Epilogue

The Crater, Happy Valley, Oregon

Two Months Later

Jesse, Nikki, and Chaz glance around the familiar hollow. "Seems like yesterday we were here and the angel came," Jesse says, pushing up his sunglasses. He reaches into a bag and hands out sandwich wraps.

"Can you believe high school starts next week?" Chaz sticks his hand into another bag and pulls out a large mound of chips and shoves them into his mouth.

"I don't think I could bear regular school again," Nikki says, opening her wrap. "Day in, day out, running back and forth to boring classes in our boring high school. I'm psyched we got scholarships to the top science high school in Manhattan.

"I can still hear Madam President: 'Youngsters like you will save the future.'" Nikki uses the president's elegant southern accent. "'Our planet will be in good hands with the likes of you.'" Then Nikki places a hand over her heart and sighs.

"Yeah, the famous High School for Math, Science, and Engineering," Chaz says. He looks down at his body as if he no longer recognizes a single cell.

Nikki holds the sandwich to her nose and sniffs. "It helps a lot that earth changes are already taking place, like the EPA admitting some of our waterways are improving—even though it's slight for now."

"Improving is better than getting worse." Jesse guzzles water from his bottle. "Did you see the new NASA report? It says the ozone layer is recovering faster now, and even the hole over Australia is closing. Dad says some models show the layer healing in most areas within ten years." He takes another drink and realizes he'll be twenty-three by then.

Chaz swallows and asks, "Do you think the deepest hole over Antarctica will ever close completely?" He rubs his wiry curls with greasy fingers.

"Dad thinks so," Jesse says. "His colleagues say the shift is undeniable."

Nikki rewraps the remaining half of her sandwich and sticks it in her pack. "The president seemed relieved the Arctic ice melt is slowing down. She said at this rate it might stop melting within a few years."

"That's so cool," Chaz says, chips spilling out of his mouth.

"Eww." Nikki backs up on the mat. "Why do you always talk with your mouth full?"

"I dunno," Chaz says, and continues to chew like a chipmunk eating nuts.

She wants to say, Chaz, you eat like a pig, but bites her tongue.

Jesse screws the cap on his bottle. "Maybe it's just me, but some people's attitudes seem better too. The other day that grumpy old man at the mini mart actually smiled at me."

"I know what you mean," Nikki says. "Remember the girl who called me Einie? At the pool the other day she actually used my real name."

"Well, you're a lot nicer now too," Chaz points out. Nikki cringes, realizing he's right.

Suddenly the wind picks up and their picnic lunch takes to the air. Chaz stomps on the chip bag and Jesse and Nikki run to catch flying napkins.

"Do you think it's her?" Nikki asks, staring into the disrupted air as if trying to see inside.

Her long red hair blows back and forth over her face.

"If it is her," Jesse says, projecting his voice into the crater, "please let us finish high school before the next quest."

The End