Jack nods. “But just for the record, I want you to know that Joe’s normally an easygoing guy. You look up patience in the dictionary and there’s his mug, grinning up at you. And he’s not one for getting all messy and physical, either—that usually falls to me. But there’s certain things you don’t do to him and messing with his family’s the big one. That’s when the promise in those crazy eyes gets real.”

“I got that,” I tell him.

“So what’s with this Odawa guy? He really so powerful?”

“Hard to say. You know the story of the first salmon? The one that sleeps in a pool at the beginning of the world and how when he wakes the world will end?”

“Aw, come on. Don’t tell me this is him.”

I shake my head. “No, but they’re kin. They share the same gifts of knowledge and . . . I was going to say wisdom, but that’s something Odawa lost along the way.”

“Maybe it’s got something to do with you plucking his eyes out.”

I can tell from the tone of his voice that Jack’s just trying to get a rise out of me, but I answer him seriously.

“Maybe,” I say. “But remember, I thought he was dead at the time, frozen half in, half out of the water. The thing you need to keep in mind with Odawa is that he’s got a one-track mind and an indomitable will. That combination’s hard to make peace with.”

“Hard to fight, too,” Jack says.

“Hard to fight,” I agree, “and impossible to reason with.” I wait a beat, then add, “Look, if this is really about me, I should just stop trying to avoid the problem because it’s obviously not going to go away, and I don’t want anybody else to be hurt because of me. Let me track him down and we can finish this once and for all, just the two of us.”

“How’s his helping bogans hunt cerva supposed to hurt you?” Jack asks.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“The point is,” Jack says, “this isn’t just about you and him anymore. He’s crossed the line and needs to be taken down.”

“I said I’d do it.”

Jack nods. “But he’s old and powerful—you said so yourself. And if he’s in bed with bogans, who knows what else he’s been up to. You could go face him on your own, only to find he’s got an army and you don’t even have one person to cover your back.”

I shrug. “That’s the chance I’ll have to take. Anyway, if they kill me, it’ll still be over.”