The Sisters of Nowhere

f o r t y - t w o : e p i l o g u e

 The night Wyatt Best came into Nowhere, the stars that shivered up above held their breath and leaned in closer to the earth just to see what would happen.

The stars didn't know that following that night, secrets would escape, ghosts would become the playthings of the fates, and three sisters would bind part of themselves to a sleeping forest that was now very awake.

What the stars did know, however, was the song.

The song that played below the forest. The song that played above.

Betrayer, Poet, Sacrifice, Murderer

Those four words echoed through the cosmos regarding the tiny, haunted town of Nowhere and it's four young residents.

Though there was now a requiem, the stars still held their breath. They still waited. Leaned in closer, closer, closer.

But the people of Nowhere, of course, could not hear this.

Presently, they began filtering out of the high school auditorium after a spectacular rendition of Ophelia.

It had been a long summer for the townsfolk of Nowhere. Without their ghosts, it had felt empty, unnatural, wrong.

There were whispers of an invisible forest that related to the Penny sisters. But then again, when were there not rumors about the Penny sisters?

The rumors had to do with a power outage that had happened on August 12th, 1955. It was unexplainable; there wasn't a cloud in sight that night, except for a tower of smoke that people had reported as "hovering in the sky" in the empty clearing near the Best farmhouse.

Things were said like, "It's those Penny girls up to trouble." or, more favorably, "They're trying to get our ghosts back, the dear things."

Both rumors were true. There was an invisible forest that nobody had ever seen before somehow living in their minds. It was as if the memory of the forest were a collective dream that everyone had woken up and forgotten about.

And the ghosts had been brought back only to pass on into the afterlife.

Though the people of Nowhere didn't know it, they had the sisters of Nowhere to thank for all of that.

Currently, these particular girls were walking arm-in-arm out of the cafeteria, their parents and Wyatt sticking close by.

"It was only a two-month delay," Ophelia, star of Ophelia, was saying. She was fashioned in a long, draping dress. She wore makeup for the first time, though it looked rather gaudy off-stage.

"Just enough time to make it even more dazzling," Birdie replied. After the ritual, the forest had replenished the energy Birdie had expelled in saving it. It still took a few days to untangle the forest from her mind, but now, a week later, she was beginning to feel more like herself. She clutched her hands together and in a woefully convincing voice recited, "Show me the steep and thorny way to Heaven, whiles, like a--"

"No, no," Ophelia corrected. "It's more from the gut."

Marigold watched her sisters' banter with a small smile. Like Birdie, she also had to get the tangle of the forest out of her head. For her, however, it was a matter of wanting to do so.

The memory of freedom still tainted her mind. And what about Silas? She couldn't help but feel like he--and Hal--were still out there somewhere. Her feet itched to go back to the forest that was now in its renewed state.

She glanced over at her parents, who were both beaming with pride. They, of course, had forbidden entry into Gwydyr for the foreseeable future.

Oscar clapped Wyatt on the shoulder and said, regarding Birdie and Ophelia, who were currently reciting Ophelia in progressively more horrible tones. "I can't blame you, son. Maybe I should be the one moving in with you."

Wyatt gave a knowing, wry grin. After Hal's death (well, his permanent death), Oscar had asked Wyatt to come live with them. Wyatt had politely declined, saying that the farmhouse was technically his and he'd feel more comfortable there, in his own space, than intruding on the Penny's.

In truth, living with a family was more than tempting for Wyatt. He'd never felt more at home than he did with them. But as much as his heart secretly longed to be loved, he preferred dealing with his issues by himself. Those issues included his father's death, the fact that he had a brother he'd never known about, and the other fact that this long-lost brother had also shot him.

Besides all of that, he knew that there was a slight awkwardness between him and Marigold. Were they dating? Had they ever been dating in the first place?

These were things he had decided he'd rather think about while feeding the chickens Hal had left behind and tending the tomatoes (tuh-matus) in the greenhouse.

As the group made their way down the sidewalk along with all of the other families exiting the play, a young woman in a pale yellow dress came up to them.

She had rosy cheeks and a sharp jawline and regarded Birdie with a sly look in her eyes. "Birdie Penny!" she exclaimed. "I've been waiting to run into you."

Birdie glanced at her family briefly before saying, "I've been...ill. Um, everyone, this is Georgia Taylor with the newspaper."

They all offered their greetings, followed by a silence that made it clear Georgia wanted to talk to Birdie alone.

Rose lifted an eyebrow at Birdie questioningly, silently asking if it was alright.

Birdie said, "You go on ahead, I'll catch up."

"Alright," Rose said, still suspicious, "dinner's in thirty minutes."

Once her family moved further down the sidewalk, Birdie regarded Georgia dolefully. Georgia came from a well-to-do family and was always a little snobbish towards everyone, which did little to improve Birdie's opinion of her. "What's all this about?"

"Oh, truly nothing treacherous," Georgia laughed. "I'm coming to you as a friend."

"Those are hard to come by," Birdie replied.

"Oh, Birdie." Georgia pouted. "I came to offer you a job."

Birdie straightened a little, despite herself. "What?" she asked hopefully.

"I want you to be the new head writer for the Post. Since I've moved up as director, I thought--"

"Wait," Birdie said. "You've always been the head writer. Why are you the director now? What about Sal? I just talked to him last week and..."

Georgia laughed nervously. "Who's Sal?"

"Sal Hickory."

Georgia's face fell and she blinked, casting a furtive glance to the side. "Sal Hickory as in...the old editor's son?"

Birdie lifted her eyebrows. "Yes, of course. Why isn't he the director anymore?"

"Honey, Sal Hickory's been dead for nearly ten years."

THE END

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UPDATE: THE SEQUEL "THE FOREST OF SLEEPERS" IS OUT NOW!

*SCREAMING* 

*ahem*

I am calm. I am calm. But this was my favorite project I have ever worked on...though it was definitely the hardest. I don't think any chapter was easy to write, but somehow I never got frustrated or stopped loving "The Sisters of Nowhere". And I hope you loved it too! Can you believe we've reached the end?

~Who was your favorite character?

~What was your favorite part in the book?

~Favorite line?

~Any general thoughts or feedback?

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! It is an incredible feeling, being able to share my work with all of you! Thank you for all of your support, and I will be posting again in the very near future for the SEQUEL! (Title TBD =P) See you soon! <3