As they had expected Haldit was mostly lying about the loyalty of his men and most of them ran as soon as they saw the Gypsies come through the gate. Those who stayed were quite easy to take care of. Theo just had them all line up and most of the old timers from Ellestar helped to disarm them. 

Meanwhile most of the group had migrated to the ransacked throne room and began picking things up. Adrastea had not realized before what a mess they had made.

"I never thanked you properly Dagon for saving my hide a second time," she spoke up when the two of them were turning the desk back on it's right side.

"Don't mention it...I must admit, at first I wasn't really sure why I had."

Unexpectedly, Adrastea laughed. A real laugh that actually made her remotely likable.

"Yeah, I guess I was kind of a little grouchy," she chuckled.

"Yes...You were," Dagon answered, remembering the incident where she almost killed him. 

It would seem that having Albano back on the throne had removed an enormous amount of stress and everyone started realizing how playful Adrastea could actually be...Especially with her brother.

"Well Bano, now that you're ruling again I think I'll just high-tail it back to my cabin," she joked.

"Why?" Adrianna ventured to ask, looking at her curiously.

The two had generally become close friends during the whole week of sorting everything out.

"I never told you this, but he's actually the most power crazy person I have ever met," Adrastea whispered in a loudly so that Albano could hear.

"You bet I am! For twelve years of my life I had to tend to your every whim. You, my younger sister!"

"What was that all about anyway? The whole deal with you being supposedly dead," Marcy questioned.

The situation had been puzzling her for quite some time.

"Well our parents never really trusted uncle Haldit. You see, my mother and him were twins and she beat him to the thrown by three minutes. He always resented her for that. Not to mention he was always a little off...When I was two Adra was born and they saw their opportunity. They faked my death and I was raised by a loyal guard and his family, pretending to be Theo's brother until I turned twenty five. However, twelve years later Haldit made his move, just as our parents had anticipated. Adra escaped into the mountains and stayed there to keep Haldit focused only on her until I was old enough to take back the thrown," Albano explained.

"Why twenty five? I thought it was eighteen?" Marcy asked.

"Only for humans. You see, most other races live longer, and therefore the age for gaining power is bumped up a few years."

"So when did you turn 25?" Chandra inquired, looking at a family portrait.

"Last week Saturday," Adrastea chuckled.

"You mean you weren't even old enough when we came here?"

"Uh uh."

Marcy and Chandra looked at each other in astonishment. He really did seem quite older, but they gathered that it ran in the family. After all, Adrastea seemed much older than twenty three.

"And to think the whole time I thought you were just dodging responsibility," Sylvia spoke up, shaking her head.

Adrastea shrugged and replied, saying, "Well you were partly right. I was slightly dodging responsibility by staying in the mountains when I should of been helping Albano down here with the a case against Haldit...But I liked my cabin too much to do that and Gefish would have gone and told Haldit that I was no longer there. 

"Where is Gefish anyway?" Dagon questioned, looking around the library.

"Who knows. Probably going back to the gnome caves," Adrastea answered, shrugging her shoulders.

"Good reddens I guess."

              Dagon walked down the stone steps of the dungeon, torches lighting his way. The cells were practically empty except for a few troublemakers here and there, along with Berglund, Hammond, and Demetria. 

Diomedes was standing next to Toby who wanted to see Hammond. The poor kid was still imagining things and nothing they said would convince him that Hammond was a crook.

"Someday you'll get out of here Hammond, and I'll be waiting," Toby said quietly, letting go of the cell bars and starting up the steps.

Diomedes sighed and scratched the back of his head, shrugging both shoulders and going up the stairs behind Toby.

Dagon watched and when the heavy door closed he walked down to the last cell where Hammond was sitting on the floor.

"You ruined that boys life, you know that right? It's your fault he will never move on."

Hammond did not answer. He looked up the ceiling and rubbed his neck, doing everything to avoid eye contact.

Dagon shrugged and walked down to Berglund's cell. He wanted a few questions answered.

"So you've come to visit me have you?"

"I need to answer something...Why? What was the point?"

Berglund chuckled a little and stood up, walking over to the bars and hanging on to them like an ape.

"Money Dagon. More money than I could ever make in my lifetime...Of course you wouldn't understand. You're too moral, too righteous for that sort of thing."

Dagon just stared at his arch nemesis, feeling pity for him. He would spend his life there for a couple bags of treasure. It really was the saddest story Dagon would ever tell his Grandchildren. The story of how a man's greed drove him to corrupt an entire world for what seemed eternity.

It was truly heart wrenching.

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>> 

The town was lit up with countless torches and crowds of people were swarming around the tables, trays and trays of various foods taking up most the space. Cieven, Elf, Nymph, and Human alike were all celebrating together, enjoying the moment of peace for as long as it would last. 

Off on one of the far tables was the strangest group of all, consisting of two cievens, three elves, two nymphs, two dryads, one snow sprite, one fairy, and three humans. They were laughing the night away, enjoying the good food and each others company like it would not last.

"I'm telling you, if you don't wear shoes you will no longer have feet to put them on," Diomedes persisted.

"No, because going barefoot gives you tougher feet and therefore it is harder to hurt them," Chandra argued.

"Are you two still going on about that?" Marcy laughed, taking another slice of apple pie.

"You know you two surprise me. I always thought of you as the least argumentative ones in the group."

"Individually they are, but put them together and they're worse Adra," Dagon joked.

Two weeks earlier no one would have dared make a joke like that, but now that everything was over with the tension had dissolved and everyone was comfortable with everyone else. Even Cephalus who was quite a bit older than the others.

"The only reason I bother furthering my point is because that obnoxious smile of hers either makes me want to slap her, or argue with her," Diomedes said moodily.

"Awww, is someone being a little grouchy?" Marcy teased, shoving his shoulder.

Of course Chandra started giggling once more and Diomedes just glared at her. They all knew he was not going to win that argument either.

"Well," Marcy began, ruining the blissful moment.

"I guess it's time I go."

"Oh, I almost forgot," Weland spoke up, swallowing a mouth full of steak.

"We have something for you Marcy."

Marcy looked up from her food with a questioning look and Chandra began to clap when she remembered their little gift.

Weland pulled a small wooden box out of his pocket and gave it to Marcy, a mischievous look on his face. More than a little excited Marcy opened it, revealing a long metal key with the figurine of a tree at the top.

"Bet you can't guess what that opens," Cephalus smiled.

Of course she knew. One look had told her, but she still could not quite believe it.

"It's not...Not the key to the closet...Is it?"

Everyone grinned and nodded, Chandra not being able to hold back her laughter.

"We know you have to go back to your world, but that doesn't mean you can't come and visit us," Weland told her. 

"Thank you. I will use this far too often, I know...Right, time to go!" Marcy said, slapping her knee and getting up from the table.

"We'll see you off!" Chandra declared.

Everyone went and got their horses from the stable, riding up to the stone door Weland had shown Marcy earlier. 

Dressed back in her old clothes Marcy hopped off the borrowed horse, everyone else following suit. 

She never thought this day would come. In fact, to be completely honest, Marcy thought she would die before she ever got back. It was a very distinct possibility at the time she had thought it, but now that everything was over, they were all still alive.

"You can still stay you know," Chandra said quietly.

"No...No I can't. God put me on Earth in my century for a reason and it wouldn't be right to leave it forever. Plus, Lucky is counting on me for that story I promised him...At least now I know what to write about."

"Have you ever thought that God brought you here to stay?"

"If He did then He would have made it so that I wouldn't want to go back...It's true Chandra, I do miss home."

Chandra shrugged her shoulders and pulled the camera out of her saddlebag, handing it to Marcy.

"You're probably right. Here's your camera. Wouldn't want to forget it now would you?"

Marcy held it in her hands for a minute, turning it every which way. It was still in perfect working order, the SD card and everything. The extra battery had not even been used yet.

"Here," she said, handing it back.

"You keep it."

"What?"

"You use it way more than I do and I can always get another one."

Chandra looked down at the device and suddenly felt herself choke up a little.

"Alright, I'll take it...But only on one condition."

"And what's that?" Marcy laughed, thinking of how funny it was that Chandra managed to turn the whole situation around.

"That I get a picture with you."

"Alright."

Chandra showed Adrianna what to do and the two girls stood in front of the stone door with their best smiles, Adrianna snapping the perfect picture.

"Well, looks like this is goodbye...For now at least."

Marcy looked at all the familiar faces and smiled, thinking of all the crazy things she did. 

"I just want to say that I had a blast, even though you may not think so. I admit at first I wanted to go home more than anything, but now I see that that would have been a mistake. My mom would kill me if she ever found out, but it was still an adventure of a lifetime...Thank you."

They all laughed and hugs went all around, Chandra being the last to let go, the camera still in her hand.

"I guess Shakespeare got it right...Parting is such sweet sorrow. Goodbye for now!" Marcy waved stepping through the doorway.

Everyone waved one last time and the door shut, leaving that world behind in an ocean of smoke as Marcy flew across a landscape of stars, back home.

- Ta da! I hope you liked this chapter cause' I had fun writing it. Don't worry, this is not the last chapter, there is still an Epilogue. However, can we just take a moment to realize what just happened? I finished a 33 chapter book (The biggest writing project I have ever taken on) in less than a year! In fact, I finished it before my goal. Now that's really something for me. I've never done that before XD Anyway, I'll go now. Thanks to everyone who took the time to read this. Thank you, thank you, thank you :D - Anna