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He crouched before me and said to Naalnish, “The average transatlantic containership travels at twenty-five knots per hour. We can’t predict the arrival port, but the trip should be about five thousand kilometers. At that rate, she’d be five to six days in that crate.” He gestured to the notepad. “The specs are all there.”

I stifled the urge to jump up and grab the pad. Patience.

“These containers aren’t airtight,” Naalnish said. “With the appropriate ration of food and water, the trip would be tolerable.” He traced the paper. “But the location here…how exactly does she get in one on the upper deck near the forecastle and away from the crew quarters?”

Jesse’s eyes burned into mine. “That’ll be up to Evie.” His face held no expression, but I understood his intent. He was Lakota by blood, but he was also every bit the killer I was. He knew I’d do what was needed to board a ship unnoticed.

Naalnish stood and handed me the notepad. “This may be your best option, Spotted Wing.”

A sketched blueprint detailed the compartments and containers on a cargo ship. 20x8x8 feet labeled one of the cubes. More than big enough for a stowaway.

I held up the sketch. “How do you know about cargo ships, Jesse?”

He leaned in, the red in his hair like cinders in the firelight. “Sleep well, Evie, for it may be your last night to do so.” He used that mocking tone that aroused me even as it pissed me off. His eyes flicked to Badger behind me and for a moment, I glimpsed pain their depths. Then he stood and walked into the forest.

The next morning, Darwin lay at my feet, his body motionless except the swish of his tail. I pulled a leather strap from my pack and squatted before him. I trailed a finger over his name seared on the surface, memorizing the grooves.

My throat tightened against a swallow as I tied the collar around his neck. I wanted to take him with me so badly my chest hurt. But sneaking him aboard a ship would’ve been impossible.

I clutched the collar with both hands and pressed my cheek against his furry one. “You protect them, boy. Just like you did me.”

The Lakota waited by the Humvee. Jesse wasn’t among them. I stepped through the line, hugging each one. There was no more pleading to join me, no nagging about dangers. Each embrace gave me encouragement. Each one harder to step away from. At the end of the line, I ran my hand over my hair, which had grown to mid-back. Three braids, one given by each man, each tied with a feather.

Shoulders bunched, I turned away, gasping for air, fighting the need to change my mind.

I lifted my chin and inhaled the mountain yews. The trees mottled the ridges with hues of maroon and amber and scattered their leaves to loam and wind.

My hair, and the feathers tied there, lifted with the easterly current, pulling me with it. East, where dawn illuminated the pulsating life of the forest. All life but one. I turned back to them. “Where is he?”

Badger shook his head.

Akicita stepped before me and held up a turquoise rock dangling from a tan leather string.

I reached to touch it. “Is that—”

He nodded and waited for me to lower my head. When it settled against my chest, I stroked the smooth surface. Turquoise formed naturally in arid desert climates. Stumbling across that stone in the mountains of West Virginia was as mysterious as the man who found it.

“Lone Eagle wanted you to have it,” Akicita said. “It can strengthen one’s capacity to love and connect with others.” He pressed his wizened lips against my forehead.

I squeezed the rock in my palm. “You’ve taught me so much.” To hunt. To heal. The web of life. “The circle.”

“Mm.”

It’d been Fall when I stumbled into their camp. It was Fall again. Everything was a circle. The seasons. The cycle of the moon. The wind when it swirled. Would the circle bring me back to them? The odds of that compounded the ache in my chest. I swallowed. “But I gave nothing in return.”

He winked a farsighted brown eye. “You taught us the hunt for truth.” His hand rested on my crown, stilling my shaking head. “When you were born, your soul entered here, through the skull’s soft spot. The truth is in you, Spotted Wing. You showed us how to find it.”

The meaning of his words caught the breeze, drifted away. “What truth?”

“I look at you and I understand what I see. I see hope in the shape of the spirit. And when you finish this quest, her shape will transcend.”

“Her?”

“Go forward.” He released me, a tear escaping down his cheek, though his eyes were dry.

Oh, Akicita. Promises I couldn’t keep piled up in my throat. I choked on them and stepped away. Then I gave the tree line a final sweep for Jesse and climbed into the Humvee. The emptiness inside me expanded as the tires crunched the gravel, sounding my good-bye.