Epilogue

Having defeated Tynillios and his collection of the party's alter-egos, the party debated about how long to wait before returning to Earth. The Gatestone pointed to a weathered flagstone in the center of the tower's floor, and Earth's was the only facet still glowing green on the Gatestone. After healing up as best they could without an overnight rest, they decided there wasn't likely to be any danger waiting for them back on Earth, now that Twynillios was out of the picture. Placing the Gatestone on the flagstone, they pressed the facet for Earth, and felt the familiar stretching sensation.

And found themselves standing in the center of Stonehenge. The real, original Stonehenge. Back on Earth. They heaved a momentary sigh of relief, until they realized they were not alone. Dozens of tourists stood staring at them. About half of them panicked at the sight of seven strangely dressed and heavily armed people suddenly appearing in their midst, and ran screaming for their tour busses. The other half immediately whipped out cell phones and cameras, and began taking pictures as fast as they could, apparently assuming they were in the midst of some movie set.

The party made their way as quickly as they could across the road to the gift shop. A check of the Gatestone showed it pointing north, but a quick triangulation showed they were probably many miles from its target. They needed transportation, and quickly, before the excited tourists brought in the authorities. They briefly considered hijacking a tour bus, but decided that that might cause more problems than it solved. Joe got on the phone to his contact in the Qabbal, but although he said he would send "a team" to "extract" them, he said it would take several hours, and he didn't sound very reassured by Joe's rambling story about meeting Merlin, travelling to alternate universes, and killing their doubles. Mary finally got exasperated by the rest of the group's overly complicated strategems for getting away, and got on her own phone and used her super-platinum card to simply charter a bus out of nearby Salisbury to pick them up ASAP.

The bus arrived before any police, and they immediately headed back to their hotel in Bath. Mary and James confirmed that their chartered jet was still waiting for them (and I'd hate to see the bill for THAT charter!). However, they also found their faces were all over the news, along with a story about an unauthorized movie shoot frightening tourists at Stonehenge. Jerry quickly checked his electronic tripwires, and found out that all the agencies he was monitoring were suddenly abuzz with activity about all of them - apparently their faces had been immediately recognized and people who had though they were long dead were now on the hunt for them again.

Deciding it was best to get out of the UK as quickly as possible, they chartered yet another bus, and began wandering the English countryside in the dark, trying to navigate by GPS (Gatestone Positioning System). Ultimately, it led them to a tiny village called Avebury, about 25 miles north of Stonehenge. A large network of standing stones surrounded and included the village, and the Gatestone led them to one otherwise unremarkable stone. Following Merlin's instructions, they placed the Gatestone on it, and backed away. A few seconds later, there was a blinding flash of light, and when they could see again, the Gatestone was gone.

Wasting no time, they had the bus take them back to the Bath airport, where they used magical means to bypass security and get undetected to the hanger containing Mary and James' plane. Shortly thereafter, they were airborne over the north Atlantic, headed for Brazil and an uncertain future.