Hester wakes to Richard tending her, his cheek torn open by Evangeline's knife. The unmaking ritual has worked—Hester felt the magic stripped away in a great wind. Evangeline lies unconscious but alive, and the group debates what to do with her. Then Falada appears, no longer a horse but a transparent, many-jointed monstrosity with too many eyes and rib-bone teeth. Evangeline tries to command him back, but Falada tramples her to death, burying her into the dirt.

The familiar then turns on Hester and Richard. As Falada charges, fading but still deadly, the short-legged gander flies into his face, distracting him just long enough for the spell's final layer to dissolve. Falada vanishes into daylight, gone at last.

One week later, the survivors gather at Chatham House. Cordelia explains that the spells on Falada were layered like an onion and that he likely killed Evangeline out of vengeance for being entirely under her control. Imogene prepares to return home; Willard, rehired by the puzzled Squire, agrees to help Richard write a monograph on dealing with sorcery. Cordelia's magical sensitivity is gone, consumed by the ritual.

On the patio, Richard joins Hester and proposes not marriage but adopting Cordelia—suggesting Hester come live at Evermore House as her chaperone. Hester, moved, agrees, and they share a kiss. The public story is that Evermore was wounded protecting Hester from a mad horse. Samuel mourns Evangeline mildly, planning to provide Cordelia with a dowry.

Cordelia visits Penelope's grave, finding flowers already left by other admirers. She speaks to Penelope about her uncertain future—possible deportment lessons, finding her real father, visiting Ellen—and resolves to do whatever she does with style. A bright cloud drifts overhead as she walks back to Hester and Richard.