Page 117 of Raw

We got into the car and put our seatbelts on. “If you want, I can go back to Wiseman and try to get Fennec to come here. Maybe he’ll listen to me,” I told her.

Surely, he wouldn’t stay mad at me for long, right?

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but that might be the best option. I don’t want him to be all alone up there. It’s not safe.”

I eyed her carefully as she pulled onto the road. “It’s not safe because of the animals, or because he could hurt himself?”

“Both. He’s not well.”

“Mentally?”

She didn’t reply, but her silence spoke volumes.

“He wasn’t doing well ever since we got back after the holidays. He was quiet and down. Do you think he’s depressed?”

There was little I knew about depression or any mental health issues, but the way Fennec acted those days couldn’t have been because he was in a bad mood.

“He’s not depressed, Vespyr,” she sighed, looking over at me for a second before focusing on the road again. “There’s a whole lot you don’t know. A lot I don’t even know about him. But there’s no way we’ll ever find out what’s wrong if he doesn’t let us help him.”

I looked down at my hands and wondered if it was even worth talking about this.

I talked behind his back before, and knowing how it made him feel upset me.

“I’ll go by Jason’s house tomorrow to ask him if he’s willing to drive back to Wiseman. I’ll try to talk to Fennec.”

I missed him, and no matter how angry he made me today, I couldn’t stay mad at him forever.

He held my heart, and being this far away from him would only tear me apart.

Slowly, but so damn painfully.

35

“Thank you again, Jason. I know you probably have better things to do, but Mama is right. Fennec can’t stay there on his own until Papa’s on his feet again. Literally.”

Jason was kind enough to take me back to Wiseman, and because he knew we’d have to drive back again if Fennec agreed to come back home with me, he decided to pack his things and leave the cabin behind for a month until Papa was ready to go back.

We owed Jason, and Mama had already promised to invite him over for dinner while he stayed in Fairbanks.

“I got nothing better to do, kid.”

I looked out of the window as we drove along the street to get to his cabin, and once he turned into his driveway, Sitka howled in the backseat as she recognized she was home.

Turning in my seat, I smiled at her and scratched the spot behind her ear to give her the attention she deserved.

“Want me to take you to him? You can’t drive the quad, right?”

I shook my head. “I think it’s best if I walk up there on my own. I need to be alone with him and take my time to explain that he needs to come back home.”

Though, I hated every single second of just thinking about it.

“Take Sitka with you then. Can’t let anything happen to you,” he told me, nodding back at his loyal companion.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I can go a day without her. But I need you to bring her back. Think you can talk Fennec into coming down here in less than a day?”

I hoped so.

---