The epilogue wraps everything up in a neat little bow for us. After the detectives save the day (and the kids), Tendai finally gets to celebrate his fourteenth birthday in style. He's more interested in courage now than some fancy meal, plus he's ready to take what he's learned about spirits and apply it to his medical career. Looks like somebody's done some growing up over the course of the book.
Just because Tendai's come into his own a bunch, though, doesn't mean some things don't stay the same:
Monomatapa's people went on in their timeless way, farming, hunting and thatching their round huts when the season of long grass was upon them. And at night, they gathered in the dare to tell tales. Or so Tendai believed. Someday, when the spirit of Zimbabwe stumbled and the mhondoro grew faint, the gate would open again and remind the rest of the world of what it once had been. (Epi.9)
It turns out that Tendai has changed, but his land and people haven't much. They still hold onto their strong customs and traditions. This book might be set far in the future, but some things, it seems, never change.