But though she was relieved to see that at least some Endlans had survived the fire, this place that she had once loved no longer felt like home. It felt sinister and dead, not like the living, thriving Forest she’d once known. There were no animals rustling in the brush, no leaves whispering overhead. It was winter, and the Forest was always quiet at this time of year. But it was a different kind of silence that lay over the island like a blanket, and, for a moment, Leelo was hit by a wave of fear, that perhaps no one had survived, that it was ghosts who lit those candles and sat by those fires.

As they approached the pine grove, a shape materialized just feet in front of them. Leelo gasped. Wildcat eyes and fiery hair blazed out of the white and black of the winter landscape.

“Sage,” Leelo breathed. Despite everything, despite the hurt and betrayal, Leelo still cared about her. She wasn’t sure if she could call it love. But loyalty was a difficult thing to quell, and Leelo wanted to believe that Sage would have made different choices in another world.

“You came back.” Sage’s voice was so quiet it was almost a whisper. She took a step toward Leelo. “Or am I dreaming again?”

“It’s not a dream,” Leelo said, her voice cracking.

Sage looked at Jaren, her jaw clenched. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again. It’s been so quiet here.”

“Where is Aunt Ketty?” Leelo asked, half expecting her to appear at the sound of her name, like a demon summoned.

Sage shook her head. “Gone. She disappeared the night of the fire, when the Forest vanished. I’m not sure if she died or if...”

“If what?” Leelo asked.

“If the Forest took her with it.”

Leelo felt her stomach twist with horror. She didn’t know what fate Ketty deserved, but surely it wasn’t this, to be taken by the very thing she had sacrificed everything for.

“Grimm?”

They all turned to see a man in his fifties emerge from a cottage, his weathered face wet with tears. “Grimm, is that you?”

“Uncle?”

“It really is you,” the man said.

Leelo and Jaren stepped back as the two embraced and more Endlans began to come out of what Leelo now realized was hiding. They must have seen them approaching and taken shelter. And something about that, about her once proud people hiding in the face of danger, made her heart ache.

Slowly, one by one, Endlans began to search among the incantu for their lost loved ones. After that, there was a lot of crying, some joyful, some pained, as families learned of the fate of their sons or daughters, sisters or brothers. But slowly, one by one, the twenty incantu who had come with them dispersed among the crowd.