Abe and Merry were both well past exhausted, and Tym needed medical attention soon. Still, before they left, Merry and Abe lined the bodies of their fallen friends and classmates and enemies up. Merry gritted her teeth and placed The Lady’s head above her neck on the snowy ground while Abe searched for stones they could pile up to cover them. The work kept them warm, but they were shivering again by the time they held hands with a barely-standing Tym and paid their respects through chattering teeth.
“Should we really just leave them here?” Merry said.
“It’s where The Lady is from,” said Tym. “It’s where she wanted to be.”
“What about Winchell?” she said. “What about his family?”
Abe squeezed her shoulder with his shaking hand. “Winchell’s Aunt had a funeral for him three weeks ago, Merry. To everyone but us, he’s been gone for weeks.”
“Two funerals,” said Tym. “You should see the monument his aunt put up for him.”
Abe nodded. “It’s less than he deserved.”
At the clock tower, Myrtle mothered them all relentlessly. Though it was lovely to be given food and warm clothes and some amateur medical attention, all three of them had had enough of her by the end of breakfast, and they insisted that they really had to be on their way.
The entire elevator ride down felt breathless, as if none of them could believe they were actually going home. There was no conversation at all, and since they’d saved Tym, Merry had stopped holding Abe’s hand quite so much.
At the door of the tower, Abe guessed that Merry would want to see Tym safely home, and so he suggested that they get a carriage. Merry said it was a grand idea to see Tym home safely, but that she wanted to hurry home herself. She gave Abe a peck on the cheek and said they should talk soon and ran off.
Abe was struck dumb.
“Look at that,” said Tym. He pointed to a street corner where a boy was standing on his tip toes.
“So,” said Abe.
Slowly the boy lifted his toes off the ground. He was floating.
“Whole new world,” said Tym, grinning from ear to ear.
Abe went and fetched a carriage.
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