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Back Trinity Sight Save as PDF
Chapters (41)
  1. PART ONE
  2. ONE
  3. TWO
  4. THREE
  5. FOUR
  6. FIVE
  7. SIX
  8. SEVEN
  9. EIGHT
  10. NINE
  11. TEN
  12. ELEVEN
  13. TWELVE
  14. THIRTEEN
  15. FOURTEEN
  16. FIFTEEN
  17. PART TWO
  18. SIXTEEN
  19. SEVENTEEN
  20. EIGHTEEN
  21. NINETEEN
  22. TWENTY
  23. TWENTY-ONE
  24. TWENTY-TWO
  25. TWENTY-THREE
  26. TWENTY-FOUR
  27. TWENTY-FIVE
  28. TWENTY-SIX
  29. TWENTY-SEVEN
  30. TWENTY-EIGHT
  31. TWENTY-NINE
  32. PART THREE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The girl turned sharply. Her eyes no longer soft coal but bright stones of citrine yellow. Highlighter yellow. Animal yellow.

TWENTY-ONE

TWENTY-ONE

WHAT COYOTE SAID

Calliope stepped back, unsure what she was seeing. Chance aimed at the coyote, but Calliope reached out, steered the rifle away; she’d been afraid to shoot Amy by accident, when she’d aimed for the rapist beside the truck. Chance was a hunter. He wouldn’t miss. Still something told her the gun wasn’t the answer.

“Chica? Are you hurt?”

Eunjoo didn’t respond. The coyote and the girl continued staring at each other, unflinchingly, and Chance whispered, “We have to act, before she is hurt.”

As if the coyote understood, it whipped its body in the opposite direction and sprinted away. Before Calliope could reach for her, Eunjoo raised herself onto her feet and was chasing after.

Calliope treaded heavy in the snow but Chance caught Eunjoo where the tree line met a wooden fence marking the edge of Tía’s property, a mile from the house. The coyote was nowhere. Had it jumped the fence? Calliope wasn’t even sure coyotes could leap that high.

Her breathing strained, her muscles aching, Calliope came upon Chance grasping a flailing and wild Eunjoo. This was not a mere child’s tantrum. The girl’s eyes still bright and glassy as citrine, she flung herself and clawed at Chance, scratching his arms and yowling, her usual bird’s voice low and guttural. This wasn’t rabies.

Warily, Calliope kneeled beside them and wrapped her arms around the girl, murmuring and hushing in soothing tones. “I’m here, chica. You’re safe now. I’ve got you.”

Eunjoo’s thumb was bleeding, but not profusely. Calliope pulled the bandage from her pocket, wrapped it back around; although it wasn’t sanitary, it was something. She would clean it as soon as they returned to the house.

Eunjoo grew rigid, her body stiff in Calliope’s arms. Her yellow eyes fluttered back, as if in seizure, then her body relaxed again, eyes closed.

“Chica?” Calliope screamed. Don’t-be-dead don’t-be-dead. She pressed her ear to the girl’s chest and breathed relief at the steady thumping. Why did this child keep nearly dying on her?

What strange god would have left her to Calliope’s care?

Where was the girl’s own mother?

Calliope thought of Phoenix. She hoped whoever was taking care of him was doing a better job than she was with Eunjoo.

“She’s passed out,” she told Chance.

“I’ll carry her.” He lifted her easily from Calliope, and together they walked back the way they’d come.

Mara and Buick were waiting in the cabin, anxiously, as Chance carried Eunjoo’s limp body inside and laid her on the couch in front of the fireplace.

“She’s not …” Mara asked, without finishing her sentence.

“Passed out,” Chance said.