inside her mouth.
âIâll see you tomorrow, Jules,â Sam said, lowering his shoulders. Then he disappeared down the drive.
Jules bowed her head. She hadnât meant to be mean, especially to Sam, who brought her homework every day, who sat and talked to her while she sorted through her rocks, who brought her new ones to add to the collection: mica and shale and talc and a triangular-shaped piece of serpentine. Super Friend Sam. She tried to get her feet to move, to run after him. But she was rooted to the bottom step.
She looked over at the invisible line. If she squinted her eyes, the greens and browns and grays of the woods boiled together, glimmered until they turned red-brown, the same color as her sisterâs hair. Why, Sylvie? Why did you want to run faster? Jules pulled her hand back and hurled the bottle of root beer as hard as she could against the tall maple that stood next to their house. It smashed against the trunk and shattered into a thousand pieces.
âItâs not fair!â she cried.
Root beer dripped down the bark of the tree. Shards of glass sparkled in the dying sun.
17
T he day came when Sennaâs mother and father took the kits to the Disappearance. Her father led the way, her mother trotted behind the kits. As they approached the river, the smell of water grew stronger.
Slow.
Senna sensed her parentsâ tension. There was something here, something at the water that her parents didnât like.
Here.
The fox family gathered at the riverbank. Their father and mother parted so that the kits could see what lay before them. Senna stared, not understanding at first. But slowly, as she watched, she saw what was happening to the bright and shining water. Here was where the tumbling, urgent flow of water fell without sign or sound into the below world. A gash in the green earth tugged the water down, and there was no more river.
Never.
The Disappearance was a place of great danger. Her mother and father turned to look sternly at their kits to reinforce their command: Never. The kits were never to come here. Farther south, where the river reemerged, that was all right. The river was for water and bathing and fish and prey, the little meadow creatures who came to its side. There was even a small oxbow that made a good pool for splashing.
But the Disappearance? Never.
The mother and father foxes stood there, stern and rigid, until they were sure that the kits understood. When they were satisfied, they turned away from the Disappearance, looking back to make sure the kits were following. Come. A hundred yards to the south, down the path through the woods, along the riverbank, down a bluff and then up again, the kits followed their parents. They clambered over rocks and narrowed themselves to fit beneath overhanging roots, and there it was:
The Reemergence.
Bright water bubbled up out of the ground, through a small opening surrounded by long, flat rocks. The mother and father foxes stood tall on the largest rock, their kits gathered around them. Silently they looked down. There were no predators around, so they stood in the open on the rocks, here where the river returned to the above world from its journey below.
Senna spotted a path leading away from the water, one that had been traveled by many animals. It pulled her in its direction. Older Brother nudged her with his bright black nose. Come on. But she ignored him, pushed him away and back to their parents. She stepped onto the path.
She trotted along it for some time, until she came to the tree line, where there was a small open glen. Not twenty yards away, there was a yellow human home and a human girl.
âItâs not fair!â At the sound of that voice, Sennaâs heart leaped. This was the same girl of the other afternoon, the girl calling her sadness to the sky. She was still filled with sorrow. And anger. This girl was all jumbled up. Sad. Angry. Both.
Senna crouched low and watched as the girl
âIâll see you tomorrow, Jules,â Sam said, lowering his shoulders. Then he disappeared down the drive.
Jules bowed her head. She hadnât meant to be mean, especially to Sam, who brought her homework every day, who sat and talked to her while she sorted through her rocks, who brought her new ones to add to the collection: mica and shale and talc and a triangular-shaped piece of serpentine. Super Friend Sam. She tried to get her feet to move, to run after him. But she was rooted to the bottom step.
She looked over at the invisible line. If she squinted her eyes, the greens and browns and grays of the woods boiled together, glimmered until they turned red-brown, the same color as her sisterâs hair. Why, Sylvie? Why did you want to run faster? Jules pulled her hand back and hurled the bottle of root beer as hard as she could against the tall maple that stood next to their house. It smashed against the trunk and shattered into a thousand pieces.
âItâs not fair!â she cried.
Root beer dripped down the bark of the tree. Shards of glass sparkled in the dying sun.
17
T he day came when Sennaâs mother and father took the kits to the Disappearance. Her father led the way, her mother trotted behind the kits. As they approached the river, the smell of water grew stronger.
Slow.
Senna sensed her parentsâ tension. There was something here, something at the water that her parents didnât like.
Here.
The fox family gathered at the riverbank. Their father and mother parted so that the kits could see what lay before them. Senna stared, not understanding at first. But slowly, as she watched, she saw what was happening to the bright and shining water. Here was where the tumbling, urgent flow of water fell without sign or sound into the below world. A gash in the green earth tugged the water down, and there was no more river.
Never.
The Disappearance was a place of great danger. Her mother and father turned to look sternly at their kits to reinforce their command: Never. The kits were never to come here. Farther south, where the river reemerged, that was all right. The river was for water and bathing and fish and prey, the little meadow creatures who came to its side. There was even a small oxbow that made a good pool for splashing.
But the Disappearance? Never.
The mother and father foxes stood there, stern and rigid, until they were sure that the kits understood. When they were satisfied, they turned away from the Disappearance, looking back to make sure the kits were following. Come. A hundred yards to the south, down the path through the woods, along the riverbank, down a bluff and then up again, the kits followed their parents. They clambered over rocks and narrowed themselves to fit beneath overhanging roots, and there it was:
The Reemergence.
Bright water bubbled up out of the ground, through a small opening surrounded by long, flat rocks. The mother and father foxes stood tall on the largest rock, their kits gathered around them. Silently they looked down. There were no predators around, so they stood in the open on the rocks, here where the river returned to the above world from its journey below.
Senna spotted a path leading away from the water, one that had been traveled by many animals. It pulled her in its direction. Older Brother nudged her with his bright black nose. Come on. But she ignored him, pushed him away and back to their parents. She stepped onto the path.
She trotted along it for some time, until she came to the tree line, where there was a small open glen. Not twenty yards away, there was a yellow human home and a human girl.
âItâs not fair!â At the sound of that voice, Sennaâs heart leaped. This was the same girl of the other afternoon, the girl calling her sadness to the sky. She was still filled with sorrow. And anger. This girl was all jumbled up. Sad. Angry. Both.
Senna crouched low and watched as the girl
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