“We go back and join the children I left behind, and then we head east to wherever it is we have to go to be safe.”

“But you’ll know where that is?” Sparrow asked.

“The old man said I would.” He paused. “I’ve been thinking about what that means. I think it has something to do with the gardens. He said that was where I was conceived. It was where he kept me until it was time for me to come out into the world and become who I am. Maybe there is a connection. Maybe I am supposed to find my way back again.”

“How you gonna do that? You couldn’t do it before! Didn’t even know they existed!” Panther threw up his hands. “You better be Magic Man or we’re gonna be lost out here forever!”

“I think it makes a difference that I didn’t know about the gardens. I don’t think I was meant to find them before this. I think that’s what the old man intended all along.”

“Oh, sure. Now you know, so nothing to worry about.” Panther shook his head. “Listen to yourself. Then look at who we are. Kids! A bunch of kids! With more kids waiting to join us? Hundreds of them?

So this bunch of kids and some Elves and some other people are supposed to hike off into the wilderness to somewhere that no one but you know, and even you don’t know it yet! We’re gonna hike to someplace we’ll be safe, even though the rest of the world is gonna buy the farm? Does anyone but me find this a little weird?”

“How many times have you listened to the story of the boy and his children, Panther?” Owl gave him a warm, reassuring smile. “Didn’t you believe in that story? Isn’t that why you stayed with us? You knew about Hawk’s dream. His vision. That was his story, the same as now. We all understood that. We were all waiting for it to happen, ever since we were together. We all believed in it then and I think we all have to believe in it now.”

“Yeah, Panther,” Sparrow agreed. “Where’s your faith?”

“Where’s your brain?” Panther snapped back. “A story’s a story. It ain’t necessarily the truth. What’s real is what counts. What’s real is what’s out there waiting to chew us all to bits!”

“You think we might be better off if we didn’t believe Hawk?” River asked quietly. Her dark eyes fixed on him. “Are you saying we should turn around and go back? That we should find some other city where we could make a home? What are you saying? If you tell us that Hawk’s vision isn’t true, what’s left for us?”