Echo North(57)

That will free him.

That will free him.

My whole body was trembling when I left the room.



I SEARCHED FOR HAL ALL day, stepping into one book-mirror after another. He didn’t come and didn’t come and didn’t come. But I kept looking. I couldn’t do what I was about to do without seeing him one last time. It would steady me. Assure me I wasn’t about to make a horrible mistake.

At last, when the time for dinner had slipped away and there were only a handful of hours left before midnight, he came.

He met me on a high hill overlooking a valley that danced in the light of two setting suns. He looked solemn and fair, and stepped up to me without a word. He folded my hand into his, and I felt suddenly stronger.

A faun with flowers in her hair and a silver bear wearing a rose-thorn crown held onto the cords tethering a huge hot air balloon to the earth. It was shaped like a painted egg and decorated like one, too, beautiful designs swirling blue and gold across the violet material. A basket was attached to the balloon and fire roared hot just beneath the fabric envelope.

“One last adventure, my lord Hal?”

He gave me a quick sharp smile and helped me climb into the balloon, then scrambled in after me. I looped my arm around his waist, holding him close.

The faun and the bear untied their cords and the balloon rose into the air, chasing the wind and the falling suns. The valley grew small beneath us. The sky grew large.

I wanted to say “I love you, stranger I met in a book—my white wolf. Tonight, I will free you.” The words echoed in my brain and I could almost taste them. But I didn’t speak, didn’t let them out. I just shut my eyes and listened to the sound of Hal’s breathing, warm and close at my ear.

I love you, stranger I met in a book.

We didn’t speak until the suns were gone and the stars were out, globes of radiant color that spun and flashed through the darkness.

I felt small and lost and empty. I didn’t want that moment to ever end.

“I will miss you, when you’ve gone,” said Hal quietly into my hair. “More than you can imagine.”

“Will I ever see you again?”

He glanced away, wordlessly folding my hand into his, and didn’t answer. He seemed older than I had ever seen him, weighed down with memory and sorrow and time.

“Hal.” Tell me the truth, I wanted to beg him. Please. There’s so little time left.

“I hope so. I hope—” He cut himself off and I dared to lift my free hand and touch his face, turning it once more to mine.

“Hope what?”

He swallowed, but did not pull away. His pulse beat quick and sharp in his throat beneath my fingertips. “I hope that you will not grow to hate me.”

I tried not to feel like my heart was breaking. I tried not to see that his was, too. “How could you even say that?”

“Thank you for trying to save me.”

And he bent his head and kissed me, soft and gentle and tangled in starlight. I kissed him back, despair unfolding inside of me, my hand wrapped around the packet of matches waiting in my pocket to free him, or destroy him, or maybe both.



THE WOLF WAS WAITING FOR me in the hall when I left the library, the print of Hal’s kiss still warm on my lips. I wanted to tell him that I knew his secret, that I was going to free him.

I love you, stranger I met in a book. I love you, Wolf who once was human.

“My Lady Echo,” he said, his voice slow and rough. “Will you walk with me in the garden? One last time?”

My heart pressed hard against my rib cage. There was maybe an hour left until midnight. No more. “I would be happy to.”

I followed him out to the garden and we rambled quietly through it, the stars gleaming cold over our heads, me bundled once more in the fur cloak. The wolf paced beside me and I lay one hand on his shoulder, trying to give him what comfort I could.

We sat behind the waterfall for nearly half an hour, the fire warm at our backs, and my hand went frequently to my pocket, checking that the matches were still there. I pondered telling him what I was planning to do, but what would that accomplish? There was a bond laid on him—he couldn’t talk about “her” in the house. And what if my attempt to tell him nullified everything? Or worse, what if he grew wild again and tried to stop me? No. It was better if he didn’t know.

“I will miss you, Echo Alkaev,” said the wolf, gruff and sad. “More than you can imagine. I am sorry. For everything.”

Tears swam before my eyes. “You won’t have to miss me, Wolf. I’m not going to let you go. Do you hear me? I’m not going to let you go.”

But he sighed and laid his head on my knee.

It was almost midnight. I wondered what would happen if we both stayed in the room behind the waterfall. If that would be enough to break the curse.

But the wolf rose wearily to his feet. “It is time, my lady.”

I nodded, and asked the house to bring us to the bedroom. A door appeared in the back of the cave, and we walked through it into the corridor just outside of my room.

It was strange, getting ready for bed for the last time. I dressed behind the screen, fumbling to transfer the matches from my skirt to the pocket in my nightgown. Snow fell soft outside the patch of window. I sent the screen away and crawled into bed. I blew out the lamp.

I heard the wolf crawl up beside me, his breaths uneven and quick, matching my heartbeat.