Afterward, Nurassyl had offered that same forgetting to any who wanted. Many did. Refugees and soldiers. Nat and ace and jokers alike, Kazakh and Russian soldiers, even a few Committee members. All of them, in their own way and for their own reasons, saw Nurassyl for the wonder that he was and deigned to ask for his healing touch. Marcus had been sorely tempted himself, but he chose to keep the memories. As much as he would’ve liked to forget, he knew he needed to remember: both the horror of the other dimension and the beauty of seeing this one return. And he’d promised to remember for Olena, to tell her everything so that she’d know, but wouldn’t have to live with the firsthand horror of it. Hopefully, she’d never have nightmares like Marcus was sure he would. No post-traumatic stress for her. And if she was sane, he stood that much better a chance of staying sane himself.

“Yes,” Olena said, “but you haven’t told me about my father. And this.” She held up her hand, the one with the coin imbedded in it. She wore a snug-fitting cyclist’s glove over it. Mollie had got it for her. Bought it legal-like and everything, she’d assured them.

“We’ve got a few long flights ahead of us. Let’s save it for there.”

“When we’re up above the world and all the things of it look tiny?”

Marcus liked the sound of that. “Yeah.”

“Let’s go, then,” she said.

“You’re really coming with me?”

She nodded her head. Leaning toward him, she tipped herself up on her toes and kissed him. “I always said I wanted to, didn’t I? First time I met you I said it. I knew. Now you know, too.”

“But I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Marcus said. He wasn’t really sure why he kept talking, but he couldn’t stop himself. “I might be in trouble. You know … all the stuff in the arena. I killed people. For all I know there’ll be cops waiting for me on the other end.”

“If there are I will give them an earful,” Olena said. “I’ll tell them you are Infamous Black Tongue, who helped save the world. It’s true, and soon everyone will know. You shouldn’t worry. You are a hero.” She climbed into the truck and fell into instant banter with the driver.

Marcus settled in the truck bed. As the vehicle began to move, he set a hand on Father Squid. “Father, I hope you don’t mind flying. I never asked you about that, but I guess you’ve been around the world already. This is just one more trip. Maybe the last one, all right?”

With his hand gripped around the prayer bench, Marcus looked up and took in the landscape scrolling by around them. This place, that had seemed so foreign at first, didn’t seem that way anymore. It occurred to him like it never had before that he was at home on the earth, even far away from the places he knew. The world just didn’t seem quite as large anymore, not when he could come all the way around the globe and find people he cared about, and who cared about him.