On the mountain just ahead stands a massive dilapidated stone structure, a castle—old, but impressive. I recognize it from the one we viewed in Leigh’s office.

“Just a bit farther,” Arek says with a sideways glance.

The heat in my cheeks declares how out of shape I am as my mouth clams up for water.

We move through the quiet forest as if we are alone. Arek is silent. The others are silent. The swish of plants and trees being pushed out of the way is the loudest sound. To my right, Geo helps Beckah over the stumps of the giant arolla pines. Sassi and Kilon are not far. Peter walks with his fellow Protectors. Mak stays just ahead of me, his gun and knives tethered to his back, stamped with his home’s emblem.

Arek’s eyes never stop roaming, searching for anything unusual. It is far more than his size that makes him seem intimidating and dangerous; it is his constant awareness. I have never seen someone so sentient of everything around him.

“What are you looking for?”

He glances at me, almost like I have woken him from a deep sleep.

“I’m listening.”

“What can you hear? Anything?”

“Not yet.”

“Is that water?” I hear a rumble in the distance.

He listens more intently, then smiles. “You’re coming back.”

“I don’t know about that. I just have good ears.”

“The best ears of any Epheme couldn’t have heard that.”

My mind wanders for a moment. “You were there for more than thirty years watching me and I didn’t know.”

“You saw me once.” He grins.

“I did?”

“Yeah. Your first year in college. I passed by you and you looked up at me like you knew me.”

“But I didn’t.”

“No. But I got to pretend for a moment.”

I breathe and wipe the sweat from my forehead. “I’ve never been in trouble for anything in my life.”

“You also thought you never had a father or held a gun.”

“Or had a husband.” I look at him. “Why have they been able to get away with all of this here?”

“Like we said—it’s Forbearing Land.”

I look at him curiously. “I know you said that, but why can’t everyone—all humans—figure it out so that this can’t happen.”

He laughs. “Ego gets in the way every time. Why is there ever an impasse to anything? Ego. If one gets it, the other is left wanting and that’s just never an option.”

“Make everyone have jurisdiction over all of the Bryers. Or separate them out.”

“They’ve tried over the years, but it just seems to be a technicality in our history that we can’t solve, among many other things.”

“So, there are more than just Navin and Japha’s men out here?” I start looking around as though the forest has eyes.

Arek laughs. “Oh, how times have changed.”

“What do you mean?”

“I used to have to beg you not to come and try to win these people over.”

“I would do that?”

“Yeah. You thought everyone could come back to their right mind, if just coaxed enough. No fear. You just believed.”

We are quiet for a few more feet, as we pass by three trees made from one. Several birds sit along the branches while watching us march in the gray mist.

“You said Navin was pardoned.”

“Somehow he knew the right people in the Powers. But Navin will never be sinless. He knows he’s guilty of a myriad of things, and so do the Protectors. If the Powers wanted us to arrest him, we’d arrest him. Honestly, I think they’re afraid. The rebels have been building power and popularity during the last few years, making the Powers weary of rash decisions—especially after everything that has happened with you. It’s a game. It always has been.”

Finally, we reach a rushing river that plummets nearly a half mile down a cliff face.

“Arek . . .” Diem and Kilon want to speak with him.

The edge of the waterfall calls to me. My shoes push dirt over until it hits the wind and blows away. The gigantic rumble of the crashing river is deafening and mists my face even from high above. A brown and white eagle, its wingspan longer than six feet, flies in circles midway down the falls. A paralyzing numbness travels down my arms, yet the eagle keeps my attention. Suddenly it turns to two eagles, then three . . . and so on. The fatigue can’t be rubbed out of my eyes even with my palms, and the bird multiplies. My eyes grow heavy just trying to examine the expanding flock of birds.

Peter is near me also taking in the view.

“Do you see them?” I ask.

“Them who?” he asks.

“The eagles.”

He watches me carefully, his face backdropped by an army of trees that come in and out of focus. “There’s only one.”

“Peter . . .” I whisper, “something’s wrong.”

“Willow?” Peter asks as he comes forward. “Arek!”

My balance is lost, and the earth seems to rock back and forth as Peter reaches out and takes my hand.

“Peter, help . . .” My voice wobbles like my knees until there is nothing that can keep me upright, not even Peter’s young hand. The burn of his pull on my arm is no match and soon my body falls heavily over the edge.

Arek’s arms try to reach me, but he is too late. “Remy!” he yells.