“Yeah.” Bugz started down the bush trail. She motioned for Feng to follow. He picked up his bike and walked it beside her. “This one time we came out in the bush, a bunch of us kids. We saw the northern lights dancing high above us, green and turquoise. And Waawaate starts whistling. All the kids got scared and yelled at him: ‘No,’ ‘Don’t,’ ‘You’re not supposed to do that!’ And we’re freaking out, but you know how he is…he has that big grin on his face, and he keeps whistling.” Bugz shook her head, smiling. “Then, no word of a lie, the northern lights start getting brighter and brighter. Our eyes must have been as big as cartoon characters’. So Waawaate starts hamming it up—he dances around and starts whistling a song. And I kid you not, the northern lights start getting even brighter and they even change color.” Bugz chuckled silently. “They turned all shades of pink, and they’re so bright, you wouldn’t believe it. I swear to god, they were getting closer to us too. Finally, Waawaate finishes his song, and it breaks the spell. One of the kids runs away, and then we all start running away, running for our lives. Waawaate’s chasing after us, yelling through the bush, ‘Waawaate niin! Waawaate niin!!’—which means ‘I am the northern lights!’ ” Bugz was still smiling. “Anyways, I hated him for about two days straight after that for scaring me. But now…”

“What a great memory.” Feng smiled too. He looked to the sky and back to Bugz. “First time I saw the northern lights was on a postcard Liumei sent me from Alaska. I thought they were magic. They were in the shape of the infinity symbol. She wrote about how it reminded her of home. The infinity symbol means good luck to us.”

“Here, it’s the symbol of the Métis.”

“What?” Feng asked.

“Métis. The people of the Red River. They’re the descendants of the Anishinaabe and Cree who married the French and Scottish fur traders.”

“Really?”

“Yup. They’ve got their own language, Michif. Their own culture. They even have their own flag. It’s got a giant infinity symbol on it.”

“Cool.”

“Yeah, it is. The two sides of their heritage, united. Forever.”

Feng leaned his bike on a tree and used a stick to trace an infinity symbol in the earth in front of them. “Look what I made you.”

Bugz grinned. “Wherever did you get the idea for that symbol?”

“It represents our two sides, me and you, coming together,” Feng said, doing everything he could to not laugh.

“Yech.” Bugz pretended to gag. “Don’t disrespect the great Métis nation with your cheesy pick-up lines.”

She laughed and waved Feng away. As he chuckled, she took a fork in the path away from the spot they’d visited before. They headed deeper into the forest.

CHAPTER 38