own dress—dark blue with a belt that looked like stars. “How do I look?” she asked.
Her mother beamed at her. “Like a hero,” she said. “Like the girl who saved us all from ourselves.”
Poppy felt her cheeks heat. She smiled. “Thanks, Mom.”
Her father leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “We are so proud of you, Pandora.” He pulled the three of them into a hug. “We are a family of strong, stubborn, independent people … but we need one another.” He squeezed. “Thank you for reminding us.”
“You’re welcome,” Poppy gave a muffled laugh into his chest.
She was going to have to tell them sometime, of course … about her plans. Maybe after they got back from the other Hollows. For now, Poppy hadn’t even told Mack and Nula exactly what she had in mind. She had some details to work out, but she knew some stuff. She knew she wanted them to track down and map all the passage stones—cartography it was called. They would figure out which stones were magical leaps to other parts of the wood, and which stones were just … stones. They’d have to figure out how they worked too, of course.
Really, she wondered if perhaps her true calling was to map the whole Grimwood—if she could. A cartographer and an adventurer. She rolled the words over in her mind and smiled.
There was a knock at the door, and Jute hustled past to answer, casting a fond look at the three of them huddled together. He swung it open.
Beth, grinning in her usual market dress, startled at the sight of him. “My—you’re quite something, aren’t you?”
Jute chuckled. “Won’t you come in?”
Mack and Fionnula came in on Beth’s heels, and she cast Nula a nervous look. “So much to learn.” She hesitated, then moved to Poppy’s side.
Poppy threw her arms around the old woman. “I’m so glad you’re here, Beth. I’m glad you get to finally meet my family.”
Beth’s wrinkled face broke into a smile. “And a fine family they are, lightning bug.”
Mack raised an eyebrow.
Beth patted Poppy’s hand. “Let’s take the picture outside, all right? The light is better, and we have to see all your faces if the statue in the square is going to be right.”
Nula snorted. “I still can’t believe they’re making a statue of us,” she laughed.
“A fountain, they decided,” Beth corrected. “Bringing someone through the fog specially this solstice.”
Mack gave her shoulder a gentle pat. “It was nice of the folks in Strange Hollow to insist like they did.”
Beth laughed. “It was that little girl Mags’s idea, of course. She is a firecracker! I haven’t seen one like her since…” Her eyes drifted to Poppy.
Nula and Mack both laughed. Poppy’s cheeks grew hot again.
Beth’s smile faded. “I am sorry about my son’s attempt to keep them from honoring you all. He cannot understand what his anger has cost him. I’m afraid he’s governor in name only … and even that won’t last much longer.” She leaned down to whisper in Poppy’s ear. “There are rumors that your father’s name has been put forward for the job.”
“Well, let’s get on with it, then,” her father said, cutting off Beth’s whispers and hurrying them outside. “Mack, can you grab Dog?”
“Yes,” Poppy called back, steering her father out into the meadow. “We’re not a family without Dog! Now, Jute—you come stand by Mom. Mack, you’ll have to be at the back and hold Dog. No, over there. Nula, you’re up front here. Mom, Dad with me by Jute.”
Beth lifted the black box that her father used to take pictures.
“Say Fae!” the old woman cried.
“Fae!” They all grinned diligently. Eta barked.
Beth lowered the box and smiled. “One for the ages—and I lived to see it.”
“Now.” Her father took the box back from Beth. “We’ll develop the picture in the lab and be sure to get one to you, Beth.”
Beth thanked them. “I’ll have to give it to the sculptor when they bring them through.”
“You’ll have it,” her father promised.
“Can you make another one?” Poppy asked. “One just for us?”
His face softened. “Of course I can, Poppy Sunshine.”
“What a lovely idea, Poppy,” her mother chimed in.
“Yes,” said Beth. “You should have a record of this day and your beautiful family.”
Poppy moved to stand next to Mack and Nula, more excited about the future than she had ever thought possible. “We can hang it in the hall.” She smiled.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
What a time 2020 has been—for all of us—this whole past year. I am so very grateful for all of my readers, and for the opportunity to share this new story with you. There aren’t enough exclamation points in the world to capture how emphatically blessed I feel!!! I’m especially thankful for my editor—Nicole Otto. You are a unicorn—rare and amazing. This wild little world of mine became so much more powerful through your care and expertise. Thank you to my agent, Catherine Drayton, at Inkwell Management. You are as stalwart and true as any knight! Thanks also to Claire Friedman at Inkwell for her insights and support. I’m beyond grateful to everyone at Imprint/Macmillan—Erin Stein, Weslie Turner, Raymond Ernesto Colon, Dawn Ryan, John Morgan, Natalie Sousa, Jessica Chung, Elynn Cohen, Carolyn Bull, Katie Halata, and Madison Furr. Thank you to Brandon Dorman for my absolutely stunning cover art. What a treat it was to see my story for the first time. Thank you to Grace Kendall and to everyone at FSG for your kind enthusiasm, and for jumping in to support this book. I appreciate it more than I can say.
I’m so incredibly lucky to have the support and friendship of a wonderful writing community. I want to especially thank Heather Kassner, and
