“Illusions take less power to make and hold. . . . What matters is not if it is real, but if you persuade someone or something else that it is real.”

“McDaran!” the apparition shrieked. “How dare you try to steal my student from me?”

McDaran froze where he stood. But Anna was not going to wait around to see how long her illusion held him. Once the spell for the illusion had been set free, she ran.

She knew the game trails around here; he didn’t. She grabbed up her skirts in both hands, freeing her bare legs, and ran, not for the cabin, because that was where he would expect her to go, but deeper into the wilderness. And while she ran, she sang.

He+! Hayuya´haniwa´, hayuya´haniwa´, hayuya´haniwa´, hayuya´haniwa´.

Tsistuyi´ nehandu´yanû, Tsistuyi´ nehandu´yanû-Yoho´+!

He+! Hayuya´haniwa´, hayuya´haniwa´, hayuya´haniwa´, hayuya´haniwa´.

Kuwâhi´ nehandu´yanû´, Kuwâhi´ nehandu´yanû-Yoho´+!

He+! Hayuya´haniwa´, hayuya´haniwa´, hayuya´haniwa´, hayuya´haniwa´.

Uyâ’ye´ nehandu´yanû´, Uya´ye´ nehahdu´yanû´-Yoho´+!

He+! Hayuya´haniwa´, hayuya´haniwa´, hayuya´haniwa´, hayuya´haniwa´.

Gâtekwâ´(hi) nehandu´yanû´, Gâtekwâ´(hi) nehandu´yanû´-Yoho´+!

Ûle-’nû´ asehi´ tadeya´statakûhi´ gû´nnage astû´tsiki´.

It was the song to call bears, as Grandmother Spider had taught her, and into it she poured all the power that she could summon, spilling it into the magic and the song as quickly as she could gather it up.

She did not try to fight back her tears as she sang and ran, nor her terror. But she did fight back her despair. She refused to give up. Not yet. Not until there was nothing more to try, nothing more to be done.

“Bear is the spirit that you are most likely to need if you are in danger. Bear can run, and swim, and climb, and fight; Bear is fearless when that is called for, but does not lose himself in rage and will run when that is needed. And Bear is near to the Cherokee peoples.”

The melody was simple and sad; she panted as she sang, tears trickling down her cheeks, and hardly able to get her breath between words, she ran so fast. But fear put strength in her legs, and anger in her lungs, and though she was lashed by branches and her hair came down and tumbled around her, still, she ran.

“He+! Little Sister!” she heard behind her as she crashed into a meadow and stumbled over a root. It was a rumbling growl like thunder that carried words, Cherokee words she understood clearly. “Stop running a moment!”

She stopped and turned, almost falling, and gasped as a white bear as big as a horse lumbered to a halt before her. Thanks to Elder Raven and Grandmother Spider, she knew who this was! This wasn’t just any bear. This was Medicine Bear, the Chief of all Bears, the Great Bear himself, the kin to Grandmother Spider!

“Quickly!” the Bear told her, before she could say anything. “Climb on my back and grab hold of the folds of skin over my shoulders! We must run!”

She scrambled onto his back, although she had never ridden another creature in her life, and did as she was told, splaying herself out face-down over his massive back, digging her frozen toes into the fur of his sides, and burying her hands in the folds of his skin just where the neck met the enormous shoulders. And as soon as she was secure, the Bear lurched forward and galloped off into the forest.