Back The Wilderwomen
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

“The stars have spoken,” Zadie said with a smirk, then trotted down the porch steps.

“Don’t think this lets you off the hook,” Finn called after her. She still didn’t fully understand why Zadie had denounced her premonitions after their mom’s disappearance. It was like a switch had been flipped. One day they were playing Psychic Karaoke, and the next, Zadie had sworn off her psychic gift altogether. The best explanation Finn could come up with was that her premonitions reminded her of their mom, and Zadie had made it painfully clear that she did not like being reminded.

While Finn mulled this over, the wind chimes played a discordant melody. There was something about them, something about this place that gave her a good feeling. She felt it in the music, as if she’d heard it before, as if her mother had heard it before. She could feel the line between present and past getting blurry, like crossing her eyes, and she felt what she thought was an echo coming on. Could it be …

Then it was gone.

“Live in the present,” Zadie’s horoscope had read. How do you live in the present if your present is someone else’s past? That was a question for another day. Today she had more pressing questions she needed answers to.

A short drive later, the sisters arrived at their campsite, a spacious patch of rusty earth shaded by grizzled junipers and cottonwoods whose heart-shaped leaves fluttered like confetti in the breeze. In the center was a stone fire ring circled by benches made from logs that had been sawn in half lengthwise and flipped on their curved backs like turtles. On top of the pit sat a grate, presumably for cooking, although Zadie hadn’t the first idea how to use it. There was also a rickety picnic table that, from the looks of what remained of the peeling paint, had once been red.

And then there was the view: extravagant sandstone formations layered like pastry and carved by time into rococo columns, spires, and buttes. The rolling clouds above cast dramatic shadows that crept across the landscape like molasses, plunging the valley into darkness one minute and drenching it in golden light the next. It was both exactly how Zadie remembered it and nothing like it all at the same time.

Finn offered to pitch the tent while Zadie got cleaned up. “Are you sure you don’t need help?” Zadie offered, although she wasn’t sure how much help she could possibly be when it came to camping-related tasks.

“Nah. I’m good. Remember I was a Girl Scout back in the day.”

“Back in the day? Wasn’t that, like, three years ago?”

Finn waved her off. “Go take your shower. I’ll set up the tent, then build a fire so we can eat.”