“I am, yes, I am. But Giddy”—Angus’s voice dropped low and meaningful—“did you say, ‘MyAngus’?”
“Why, of course I did! I love you!” And then Giddy threw herself onto Angus, smothering him in kisses. His hands hung limply at his sides. He was in absolute shock, it seemed. Hesper roughly patted him on the back and that did the trick. The hit to his back knocked a screw loose, or perhaps knocked it in. Angus pulled back from Giddy, his face now covered in flour, and deftly dipped her like a dancer and kissed her fully.
Hesper and I backed away, covering our ears at their moaning loudly in the middle of the market square. And so there we left them, a new beginning among the ruins.
Before we could go much farther, Murt ran up to us.
“There’s someone here, a whole big, mercy me.” He clutched his chest, panting heavily.
I bent down quickly, trying to assess if he was hurt.
“Murt, are you all right? What happened?”
“I. Hate. Running.” He slumped down to the ground. I wiped a few sweat drops from his brow, but he swatted my hand away. He wordlessly pointed up to the gate where I’d entered Dwindle for the first time.
“Is someone here?” I asked.
“Yes, the tiny man with the freaky eyes.” He sucked in a breath and then rolled onto his back. “He says he has something for you.” He pointed to me. “And it’surgent.”
So Hesper and I set off in a sprint.
Her whole life, she’d longed for home, and she finally found it in all the in-betweens.
—opening line attempt 999
We bolted through town and up to the gate, where a large wagon lay in wait.
“Well, would you look at that, princess?” Hesper said with a sly smile.
Ludwig’s wagon awaited us. The wagon that saved us on Irk Road. And the wagon that made us, so to speak. A wizened old man hopped up and down, arguing vehemently with a crow and a hedgehog.
“Looks like he got intercepted.” I laughed.
“I told Edge not to let anyone in without me.” Hesper shrugged. “Warty must have followed suit.” She finally cracked a smile as she saw Warty pluck one of his own quills and ready to throw it like a javelin at Ludwig’s machinations.
“Warty,” I called out. He immediately dropped his self-made weapon and scurried to me. I plucked his little bumblingbutt off the ground and held him close. “Ow,” I said. He forgot to chill out his quills in all the excitement.
“Sorry,” he chirped.
“It’s all right,” I replied.
My eyes went wide, Hesper’s mouth fell open, even Ludwig stopped pestering poor Edge behind the gate.
“Did you just—” I started.
“Speak?” he finished. “Yes,” he nuzzled into me again, absolutely ignoring that he had lied to me his entire life.
“I thought you didn’t speak!” I held him out in front of me, making sure it was still the same Warty I knew all along.
“I didn’t lie, Mrs. Gardener Girl! I didn’t!”
Mrs. Gardener Girl? Is that his name for me? That is so adorable I might actually perish.
“Then how are you speaking now, Warty Thorne?” I quirked an eyebrow, mustering any amount of accusation I could.
“When you ended the nasty Prince, I got my powers back! All the animals that came from Starfall probably did, come to think of it.”
“You’re from Starfall? You have powers?” My voice rose higher with each question I asked my now-talking hedgehog. It really shouldn’t have surprised me that much considering a bird was debating with a town-fanatic-turned-town-hero, but still. My mind couldn’t comprehend what took place in front of me.
