Echo (The Soul Seekers 2)

Animal Spirit Guides

Bear

Bear represents strength, introspection, and knowledge. Bear teaches us to look within to awaken our inherent potential. Extremely strong, Bear will react fiercely if its lair is threatened, reminding us to protect our loved ones. Able to live on stored body fat during its winter sleep, the spirit of the Bear shows us how to draw on internal resources for our survival and to remain balanced during change. Active day and night, Bear reflects both the power of the sun and the intuition of the moon, cautioning us to temper our strength with thoughtful reflection.

Hummingbird

Hummingbird represents agility, happiness, and wonder. Hummingbird teaches us to be awake to the present moment and to be flexible and agile with the twists and turns of life. Very playful, Hummingbird reminds us that life is richer if we enjoy what we do and find goodness in any situation. The most skilled flier in the avian world, the spirit of the Hummingbird symbolizes accomplishing what appears impossible. Being the only bird to fly backward, Hummingbird encourages us to explore and extract sweetness from the past without dwelling in it.

Bat

Bat represents transition, rebirth, and initiation. Bat teaches us to face our fears and embrace change. With its ability to navigate perfectly in the dark, Bat instructs us to trust our instincts and discern the hidden meaning of words spoken as well as those left unsaid. As the guardian of the night, the spirit of the Bat encourages us to face down the fears that dwell in the dark corners of our mind and trust our inner guidance. As the only winged mammal, Bat reflects the ability to move to great heights and embrace new beginnings after tumultuous change.

Opossum

Opossum represents appearance, strategy, and flexibility. Opossum teaches us to make use of appearances and to see when others are projecting false impressions. A skilled thespian, Opossum is a master at creating an image that will allow it to achieve its desired outcome. Able to appear dead at will, the spirit of the Opossum reminds us that things are not always as they appear and that there may be hidden meanings. As a marsupial carrying its young in a pouch, Opossum encourages us to look into our own bag of tricks and find our unseen talents and hidden wisdom.

Otter

Otter represents joy, laughter, and sharing. Otter teaches us to let go of our need to control and to seek out our inner child so we can enjoy life and all it offers. Naturally curious, Otter reminds us that everything in the world is interesting if looked at from the right perspective. Fast and agile in the water, the spirit of the Otter shows us how to maneuver through the problems and emotional upheavals of life with ease and fluidity. One of few animals to use tools, Otter encourages us to strike a balance between unadulterated play and skillful provision.

Back of every creation, supporting it like an arch, is faith. Enthusiasm is nothing: it comes and goes. But if one believes, then miracles occur.

—Henry Miller

prophecy

one

Daire

Horse carries us across an expansive terrain with Raven riding high on his neck. His steps measured. Sure. The sound of his hooves meeting the earth resulting in a satisfying shuffle and crunch that always makes me feel as though we’re getting somewhere. Making progress. Despite the fact that we’ve been hunting for weeks with no sign of the enemy.

That’s what I call them—the enemy. Sometimes I switch it with intruders or even interlopers. And when it’s been an especially long day of hunting that has me feeling punchy, I refer to them as fiends.

Though I never call them by their real name.

I never refer to them as Richters.

They may be undead Richters, but they’re still Richters, and Paloma warned me to never inform Dace of his dark origins. Claimed there’s no need for him to know his existence stems from magick of the blackest kind. And even though being the keeper of such a horrible truth makes me feel dishonest at best and disloyal at worst, I can’t help but think that my grandmother’s right.

If anyone should tell him, it’s Chepi, his mother. But so far she’s kept silent.

I loosen my hold on Dace’s waist and sigh as I look all around. Taking in a spread of gleaming tall grass—the blades bending and flattening under Horse’s forged path—the grove of tall trees that mark the perimeter, providing shelter to birds, monkeys, and the occasional nut-seeking squirrel. My gaze cutting through the fading afternoon light—searching, always searching. But as always, there’s no sign of corruption, no sign of their presence.

Maybe the Bone Keeper found them?

I clasp the thought tightly, liking the feel of it. Not wanting to release it no matter how improbable. While I’ve no doubt the skull-faced, serpent-skirt-wearing, star-eating queen of the Lowerworld is more than capable of capturing them, if not obliterating them, I also know it won’t be that easy.

Having made this mess, it’s mine to fix.

“It still seems odd.” I press my lips to the nape of Dace’s neck, the words muffled by his long glossy sheet of dark hair. “You know, this perpetual cycle of night and day. It seems too normal, too ordinary for such an extraordinary place.”

I study the late-afternoon shadow that appears to be stalking us. An unlikely, elongated silhouette of a raven with a spindly stem of a neck, and two ridiculously tall people sitting astride a horse with legs so stretched and skinny they hardly look able to support us—the exaggerated shape heralding a night soon to fall.

Though the truth is, what qualifies as night in the Lowerworld isn’t much more than a trifling fade, falling far short of the heavy, black, star-dusted New Mexico sky I’ve grown used to. Though, I’m glad for its arrival all the same. Glad to have this day reaching its end.