Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands

Emily worries that the cloak is easily recognizable as Wendell’s magic and believes nobility will soon discover their presence. Eventually, Emily discovers they’re being followed; their shadow is revealed to be the fuchszwerge who led Emily to Poe’s dwelling, Snowbell. The fox faerie wishes to be involved in their quest and when Emily accepts his help, he reveals that they’re taking the long roads and have somehow missed all the signposts directing mortals directly to the castle. Emily wonders if the cloak’s hood has been flapping up periodically to block her view of said signposts in order to keep them away from other travelers.

As Snowbell leads them to the castle, he reveals that the Wendell’s stepmother’s gargoyle guardians have been tracking them from the trees. When Snowbell brings them to a faerie door shortcut, Lilja’s compass points straight at Snowbell, and Emily believes it’s hinting that she can trust him.

Emily loses track of time when they pass through two faerie doors and eventually emerge on the outskirts of Wendell’s castle. Emily plans to enter the castle by acting like an enchanted mortal scholar.

Emily leaves her cloak with Ariadne so the courtly fae won’t sense Wendell’s magic on her. Emily tasks Ariadne with gathering edible mushrooms and suggests that eating the food of his own realm might cure Wendell. In reality, Emily hopes the task will distract Ariadne from following her inside the castle.

Emily is followed by a lucid human man who is aware that Emily is feigning abstruseness. He introduces himself as Callum Thomas and brings Emily to his soon-to-be husband—one of the queen’s brothers—who he convinces to help Emily on her quest. The faerie magically whisks Emily to Wendell’s former chambers which contain a table with wine and grapes recently prepared, as if the queen has been awaiting Emily’s arrival. Emily stirs the faun horn poison into the wine and searches the chambers for Wendell’s cat. Orga eventually appears and leads Emily to a door within Wendell’s closet. Though the compass points at Orga, suggesting she’s trustworthy, Emily remains distrustful and traps Orga in a burlap sack. When they return to the main room, Wendell’s stepmother sits at the table dining on the grapes and wine.

The queen reveals she’s half Folk and that Emily’s intelligence and cleverness are much more formidable than Wendell. When the queen begins to suffer the effects of the poisoned wine, Emily flees out the chamber window and into the gardens where she releases Orga. Emily follows the cat through a faerie door, which reunites them with Ariadne and Snowbell. Snowbell leads them to the nexus while the queen’s gargoyle guardians pursue them.

A journal entry from Wendell’s perspective fills in the details of Emily’s return. Wendell is perplexed that Callum’s fiancé, Lord Taran, agreed to help Emily. He also reveals Ariadne has stopped by multiple times to check in on Emily while she sleeps; he believes Ariadne has come to love her aunt.

Emily and Ariadne had only been gone one day, during which Eichorn and Dani convinced the townspeople to allow them to stay a few more days in St. Leisl. Upon their hasty return to the cottage, Orga attacked the poison lurking beneath Wendell’s skin, forcing the blackbirds to emerge from his body—many of which Orga killed. Wendell and Emily then shared an uncharacteristically affectionate reunion. After learning of her quest, Wendell professed to admiring her deeply. When the gargoyles arrived at the cottage, Wendell battled their leader, Razkarden, by summoning the Veil—a long lost, very unpleasant faerie realm. Instead of abandoning Razkarden within it, he allowed the gargoyle to perch on his shoulders and brought them back into the mortal realm. Razkarden abandoned his vengeance and departed the region with his gargoyles, but they were unable to return to the Silva Lupi realm as the Winter Folk whose home contains the nexus has sealed his door from unwanted visitors.

Shadow has been more affectionate with Emily since her return. He and Orga do not get along, as Orga finds enjoyment in jumping out and frightening Shadow. Ariadne invites many townspeople to the cottage for a farewell gathering. Julia and Roland Haas tell Emily of local Folk sites they’d yet to explore, and Emily promises to return. Wendell has banished the vicious tree fauns back to his kingdom, to the locals’ immense relief. Emily pulls Ariadne aside to acknowledge her hard work and immense help in the expedition. She also acknowledges Ariadne as family and treasures the hug and cheek-kiss Ariadne gives her.

Wendell acknowledges the immense help Poe has given throughout their expedition. Emily encourages him not to dismiss or underestimate the little ones as the courtly fae often do. He graciously accepts her criticism and encourages her to keep pointing out his failings so that he may continuously improve himself.

Emily, Wendell, Shadow, and Orga travel to the location in Greece where Emily remembers the nexus opened. Wendell believes his stepmother has died from the poison and Razkarden has begun regular protective patrols of wherever Wendell travels. At Emily’s insistence, Wendell has reached out to all the little ones and underestimated common fae of his kingdom and beyond—including trolls, the tree faun, and the fox faeries—to create his own “army of miscellaneous nightmares” (309). Emily and Wendell plan to enter the nexus from Greece, reopen the nexus in St. Leisl, then travel to the Silva Lupi realm to retake his throne and rule together as husband and wife. Emily has agreed to take a long sabbatical from Cambridge. While Wendell doesn’t plan on ever returning to academia, Emily plans to “if only from time to time” (310). She and Rose have co-authored an article about the Silva Lupi which will soon be published in an upcoming dryadology journal, and she plans to soon complete her map book of the Otherlands.