Page 158 of Mikoto and the Reaver Village
He wanted something else.
He needed something more.
Dawn was still an hour or two off, and the humans were allabed. He tiptoed through the hush, half expecting Zisa to swoop in for asurprise snuggle. But the hush held.
Dew beneath his feet. Breezes tugging at his unbound hair.Stars adding luster to a moonless sky. He wished he could touch them. Hethoughthe could hear them.
Snatches of a song caught and held him, winding him upinside.
“Hey, Damsel.” Ginkgo tossed him a wave from where he waslounging among Zisa’s roots. “Nice, huh?”
Sinder drifted over, hugging himself against the chill, eventhough he was too warm.
“Strangest music I ever heard. Or almost heard. Reminds meof a meteor shower.” He drew a line in the air with one finger. “There and gonein a wink, but a nice surprise. It was clearer the other night. Probablybecause there were so many of them. All the fragments became a line, and themelody was sorta … otherworldly.”
He hadn’t heard their chorus. Not this time. Which onlymeant it hadn’t been for him. But Novi was close, and he was in a tuneful mood.Definitely a portent.
“Something wrong?” asked Ginkgo.
“Not sure.” Sinder pivoted and strode away.
“Where are you headed?”
“Into the open. Out from under these branches.” He keptright on walking. “I want to see that star. I want to run.”
Footfalls. Ginkgo caught up and matched his pace. “I usuallyrun with wolves, but I like a change of pace. Mind the company?”
He was rattled.
He was desperate.
Sinder was barely holding it together, which made it easierto admit the truth. “I don’t want to be alone.”
Ginkgo’s ears dipped and flicked, but his manner was ascasual as usual. “Not a problem.”
So Sinder ran, couldonlyrun.
Headlong, as if there were a pack at his heels.
But he couldn’t outrun the haunting melody that seemed tohowl and shriek against his bones. Ignoring the slap and sting of needle andthorn, Sinder plowed on. He needed to silence this wailing need, but where wasrelief?
He wanted Juuyu.
He needed help.
“Damsel? You blundering idiot! Sinder!” Ginkgo swung intohis path, lifted him off his feet, and bullied him into a broad tree trunk,caging him there. “What’s come over you?”
Sinder could only swallow thickly and shake his head.
“What’s going on. Talk to me,” he ordered sternly.
“Feels strange.” Sounded strange, too. He could barely hearhis own voice, what with the ringing in his ears. He rolled his shoulders andwinced at the bite of bark against his back.
And Ginkgo’s whole expression cleared. “Hey, okay,” he saidgently. “I get it.”
He did? Sinder tugged at his shirt, desperate for answers. “Whatis it?”
“Hang on a sec.” Ginkgo half-turned and raised his voice. “Whogoes there?”
