Moonlight bathed the midnight town, casting eerie shadows against streetlights. I couldn't sleep. I wasn't alone for long, as my lovely friend found me there and said softly:

"Whatever happens, you've come home."

I sighed. I had brought The Choir and my memory of a different world. There was no escape from what would happen. Silver Bell was right, we had to do everything we could to try to change the impending apocalypse.

"Whatever happens might not be avoidable. That is what I am afraid of." I confessed.

I heard her making a sound like she was very content to have me by her side. That is who she had become. Dr. Leidenfrost was ready for leadership, and she needed me to see it.

"I am ready. I knew there would be others and I knew it would come down to my decisions. But I am doing this for you. This is your fight and I am joining it." She connected to my thoughts with her words.

"I rely on you." I told her.

"What can I do?" She offered.

"I can't magically create Sylvia's key. We need gold. I can use the drawing to make its shape and pour the gold. We just need the gold." I started. "And we need someplace where we can start to rebuild. There will be widespread destruction and death when the world to come overlaps this one. We must be prepared." I told her of the things I needed.

"My father's home." Dr. Leidenfrost brightened quietly. Then she said: "Leidenfrost Manor. I haven't gone home for a very long time. My parents are dead, and it isn't my home."

"And gold?" I asked.

"There's gold. We can forge the key. I will call Gabriel and tell him we are coming." Dr. Leidenfrost determined. "For you, I will go home."

"Maybe it will be good for your writing." I nudged her before she could get away.

"Maybe, Lord. But I don't think I'll ever finish my book. My life is so different now, I don't even know how to continue that story." Dr. Leidenfrost sounded distant, like in some part of her she missed the days when she was a writer.

"I'm sorry, Love. I just thought I'd make you laugh." I apologized.

"I'm laughing on the inside." She assured me. She sounded exactly like her old self when she said so. It made me smile and that made her smile. We kissed and held each other.

I tried to carry that moment, with her in my arms, as we began our journey. The streets were clear and quiet. I didn't care, I had my family with me.

We walked through the silence, leaving Leidenfrost's car behind. Dini Ghanat called the thing that had disabled most of the vehicles in town was an electro-magnetic pulse. I wondered that it hadn't disabled the phones with everything else, or perhaps the phones were easily fixed afterward.

"From what?" Isidore had asked.

Dini Ghanat had frowned and shook his head, looking to me to answer.

"Nuclear weapons." I said quietly. Isidore had stopped in her tracks, shuddering.

"Oh, Lord, no." Isidore protested.

"I'm afraid that is what has happened." Dini Ghanat told her. "But don't worry. It is unlikely that there will be any further use of the bombs."

"What makes you say that?" Father Dublin had heard us speaking as we all walked together.

"If there was going to be a nuclear war, it would have happened when the first bombs were used. No. This was something they did, they bombed this coastline. That is why there was an evacuation, in case of fallout." Dini Ghanat sounded very confident, and he spoke in a reassuring way. Despite the fact that I feared his twisted mind, I appreciated his bedside manner.

"Why would they do that?" Isidore wanted to know more. I found her inquiry to be a good thing, because I knew that when Isidore was scared she shut down. Instead, she was with a crowd of dangerous people that were calling themselves her family and they weren't afraid. Isidore was brave by proximity to The Choir. This pleased me, for I sensed I had made good choices when I had brought them with me. Despite their sinister nature - each of them could be counted on when it came to the people they cared about. If they cared about my family, then they made my family safe. Like having a pack of wolves as household pets.

"Let's not talk anymore." Dr. Leidenfrost determined. I took a few steps to her and caught her hand and squeezed it gently. She let out a little sigh that meant she understood I was protesting. "There will be time to discuss the state of things later, and all questions may be answered then."

I let go of her hand with acceptance of her conclusion.

"She's your boss." Serene Sinclair told me. It made Jessica Darling and Christo giggle to hear that their fearless leader had a new boss.

"Dr. Leidenfrost is in charge of this family." I stated. There was no objection. I noticed that she was smiling at what I said about her. It was right, her leadership skills and judgement were better than mine, and she was categorically smarter than I was.

"That vehicle should work." Clide Brown pointed to an old Volkswagon that had left the road and ended up abandoned.

"It looks wrecked." Father Dublin stopped and commented.

"Why should that one work?" Samual Monica asked. This prompted a disbelieving laugh from Dini Ghanat who looked first to Dr. Leidenfrost and then answered pedantically:

"Because it doesn't rely on delicate electronics like most of the vehicles here." Dini Ghanat walked towards it. "But they took the keys, and this vehicle is probably totaled."

"Can't we find another?" Isidore asked. Everyone looked at her. "What?"

We all slowly spread out on the highway, leaving the girls and their mothers there in the center. Cory squawked loudly, asking other crows for help. There was no answer.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I and my crow kept an eye on everyone as they searched. After a few minutes, Clide Brown and Father Dublin found us and announced they had found a suitable vehicle, but a dead body had to be removed from the driver's seat.

I stayed behind with my family while The Choir acquired the vehicle, some kind of short bus. Long before we found the vehicle, someone had murdered the driver, and it was Clide Brown who drew the short straw and sat in the driver's seat, where we had laid a blanket over the seat.

"Let's get going." He said as we all got on the bus.

As we drove to the estate once owned by my wife's ancestors, I watched the countryside. The sea looked stained and dead, the trees wilted, and the clouds moved in unnatural patterns, too swiftly across the sky. I stared deeply and saw that there was still some beauty left. Some rare flowers bloomed in the twilight, the port wine of the sea reminded me of new life and the skies beyond the clouds were crystal blue and promised that there was still some kind of hope left for the world.

"Lord?" Dr. Leidenfrost asked me sleepily. Everyone was staring out the windows or napping on the ride. The bus smelled horribly of decay, yet it felt like home.

"Heidi?" I asked her.

"I was never going to go home again. You change everything." She said as she slipped into sleep.

I didn't point out that it was her idea. She had meant it as a compliment. I recalled something she had said in the very same tone of voice, how did it go? "You bring fairies into my home, I love that."

Or something like that.

I realized how much she comforted me and how much I had missed her during the months of the FBI's investigations or my years in Dellfriar. I promised myself I would never be separated from my loved ones ever again. I looked at those of The Choir that I had brought home and recognized that they made it all possible. The ones I had kept had kept me safe. So had the others, but the others had come at a price. The ones I had left behind were too dangerous without their missions and constant violence to satisfy their appetites.

I still realized I was on a short bus, being driven by a werewolf, with my children and a gang of armed, homicidal lunatics. Perhaps I had spent too much time with them. Another reason why it was up to Dr. Leidenfrost to lead us, I could not be certain that my mind was intact.

We stopped at a crossroad, and I gently nudged Dr. Leidenfrost awake and said: "Heidi?"

"I was dreaming." She cooed. Then she sat up alert, realizing that none of it was a dream. She poked me to be sure I was beside her, anyway. Then she turned and beheld that her daughters were safely tucked in behind us. "Take the left."

Not long after that turn she gave more directions and then we arrived. Leidenfrost Manor stood in dereliction, the old iron gates featuring two reposed peacocks, made of painted iron. An old man was raking and burning piles of leaves and came to the gate and opened it for us without ceremony.

Everyone started getting off the bus and the old man made no acknowledgment until he saw Dr. Leidenfrost.

"Mistress Heidi, you have returned." He said, his voice timorous and somehow patient and expectant.

"Thank you, Gabriel. I'm glad the phones were working." Dr. Leidenfrost offered him a hug and it was obvious that she was like a daughter to him and that he had missed her terribly, probably believing he would never see her again. Everyone was moved as we witness the old man began to tremble and weep.

"I'm sorry." He breathed. He produced a handkerchief and wiped away his tears.

"No." Dr. Leidenfrost apologized. Then she said: "I am the one who is sorry. I am."

"It is okay. The prodigal daughter has come home. This old man cannot be happier." Gabriel smiled. It was the lip quivering smile of someone whose broken heart has begun to slowly beat again, when all hope was already lost.

"This is my daughter." Dr. Leidenfrost pulled Penelope in front of her to present to him. Then her eyes widened, and she turned and pulled Persephone also. "These are my daughters." And then her eyes widened again, and she turned and gestured to Isidore and said: "These are our daughters, Isidore and me."

"Oh. It's okay." Gabriel seemed to be thinking that Dr. Leidenfrost was with Isidore, and she was, technically. Dr. Leidenfrost let out a big sigh and then went and stood beside me.

"And this is my husband: Gaylord Briar. It's complicated." Dr. Leidenfrost smiled in mirror to Gabriel's grin.

"Of course it is. I'd expect nothing less from you, Mistress Heidi." Gabriel smiled warmly at everyone.

"These are our new friends, our new family members." Dr. Leidenfrost gestured at the rest of The Choir. Then Gabriel's gaze went to her shoulder.

"Is that?" He stared in awe.

"Come on, Uncle. You of all people shouldn't be surprised the first time they see a fairy." Dr. Leidenfrost laughed.

"I hate to interrupt this moment." Clide Brown stepped forward hugging himself and trembling nervously.

"My Wolf fears the nightfall and the rise of tonight's moon. It could alter his behavior, could it not?" Cory spoke. Gabriel looked from the fairy to my talking crow.

"Fascinating. Your crow speaks." Gabriel said to me. "I shouldn't be surprised that the man who is her husband should tame animals - teach them to speak."

"It was the first thing I did." I boasted, feeling strange in doing so. Had I ever boasted before? "She's the boss" I added with a humble tone.

"Of course she is. But there is only one man she would love. You are impressive, Gaylord." Gabriel told me.

"My Lord is unique among men." Cory added.

"I need a cage." Clide Brown spoke directly to Gabriel. "I need to be in a cage. Tomorrow night will be a full moon and it is possible for tonight's moon to affect me. I could go crazy."

"A cage?" Gabriel pondered.

"Or something that could trap me. I will be very strong. It must be harder to break out of than oak doors. Those I could bash my way through, if I wanted to."

"What about in the well?" Gabriel asked. "We have an old well. Suppose we lowered you into it and put a boulder atop it?"

"Uh." Clide Brown had a weird look on his face. "I'd like that. I hate the beast, let it sit in a hole."

"But it will be you." Dr. Leidenfrost protested. I blinked at her quick thinking, avoiding an extremely unpleasant series of nights for Clide Brown. "Surely we can do better."

"Then we take him to the sheriff's office in Pelthirm. Nobody is there. A jail cell would hold this monster you become, right?"

"It should. In any event, I wouldn't be here. The beast skulks and haunts, it doesn't roam. At Dellfriar they could prevent the transformation with excessive sedatives made into a special cocktail. They added something else that burned and made me weak."

"Wolf's Bane." Gabriel demonstrated his knowledge. "I have both sedatives and the herb. We shall sedate you and leave you caged there. Does this ease your worries, my friend?" Gabriel offered.

"It does. Thank you." Clide Brown decided.

"My Wolf hasn't looked so at ease since we came to this world, and he learned that the clock was ticking." Cory spoke up.

"I will take you there and remain there with you." Gabriel decided.

"It won't be safe." Clide Brown told him.

"It is okay. It would be better if someone is there with you. It is my choice." Gabriel insisted. I suspected he had an ambition to see a werewolf, but he was right; it was better if someone was there to keep an eye on him.

"There is one more thing." Dr. Leidenfrost mentioned, as we all walked towards the great house.

"The fairy? She must miss home." Gabriel guessed. His sincere understanding made Silver Bell flitter from Dr. Leidenfrost's shoulder to his. Her touch tickled him, and he giggled with surprise.

That evening we were divided between those preparing a meal, Clide Brown and Gabriel's departure, and those who were making Faerie Key.

We gathered gold and a cauldron to melt it in. With my daughter supervising my craftsmanship, I copied her drawing by carefully making a mold in some modelling clay, using a primitive delft method. "Stand back." I told her.

I poured the gold and let it begin to cool. We went and ate dinner and after the almost full moon had risen and before bedtime, the gold had cooled. We shook out the key and it clattered onto the workbench.

"Dad." Penelope was gazing at me and her heterochromic eyes, one right eye of gold, like mine, and one of purple, like her mother's, shone like starlight.

"We made this." I held up the key with pride. It was no ordinary key, for it was a copy of a fairy's key to Faerie. We had crafted an exact replica of a magic artifact. She had used her imagination and I, my craftiness. The intention of its use was entirely vital, a thousand more duplicates would just be gold keys. It required my hands to make it, channeling my will into its existence.

"Is that it?" A tiny voice intruded on our bonding moment.

"You are going home, Sylvia." I promised, grinning with optimism.

A distant howl reminded us that things were still dangerous and that anything could still go wrong.