“Now cast them onto the cloth,” the other ordered.
Logan hesitated, then scattered the bones over the cloth. For a moment, nothing happened. The bones lay in a jumble, their whiteness stark against the dark surface. Suddenly they began to jerk and twist, and then to slide across the cloth and link together at the joints to form fingers and a thumb.
When they were still again, all five digits were stretched out in the same direction, pointing west.
“That is where you will find the child, Logan,” Two Bears said softly.
“Somewhere west. That is where you must go.”
He gathered up the bones, wrapped them in the black cloth, and gave the bundle to Logan. “The bones will lead you to the child. Cast them as often as you need to. When you have found the child, give it the bones of its mother and it will know what to do from there.”
Logan stuffed the cloth and the bones into his jacket. He wasn’t sure if he believed all this or not. He guessed he did. The world was a strange place now, and strange things were a regular part of it.
“After I find the child and give it the bones, then what?” he pressed.
“You are to go with it wherever you must. You are to protect it with your life.” The Sinnissippi’s eyes were strangely kind and reassuring. “You must remember what I said and believe. The child is humankind’s last hope. The child is humankind’s link to the future.”
Logan stared at him a moment, then shook his head. “I’m only one man.”
“When in the history of the human race has one man not been enough, Logan?”
He shrugged.
“You will have help. Others will find their way to you. Some will be powerful allies—perhaps more powerful than you. But none will be better suited to what is needed. You are the protector the child requires. Yours is the greatest courage and the strongest heart.”
Logan smiled. “Pretty words.”
“Words of truth.”
“Why don’t you do this, Two Bears? Why bother with me? You are stronger and more powerful than any Knight of the Word. Wouldn’t you be better suited to this task?”
O’olish Amaneh smiled. “Once, I might have been. Before the Nam and the breaking of my heart. Now I am too old and tired. I am too soft inside. I no longer want to fight. I am filled with the pain and sadness of my memories of the battles I have already fought. The history of my people is burden enough. I am the last, and the last carries all that remains of those who are gone.”
Logan folded his scarred hands and placed them on the table. “Well, I will do what I can.”
“You will do much more than that,” the big man said. “Because there is something else to be won or lost, something of which I have not told you. What is it that you want most in all the world?”
He frowned, a darkness clouding his features. “You know the answer to that. It hasn’t changed.”
“I need for you to tell me.”
“I want to find the demon that led the assault against the compound where my parents and brother and sister were killed.”
“If you are successful in your efforts to find and protect the child,” Two Bears said softly, “you will have your wish.”
He rose and held out his hand. “We are done here, and I must go. Others need me, too.”
Logan was staring into space, coming to terms with the promise he had just been given. To find the demon that had killed his family had been his goal since Michael had saved him. It was what he lived for.
Aware suddenly of the hand being offered, he rose and gripped it. “When will I see you again?”
The Sinnissippi shook his head. “You won’t in this life. My time is almost over. I will pass with the old world into memory. The new world belongs to others.”
Logan wanted to ask if it belonged in any way to him, but he was afraid to hear the answer. “Good-bye, then, O’olish Amaneh,” he said instead.
“Good-bye, Logan Tom.”
Logan released the other’s hand and turned away, walking back toward the Lightning. When he had reached the edge of the circle of firelight, he paused and glanced back. The last of the Sinnissippi had vanished, disappeared as if he had never been. Even the old knapsack was gone.
Logan Tom stared at the clearing with its empty picnic table and burning metal grill, then turned and kept walking.
Chapter FIVE
HAWK WOKE EARLY the next morning, restless with anticipation. That night he would meet with Tessa, and meetings with Tessa always made him run hot and cold. He lay quietly on his mattress, staying warm beneath his blanket in the cold, thinking of her. As he did so, he listened to the boys sleeping around him, Bear snoring like some great machine while Panther, Chalk, and Fixit added harmonic wheezing sounds. He envisioned the same scene playing out in the other bedrooms, the girls sleeping in the one farthest away, Owl in the middle room with Squirrel, keeping the little boy close until he got better.