She heard something else as well, coming from a great distance.
Sage, it is time. Sage, I am here. Sage, it is time. Sage, come and retrieve me.
“My pendant,” Sage said, looking up at Canyon. “It’s calling me. I need it.”
“Let’s go,” he said, taking her hand.
Timber came across the yard and Canyon pointed him to the truck.
“Wait,” Timber said. “Eventine wants to know if Sage has the power.”
“Uh, I don’t know,” Sage said. Did she feel different? No. She concentrated on her inner self, holding Canyon’s hand tightly and closing her eyes. She checked with her fox and her fox stood aside, tail wrapped around its feet, its muzzle pointed towards Sage’s heart. Sage followed where her fox pointed andfound the power inside her, locked up tight inside an energetic ball situated in the center of her chest.
Could I use it?she wondered.
Not without madness,her fox replied clearly.
Sage opened her eyes. She pressed a hand to her sternum and nodded at Timber. “Yes,” she breathed. “Right here.”
His brows drew down. “Okay then.” He ran back to the house.
Canyon opened Sage’s door for her and she climbed in. He went around and climbed into the driver’s seat, then maneuvered them out onto the driveway. Timber came out of the house and climbed in, muttering, ‘’Sup’ to Wulf.
Canyon drove away. Sage twisted in her seat to watch the house, feeling like time had slowed down, tears still leaking from her eyes. Dying in the Ula had been better than dying in the Pravus, but Boeson should have been at home, surrounded by family and well-wishers, surrounded by people who loved him and knew how he had sacrificed his life for the good offoxen. She carefully set to memory the way he had looked and everything he’d said, so that she could share with anyone who asked what Boeson’s lasts moments had been like.
She dropped her head in her hands and cried again. Canyon rubbed her neck. Timber patted her on the shoulder.
“He was good,” she wailed. “He might’ve had to do bad things, but he wasgood.”
“To Boeson,” Timber said, popping the top off of something carbonated in the back. He rolled his window down and poured the entire drink out on the road.
“To Boeson,” Canyon said, taking a drink out of the center console and pouring it out his window as he drove. “A goodfoxenand a true hero.”
Wulf’s screen flared with color.:To Boeson, afoxenhero to be remembered—
“A goodfoxen,” Sage whispered sadly. “And a true hero.”
Canyon sped up, and the chilly air streaming in the windows helped to dry Sage’s tears. Her pendant called her steadily, filling her with determination.
Sage, Sage, Sage, Sage, come to me, Sage, Sage, Sage, it is time, Sage, Sage, Sage.
She stared out the window, steeling herself. She would have time to mourn Boeson later.
After several minutes of driving the winding road, the Morning Wood Inn sign came up on their right.
Timber shivered. “That sign gives me the heebies.”
“It's heebie-jeebies,” Canyon said.
Timber snorted. “I'm pretty sure it's heebies.”
Canyon only laughed. Sage did as well, feeling better. Her thoughts turned to herrenqua. “Why didn’t you tell me I had a starrenqua?” she asked, turning in her seat to face the males.
Canyon shrugged. “I thought you knew.”
Sage touched her shoulder, then twisted to look at herrenquain the mirror on the visor. It was still a star. She really was a Citlali. Her life was completely changed,again.
She shook her head slowly. “I only used to see it once a month. Abigail did some crazy shit, stealing my animal from me. She must have disguised it or made me think it was a flower.”
