A blinding red flash of light filled the once chocolatey dark room. Before Mrs. Burrows and the First Officer could open the door to the sitting room, Will was gone. An empty bed stared back at their frightened faces.

Will was still nauseous when he finally regained consciousness. His senses were fuzzy, but he instantly recognized the heat of the sun on his neck. There was only one place where he had experienced this discomfort before: The Garden of the Second Sun!

Will looked around at his surroundings. He was at the field in front of the Tower. The bodies of the dead Styx were scattered everywhere. The deadly virus that Sweeney inadvertently released spared no one, not even the Styx. Thus all the Styx that had been recalled to the inner world died a painfully slow and agonizing death.

"What took you so long?" a voice called from behind him.

"What?" Will swiveled his head around and came face to face with a Styx woman. Only this woman's insect limbs were brown, not the shiny black of mature Styx women. Will knew it could only be Elliott! But then the confusion of it all hit him again.

"Wait, how did you know that I would be transported here?" Will inquired.

"Will, when we were in front of St. Paul's Cathedral, I knew that I needed to start the Recall to save the world from the Armagi. I had that feeling that I knew what I needed to do. But in the process, I would be trapped here and all the Styx would be killed by the virus. I wanted to have somebody else with me when we went home. And you were the only other person I knew that was immune to the virus," Elliott explained.

"I understand all that. But that still doesn't tell me how and why I got here," Will said. Deep down in the darkest corner of his mind, he knew the answer. But he didn't have the heart to believe quite yet.

Elliott went on, "I know it's still traumatizing, but do you remember when Alex implanted the eggs in you?"

"Ugh. Why would you bring that up? I'm trying to forget all of that," Will remarked a little annoyed.

"This is important. I could have attacked earlier and stopped it, but I didn't. I let it happen."

"What?! How could you do this to me? It ruined my life!" Will shouted with anger.

"No Will, it saved your life! Can't you see? I knew that you would be able to survive it. I did say you were quite muscly," her tone softened almost to a whisper.

The anger and tension left Will's body as he reminisced about their time in New Germania. Life seemed a lot happier back then, Will thought to himself.

When Elliott thought it was safe to go on, she continued, "I knew Jiggs was there and that he would have the sense to cut the eggs out of you. But they weren't important, it was the enzymes. They had the power to change a creature's DNA, just like Woody was changed by my blood... You're a Styx, Will."

With that statement, his hunch had been confirmed. Even in the short time they had been talking, Will's outward appearance had transformed further. The roots of Will's white hair had turned the uniform black of the Styx. The pupils of his eyes were now jet black.

Will's head swam as he tried to digest all the details he had just been told. His senses began to dull once again, and he drifted back to the dark comfort of unconsciousness.

When Will woke up, he found himself in a bed. He was in a small room with a table and fireplace. There was a large, wooden chest at the foot of his bed. There was a window on the far wall that overlooked the treetops. Adjacent to the window was an open doorway that led out to a tiny porch. The top of a ladder just stuck out, resting on the edge of the porch. He noticed that the walls, and most everything else in the little cabin, were made of bamboo.

Elliott appeared at the top of the ladder with a rifle and two dead birds in tow. "Oh, you're finally awake! You've been out for awhile, Will. I was just about to get lunch ready."

"Wait, where am I now? This is our tree house, but that was destroyed when the Tower rose from the ground."

"Well, I've had a lot of free time on my hands, since there isn't any pressing danger anymore. So, I rebuilt the tree house."

Elliott cooked the two birds over a fire and prepared a salad from plants she had foraged for. She called Will to the table to eat, and they sat opposite to each other. They ate in a companionable silence, but each was waiting for the other to utter the first word.

There was a nagging feeling in the pit of Will's stomach. There was something that he needed to get off his chest. He had waited so long to express his true feelings, that if he went any longer he might explode. The evil Styx that had threatened the world were finally defeated. This was the perfect time to tell the truth.

"Elliott..." Will began.

Her head snapped up expectantly. Her eyes locked with his, waiting.

"I need to tell you something. I never got to finish what I was saying before you were recalled in front of the Cathedral."

Will reached across the table and interlocked both hands with Elliott.

"No matter what happens or what becomes of us... I will always love you."

And they sat there for a long, long time. As the Earth propelled to its home destination, Will and Elliott were ready to face whatever new future lay ahead of them.

If you are reading this, that means you took the time to read my continuation of the Terminal story. I thank you wholeheartedly for doing so. After finishing the book myself, I felt urged to write a more complete ending. I hope that you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. The experience was very therapeutic.

From,

An Unsatisfied Reader