Allissa
We flew north until the world ran out of green.
The pines thinned to scrub, and the scrub gave way to stone, and then there was nothing under us but gray rock and old snow going on forever. The cold seemed to freeze everything … including time. I lost track of the days on purpose. Counting them meant counting how long my daughter had been gone, and I could not carry that number and keep moving at the same time.
Thorin gave his report every dusk, the way Darren had asked him to. He would press his hand flat over his chest, close his eyes, and read the pull like a little soldier giving the day’s news. She’s angry today. She’s bored. She made somebody sing again. Every scrap of her came out of that boy’s mouth, and the rest of us leaned in without meaning to.
Smoke rode inside my
