The Poison Season(99)

“What would I do if I stayed?” she asked, her voice high and thin.

A part of Leelo—the part of her that had spent hours exploring in the Forest with Sage, that had been spared from so much blood and death by her cousin, that had depended on Sage to be strong when she believed she was weak—wanted to embrace her. But that part of Leelo had grown farther away in the past year, a year that had been half Watching, half unlearning the lies she’d been fed all her life. Sage would have to unlearn those lies for herself. Leelo couldn’t do that for her; no one could.

“Are you leaving?” Sage asked finally, when she realized Leelo wasn’t going to ask her to come.

Leelo stepped over the threshold and into the clearing surrounding their cottage. She looked out over the few skeletal trees and snow-covered ground, thinking how strange it was to see this place that had once been as familiar as her own reflection without the presence of the Forest. Against the snow, a winter fox appeared, picking its way silently across the clearing.

A sad smile spread across Leelo’s face. Maybe Sage had been right when she’d compared herself to a fox. Foxes were, above all, survivors. She turned back to Sage, to ask if she had seen it, too.

But Sage was gone.

Many of the Endlans dispersed in the coming days and weeks, abandoning their homes to resettle out in the world. Some incantu children reunited with their families, like Bizhan and his two mothers. Other relationships were too damaged to repair. Violet remained with her adopted family, and the rest of the Hardings moved elsewhere. Isola and her family moved to Bricklebury, however, and Leelo saw them frequently. She even helped them build their new henhouse, which they took great pains to ensure was entirely fox-proof.

Fiona came to live in the little cottage that Tate and Leelo shared, and though she was recovering, it was obvious that she was permanently weakened by the years of poisoning. Leelo hoped that fresh air, healthy food, and never having to work again would help restore her to some semblance of her former self, but she wouldn’t count on it. In the meantime, Leelo began to knit the beautiful clothing her mother taught her to make and brought it to the market, where people came from miles around to buy her goods.

Sage had not followed them off the island, though Leelo didn’t know if she had stayed in the end. She could find Leelo someday, if she wanted to. Leelo was just grateful to have her mother and Tate so close, in their own little home where they made all the rules. Where love was found in abundance, and no one was ever scolded for burning a pie or spilling the sugar.

Spring was coming to the mountain, and Summer, who was now engaged to her carpenter, smiled at them all knowingly as they walked to market one day. “Spring came early this year,” she said, gazing up at her fiancé.

Tadpole smirked and muttered under her breath, “No one likes a know-it-all,” and Story elbowed her in the ribs.

Nigel and Fiona walked side by side, but they were shy around each other, as Leelo and Jaren had once been. Still, it was obvious there was love between them, and there was no reason to rush that love. That was one of the greatest gifts leaving Endla had granted them all: time.

Perhaps it shouldn’t have surprised them when the Forest did what its name had foretold all along: wandered. Once it realized that it was no longer needed or wanted, it had disappeared and traveled somewhere new, where Leelo supposed some other unsuspecting group of people would either accept it or drive it away. And though a part of her wished they had destroyed it, there was another small part of her that was glad it had survived. Just like all of them, it only wanted to live.

Percy bounded ahead of them now, and Leelo rested her head on Jaren’s shoulder, drinking in the beauty of the moment. She was beginning to appreciate things as they were, not as they had been or how she wished them to be.

“What are you thinking about?” Jaren asked her, swinging their hands between them.

“Just that I’m happy,” she said.

“You look awfully concerned for someone who claims to be happy.” He placed his finger on the furrow between her brows, trying to rub it away, then gave up when it was clear it wasn’t going to budge.

“I’m not concerned,” she said. And for right now, it was true. She wasn’t going to worry about the future or try to make sense of the past. She was going to accept things as they were and be grateful. “The sun is just in my eyes.”

That moment, a shadow passed overhead, and Leelo and Jaren looked up at the same time to see a pair of wild swans high above them. “I wonder where they’re headed,” Jaren said.

But Leelo already knew. They were going to Lake Luma, which was once again a safe place to land. She felt a fleeting sadness at the thought of the treeless landscape and abandoned cottages, until Jaren squeezed her hand and kissed her cheek, and she returned to the preciousness of now.

If Leelo had gone back, she would have seen that the cottages weren’t abandoned at all. The animals that had been driven from their homes when the Forest vanished found shelter between the wooden walls of houses, nestled their families among the sofas and settees. They roosted in chimney tops and raided the pantries. Those wild swans would build their nest on Endla that year, and their offspring would return for generations to come.

Though the roots of the Wandering Forest had been deep, they had not been able to snuff out every little seed blown across the lake by the wind or dropped by a passing bird. Grass would grow next spring, and saplings would begin their long lives on the island. The land would restore itself, as it always had.