Epilogue
A gasp, crisp with night-chilled air, filled Annie’s lungs as her hands fell away from the standing stone. She gulped down air and tears as if she’d forgotten what breathing was for. It took her a few more seconds to remember where she was. Eden. This was Eden. This was real, and where she had been was only wax vapour, memories drifting away as they burned. The standing stone had unlocked them for her. Unlocked and then folded them into its crystalline matrix for safekeeping. And it had granted her a gift. Looped around her own memories were those of her mother, as well as Harry’s, and Lucas’s. As each of them had crossed over into death, Annie had come here to share her memories of them, and it seemed that the stones had used those connections to gather and guard their memories
