It has been seventy-five years since the events of this book. Many people, especially visitors to the Laconia Museum of which I have been the curator for the past decade, have wanted to know what happened to everyone still alive afterward. Here they are in something vaguely resembling an order:

Ferdinand Jeremiah Anghel took up teaching remedial English in night school classes, to get his mind off the deaths of his daughter, son-in-law, and best friend. He continued to suffer from clinical depression but managed to make new connections and find purpose in life. He died three years ago, of complications from vampire-AIDS after an illness he chose not to prolong with radical treatments. I was by his side. His last words were, “Nat? Finally?”

Edofine Fletcher legally adopted Wren Fielding and lived with her until the end of his days. They traveled together to New Zealand, China, Canada, England, and Greece. He died peacefully from a stroke in his sleep.

Sally Dodger Anghel wrote a series of children’s books about growing up Magics. They were not bestsellers but made enough money for trips back to Australia to see her grandkids, who had reconciled with her. She too died of complications from vampire-AIDS, just a year ago.

Amaranth Jangoral-Tuft taught Jonathan Strange not only how to read, type, and do math, but eventually cleared the way for him to become a genuine scientific researcher. He did much good. Her fame and fortune grew but she remained the gracious, reasonably modest woman we all knew and loved. She had a heart attack at age eighty-one and died almost instantly.

Jonathan Strange never managed to find a mate, considering other ravens too stupid to be tolerable. His deep attachment to Amaranth led to jealousy towards Luther, which created bizarre drama. He was granted an honorary degree by Tufts University and managed to make a pile of money on the lecture circuit – though his detractors claimed people were more interested in seeing the talking raven than in hearing what he had to say. To which I point out that it’s hardly his fault. In his old age he grew cranky and took to biting, though he was never aggressive towards the Laconia family. He died of old age and was buried in the people’s cemetery rather than the pets’.

Opal Jangoral Narai did most of the running of Junglelaughter’s Pet Pavilion while her sister was busy being a public figure, eventually assisted by her son and daughter-in-law. She fought with stomach cancer for three years before succumbing to it.

Cassandra “Sandi” Selene Anghel Fletcher eventually became Dean of Laconia College. One night when she was sixty-seven, she was out hunting when she came across a man about to kill his girlfriend because she was pregnant and wanted to have the baby. She maimed the man, saving the woman and fetus, but was shot in the process. She died a hero.

Pafin “Puffin” Fletcher got his big musical break composing and directing the score for the film version of “The Tale of Beren and Luthien”. He did a few more projects but soon grew disillusioned with showbiz and spending so little time with Sandi, eventually returning to Laconia in happy anonymity. He died in his sleep two years after Sandi fell. By all accounts he simply faded without her.

Charity Fletcher Bright continued her humanitarian work as a Nobel Peace Prize winner. When she was sixty-six years old, she was put to death by a Saudi Arabian court for helping rape victims, unwed mothers, and homosexuals escape “justice”. The revolution that followed both altered the Middle East forever and gave strength to Charity’s followers, who noted that had she been human she would have been thirty-three at her martyrdom. They also put great faith in the total eclipse that coincided with her death. Others called it happenstance.

Wylfber Bright was killed trying to break his wife out of prison. His last words were, “This! Is! LACONIA!” which his bereaved daughters thought made up for it a little.

Taran Apple was awoken the very night (in his time zone) Charity died by blue light suffusing his being, which apparently tingled, from his soul returning to his body. He continued to be a bartender and loving father until a fit and trim age seventy-five, when he abruptly died of an aneurysm. His organs were donated to five people, who all lived decades longer, thanks to him.

Luther Tuft had some rocky times with Amaranth in their marriage, but after six tense years of partial separation they managed to patch it up. They had an additional twelve years of happiness. He died in a car crash a few months after Amaranth perished.

Voravee “Jai” Narai was bitten by a rattlesnake a year after Opal died and turned out to be allergic to the antivenin, rendering it useless. His last words in English were, “I’m glad I speak English, because Thai has no word for ‘ironic’.” And in Thai: “Off to see my snake-goddess, then.” Hanuman was spotted at the funeral, but he disappeared before any of us managed to say something to him.

Val Anghel was never cured of narcolepsy, but she made the best of it. Jackie never resurfaced. At age seventy she died of chicken pox. It’s highly deadly to Eudemons. I miss her.

Paul “Pisces” Jangoral amicably broke up with La shortly after life returned to normal. He majored in marine biology as an undergraduate but skipped out on graduate school, much to the dismay of his parents, in order to stop poachers from overfishing, using his powers. He married a Selkie he met off the coast of Newfoundland. Unfortunately, she didn’t want to give up her seal side, and he didn’t want to pressure her. It was difficult having a wife who was only human after dark and an aquatic mammal by day, even with a home in coastal Canada where he assisted in fishery research. Eventually they divorced, still having feelings for each other. One of his daughters returned to the sea with her mother. The other three daughters burned their sealskins and moved to Laconia with him. Pisces was mauled to death at age fifty by a pod of killer whales bent on eating his ex-wife during one of their visits. At least the orcas were not successful in devouring Nora or Misty.

(Helena Jangoral ended up taking in the human daughters. Coraline, Ariel, and Meredyth could communicate with ocean creatures, even after their transformation. They all made use of that in their careers.)

Helena Jangoral continues to train helper dogs, despite her failing eyesight and hearing. Her first husband cheated on her and she divorced him, gaining the custody of their one son. This husband also developed a severe phobia of dogs, though no one could prove Helena ever attacked him. Her second husband died from being hit by a boat. He was snorkeling at the time. She has not remarried since then.

(Her son, Nathaniel, has thrall over bees. He is a successful beekeeper and a very frightening person to owe money.)

Felix Jangoral still owns and runs Yarns, the book and craft store he inherited from his father and Jai. He claims he will work until we find him slumped dead on his desk. Rose was employed there until she retired; Wren and Myra work there part-time yet. He has never strayed from Myra these seventy-five years. The only trouble he’s ever gotten in was a warning when he send five yowling cats at a skinhead who called him a “furry”. Charges were never brought because the skinhead did not require hospitalization and Felix was deemed to have been provoked. No lawyer was willing to take on a Jangoral in a lawsuit.

Bess’ kittens’ kittens’ kittens prowl Laconia, sleek, well-fed, and alarmingly smart.

Rarin Narai ended up marrying Rose Horowitz, and was artificially inseminated with the sperm of my old friend Percy, who was indestructible except for one weakness (see Awfully Square for a Vampire). She kept their son and gave him their daughter, though since they lived just across the street from one another the division was somewhat artificial. She inherited Charity’s philanthropic foundation and continued her work until she died of breast cancer at age seventy-three.

(The girl, Amethyst, is a powerful witch who incidentally has power over armadillos. She doesn’t generally tell people about it for fear of being laughed at. I am writing it here as payback for…an incident…in our past. Her brother Derrick is a master of squirrels. He does tell people about it and dares them to make fun of him. It’s a bad idea.)

Jakrapon “Jack” Narai became a veterinarian and part-time rodent-remover under the business name “The Pied Piper of Reasonable Rates”, marrying a completely ordinary but very nice human woman who helped him run the family pet shop. Sasha is an accountant and ran the business side until his death from prostate cancer six years ago. Now she and their children run it all. It has been renamed simply “The Pet Pavilion”, and, though perfectly delightful, it is no longer actually suffused with magic.

Cody Creed continued to teach and play piano until his partner’s death. He vanished shortly after the funeral. A tidy will was on his desk. Speculation among us was that he retook angelic form, but we never saw him again.

Faith and Hope Apple married another pair of Elf twins, Justice and Earnest Shoemaker. (Their letterhead is outrageously cute: a smiling apple wearing shoes.) They live together in one big house. Their children are genetically siblings of one another and sometimes lose track of which two Elves are their parents.

Faith is an accomplished saxophonist and award-winning artist who uses materials of different textures to create “touch pictures”. A sighted person organizes materials in boxes for her. To get the full effect you must shut your eyes while you run your fingers along each piece. Of necessity the audience for a given work is small, and her exhibitions are always quickly sold out.

Hope is a nurse practitioner.

Felicity is a computer programmer and happily married with a child.

La is a professor of mythology at Notre Dame University.

Rose Horowitz took some bookkeeping courses and worked at Yarns until age seventy-three, when she retired because of her bad knees. She is recovering from surgery. She had the tattoo removed at age thirty. She and Myra are close. Her relations with Felix are cordial. She has been more subdued since Rarin died, but is quite ready for another decade or two.

Lise Dancer was thrilled to be the first Eudemon in history married to an Elf. She was too old to have another child, but she and Serwentis kept a loving eye on Val and guided Aaronischiel all the way to a career as an FBI agent. She died in her sleep one night with a slight smile on her face.

Wren Fielding went to college two years late, her education being deep but narrow, needing time to get back on the same plane as everyone else. She eventually divided her time between helping Felix and Myra out at Yarns, and writing crossword puzzles for a newspaper syndicate and several websites. She never married and I heard that she had trouble maintaining a romantic relationship ever since we rescued her. Some hurts cut too deep. She talks fairly normally unless she is sleep-deprived. Then we sometimes have to ask her to explain herself. When Edofine died she moved to Felix’s and Myra’s house, living in their attic.

Myra had quadruplets two years after marrying Felix. Their names are Rowan, Chantal, Richard, and Valerie. They have multi-colored fur – gray is a recessive trait among the Greymalkin – and human ears. They hear just fine. She is happy to be as normal as a Greymalkin in human society can be. She is willing to wait to hear her dead loved ones again.

I have been the curator of the Laconia Museum for twenty years now. The books have sold well. Plenty of people don’t believe me. That’s okay. The AIDS I was born with is taking its toll. I am not treating it other than alleviating the pain. I miss people too much to go on much longer.

The reason I’m writing all this and e-mailing it to my editor is that I don’t have to go on much longer. Nat came to me in a dream last night. He’s leaving with me tomorrow.

I’m not afraid. I’m just going from one home to another.

…………………………………………………………………………

Author’s Note: Thank you for reading this series. I started it at thirteen. I turn nineteen today. In essence, you have followed me through my adolescence, as have these characters. I love them and hope they all may see the light of publication, like the first two books have.

I will never be able to use this in a book, because of copyright infringement, but I want to share the lyrics of the song “Human” by The Killers. I think it is a fitting theme for this saga as a whole. Follow the link (or copy and paste it to your address bar).

.com/human_lyrics_the_