Contents
Epilogue — 5.
Overview
Gwen endures a slow, unaided recovery and attends Donna’s August remembrance at Rackham. Reverend Erin Oakes delivers a clear-eyed eulogy that admits Donna’s harm and honors her love, prompting Gwen to affirm Donna’s final redemption. Tana and Allie appear bonded, with Allie still injured but supported.
Summary
After the battle, Gwen spends six weeks in precarious recovery, this time without any saint’s blood to hasten healing. She misses Donna’s April funeral but is strong enough by August to attend a remembrance at the Rackham College chapel.
Reverend Erin Oakes delivers an unsentimental eulogy for Donna McBride, acknowledging how Donna’s fury at suffering curdled into cruelty, even as her fierce love for her friends restrained her worst impulses. The reverend frames Donna’s life as both wounded and willful, a refusal to forget the child who had been powerless to stop evil.
Gwen prefers this painful truth to easy consolations. She privately confirms that, at the end, Donna stood with them and cast off her old, destructive self, an act as startling as the dragon devouring itself. Gwen holds to this as Donna’s redemption.
In the front row, Tana and Allie sit together, hand in hand. Allie still limps from a crushed foot, and Tana steadies her as they leave; Allie leans on Tana’s shoulder and even laughs, a fragile sign of survival and renewed connection after loss.
Who Appears
- GwenRecovering from grave injuries without saint’s blood; attends Donna’s remembrance and affirms Donna’s final redemption.
- Donna McBrideDeceased; subject of a frank eulogy acknowledging her cruelty, love, and ultimate stand with her friends.
- Reverend Erin OakesDelivers an unsentimental eulogy for Donna, balancing condemnation of harm with recognition of love and pain.
- AllieAttends the remembrance with Tana; limps from a crushed foot; finds support and moments of laughter.
- TanaSits with Allie in the front row, steadying and supporting her as they leave the chapel.