“Wait—no!” Mr. January cried, whirling as he realized what Eleanor meant to do.

Realized it too late. Eleanor reached with all the power of the world-walker, letting the Story flood through her whole being as she flung everything she had at Mr. January and Mrs. Prosper. She grabbed hold of the threads that connected them to the Pallid Kingdom.

She had drawn the hedgewitch and Jack and Wander from other worlds. She’d pulled Pip and Otto here minutes ago. This was just like that—in reverse. Not pulling but pushing.

“It’s time for you to go home,” Eleanor said. Her voice was oddly echoey. She could see stars beneath her skin, as if she were becoming more magic than girl—but she didn’t feel Empty. She felt the opposite. So full of love and triumph that it made perfect sense to discover there was a whole universe inside her.

Mrs. Prosper screamed in rage—and then she vanished. Only Mr. January remained, Eleanor’s power swirling around him.

“Hurry!” Katie said. “I can’t hold it.”

Eleanor gasped, sending one last burst of power toward Mr. January. In the instant before it hit him, he smiled. He tipped his hat. And he whispered—a whisper that seemed to come from right over her shoulder.

And then he was gone. The door slammed shut behind him.

A new lock appeared on the door. It was cold and gray and sharp-looking. It looked like it would cut you if you tried to touch it. Eleanor could sense it from here—and sense what Katie had made it out of. The cruelty the Pallid Kingdom had taught her, she had Emptied from herself. She had made it into the lock that would hold the door shut.

The gray world was silent. Mr. January and Mrs. Prosper were gone.

Only the echo of Mr. January’s whisper remained, twining around Eleanor, a threat and a promise.

“Until we meet again.”

In the distance, a familiar clock began to chime midnight.

Twenty-Seven

They toppled back into the orchard through a hastily opened portal, one by one. Eleanor was the last one through, and she shut it behind them with a wave of her hand, mercifully cutting off the sight of the featureless gray.

For a moment, no one said anything. They stared at each other.

“Is that it?” Otto asked.

“Did we win?” Eleanor asked.

“We won!” Pip whooped and flung herself at them—and then Otto was yelling and Eleanor was laughing and they wrapped their arms around each other, too giddy for words. Their shouts brought Jack and Wander and the hedgewitch, and then there was more celebration. Even the hedgewitch put her hands on Eleanor’s shoulders and smiled at her, and for a moment it was almost—almost—like having her mother back.

But then the hedgewitch fell back, and as Pip crushed Eleanor in another hug, she walked off among the trees.