When Jamie came too, he was lying in his bedroom, back in Burgess. Mrs. Bennett was leaning over the bed, pressing a cool, wet cloth to Jamie's forehead.
"Jamie, Jamie! It's me, Mom. Wake up honey," cooed his mother.
Jamie blinked at the room around him.
"There's no place like home," he continued to chant deliriously. "There's no place like home."
"Jamie, Jamie, dear," said his mother, peering into his worried eyes. "It's Mom, darling."
Jamie stared, trying to focus. It was indeed his mother and his little sister was there, too.
"Oh, Mom, it's you!"
Just then, Professor Drosselmeyer popped his head through the bedroom.
"Hello, there!" he shouted. "Anybody home? I just dropped by because I heard the little boy got caught in the big storm." Then he spied Jamie in bed. "Well, he seems all right now."
"Yeah," said Sophie. "I thought he'd leave me."
"But I did leave you, Sophie," Jamie tried to explain. "That's just the trouble. And I tried to get back for days and days."
"There, there, lie quiet now," said Mrs. Bennett trying to quiet her son. "You just had a bad dream."
"No," Jamie insisted.
Just then, Jamie noticed Claude, Caleb, Monty, Pippa and Cupcake who had been keeping watch over him as well.
"Sure," said Caleb. "Remember me and Claude?"
"And us, Pippa and Cupcake?" asked Pippa.
"You couldn't forget my face, could you?" chimed in Monty.
Jamie thought back on all he had seen.
"No. But it wasn't a dream, it was a place. And you and you and you were there," said Jamie, trying to piece it all together, then he pointed at Monty, then Cupcake. "You kept dozing off and you kept pulling your own cotton tail." Then he looked at Professor Drosselmeyer. "And you, you were a humbug."
The Professor chuckled nervously. "Well now, let's not get personal."
Everyone laughed as Jamie tried to think back, not knowing how any of this could be.
"But you couldn't have been there, could you?" he said, confused.
"Oh, we dream lots of silly things when we sleep," Mrs. Bennett said to appease him.
"No, Mom," Jamie tried to explain. "This was a real, truly live place. And I remember some of it wasn't very nice, but most of it was beautiful. But just the same, all I kept saying to everybody was, I want to go home. And they sent me home."
Jamie looked at his family and friends who were staring at him blankly.
"Doesn't anyone believe me?" he asked.
"I believe," Sophie said gently.
"And I am pretty sure we won't be hearing from Miss Hattie for a long time," said Mrs. Bennett. "Her car also got caught in the storm and she's been sent to the hospital."
Abby jumped up onto the bed next to Jamie, who gazed out at the warm friendly faces that surrounded him. Jamie grabbed Abby to him and hugged her tightly; knowing that he was safe and sound in his old home of Burgess.
"Oh, but anyway, Abby, we're home! Home! And this is my room, and you're all here! And I'm not going to leave here ever, ever again, because I love you all! And, oh, Mom, there's no place like home!"