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Back The Wilderwomen Save as PDF
Chapters (37)
  1. Copyright Notice
  2. Dedication
  3. BEFORE
  4. AFTER
  5. ONE THOUGHTS ON SUN HATS
  6. TWO TIME FOR CAKE
  7. THREE TWELVE MONTHS
  8. FOUR PSYCHIC KARAOKE
  9. FIVE A SECOND SLEEPING BAG
  10. SIX SIX MONTHS
  11. SEVEN THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE PANCAKE
  12. EIGHT SIX MONTHS
  13. NINE FOLLOW THE MUSIC
  14. TEN THE STARS ARE BRIGHTER IN THE DESERT
  15. ELEVEN SIX MONTHS
  16. TWELVE EVERY STAR HAS A SONG
  17. THIRTEEN PSYCHIC KARAOKE
  18. FOURTEEN ONE MONTH
  19. FIFTEEN A WELL-TRAVELED HAT
  20. SIXTEEN JOEL VS. THE VOLCANO
  21. SEVENTEEN TWO WEEKS
  22. EIGHTEEN HOUSE OF MEMORIES
  23. NINETEEN IF TREES COULD TALK
  24. TWENTY THREE DAYS
  25. TWENTY-ONE SEARCH PARTY
  26. TWENTY-TWO NOT THE SAME ZADIE
  27. TWENTY-THREE WAVES OF SMOKE
  28. TWENTY-FOUR THE DAY OF
  29. TWENTY-FIVE THE SKY IS FULL OF BIRDS
  30. TWENTY-SIX NEST
  31. TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. EPILOGUE
  33. TWENTY-EIGHT A SONG ABOUT A BIRD
  34. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  35. Also by Ruth Emmie Lang
  36. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  37. Newsletter Sign-up

Once they were a safe distance from the cliff, Joel hurried forward just in time to catch Finn as her legs gave out. He lifted her in his arms and carried her to a mossy hillock on the edge of the floodplain. As soon as he laid her down, it became obvious to everyone why she had collapsed. The soles of her bare feet were bloody. Several of her toes were bruised and swollen, and one was missing a nail. Zadie gasped loudly enough for Joel to hear. He turned to Myron and asked, “Do you have a first-aid kit?” but Myron was already ahead of him. He pulled a red plastic box out of his pack and handed it to Joel.

“It’s okay, Joel. I can do it,” Zadie said, her squeamishness apparent.

“I got it. I trained as an EMT.”

“You did?”

“I mean, I just completed the training. I ended up bailing on it for a job at a haunted house.”

Zadie was simultaneously impressed by his expertise and unsurprised by his lack of commitment to it. “What are you doing now?” Her hands were shaking.

“Cleaning the wounds so they don’t get infected. Will you hand me the alcohol?” Zadie passed him a bottle with a small red plus sign on it, and he rinsed the soles of Finn’s feet with it. She groaned but didn’t say a word. When the wounds were clean and free of debris, he applied antibacterial ointment and wrapped her feet in gauze. “We’ll need to carry her.” Then, to Myron, “How far’s the hike back?”

“Three miles, give or take. Do you want me to take the first shift?”

“No, you navigate. I’ll carry.” Joel turned back to Finn. “I’m going to lift you, okay?”

Finn’s gaze rolled slowly skyward, as if her reply were trapped in the clouds.

“Has she ever done this before?” It took a moment for Zadie to register that Joel had asked her a question. She was too busy searching her sister’s face for signs of their mother. But it appeared she was gone. “No. She usually snaps out of it by now.”

Joel didn’t need to hear any more. He scooped Finn up in his arms like a rag doll, her mummified feet dangling at his side.

We did it. We found her, Zadie thought. But as they hiked back down the mountain, she couldn’t shake the feeling that Finn was still somewhere out there wandering the forest, leaving muddy footprints in her wake. It took an hour and a half to reach the Van Houtens’ home, and in all that time, Finn’s eyes—Nora’s eyes—never left the sky.

TWENTY-THREE WAVES OF SMOKE