The Wolf Tree by John Claude Bemis Read Free Book Online

I’m brave enough?”
    “Yes, but—”
    Marisol aimed a finger at his nose. “I was there when we faced the Hoarhound. I was there when we fought the Gog’s agents on the
Ballyhoo
. I have courage, Ray.”
    “That’s not what I’m saying.”
    “Then what are you saying?” Marisol asked, putting herhand on her hip. At Ray’s hesitation, she added, “If you don’t want me to go, just say so.”
    “I just want you to be sure you know what we might be facing.”
    “I know, Ray. As well as you, anyway.”
    Ray shrugged. “Then I suppose we’ll leave in the morning.”
    “I’ll be ready.” She nodded and turned back to her packing.
    Ray passed through the kitchen to go upstairs. He traveled with very little, but he decided to gather what few supplies he would need. “Supper’ll be ready in about half an hour,” Ma Everett called as he ascended the stairs.
    At first Ray thought the loft was empty, but then he noticed Sally at the far end reading by the solitary window. Coming closer, he saw
The Incunabula of Wandering
open in her lap. Sally seemed frozen, almost as if she were in a trance, the way she always appeared when she read the book. She turned the page with a quick flick of her hand, and then returned to her statue-like state. She did not even realize Ray was standing behind her chair until he brushed his hand across her hair.
    “Ray!” She looked straight up and then pulled herself around sideways in the chair.
    Ray’s eye fell on the open page, to a long poem.
    “What are you reading?” Ray asked.
    “Oh,” Sally said, tracing her fingers along the lines. “It’s this song, called the Verse of the Lost. And look here. It sayssomething about the Elemental Rose in this line. Remember what that Cherokee elder said? Father helped figure out what the Elemental Rose was.” Sally eyes shone with wonderment. “What do you think the Elemental Rose is?”
    “I wouldn’t know, Sally. I’ve never understood poems very well.”
    “The Verse of the Lost isn’t a poem,” Sally continued. “Not in the real sense. I just want to figure out what Father was—”
    “Sally, I need to tell you something.” She opened her mouth to continue, but Ray spoke first. “I’m leaving in the morning.”
    Sally’s eyelashes batted against her cheeks. “What? Where are you going?”
    “Kansas.”
    “Th-the Darkness,” she said, her voice pitched with anxiety. “I heard Si talking to Buck about it. They said the Darkness killed Mister Bradshaw!”
    “Don’t worry,” Ray said, touching a hand to the toby beneath his shirt. “Nel made me a protective charm. I’ll be fine.”
    She grabbed his hand, squeezing it hard. “But why are you going, Ray? Is this about the Machine?”
    “We have to find it—”
    “But you need to cross to reach it.” Sally spoke rapidly, desperately. “Can’t you stay here and keep working on learning how to take animal form? You don’t have to go out there to learn to cross. Once you learn, then you can justcross from here. You could find the Machine from anywhere. Then you can destroy it. You don’t have to go out to that Darkness.”
    “It’s not like that, Sally,” Ray said, moving around until he knelt before her, resting his arms on her knees, holding her hands. “Do you remember last fall when I went down to Georgia?”
    Sally lifted her chin with the slightest nod.
    “I met a Creek Indian, Aunt Harjo. Her grandfather was a Red Stick, a powerful medicine man. She said her grandfather had learned how to take animal form and to cross into the Gloaming. She told me from what she understood that places within this world corresponded to particular places within the Gloaming. And to move within the Gloaming was to move within a world that followed no map. If I’m to reach the Machine, I must cross at the location where Grevol placed it. I have to find its source in our world first.”
    “Kansas,” she said softly. “You think the Machine is in