Lyra Stellwyn's Arc

Chapter 6 of 6

They made it two hours down the switchbacks before the truck told her it could not carry what was inside it. The cub woke first and started thrashing against the splint. The hatchling caught the noise and screamed. The fox pressed itself flat under the seat and made a sound Lyra had never heard from it. Rei's feathers stood up. Noel had both hands on the hatchling and could not reach the cub. "Pull over," he said. "Lyra. Pull over now." She took the truck onto the shoulder. The engine ticked. The cub was chewing the splint apart. Blood was starting again at its leg. The hatchling would not stop crying and the fox would not come out. Four frightened animals in a cab built for two. "I can't drive them all," she said. She said it flat, like reading a line off a page. "I don't have anything to keep them quiet. If I keep going I lose one of them by nightfall. Maybe two." Noel counted them again under his breath. Fox. Hatchling. Cub. Rei. He got to four and stopped this time. He looked at her. "Take them back," she said. "Back where." "The cabin. The sanctuary. You know the road." She pulled the keys from the ignition and pressed them into his hand. "The fox knows you. The cub will follow the fox. Feed the hatchling from the dropper every four hours. There's fish paste in the tin under the seat." "You're one day from the coast on foot. In this weather." "I'm one day from it in the truck too. It doesn't matter which if they die on the way." He stared at the keys. "You said you needed me at the hatchery." "I need them alive more." Rei hopped from the dash to Lyra's shoulder. Lyra lifted her off and set her on Noel's knee. Rei did not move. She looked at Lyra with her head tilted the way she did when Lyra said Vael. "You too," Lyra said. "Watch the cub for me. Go silent if anyone comes up the drive." Rei bit her thumb once, hard, and stayed on Noel's knee. Lyra took the notebook, the wire cutters, the flashlight, and the coat that still smelled like the cub. She left the water. She left the fish paste. She left everything with a heartbeat. She stepped out onto the gravel. Noel slid across into the driver's seat. His hands were shaking on the wheel. "Turn it around here," she said. "The shoulder's wide enough." "What do I tell them if they come to the cabin." "That you found them. That you're alone." He nodded once. He turned the truck. She watched the taillights climb back up the switchback until the ridge took them. Then she started walking down the road toward the coast.